Stephen’s Blog
Copywriting and Internet Advertising
I Lose (7) lbs per Week
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The thing about having fun while doing an interview over the phone is you sometimes give up TOO much information.
The other day I got to talk to Robert Plank on Skype about how I optimize my blog for profit. We talked for 30 minutes and had such a great conversation about blogging… that many times I forgot that Robert was recording the call!
We shared our favorite strategies, favorite plugins, our favorite marketers, and more. I came at it from a copywriter’s perspective, which is something you probably haven’t seen before. (So let me know what you think)
In the future, only people who join my email list will get access to this interview. And while I hope you have signed up to receive announcements, I am going to let you access the recording today with no restrictions.
Here it is: http://www.stephensblog.com/robertplank
Hope you enjoy it, and don’t forget to check out Robert Plank’s blog. He set a goal to make $30,000.00 for the month of February and he’s almost there. I’m sure he’ll let you know if he makes it at the blog.
PS In the video I talk about using testing, multivariate testing and some plugins. A while back I made a video showing how to do all of these things. I’m going to do a 24 hour special for the video tomorrow; it’ll be for $15.
But as a thank you for reading this entry, you can get it now for $10 through the Paypal button below.
If you want to discover if you’re guilty of committing this Copy Sin, click the link below to watch my free copywriting video.
Click here ->> http://www.stephensblog.com/7copysins
Remember when I had Click2Mail send me a test postcard for ad campaign? I wrote about it here: Sending Postcards To Advertise Your Product Or Services.
Well it finally showed up yesterday. It took a LONG time…
…because of user error. My fault. I accidentally picked “standard mail” instead of “first class.” Instead of 4-5 days it took 9-15. (And I saved a whopping 11 cents!)
So that’s one mistake I noticed. The other is the graphics program I used to create the postcard.
Microsoft Paint just isn’t going to work! I saved the image I made in paint as a .jpg file, which looked fine until it showed up on a printed postcard. There’s too much noise surrounding the words… as a result of Paint not saving the .jpg at a high enough quality.
It’s possible that Paint might be able to work if I save it with another image format. But whatever…
Instead I’m going with Gimp. This is a free software program that acts a lot like Adobe Photoshop (a great program, but very expensive).
Gimp will be able to make a high quality screenshot and fix my postcard.
One more note. I took the advice to keep all of my content an inch up from the bottom in case the post office put a sticker on the bottom. The postcard did not get a sticker. In fact, I think the “sticker” was printed on the card.
However, I don’t want to risk it unless I need the extra space. So I’ll continue to heed that advice for a while.
I just noticed Perry Belcher created a site based on his order button… a button he says is the most tested order button in Internet history. Check it out…
Now compare that to Eric Graham’s Ultimate Submit Button.
Can you see the similarities? What are the differences?
I found this link this morning. Ken Mcarthur lists his best email subject lines (based on open rates) from 2008. It’s good to see people posting real data!
He also writes quite a bit about how to evaluate statistics. All in all, a great post. Go check it out!
Before I write copy, I send all of my clients a questionnaire. The questions I ask are based on 5 years of experience writing copy for clients.
The posts below reveal the questions I ask and why:
My Copywriting Questionnaire, Question #1
My Copywriting Questionnaire, Questions #2 And #3
My Copywriting Questionnaire, Questions #4, #5 and #6
My Copywriting Questionnaire, Question #7
My Copywriting Questionnaire, Question #8
Michel Fortin tipped me off to this awesome headline writing formula by Perry Belcher:
I just checked the mail and it didn’t come today, but it’ll get here soon.
The order was fulfilled on Saturday, and I’m not sure where it’s mailing from… but it shouldn’t be longer than a few days. What am I waiting for?
I sent a postcard to myself via Click2Mail.com. I wanted to make sure the card looks presentable before I start sending it out to a select group of individuals.
The postcard advertises a special deal I’m offering to certain people for my copywriting services. And Click2Mail.com seems to be a great place to print and mail my offer at an affordable rate.
Here are the steps I took to get my first postcard in the mail.
1) I created a free account at Click2Mail.com. It’s simple to do, just like signing up for any other free account online.
2) I browsed around and found “Postcard” under the “Create A New Mailing” category.
3) Then I picked the 5X8 space saver postcard that can ship in yellow. Michel Fortin told me that oversized yellow postcards worked best in his experience. So this is as close as I could find.
4) I found this post at copywritingboard.com that gave me a ton of ideas on how to design the postcard and craft my offer. Using Postcards To Market Your Services
My biggest takeaways were to keep it simple… a headline and bullets outlining the offer. And make sure the offer is on both sides. I also remembered to keep my contact info away from the bottom of the card so that it doesn’t get covered by any sort of sticker the post office might place on it.
5) I found it difficult to design the postcard on Click2Mail.com’s website. Instead I used a combination of OpenOffice.org’s Writer software and Microsoft Paint. Both are free (well, Paint comes with windows).
I used Writer to design the postcard (which is mostly words, no pictures). Then I pressed “print screen” on my keyboard to take a screenshot of the postcard in Writer. Then I opened Paint and pasted it in. I selected the area I wanted for the postcard, cropped it (under “Image” in the menubar), and used “Save As” to save the image as a .jpg file.
I did this for both the front and the back of the postcard. Both .jpg files that could then be uploaded to Click2Mail.com and positioned on the front and back of the postcard.
6) From there Click2Mail.com walks you through the mailing process. First you select recipients (which was just me for the test run), proof the post card to make sure everything looks right, then pay for the mailing.
It’s quite affordable. Around 49 cents per postcard with the options I selected above. That’s barely more than the price of a stamp!
I’m very happy with the process so far. If you check me out on Twitter (StephenPDean), I’ll make sure to let you know how the post card looks when it arrives.
If you send out your own postcards, let me know!
In the last entry we talked a lot about believability and proof. And we mentioned testimonials.
Testimonials are a huge source of proof. Hence the last question in my questionnaire.
10) Finally, send me every testimonial you got!
With most clients who have an established product, this isn’t a problem. They usually have been collecting testimonials and they’re ready for me.
For newer products, it’s understandable that testimonials will have to come later. But my advice is usually, “Why don’t you start looking for testimonials while I write the copy.”
That way when I’m finished, I can just copy and paste the testimonials in.
Now, there’s a right way and a wrong way to go about selecting testimonials. Please don’t ask your brother to write an “It’s great!” testimonial for your product. When you do that, you’re really just going through the motions and not giving the copywriter anything to work with.
We need REAL testimonials. From people who had success with your product and are willing to tell you about it.
(Note: If you have to pay them to try your product, so be it! As long as the feedback you get from the trial is legitimate, there’s nothing wrong with that. Just don’t pressure them in to a positive review if they don’t have one.)
A genuine testimonial helps the copywriter out in more ways than one.
First of all, it’s going to make him/her look better. The conversion rate is likely to be higher, and the client is going to be more satisfied.
But second, it’s also going to tell the copywriter what actual customers like about the product. What the major benefits are to them and so forth.
This tells the copywriter what points to emphasize in the copy. That’s a big deal!
So don’t skimp on testimonials. Actively seek out reviews, even if you have to give away your product for free or pay people to try it out.
Here’s how I’d ask for a testimonial.
#1) I always ask for a testimonial or constructive criticism. That means if the customer wasn’t happy with your product, they’re not pressured in to lying. They can simply let you know what they weren’t happy with (which is very valuable in and of itself).
#2) Ask for specific results. If you’re selling an ebook on how to make money, what’s the exact dollar amount the customer can attribute to reading the ebook? And how long did it take to make that money?
A weight loss product? How much weight did they lose? And how long?
#3) Do you want to stress a major benefit in your copy? Ask the customer how that benefit worked for them.
For example, if you want to stress how simple it is to lose weight with your system… Ask them to mention how easy/difficult the weight loss system was for them. Get them to state these benefits in their testimonial, it really will help.
#4) Ask them if you can edit the testimonial and have them sign off on it as truth. Customers are not all copywriters. Sometimes they write pretty poor testimonials… that could be great if spiced up.
It’s perfectly acceptable to edit a testimonial and then get the original author to approve it. It’s ethical, and it sells better.
Another way to go about getting testimonials is to automate it. When a customer buys, are they automatically added to an autoresponder? Put in a few auto-messages reminding them to send in their feedback.
The bottom line is, you need to be actively pursuing testimonials. It’s going to help your sales and it’s going to help the copywriter.
(And if that copywriter is me, I’ll thank you endlessly.)
My first thought was, “Woah, that’s a good question.”
A top Internet marketing guru was interviewing me before deciding to hire me. He hit me with a seemingly simple question… that still stopped me in my tracks. It went something like this…
“What’s the most important component of writing copy?”
Woah. I’d honestly never thought about it like that. And I suppose it can be answered several different ways.
Many people pick the headline as the most important. And I definitely understand that, I test different headlines more than anything else.
James Brausch, the analytical programmer/scientist/entrepreneur, gave the should-be-obvious-but-is-not answer: the order button. Can’t get many sales without that!
Researching and understanding your market is another obvious (and truthful) answer.
With this guru sitting in front of me, I didn’t want to give an obvious answer. So I thought about it, probably longer than I wanted to, and said…
Believability.
Sales copy MUST come across as believable to work well.
* If your headline makes a wild claim that’s not believable, you lose them.
* If your copy makes claims that aren’t backed up, you lose them.
* If your offer sounds too good to be true, then you lose them.
If any aspect of your sales copy lacks believability, you’re gonna feel the hurt in your pocketbook.
That’s why I wasn’t surprised when Brausch discovered that testimonials were consistently the most important part of his copy (outside of the order button).
Testimonials help to provide proof, which adds to the believability.
But testimonials are only one form of proof (and I’ll talk more about them in the next entry). And because the entire sales letter needs to be believed, I want as many forms of proof as I can get.
Hence Question #9 in my copywriting questionnaire:
9) What sources of proof can you provide to back up your product’s claims…
When I write copy, I want to back up every claim I make with proof. Both little and small.
If my client is an expert in the field she wrote this ebook for, then I want to know what her credentials are.
Did she have demonstratable success with the topic area? Something I can prove with say… screenshots of proof of income? a photo of her enjoying her new mansion? awards or honors received? a video of success in action?
Does she have relevant credentials? A degree? Is she a published author? Made guest TV appearances on the topic?
I want to know all these things so I can boost the credibility of the seller.
I also want to prove the product works.
Can I have a picture of the finished result? Would a before and after photo set be appropriate?
Can I show a video of the product in action?
Can I construct a solid logical argument backed by facts that the product, does indeed work?
And here’s something that’s a little more creative that can help add proof…
Is there a story or analogy I can use to help the reader believe your product will work…
Success stories can go along way to helping the reader decide, “Yes! This product will work for me.”
The right story can help the reader wrap their head around your product (the solution to their problems) and really start to believe in it. What story do you have for me? What analogy would help the reader make this jump?
Is there a story about the creation of the product that would add believability?
Are there success stories I could use? Maybe an incredible story, like a one-legged golfer who can drive the ball further than most two-legged golfers?
Or maybe an analogy…
I was looking at the Hairmax comb the other day that’s supposed to regrow your hair (fine, I’m losing my hair, if you laugh it’s bad karma!). They compared combing your hair with the laser comb 3 times a week to brushing your teeth, just regular personal maintenance. That’s great!
Dig deep for this as it could play a prominent rule in the copy.
And there are more forms of proof as well. The most obvious one being testimonials as mentioned earlier. But we’ll get to that in the next entry. Until then!
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