Joe Robson
The Copywriter
who 'Gets the Net'

"Issue 108   Oct 6th 2003"
Published by Joe Robson http://adcopywriting.com  
___________________________________________

Previous edition is at http://adcopywriting.com/digest/107.htm 

Please forward this Newsletter to friend - Thank You!

Home Page

--------------------------------------

1. Just Thinking ....

--------------------------------------

Hi, back again with another issue:-)

I always say to a new Copywriting client that I cannot guarantee any Copy I write will produce maximum results. Most Copy needs testing and tweaking, and the effectiveness depends on many other factors.

These factors range from the quality of the list, whether the readers are tightly targeted, the effectiveness of the Order page and so on. Some times even a tiny distraction will lose the sale.

What I do say to my clients is that I do not know what WILL work,
but I know what will NOT work. So by eliminating the 'won't work'
factors, we're off to a decent start.

When learning how to write good Copy, it's surprising what can be
learned by looking at Sales Messages that do NOT work. It's a fair bet that if it does absolutely nothing to stir your emotions, or even if it alienates you, then it will have the same result on most readers.

It depends on the target of course. If I were to read a Sales Message about ladies underwear, the wrong emotions may be stirred:-) But there again, if it was targeted toward a male audience, they may be stirred into buying something for their girlfriend or wife. Or both!

So the Copywriting exercise this time simply asks you to look at a site which contains all the factors which do NOT work. And compare it to a site selling a similar product using Copy that does work.

The first site is far more attractive and 'cool' than the second. But it's results that count. And it's words that produce those results!

-------- "Unique New Site"

Have you seen the new marketing concept on the site where ALL the well known marketers are offering to help you catapult your
Internet earnings? Take a look at http://tncinfo.com/jvalert.htm 

It's a Who's Who of the Marketing world, and I'm certainly glad to be a part of it.

Sign up for the free course, and seriously consider joining. I'm totally confident that even though I have 2 Affiliate programs totaling 14,000 affiliates. this concept will dramatically increase my profits from now on. In fact it's already starting to do just that!

------ "Who Needs Professionalism?"

Article 6 by JL Scott is more of an infomercial than an article. But I make no apologies for it. JL is the Director of iCop - The International Council of Online Professionals, and she has performed miracles with the new site.

I am one of the original Founder Members and an International
Council Member. I promote iCop continuously and regularly because
I believe it to be one of the most ethical sites on the Web.

But why should anyone join? What's in it for them?

Well let me put it this way. I may get flamed now and then. I'm not the most perfect businessman around. And occasionally I'll be 'accused' of running a 'commercial' site. Yeah right!

But if there's ONE thing I protect more than absolutely anything,
it's my reputation! Accuse me of being unprofessional and a red
mist appears!

One well known 'Guru wannabe' recently found out the hard way, how enormously important it is to conduct yourself in a professional manner. As one marketer said "he's now history".

Being a member of iCop reinforces my credibility, and it does the
same for the members who display the iCop seal on their sites. But on top of all that, members can mix with other credible members in the knowledge that they are dealing with proven reputable marketers.

You can fail in many projects and ventures. But a good reputation
allows you to bounce back and succeed the next time. And even
though it's impossible to be all things to everyone, a good reputation is worth a hundred times more than a 2 million subscriber list.

That's if you're in it for the long term!

By the way, article 4 by the legendary Joe Sugarman is a long piece, and was written as a plain text email article. So because of it's surprising lack of sub heads, I've used the occasional Drop Cap to help break it up. I'd be interested to hear whether you think it helps or detracts from the message. Let's call it research:-)

Ok, that's my ramblings over for another month.

Keep smilin',

PS. Before you go any further, check out
http://tncinfo.com/jvalert.htm  for a few minutes. At one point it
was number 3 in the Alexa 'Movers and Shakers' traffic list!

--------------------------------------------

2. Article -------- "How Clever Copy Can COST You Sales"
By Joe Robson http://adcopywriting.com 

--------------------------------------------

If you've studied my Tutorial on writing Body Copy you will  remember how important it is to TELL your prospect how to buy your product. Let me quote from the page;

QUOTE....

You have to ask for the order first! And to get the order you must tell her exactly what to do. Don't assume she will scour the ad for ordering details. She won't. Don't *suggest* she should telephone you some time. She won't. If she has to tour the shopping mall to find one, she won't.

Tell her exactly how to order it and tell her to do it NOW. Take her by the hand and make it as easy as is humanly possible for her to own your wondrous product, and to start enjoying the great benefits straight away!

She has to be told WHICH store to buy it from, HOW to fill in the order form, and WHICH free telephone number to ring.

UNQUOTE (Not read it? visit
http://www.adcopywriting.com/Tutorial_5_Body_Copy.htm )


Now any decent copywriter knows that you cannot afford to leave
your prospect to 'think about it' too long. But when asking for the order it has to be done professionally, bearing in mind that you do not want to appear pushy or desperate for the business.

If it isn't handled the right way it can completely alienate your prospect, and you will NEVER get the order. No matter how many
follow-ups or bunches of flowers you send. Example ...

A newsletter I had subscribed to gave me some very handy tips and advice over the 6-7 weeks I had received it. They appeared to be a large organization and I was 'thinking about' spending a few hundred dollars on one of their services I had expressed an interest in.

OK I had been receiving their follow-up sales letters over a number of weeks and still hadn't purchased. But I was seriously interested. All I needed was a little persuasion. Like most people, I needed a signal that would increase my confidence. Something to trigger my emotions and persuade me to buy. Maybe a little push in the right direction?

Perhaps a sweetener or an incentive like a Special Bonus. But they decided to be clever and try a different sales approach. Here's an extract from their LAST follow-up letter to me;

QUOTE;

"Hi again,
xxxxx has asked me to find out what you're up to, whether you're dead or whether you're serious about growing your traffic and making money on the Internet? If this offends you, please stop reading. ....BLAH BLAH and more offensive BLAH BLAH......

If we don't hear from you today, xxxxx and I will just assume you're a tire kicker. If you are serious, mailto:"

UNQUOTE.

I emailed them and gave my reasons for unsubscribing. Guess what? That's right I never even got a reply. Perhaps my email simply reinforced their opinion that I WAS a tire kicker!

But by changing just a few words and offering an INCENTIVE to place an order it may just have worked. Yet as well as being offensive. they offered NO BENEFIT to induce me to buy now!

But if they had replied to my email with a skillfully written apology PLUS a sweetener to buy, eg $25 discount for the hurt and inconvenience caused, they would have made me into a customer for life. Despite the poor copy!

Benefits, Benefits and Benefits. That's what generates profit.

And the correct use of a few well chosen WORDS!

---------------------------------

You Can Reprint this article in its entirety if you include this
resource ...

Joe Robson Writes Sales Copy That SELLS - Period!
http://adcopywriting.com   http://newbieclub.com  
http://headlinewriter.com   http://guruspeak.com  

---------------------------------


"Don't Be Stoopid - Software That Writes Quality Headlines?"

Yeah that's what I thought, until I tried it. Talk about eating my words! So I bought a publishing license, put together a Website, and created 18 headlines and subheads for the Sales Copy, just to prove how effective this gizmo really is.

And the site enjoys an average 6% to 7% Conversion rate.

THAT'S how staggering this clever software is!

It's at http://headlinewriter.com 

If only I owned it outright!

--------------------------------

3. Kwik Tip. "Talk To Yourself and Improve Your Sales"

--------------------------------

After finishing your copy, read it out loud to yourself and listen!

Warning. It's best to find a place you won't be overheard, or some guys in white coats may suddenly appear:-)

If you stumble over ANY word or phrase, you can guarantee your
reader will. And that's a distraction. And even the slightest distraction can cost you the sale.

That's because a wrong sounding - or misspelled - word or phrase, draws attention to the Copy itself - and not your sales message.

Good Copy should lie quietly on the page without drawing attention to itself. Your reader's attention should be concentrated solely on the voice she hears in her head. And that voice should be telling her your story.

As soon as her voice starts telling her that a word is spelled wrong, or that she has to re-read something again, she's lost the plot ...

And so have you!

Better still, get someone else to read it aloud. Then pay attention to how easily she reads it - or not!

That way avoids any danger of the white coats appearing:-)

--------------------------------

Extraordinary 'From-The Gut' Interviews With The World's Top
Copywriting, Internet Marketing, Ebook Publishing, Email & Viral
Marketing Experts. Joe Robson's Guruspeak.com has a new and extraordinary collection of Interviews with the Very Best and Most Successful marketers in the world. http://guruspeak.com 


--------------------------------

4. Article ... "How to Win a Sale Through Psychological Triggers"  By Joseph Sugarman

--------------------------------

Modern selling uses psychology not manipulation. Understanding
what triggers people to buy makes the difference between a sale and a failure.

A desire to buy something often involves a subconscious decision. In fact, I claim that 95% of buying decisions are indeed subconscious.

Knowing the subconscious reasons why people buy, and using this
information in a fair and constructive way, will trigger greater sales response -- often far beyond what you could imagine.

I recall a time when I applied one of these subconscious devices by changing just one word of an ad, and response doubled. I refer to these subconscious devices as psychological "triggers." A psychological trigger is the strongest motivational factor any salesperson or copywriter can use to evoke a sale.

There are 30 triggers in all -- many of them are very subtle, and
many of them are the exact opposite of what you would expect. I will reveal a few of them to you in a moment. Each trigger, when deployed, has the power to increase sales and response beyond what you would normally expect.

There are triggers, for example, that will cause your prospect to feel guilty if they don't purchase your product. Let me give you an example. Whenever you receive in the mail a sales solicitation with free personalized address stickers, you often feel guilty if you use the stickers and don't send something back -- often far in excess of the value of the stickers. Fundraising companies use this method a great deal. You receive 50 cents worth of stickers and send back a $20 bill.

Another example are those surveys that are sent out asking for you to spend about 20 minutes of your time filling them out. Enclosed in the mailing you, might find a dollar bill included to encourage you to feel guilty, and entice you to fill out the survey. And you often spend a lot more than one dollar of your time to do that.

Guilt is a strong motivator. I have to admit that I've used guilt in many selling situations, in mail order ads and on TV -- with great success, I might add.

I call one of the most powerful triggers a "satisfaction conviction," which is a guarantee of satisfaction. But don't confuse this with the typical trial period you find in mail order, i.e., "If you're not happy within 30 days, you can return your purchase for a full refund." A satisfaction conviction is different. Basically it takes the trial period and adds something that makes it go well beyond the trial period.

For example, if I were offering a subscription, instead of saying, "If at anytime you're not happy with your subscription, we'll refund your unused portion," and instead said, "If at any time you're not happy with your subscription, let us know and we'll refund your entire subscription price -- even if you decide to cancel just before the last issue."

Basically you're saying to your prospect that you are absolutely certain that they'll like the subscription, that you are willing  to go beyond what is traditionally offered with other subscriptions. This in fact gives the reader the sense that the company really knows it has a winning product and solidly stands behind the product and your satisfaction.

Is this technique effective? You bet. In many tests, I've doubled
response -- sometimes by adding just one sentence that conveys a good satisfaction conviction.

I received an e-mail from a company, a subsidiary of eBay, requesting my advice. They had an e-mail solicitation that wasn't drawing the response that they had expected. What was wrong?

Looking over what they had created, I saw several mistakes, many of which would have been avoided if they knew the psychological triggers that cause people to buy. Let me give you just one example.

In the subject line of most e-mails that have solicited me, I have been able to tell, at a glance, that the solicitation was for a specific service or an offer of something that I was clearly able to determine. Examples such as "Reduce your CD and DVD costs 50%," Or "Lose weight quickly," pretty much told me what they were selling. Was this good or bad?

The problem with those subject lines is that the reader was able to quickly determine: 1) that it was an advertisement; and 2) that it was for some specific product or service.

Most people don't like advertising. And most people won't make the effort to open their e-mail solicitation if they think they are getting an advertising message -- unless they are sincerely interested in buying something that the advertisement offers.

The subject line of an e-mail is similar to the headline of a mail order ad, or the copy on an envelope, or the first few minutes of an infomercial. You've got to grab somebody's attention and then get them to take the next step. In the case of the envelope, you want them to open it. In the case of an infomercial, you want them to keep watching, and in the case of an e-mail, you want them open up the e-mail and read your message.

The key, therefore, is to get a person to want to open your message by putting something into the subject area of your e-mail that does not appear to be an advertising message -- one that would compel them to take the next step. And the best trigger to use for this is the trigger of curiosity.

There are a number of ways you can use curiosity to literally force a person to take the next step. You can then use this valuable tool to put a reader in the correct frame of mind to buy what you have to offer.

Once again, all the psychological triggers apply to every form of
communication -- whether it be advertising, marketing or personal selling. And to know these triggers is the key to more effective
communication, avoidance of costly errors that waste time and money, and most importantly -- extraordinary sales results.

------------------------------

Joe Sugarman, the best-selling author and top copywriter who has
achieved legendary fame in direct marketing, is best known for
his highly successful mail-order catalog company, JS&A, and his
hit product, BluBlocker Sunglasses. Joe’s new breakthrough book,
“Triggers,” reveals 30 powerful psychological triggers that
influence people to buy what you're selling.
http://www.roibot.com/r_psy.cgi?R65298_ptarttext1 

------------------------------

--------------------------------

5. Copywriting Exercise; "Real Cool - Or Real Cold?"

--------------------------------

Here's a Website I clicked through to the other day.

Hey it's so cool man! If you have a few minutes to waste click here ... http://www.pentazip.com/  and eventually to the Pentazip product page.

It's promoting compression software in case you don't hang around
long enough to find out.

Now here's a site I wrote for compression software. It's been
changed slightly since I wrote it (for the worse), and they still haven't created a decent web design ( which would sell even more).

But compare the two sites and ask yourself which one gets the sales message over quickest. Then ask yourself why!

http://www.myphotozip.com/?url=1002 

It's Words that Sell - NOT graphics!

You know, sometimes I feel like I'm shouting in the wilderness.
Wouldn't you think that with so many Copywriters shouting this
same message for over a century, that word would have got around by now. After all, how many times do we need to be told not to stick our fingers in the food mixer?

========================================


--------- "Top Quality Freebies"

"Can You Really Make a Living on the Net?" YES, YES, YES. And you can find out how right here with Jim Daniels' complimentary 5
page guide ... http://tncinfo.com/malo.htm  Very, very, highly recommended.

Netwriting Masters Course
Want to sell more? Write better? mailto:wordstwms@sitesell.net 


"How Do Super Affiliates Do It?" They use every traffic
generating tactic they can to create sales. And Joe Robson's
Affiliate Directory has been working wonders for him for several
months. Get one yourself for free at http://newbieclub.com/tncdir 


-----------------------------

6. Article. "Created BY the Members, FOR the Members!"
By jl scott. PhD

-----------------------------

Few people would argue that the International Council of Online
Professionals (iCop) has one of the highest credibility ratings of any organization on the Web. So, who would we expect to build
"The Ultimate Membership Site?" - iCop!

Director, jl scott, has gone to the online public and asked them what they want in a membership site. Out of that has come the "NEW" iCop.

Now, you can join a very affordable organization that shouts to your visitors of your business integrity. Or, if you don't have a web site yet, you can still join and learn from the "REAL" pros.

The new Member Center of iCop now has multiple forum environments
where you can learn from highly successful online marketers and
personal success experts. These top-name marketers and trainers
are members of iCop, and they care enough to share what they know to help others.

These are people who aren't AFRAID to share their "secrets," and
they'll share them with YOU! Ethical and well-known marketers such as Dennis (Boogie Jack) Gaskill, Joe Robson, Willie Crawford, Eva Almeida, Joel Christopher, Marty Foley, Bill Burdin, Harry Pickett, Gary Knuckles, Rick Beneteau, Peter Twist and others who make top money online.

The iCop membership fees have been reduced drastically in order
to become a training center, AS WELL AS a highly regarded
professional organization. As stated by Director, jl scott, "The best way to have online business owners of the highest caliber is to TRAIN them from the start. Give them what they need, and help them move toward success."

Members receive product and service discounts, lots of "freebies," teleconferences, articles and tutorials including both personal and business success techniques, and even products for resale to help them build their businesses.

They can list their businesses in the iCop categorized Business Directory, join the affiliate program, and of course, display the highly acclaimed iCop Seal on their web sites.

But, what makes this an UNBEATABLE membership site? The "NEW" iCop has been created BY the MEMBERS! All members can give input
into what they want and need. They discuss - they vote - they
participate - they build their online businesses - and they have fun doing it!

Isn't it time YOU aligned yourself with the most successful - and helpful - people on the 'Net? Yes? Then, hop on over and join NOW! http://tncinfo.com/icop.htm  

--------------------------------

7. "The Last Word"

--------------------------------

"It is with words as with sunbeams, the more they are condensed, the deeper they burn."

-------------- Robert Southey

---------------------------------

Read the previous Digest here ...
http://adcopywriting.com/digest/107.htm 

-------------------------

Is this really the Bible of Copywriting for the Web?

By Joe Robson and Ken Evoy
Click Here to Decide

-------------------------

---------------------------------

8. "Your Subscription Details"

---------------------------------

You can delete your subscription here ...
http://www.adcopywriting.com/unsubscribe/ 

If this was forwarded by a friend, you can subscribe here
http://www.adcopywriting.com/Newsletter_Subsc.htm 


I'd welcome your feed back on the content of this newsletter. Write to me at jr@adcopywriting.com  and ...

PLEASE forward this newsletter to friend. Thank You:-)

Home Page

© 2003 Joe Robson. All rights reserved