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1. Just Thinking
2. Article ... "What The Heck's A Propensity - And Who Cares?"
By Joe Robson
3. Article ... "Write Your Sales Copy For Scanners"
By Joe Robson
4. Article ... "Tag, You're It!"
By Larry Johnson
5. The Last Word
6. Your Subscription Details
Articles can be reprinted in their entirety, providing the author's resource details are kept intact.
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1. Just Thinking ...
Hey, nice to see you:-)
You probably didn't notice but it's 6 weeks since the last issue.
That's because I live the ultimate Internet lifestyle and work like crazy on far too many projects:-)
Anyway, I've written 2 new articles which I hope you'll enjoy - and benefit from. One of them started out as a 'KWIK TIP' and
developed a mind of its own.
The Guest Article is about writing Tag Lines.
I've lost count of the number of Tag Lines I've written for myself and my clients. I love doing them, and I can't stress how
important they are if you want to brand yourself or your product.
Two that immediately come to mind are my Newbie Club's "Hey I'm A
Newbie, Not A Dummy - Just SHOW Me How!" And my Copywriting Tagline "Joe Robson - The Copywriter Who Gets The Net"
The point I'm making is that your Tag Line should say something
unique about you or your product. Your USP maybe, or a snappy phrase that sticks in the mind like ...
Keep smilin':-)
Joe.
PS.
I hope you don't mind, but I'll be sending you an email soon telling you about my latest new website. It contains some
incredible Copywriting products which I know - yes KNOW - you'll really benefit from.
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2. Article ... "What The Heck's A Propensity - And Who Cares?"
By Joe Robson http://adcopywriting.com
--------------------------------
In just about every profession I'm interested in - selling, copywriting, acting, advertising, creative writing and more, the
pro's without exception tell us to KISS - Keep It Simple Stupid.
I remember some years ago listening to a radio show which appraised the latest record
album releases of the week. One
'Juror' - a record critic - didn't like Paul McCartney's music because it was
'too simple'.
Another panel member - a well known recording star and songwriter, bit back with the remark that he would give his right
arm to have the talent of 'writing simply'. "McCartney knows what people want and that's what he gives them. It's easy to write
complicated lyrics" he said, "but extremely difficult to make it sound 'simple' .... "
And in a TV documentary about the actor
Sean Connery, some of
his fellow professionals complimented him on his ability to successfully tackle complicated scripts.
Sean looked slightly
bemused by this, and said ...
"I just try to keep things simple".
Never be afraid to 'talk
down' to your reader.
The Newbie Club, ( http://newbieclub.com
) is outrageously
successful because everything is written 'simply'. The tutorials are not unique in content, but they *are* unique in the 'simple'
way they are written. I call it 'Newbie-Speak'. Many other tutorial sites use
'Techie-Speak' - and fail.
Your reader is not interested in adjectives, nouns, prepositions or other gobbledygook. That's Techie-Talk. Neither
is she remotely impressed by your ability to use words which make her have to 'think'.
If your reader notices the construction, layout or individual words in your copy, you've lost the plot I'm afraid. Because
Sales Copy that draws attention to 'itself', by definition diverts your reader's attention away from your sales message.
I receive a monthly newsletter which addresses site navigation,
design and all things relating to good Website management. There I was, reading the author's advice about how to incorporate an
effective search engine into a site, when I was stopped in my tracks. Imagine how it's credibility plummeted when I was
confronted with this paragraph ...
-->> Quote
We’ve talked before about the propensity of folks these days to
imagine the tool metaphor when they think about designing their
Web sites. It’s not a good metaphor for how your site must
function overall - it costs lots of sales and alienates lots of
visitors. Instead, we talk about persuasive architecture and use
the metaphor of a dialogue.
-->> End Quote
I never finished reading the rest of the article, because the author's propensity to use big words certainly alienated
me!
I'm not interested in trying to translate his gobbledygook. I was top of my class in English. I went to college. I've made my
living as a Copywriter for many years. But I don't talk this author's language anymore. I don't lean against the bar and spend
the night talking to my friends about metaphors, or persuasive architecture. I'd soon be drinking on my own. Just like that
author!
I left because my concentration had been broken. I became distracted from the task in hand - to learn about the pro's and
cons of onsite search engines. But more importantly - rightly or wrongly - I lost confidence in the author's credibility as
an 'expert' in site usability.
----- ANY distraction can lose the sale"
One inappropriate word. One '10 dollar phrase'. One stupid move
like sticking to that really cool phrase you just thought of. One simple act like sticking to a phrase you don't feel comfortable
with, loses your reader in an instant.
And the two hours it took to write that article, or the week it took to create that sales letter is totally wasted. As the saying
goes ..
"And all for the want of a horse shoe nail".
KISS, and leave the 'creative' stuff to creative writers. They have basic writing rules they stick to, and Copywriters have
basic rules also - like replacing ten $5 words with 2 simple ones that a 7th grader can understand.
If you want a grounding in these basic rules, read the list of Copywriting tips at
http://adcopywriting.com/Tutorial_6_Tips.htm
Lecture ends. Now where's that dictionary?....
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Joe Robson is co-author of Make Your Words Sell with Ken Evoy
http://words.sitesell.com/myws/
and owns The Newbie Club at
http://newbieclub.com His universally respected Copywriting
tutorials Website is at http://adcopywriting.com
--------------------------------
3. Article ..."Write Your Sales Copy For Scanners"
By Joe Robson http://adcopywriting.com
--------------------------------
If Your Website visitor is highly targeted and eager to read your
message, you're a lucky person.
Let's face it, most of us click through to a site out of curiosity. And when the page loads, we're only half interested in
what the copywriter has to say. After all, we've seen it all before haven't we? This product is going to be the same as all
the other similar products - isn't it?
Like it or not, that's the mindset of the average site visitor. And we have to employ every device in the book to retain, and
increase his attention. And get the order.
And as we all know, it's the headline and sub heading that MUST grab your reader in the first split second
... blah, blah, blah.
I'm sure you've heard it all before.
But let's look at the surfing habit that no-one ever seems to
address.
We read the headline, the sub header, the first sentence or paragraph. And unless we are determined to read the page word for
word right from the start (yeah right!) - what do we do next?...
We SCAN the page. In exactly the same way that we scan down a
newspaper page, our eyes are searching for something of interest.
We're 'speed reading' the copy. We're half-heartedly looking for
something of interest. Something that catches our eye and helps us to get the message. A 'story' that will either persuade us to
return to the top and read the message in detail - or click that little X in the top right hand corner. All in 10 seconds flat!
That's where the importance of subheads comes into its own.
Far to many people write cute and fancy, or totally meaningless
subheads. Subheads should - MUST - achieve more than create white space and help break up large blocks of black text.
A subhead should be written with the same amount of thought and
attention as your main headline. It should encourage your reader to read the paragraph that follows. It should describe the
contents of that paragraph. It should make your reader curious enough to slow down and read the 'small print'.
But Subheads on a Web page have to do more than that. A scanner
scrolling down your page should gain enough information from the
subheads alone, so that he gets the whole picture. Or at least
enough of the picture to make him want to read your message in detail. In other words ..
Your Subheads should tell the story of your Web Page.
Want an example of this?
Go my site at http://headlinewriter.com
When the page loads, scroll quickly down the page and read the
headlines, and subheads. If you care to take the time, paste each
headline and sub headline into your text editor, and see if the
combined headings tell a story. If they do, the subheads have done their job.
After you've scanned the page, read each subhead carefully and
study how each is designed to lead the reader into the following
sentence. Notice how each subhead leads the eye seamlessly into
the next paragraph.
Now you know how it's done:-)
Go on try it. http://headlinewriter.com
--------------------
Quote by Joe Robson ..
I learned more about Internet Marketing - real in the trenches
profitable stuff - from this incredible book, than I have from
any other book I own. Amazing! http://tncinfo.com/truth.htm
--------------------------------
4. Article ... "Tag, You're It!"
By Larry Johnson
--------------------------------
Some call them "tag lines"; others refer to them as "catch lines"
or "tie-in-slogans." Whatever the words used to refer to them, they are perhaps the most important part of your promotional
writing.
Do you recognize any of these ? :
"Like a rock..."
"Fly the friendly skies..."
"It's the real thing !"
"Quality is job number one"
"The quicker-picker-upper"
Most of those tag lines are recognizable by us without even including the name of the company or product.
They summarize in a very few words the essence of the thing they are promoting. They communicate a good, positive feeling or
relationship to the product. They do it with a simple, memorable
phrase that is easily repeated.
The shorter the description is, the more challenging it is to write. Anyone can write a 500-word description of a product or
service. Now try doing it with 5 to 10 words ! Each word you choose is very important to the message.
HERE ARE SOME TIPS for writing good taglines for your business offer.
1) Start by noticing ads on billboards as you drive down the road. Billboard advertisers have but a couple of seconds to grab
your attention and sell their product or service. Usually their copy is going to be a very good tagline with a picture of the
product or service. These are great examples of how to write effective taglines.
2) Notice other media forms like magazine and newspaper display ads, business cards, brief radio and TV commercials. Observe the
thing that caught your attention and makes the message easily remembered. It's usually a concise and well-written tagline.
3) Write down everything you can think of that relates to your business. You may even start with a narrative description in
paragraph form.
4) Now, make a list of the top 25 or 30 things that are important and worth mentioning. Whittle that list down to 8 or 10 of the
most important things you wish to say. Now eliminate repetition or things that are not really that necessary to your product or
service. Get your list of words or phrases down to 3 or 4 central elements.
5) Based on your final core selection, make up some phrases that
will serve as your taglines for consideration. Keep them short and use simple, everyday language.
Which of these taglines would you remember best ? :
****************
"Joe's auto repair shop, the lowest-prices and
the best service"
OR
"Quality Care For Your Car !"
*******************
"The Best Tax Service Anywhere Around The Town !"
OR
"Your Tax Experts At Work !"
******************
"Emergency ambulance service available 24-hours a day"
OR
"When Minutes Count!"
******************
Well, you get the idea!
Do some test marketing with your final two or three best taglines. Discover the one that works best for you and
incorporate it into all of your promotional messages.
Remember, like any of life's endeavors, experience and practice help to improve your skills level. If you want to be a good
writer, write a lot !
Best of luck in your promotional efforts!
------------------------------------------------
Larry is the editor of BIZ SITE BIZ E-ZINE, a Free weekly
business promotion newsletter full of timely tips, original "How-
To" articles, quotes and humor. Visit http://www.BizSiteBiz.com
and discover better ways to market and promote on the internet!
---------------------------------------------------
--------- "Quality Freebies"
'Search Engine Primer' by Chuck McCullough has more valuable info
than many $30 ebooks. But this costs nothing! Download here ...
http://tncinfo.com/dl/seprimer.exe
Netwriting Masters Course
Want to sell more? Write better? mailto:wordstwms@sitesell.net
"Can You Really Make a Living on the Net?" YES, and you can find
out how right here with this complimentary 5 page guide ...
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Very Highly recommended.
--------------------------------
5. "The Last Word"
--------------------------------
'I get a lot of letters from people. They say "I want to be a
writer. What should I do?" I tell them to stop writing to me and to get on with it.'
---------- Ruth Rendell
--------------------------------------
Read the previous Digest
here ... http://adcopywriting.com/digest/103.htm
---------------------------------
6. "Your Subscription Details"
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