All successful marketers know the sale comes from the words or the copy. While the traditional definition of copy is “salesmanship in print” I actually take a broader approach. Copy is used in ALL your promotional sales and marketing material. That means any place there are words about your business there is copy. So it’s EVERYWHERE. Some people will drop loads of cash on website design or graphics, but balk at learning the one skill that’s a veritable silver bullet when it comes to boosting income fast – tweaking the copy. Don’t make that mistake. Your business is too important.
Here are 5 targeted hot spots any entrepreneur can tweak copy to start raking in the green.
1. HOME PAGE WEBSITE COPY
Your home or index page is the most important page on your site for two reasons. First, it’s your welcome mat. It explains what the visitor is going to find on your site. Hopefully there’s enough information to entice him to stick around and check out other pages on your site. Second, the home page carries the most weight with the search engines. Good copy can attract search engines while strategically sprinkling keywords and keyword phrases around that get your message across.
Things to tweak:
Headline
Opt in form for ezine, etc.
Privacy policy on opt in
Add audio
2. SALES LETTERS
A good sales letter is at the center of most successful marketing campaigns. I call sales letters the “mother of all marketing” because they have all the elements you need for effective promotion. You can chunk it up to use it for descriptions about your product on the back cover, in ads, in mailings…the possibilities are endless. But you have to walk a fine line between over-the-top hype and grabbing a prospect’s attention. There’s a definite art to writing a successful sales letter, but it’s not ‘rocket surgery’, as I like to say. (I’m famous for unknowingly mixing my metaphors.) There is a specific pattern you’ll notice if your study other sales letters – which I recommend you do.
Things to tweak:
Headlines
Subheadlines
Opening
Price
Bonuses
Call to Action
P.S.
3. ARTICLES
When people see your name enough times they come to recognize it (can you say, free advertising?) Best of all, you become known as an expert in your field. Post articles on your website and watch your search engine rankings improve. Just be sure to indicate your name and contact information must stay on any forwarded material. In general, people are pretty cooperative if you just ask.
Things to tweak:
Titles of articles
Length
Resource Box or Author Bio
4. EBOOKS
Ebooks (or “electronic” books) are completely downloadable files usually created in a format that’s difficult to copy like PDF. And they are fast becoming the new standard for printing. Microsoft projects that within five years, over 50% of all new books will be in ebook format. They are a great way to make some passive income. Spend some time brainstorming your idea. Check online bookstores like Amazon.com to see what’s in the marketplace already.
Things to tweak:
Titles
Subtitles
Back cover copy
About the author
5. EZINES
One of the best ways to stay in contact with your clients is through an ezine or “electronic magazine”. These are newsletters emailed out on a regular basis with valuable information people want to read. You can also announce new products, contests and specials. As long as you provide something of value, people allow you to market to them. But beware. The minute your ezine becomes nothing more than one long ad, you’ll lose subscribers by the boatload.
Things to tweak:
Put content at top
Don’t overwhelm with ads
Add stories and observations
Provide useful tips
Remember, never stop improving your copy. Little tweaks go a loooong way when it comes to increasing profits.
Author Resource -> Copywriting guru Lorrie Morgan-Ferrero has been helping entrepreneurs and copywriters get their marketing messages razor sharp since 1999.
