Today I thought I would tackle one aspect of marketing a business. I know for my own business, when I think in terms of marketing, one area I often neglect to think about is post card marketing. Post card marketing can be very effective if done correctly and also very cost friendly. It is not as expensive as other forms of marketing and advertising can be. Yet, it is often one of the least used methods to get a businesses message/image before their respective audiences. So today, I would like to share an article from a savvy marketer named Lynne Saarte. follow along and let Lynne fill you in on teh right way to use postcards in your marketing efforts. Until next time, happy writing! Lorraine The Write Touch 4U Http://www.thewritetouch4u.com
by: Lynne Saarte
You of course should be familiar with travel postcards. You get it when people you love go on vacation and send the postcard as a reminder of where they are. The “wish you were here” print postcards is indeed a classic, one that most people are familiar with. What if I tell you however that you can use this same postcard printing method to help your business? Indeed, some businesses have started to use postcard printing for direct mail advertising, while slowly moving away from envelopes and letters. If you are interested to see how this postcard advertising works, then read on. In this article I will teach you how to make your own postcard advertisements work for you.
Thinking of the right advertising angle for postcards The first step into making a custom postcard for advertising is to think of your angle. Your angle is basically the “wish you were here” counterpart from travel postcards. You have to think of a great message that gets your reader's attention. For most marketing postcards, they try to display the certain lifestyle that their products and services represent. The message basically is “wish you can be like this”.
So if you are advertising some fitness products for example, you can display pictures of fit men and women, and tell your readers that they can be like that. For educational services on the other hand, a picture of graduating student with high grades should be great. Of course this message must be distinct from your rivals. The more distinguishing your message is from others the better that postcard message will be. So take your time and compose the right advertising angle for your color postcards. This is a very important step.
Producing good postcards for marketing Once you have that message already figured out, you should then start on the business of producing them. In this regard you will need a designer and a printer for postcards. The layout designer for your postcards should be a good graphic artist. You can of course hire a free lancer if you like, or you can even recruit yourself if you are willing to learn some basic graphic design. There are plenty of templates and tutorials out there so you can learn fast enough with no trouble.
For the printer, you have two options. If you plan on a mass postcard marketing campaign, you will need a professional printer with mass production capabilities. An online postcard printing service should be fast enough for most campaigns. You can search for them of course via the Internet.
Your second option on the other hand is when you plan on only printing a couple of custom postcards for local distribution. If your aim is this, then printing from your own color printer should be more feasible. Whatever you choose though, it should be easy enough to create and print postcards since they are pretty easy to understand. A picture and a little message on the cover, and some mailing lines and guides at the back. That's all there is to it.
Knowing how and where to send them The final hurdle for postcard advertising is distribution. You must know where to send them for your postcards to work. If you plan on a large advertising campaign, you might have to buy the addresses provided by research firms and other marketing companies and then use the addresses for mailing. If you want advertising on a more local level however, you can just hire a person to give them out in your city. You might also want to try hiring the printing service to help you since some of them also have distribution options for postcards.
Whatever your mode of deployment is though, make sure that you decide smartly on the houses you will be distributing to. It is best to distribute them on areas where you know will have a better chance of relating to your postcard. So if you plan on advertising to a richer crowd, distribute your postcards to richer residences, while common products should be pretty comfortably sent towards more main stream residences. This should maximize the impact of your postcards, getting them to the people that will be most interested.
Once you get the hang of the distribution, more or less, you should already know how to postcard advertising works. It is not as easy as posters and brochures, but they do get a lot of work done and they can be used to reach out to a very wide area. So do not underestimate their powers.
About The Author Lynne Saarte is a writer that hails from Texas. She has been in the Internet business for some years now, specializing in Internet marketing and other online business strategies.
A business needs to be armed with many types of marketing tools to effectively get the word out, a brochure is just one piece in a marketing strategy. However, it is an important piece and should be carefully planned out, that’s why choosing the right template to convey your business message can make the difference between getting your business noticed in a positive way or in a negative way. So read on and see what Janice Jenkins has to say about choosing the right brochure template to make your business stand out among the crowd! Until next time, happy writing. You can contact me at The Write Touch 4U site and let’s discuss how I can create the right brochure template for your business.
What makes a good brochure template? How do you decide which template to use for brochure printing? Are there criteria involved? Or do you need a critical eye to spot the proper details in brochure templates? Whatever the case, if you are trying to decide on what brochure template to use, here are four tips that should help you pick the right one.
1. A good file format
A good brochure template is usually a digital file format that works well with others. You should target a template with a good file format so that you can use it in different applications and platforms. What I usually recommend if you work on different computers is to choose brochure templates that are made from image formats. Image formats can be opened by almost every desktop publishing software out there, so you can instantly change anything on any platform or application if possible. It should also be easier for your brochure printer since there will be a minimal number of conversions involved.
2. Useful and functional
A brochure template must also be useful and functional. You cannot just choose templates just because it is in a format you like. After seeing a good format, you should see if it has a couple of useful features. Does the brochure template have guidelines and margins? Does it have the standard dimensions for brochures? Are the folds marked and is it in the fold configuration that you want? Determine all of these things before really deciding on a template. You need to be clear about your preferences to truly get the useful template that you need.
3. Easily adaptable or customizable
Also, if at all possible, a brochure template should always be easily adaptable and customizable. This means that certain areas of the template should be really left blank so that you can put your own content easily. If there are things like watermarks, company logos and other things in there, you might want to choose another template since those aren't really supposed to be in a template. So choose something that can really be made into your own custom brochure.
4. Free and unhindered
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, you have to know that brochure templates are usually given freely. While there are those that charge fees for their templates, for the most part, the Internet offers a lot of websites that provide brochure templates for free. Those templates are usually very good and very useful for those who want to create their own unique brochures. So do not get sucked in by the marketing talk. You do not have to buy something that is freely available on other websites.
So that is how you decide on a brochure template. It must have a good format, useful, adaptable and free. If you get all four criteria, then that template should be a candidate for your use.
Janice Jenkins is a writer for a marketing company in Chicago, IL. Mostly into marketing research, Janice started writing articles early 2007 to impart her knowledge to individuals new to the marketing industry. The author invites you to visit:http://www.printplace.com
Hi all, I thought that I would share a great article I ran across by Neil Page that enforces the importance of SEO writing in web content. I hope you find it as helpful as I did and take action to implement the elements discussed to get your site or the sites of your clients a better page ranking. They will appreciate you all the more! Until next time, happy writing. Lorraine The Write Touch 4 U http://www.thewritetouch4u.com
Tips For SEO Friendly Marketing Content For Your Website by: Neil Paige
Getting your website positioned as high as possible in SERP (Search Engine Result Pages) is one of the main goals for everyone who has a SEO strategy.
Statistics prove that the percentage of getting a click to your website keeps on reducing as the searcher moves down the result pages on a Search Engine.
What does a SEO friendly content have? • Uniqueness • Appropriate Language • Relevancy • Descriptiveness • Scanable & Skimmable structure - Lists or Bullet form • Presented in Q/A format • Powerful Keywords and their placement • Structured Flow • Proofread for any mistakes
SEO friendly content does not mean that you start writing for search engines. Write content that search engines would adore automatically. The first and most important rule of content writing strategy is to write for visitors and not for search engines. Search engines ultimate goal is to provide their users with the unique and most relevant content. They will prefer your content if it is written for users.
It is not a coincidence that writing strategy for good contents makes for SEO as well.
Uniqueness: Name a subject and you will find it on web, so dig deep and write something that you own. Something that makes you stand out of the regular web shops.
Appropriate Language: Write in the language of your prospect. The language determines the kind of visitor your site will attract. If you are writing for Business owners who are generally non-technical, write in plain business language. It is always easy to write if you know your readers.
Relevancy: Write what is relevant to your topic and business. Search engines have their own algorithm to check the relevancy of the content. Please avoid playing around with search engines. Even if you get successful in bringing few visitors to your site and they find the content irrelevant to their search, they will immediately bounce out of the site.
Descriptiveness: Descriptive here does not mean to start writing stories. Describe your services or products in an informative manner. Try to display important information with a link to the detailed information. This could give you an extra edge over your competitor
Scanable & Skimmable: Most of the web users do not read they just scan the web. Research shows that visitors read about 20% of content on a webpage. Write content which is easily scanable by readers. Some points to be kept in mind are- • Use of font color which is easy to the eyes • Variable Eye catching font sizes • Use list or bullets instead of paragraphs to improve recall value • Use of Headers and sub headers - can create interest
Presented in Q/A format: Present your content in a form of questions and answers. Most of the websites miss this opportunity to answer reader’s question and they land up increasing their bounce rate. This can be best done by addressing the user’s pain with a simple yet effective answer.
Powerful Keywords and their placement: Keywords play an important role in SEO strategy. Do not just sprinkle your keywords into the content rather build it around the selected keywords and phrases. The denser the keywords towards the top, the better they are. Use of synonyms is good, however, try them a little lower on your web page.
Structured Flow: It is very important to flow your visitors in a desired manner. Do not leave them to search their way. Guide them with doorways. Do linking within your content that makes the visitor flow with the content. This is called Flow design.
Proofread: Do proofreading to give an additional support to all your writing and SEO efforts. The spelling and grammar errors make your content look unprofessional.
We at AfterTheNet – The Web Strategy Company (http://www.afterthenet.com) keep supplementing our clients with the most basic to the most advanced techniques for any goal they decide to reach with their website. Our step wise approach gives them the complete visibility of their website, which often they are deprived of in absence of a trustworthy resource.
Our expertise helps clients' Marketing Teams to align to their business goals and targets. We are led by diversely experienced Business Executives giving you that cut above the rest advantage.
Here is a great article from one of the greatest copywriters of all time, Michel Fortin, A.K.A. The Copy Doctor. He shares his insights as to what works and what doesn’t when it comes to creating great copy. Read on and hopefully you can add some polish to your copy with the tips Michel shares here.
In my critique consulting services, I’ve found the most common mistake clients make is the ignorance of, or indifference to, split-testing. Little do they know this underutilized marketing practice can be one of the most profitable.
Split-testing is the simple process of splitting your audience into reading two or more versions of your copy—whether it’s your website, sales letter, email, etc—to determine which version pulls the best.
I’m a big fan of testing. And I teach it as much as I can, and if my critiques are any indication, I also believe 99% of marketers out there do not test at all. It’s a shame, because they’re leaving so much money on the table.
I applaud those people who do test. The problem, however, is that some of them reveal their test results, share their insights, and make claims, which can be a bad thing.
Sure, test results are cool. Perhaps even insightful. But some may be misinterpreted, and doing so also feeds into this lackadaisical mindset of those non-testers, thinking that such test results are universally applicable and therefore testing is unnecessary.
Taking any test result as gospel, without validation, can be an expensive proposition…
I always recommend you test everything first. Never take any test result as applicable to your specific situation. Even mine, as I do share my test results from time to time.
Why? Because only a handful of these test results, if any (and believe me, they are rare), are statistically significant enough to be truly portable to other offers or markets.
So, you’re probably scratching your head, wondering:
“What good are test results, then?”
Now, I agree that some results, tested thoroughly under various conditions, can be widely accepted. They have slim margins of error, and they’re statistically valid enough that the likelihood of achieving the same kinds of results in another area is higher.
(Then again, those “surefire” test results are equally limited in their application, as they were generated at specific points in time. They may change over time as markets evolve. So even the best test results are never constant.)
It’s true, however, that having access to someone else’s test results—like the ones I reveal in my Copy Doctor membership website —puts you several steps ahead of trying to blindly test anything without any help or direction, let alone of testing nothing at all.
Knowing what to test is an awesome benefit.
Never discount other people’s test results. Look at them as pointers, which are great ideas for testing. But they are not, and should never be taken as, absolutes.
Each “pointer” any marketer gives has been achieved under very specific and sometimes very unique conditions. Duplicating those results is highly contingent on duplicating the same conditions under which those tests were conducted.
For example, if you’re testing colors, then the target market, the type of product, the price point, and the offer have all played immense roles in the weight of those test results. And even if there’s a small chance that they are the same as yours, the time during which the tests were conducted is definitely different.
Let me give you some examples.
Last year, another copywriter posted his test results on a popular Internet marketing forum. I agree with most of them, largely because they seem to parallel mine, but there were a few exceptions. So I’ve added some of my comments, reprinted here…
1. Your headline should always be in Tahoma, dark red, size 20. It must also have quotation marks before and after. Also, headlines that start with “Who Else” always gets a higher response.
Yes, that’s what I’ve tested, too. But the results do vary. On average, the increase is less than 100%. Even less than 50%. (Meaning, they don’t double or more, as some marketers suggest.) And in some cases, the response went down rather than up.
In the majority of tests, we found the greatest bump in results has less to do with colors than it has with the headline’s distinctive appeal. In other words, when the headline is distinctly different than the rest of the body copy, it draws more attention.
For instance, sans-serif fonts for headlines and headers (i.e., subheads within the copy), when the body copy uses serif fonts—and vice versa—have the best results. Dark red headlines, and then dark blue, seem to outpull other colors.
Sans-serif are proportional width fonts with no curlicues, such as Tahoma, Trebuchet, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, Geneva, etc—this blog uses Arial, for example. Serif fonts have curlicues, such as Times New Roman, Schoolbook, Georgia, Garamond, etc.
Serif fonts are best with a primarily technophobic audience.
(Technophobes are people who are not technically inclined, such as newbies or people who are averse to technology. Granted, as more and more people use technology on a regular basis, technophobes are a shrinking bunch.)
With technophiles, on the other hand (i.e., people who love and use technology a lot), I’ve had better results with sans-serif fonts used within the body copy, and even sans-serif fonts for the main headline and headers throughout the copy.
My guess as to why all of this is so? For technophobes, serif fonts mimic direct mail and offline communications, which non-techies are used to. Objectively, delivering copy in the format your audience is used to as much as possible is the key.
The middle ground for both seems to be fixed-width fonts, such as Courier or Courier New. If your audience is comprised of both ends of the spectrum of what Jupiter Research calls “technographics”—similar to demographics—Courier is your safest bet.
My theory is, Courier mimics plain text email for technophiles and typewriter type for technophobes, thus appealing to both. So if you’re not sure of your target market’s technographics, use Courier or Courier New as your main font to play it safe.
Bottom line, it depends on the audience.
And without a doubt, doing proper market research before you do any split-testing—or worse, guessing from the get-go—will tell you a lot about your audience as to what will appeal to them best. (I’ll come back to the whole “who else” argument a little later.)
2. Your headline should be simple and focus only on the SINGLE biggest benefit of your product (don’t try to get fancy and do heaps of benefits at once). Make it clear and compelling.
True. But again, that’s a suggestion. In fact, I’ve found that using less and less benefits in your headline increases response, likely because benefit-driven headlines alerts the reader that what follows is a salesletter. (And people hate being sold.)
I’ve had good results with headlines that didn’t have any benefits at all. Such as…
Newsy, editorial-like headlines,
Headlines that introduce a story,
Headlines that ask a question,
Headlines that give an incomplete idea,
Headlines that start a conversation,
And so on.
These headlines pull the reader into the copy, especially because they start an idea, imply a benefit (rather than state one outright), pique the reader’s curiosity, ask a question, or continue the conversation going on in the mind of the reader.
Here are some examples of classic headlines that are not benefit-driven but have historically proven to be for some of the most profitable ads in history:
“Do You Make These Mistakes In English?”
“The Tale Of Two Young Men”
“The Insult That Made A Man Out Of Mac”
“When Doctors Feel Rotten, This Is What They Do”
“Often A Bridesmaid, Never A Bride”
“Using A Lawyer May Be Dangerous To Your Wealth”
“Have You Ever Seen a Grown Man Cry?”
Again, there are no real or direct benefits in these headlines. But there’s either an implied benefit, or a statement that tickles people’s curiosity and forces them to start reading, which is the whole purpose of a headline in the first place.
Now, some people have ranted and raved about the “who else” headline. I tested this headline like crazy. Personally, I hate it. But like it or not, it seems to pull more than any other headline I’ve tried—granted, it is slowly declining in recent times.
In fact, while I’m at it let me share with you five headline types I’ve tested, which have produced some of the highest responses—and the reasons I believe they work…
1. “Who Else”
The “who else” headline is based on the original classic, “Who Else Wants a Screen Star Figure?” This type of headline is the winner is most of my tests, and now used by countless marketers. I’m sure you’ve come across at least one of them.
Mind you, the second winner in line is not too far down. So “Who else” may be the winner but the margin is slim. Plus, recent tests show that the response for a “who else” headline is declining, likely due to is overuse.
In other words, just like the benefit-driven headline, too many marketers use “who else” nowadays, and therefore people are becoming more aware of it. It screams “salesletter!” and thus scares readers off when they see it being used.
2. “If/Then”
This headline is very close to “who else” in terms of concept.
It was used in one of the most successful ad campaigns for self-made multi-millionaire Charles Givens, written by one of my favorite copywriters, Gary Bencivenga.
Since then, it has been used in many other industries with great success. For example, it also worked in an ad for exercise guru Richard Simmons, which basically said something like, “If you give me 20 minutes a month, then I guarantee you will lose weight.”
I’ve also used this type of headline with John Reese’s Traffic Secrets, the salesletter that sold over a million dollars worth of product in under one day. It started as, “If you can copy and paste, then you have what it takes to…”
Simply, it promises a benefit but only if the reader can meet a very simple, very obvious condition. In other words, “If you meet this condition, then I will make this promise.”
The key is that the condition must be easy to meet. If the condition is too hard, it defeats the purpose of using such a headline. Also, if your target customer can easily meet the condition, this type of headline can also act as an effective qualifier.
3. “Give Me/And I’ll”
This is close to the “if/then” headline. Essentially, rather than asking if the reader meets a condition, it makes a promise or offers a benefit when the reader meets it.
In other words, it doesn’t put any condition on the reader but rather asks a small favor from her, which is a simple request that’s obviously easy to do, and disproportionate to the value of the benefit they receive in return for complying.
It goes something like this: “Give me something (i.e., do something or meet this condition), and in return I’ll make you this promise (i.e., you will enjoy this benefit).”
This highlights a classic Cialdini principle, the Principle of Reciprocity. Dr. Robert Cialdini, in his famous book “Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion,” states that when you do someone a favor, people will feel obligated to return it.
In this case, the headline is asking for a favor and promises to return it.
Take a look at Alex Mandossian’s Traffic Conversion Secrets course, which was a teleseminar series delivered over eight months. The headline goes: “Give Me 8 Months, And I’ll Spoonfeed You My Tested Methods For Converting More Visitors Into Cash.”
4. “How To”
The “how-to” headline is self-explanatory. Any headline that says “how to [achieve a result]” has been a surefire winner in many cases. I use it all the time. And the reason is, the headline makes the salesletter look more like an article or editorial.
Regardless of whichever headline method you choose, your salesletter should always provide some informative or educational content. But the goal is to deliver the “what” and to sell them on the “how,” which is only achieved by buying your product.
For example…
“How to Transform Your Unproductive Website Into a Raging Cash Machine.”
“How to Grow Bigger, Plumper, Juicier Tomatoes in Only Two-Thirds of The Time.”
“How to Get a Near-New Car For 60% Less at Government Seizure Auctions.”
5. Third-Person Verbs
Headlines that start with a verb have always produced really good results.
Verbs that direct the audience to do something, often to receive a benefit or to achieve a certain result, have always given great test results. Verbs like “Discover,” “Master,” “Access,” “Get,” “Learn,” “Conquer,” “Build,” and so on work well.
But here’s the kicker. In recent tests, I’ve learned that, in some instances, putting your verbs in the third person increases response. It’s an idea I got from copywriter Bob Bly.
He tells the story of an ad that had a typo. The ad was for a course on how to play the piano. The intended headline was, “Put Music Back Into Your Life.” The typo was an extra “s” accidentally placed after the verb “put,” as in “Puts Music Back Into Your Life.”
At first, the error was disconcerting to the ad owner.
But to their surprise, they realized that error multiplied the ad’s response. My theory? The third person makes the headline appear as if the product or service does the work for you rather than you doing it yourself. It seems effortless.
In Bly’s example, rather than asking the reader to “put music back into her life,” the ad implied that the course does it for them.
Again, it goes to the natural human propensity of getting things done. It’s all about convenience and laziness. And after I heard about it, I’ve tested it with great results.
My friend Armand Morin tested this, too, with his directory generator software. The headline says, (this software) “Instantly Creates a New Breed of Website…” rather than “Instantly Create a New Breed of Website” (with this software).
3. Add audio directly underneath your headline. But not just any audio. You want audio that excites your reader and keeps them reading. Don’t waffle on. Keep it short and sweet.
I agree. This is a test I made based on a suggestion from my friend John Reese. John used it with his AuctionSecrets.com website, and told me his sales increased significantly. So I tried it. And after testing it got a 44% increase in response.
It is particularly effective when combined with a “who else” headline. The question in the headline, using “who else” (or any other question, for that matter), immediately engages the reader—at least to listen to the audio, since the audio answers the question.
Used in concert with the “If/Then” and “Give Me/And I’ll” headlines, the audio finishes the statement, answers the question, or offers a benefit when they meet the condition.
After it asks you, “do you meet this condition?” the headline directs the reader to listen to the audio for a very special message if they do meet it. In other words, the audio says, “I can make this promise (or you can enjoy this benefit),” or “you should read this copy which is meant specifically for you (because you meet this condition),” etc.
4. Pepper your order links throughout your copy (not just at the end like most people). Repeat them again and again before the end.
Now, this is a bit contentious.
I found that it depends on the product. What I discovered was that removing all links and leaving only the one single order link increased response dramatically, especially for long copy, one-time purchases—especially with information products.
Why? Because more often than not, adding too many links gives people an opportunity to procrastinate and bail out. If you have long copy, and since people never read long copy at first, they will then scan your copy to justify the need to read it in the first place.
Often, they will want to know the price, not to discover if there’s any value in the offer—besides, how can they know when they haven’t read it yet?—but to discover if the price justifies the time it will take to read the long copy in the first place.
Increasing the number of links adds “eye gravity,” and gives people a chance to skip the long copy, check out the price before they start reading, and then… leave.
On the other hand, if you sell an inexpensive product, a commodity product, or a digital product, if your audience is on a list to which you can follow-up, and if the copy is highly targeted to an audience that’s already pre-sold (i.e., it’s generated through affiliate promotions that endorse the product), then many links do increase sales.
Because most of the time, people are already sold. They just want to buy.
Armand Morin has tested this extensively—in fact, some of his salesletters have over 100 order links! At first, when I heard he saw a jump in sales because of adding more order links, my assumption was that this was true for all products.
It’s not.
Remember, Armand uses affiliate marketing, a “namesqueeze” process (i.e., an opt-in page before hitting the sales page, so they join a list whether they buy or not), and a carefully crafted autoresponder series that pre-sells the recipient very well.
So when they’ve decided to order, they’re simply led to the sales copy—which is a webpage with many order links. And in this case, doing so boosted sales.
Otherwise, if you sell an expensive product and you really want people to read your copy first, then don’t put too many links. You want to give the least amount of distractions as possible as well as the least amount of opportunities to bail out as possible.
John Reese said it this way:
“Use only one link, mainly in your call-to-action section. And if you want to add more, simply add some after that section, which are not order links but simply anchored bookmarks that jump people back to the call-to-action section.”
(The latter part of John’s tip is presumably because, when people scan, they usually pay attention to the top and the bottom. Which is why headlines and P.S.’s at the end are crucial. But in this case, adding “live” order links after the order section is just another opportunity for people to bail out. That’s my theory, anyway.)
5. Pepper testimonials throughout your copy. Don’t limit your testimonials to blocks somewhere in the middle. Use the first one early on and pepper the others throughout your copy.
My answer to this one is both “yes” and “no.” Yes, you should pepper testimonials throughout. But adding a few together, particularly if they’re similar and serve a specific purpose, also helps to cluster them for greater impact.
However, the real key here is to make them congruent with the thoughts and flow of the copy. Because too many people nowadays plunk their testimonials in huge clusters in the middle of the copy with no purpose or relevance to that particular point in the pitch.
I’ve seen better test results when testimonials are meaningful, not only in themselves but also in terms of how they relate to the rest of the copy at that point. So pick and use testimonials that are relevant to specific sections of your pitch.
For example, say a section in your copy is meant to handle objections pre-emptively. This is a good place to add testimonials from people who were also skeptics, had the same objections, and became convinced after buying the product.
In this case, the testimonial is answering the objection (more specifically, a seemingly objective third party is answering the objection), and not you.
Say you sell a software that promises to increase your search engine rankings. So your copy at some point starts to talk to the skeptic who’s been burnt by other search engine software, and discusses how it really is different than the others.
You tell your reader how different it is from others on the market—likely software people were burnt with—and that the software really does deliver on its promises.
But instead of stating it outright, use testimonials to drive that same point home. The copy might say, after the objection was stated in the copy:
“Mr. Prospect, as you can see, my software truly is unique and better than most alternatives on the market that only offer [lesser result or benefit]. Take the case of John Smith, who nearly didn’t buy my software because he’s not only a diehard skeptic, but also bought other alternatives that produced less than favorable results. He was extremely doubtful and almost didn’t buy the software. But after he reluctantly agree to try the software, here’s what he had to say [followed by his testimonial].”
In my tests, I’ve found that adding testimonials too early in the letter decreases response. Perhaps for the same reasons mentioned earlier: they scream “sales letter!”
Unless you’re selling to an established client base, to a highly targeted audience, or to traffic created by affiliates who pre-sell your product for you (which, in this case, testimonials early in the copy do work well), try to put your testimonials a little later.
I prefer putting them near the introduction of the product, the objections, the offer, the benefits (near a bulleted list of benefits, for example), and of course, the price.
A final note. Actually, a caveat.
Keep in mind that anything I say here may or may not work in your copy.
Just like I said about other people’s test results, mine should be used as guidance, not gospel. I know the chances that they will work are high since I’ve tested them thoroughly.
But never, ever take my word for it. Sure, try them. Test them out. Validate them for yourself and your particular market, industry, and offer. See if my test results match yours. If they do, great. If not, test them again but with other variations, or move on.
And if you have several websites or salesletters, don’t stop there. Test it some more. You’ll be glad you did. Or like some of my students, you’ll be mad—mad because you’ll soon realize how much money you left sitting on the table all this time by not testing.
About the Author
Michel Fortin is a direct response copywriter, author, speaker, and consultant. Visit his blog and signup free to get tested conversion strategies and response-boosting tips by email, along with blog updates, news, and more! Go now to http://www.michelfortin.com. While you're at it, follow him on Twitter.
Today I thought I would stray from my normal writing content and bring you an article that will help you get the most from your website or blog in terms of income streams. It’s all about AdSense today and the article will address how to get an AdSense account so that you can start monetizing your site or blog. After all, if you have an online presence, you are here to make some money, AdSense can help do that for you. Some marketers actually make a living from AdSense alone, but that is a story for another day!
Tips to Get a Google AdSense Account by: Henri Suryanto
To whom it may not familiar with AdSense, It is a Google’s marketing program which allows website/blog owners to generate income from displaying relevant Google ads on their websites. AdSense matches the content of the website to ads within their AdWords program and displays the relevant ads on the website. The website owners will get income from their website visitors clicking the ads. And there are some success stories from people who profiting and earning thousand dollars from Google AdSense
So how you can get those kinds of ads displayed in your website? Basically you have to register you website/blog and get Google’s approval. But unfortunately not every request will get approved. I have a tip for you based on my experience obtaining approval from Google in my first try, here are the steps:
1. Set up your blog with www.blogspot.com. Blogspot is a Google own blogging service. Make a certain theme for your blog and make sure that the theme is a marketable theme.
2. Put several relevant contents to your blog. Google loves contents! If you choose “health” as your theme, then you can write anything about health. But let me remind you, you have to write them in English. If you think you can’t write and not really confident with your English, don’t worry about that. You can find relevant contents in free articles directory such GoArticles.com and Ezinearticles.com but don’t delete the author names and their links (usually available at the bottom of the articles). Don’t take credit on their works.
3. If you have put some relevant contents, wait about two or three days. When you edit the layout or format of your blog, it will appear an offer from Google to apply for Google AdSense account. If the offer does not appear, just visit www.google.com/AdSense and register there.
Believe me, your AdSense account approval will send to your email address in several days and start make money with Google AdSense.
About The Author
Henri Suryanto is a financial analyst and optimize his spare time by making money from the internet. For more tips and internet money making ideas, visit his blog http://sources-onlinebusiness.blogspot.com
I am a freelance writer and owner of The Write Touch 4U Copy Writing service. I am a Generalist writer and exceptional researcher who has written various types of material for numerous clients over the past 14 yrs. I provide "words with positive impact!" Visit my website for details on the services I provide. http://www.thewritetouch4u.com
