Using HTML5 and CSS to Create a Website

Writing Sales Copy

The following is an article written by Robert Olson on the art of writing sales copy. Get this article and more on successful website strategies, by visiting the archives at WhatYou Seek

First, think about words for a moment. Think about how powerful they can be. Words.... so powerful they can cause people to fight or a whole country to go to war. Words make us laugh and they can make us cry but they can also make people buy!

Ads written with a proven formula and with the right words can pull responses like crazy. If the ad is in a place where it can be read for years, the responses will just keep coming.

One of my best ads was placed in mail order publications back in 1993 and today I still get responses to that particular ad everyday! Here is that ad:

Save up to 50% on Groceries! Plus Earn Thousands of $$$'s Helping Others Save! Write or call today!

This ad was written using the basic formula that most copywriters use. The fact is that anyone can use this formula and when you do, you will see measurable results.

Here is the formula:

When people are scanning ads, and their eyes move across your ad, you only have a few seconds if that to capture their attention. The first objective is to write a headline that can attract the reader's Attention. This is the first step of the four part formula for writing successful ads.

You want it to be your ad that grabs the reader's attention. You may have to write pages of different headlines to get one that stands out from the rest but this is really a small price to make the difference between success and failure.

Start by writing down the main benefit of your product or service. A benefit is something that fills a need in the reader's life. It may be more money or better health. It maybe a service that saves valuable time or just makes life easier in some way.

When you know what your main benefit is, start writing headlines using power words to emphasize and magnify your main benefit. Before you begin, it would be wise to read ads for the purpose of learning to write ads. You will start to see the big differences between ads.... from the bland to the downright compelling!

One person might write 'Eggs for Sale' but the next person may make his eggs sound so much better even if the eggs are identical! 'Farm Fresh Eggs for Sale!' Now don't those eggs sound much better?

Once you have a headline that you feel can get the reader's attention, your next job is to develop 'Interest and Desire'. As with most ads, you will have to do this with a limited amount of words so don't waste them!

The reader of your ad should be persuaded that what you offer will solve one of their problems. Let them know that your Herbal Pain Relief Formula really will give them a pain free life once again!

Use power words to emphasize the benefits they will get if they respond to your ad. Solve one of the reader's problems with words and your are just about there!

One of the biggest mistakes made by ad writers is when they fail to ask the reader to take 'action'. If you have a Herbal Pain Formula website, you might close the ad by writing 'To End Your Pain - Click Here!

If you want the person to respond by email, by phone or to write to you, tell them how to respond. If you don't tell them to respond they probably won't! Here is how an ad for a herbal pain formula might read:

Live Pain Free! New Herbal Formula with Pain Free Guarantee! To End Your Pain - Click Here Now!

Ad writing or copywriting is an art and you can't learn it all from any one article. But if you will seek out the information and spend some time at developing this art, you can see a difference in your response rates. With time, you may even write an award winner that could pull for years to come!