KianAnn.com: Live Life

财神爷 has come to my neighborhood. So it’s time to HUAT!

The 财神 is very big! Means my HUAT will also be very big?

My first successful curry chicken attempt… and it is the “instant” type. The type you get from supermarkets, not wet market.

Don’t ask why I threw away a full pot of “curry” in my previous experience. Muahahah… total flop.

I realise its been some time since I really typed my thoughts here. I’ve been busy… like REALLY busy.

The idea that “2010 is here” has set in, and while one part of me is awsomely excited about the progress I’ve set out to make this year – getting and moving into a new home, get back my fitness, better focus in business… I also feel horribly stressed at times to fulfill the goals I’ve set for myself.

But I think stress is good. Without stress, there will be little progress.

Jia You Kian Ann!

Test photo blogging from my iPhone! Let’s see how this works out.

Pretty cool eh? I can’t rename photos before uploading though. Filename not too good for SEO!

(this post’s layout was re-edited on a browser’s WordPress admin)

I still prefer it black. Perharps the white was too… pure.

Besides, black is cooler.

Had the opportunity to watch a video of keynote speech a featuring Guy Kawasaki, on “The Art of the Start”. Interesting and useful.

1. create meaning, not money
2. create a mantra
3. get going – think different, polarize people, find a few soul mates (complementary skills)
4. define a business model – be specific, keep it simple, ask women about your business model
5. weave a MAT (milestones, assumptions, tasks)
6. niche thyself – create a unique product that is valuable to the customer
7. follow 10/20/30 rule – 10 slides, 20 minutes, smallest font is 30pts (title, problem, solution, business model, underlying magic, marketing and sales, competition, team, projection, status and timeline)
8. hire infected people
9. lower barriers to adoption – make it easy to adopt
10. seed the clouds – get it out there
11. don’t lets bozos pull you down

Even though my birthday is still some time away, I’ve got my first birthday gift today! Its from my mum and dad! See!

So cuuuuuute! hahahah!

Thanks PaMa!

This is a test post from the WordPress 2 app! Hurray!

This is amazing.

How to Write Great Copy by Dominic Gettins is an excellent book if you are a copywriter who is writing ads for print and most traditional media.

Unfortunately for me, I am focusing on web sales copy, and in the book Gettins did not touch much on how to write that hypnotic-syle copy that gets customers clammering with their credit cards… so I glimpsed through a lot of the pages.

There are good, interesting and very relevant points in the book though.

Here’s my summary.

1. Eight rules of copywriting
• Know your target market.
• Do research.
• Answer the brief.
• Be relevant.
• Be objective.
• Keep it simple.
• Know your medium.
• Be ambitious.
2. Getting noticed – first job of the ad.
3. Look for opportunities to build buzz.
4. Be specific to pinpoint who you are talking to. Go and talk to them!
5. When you can pinpoint who it is, you will know better how to talk to them.
6. Talk the same language as your audience. What appeals or amuses them?
7. Do research – media, subject matter, read something fresh, don’t make up things from your own head.
8. The ad should only have one message. What is this message and how does it benefit the customer?
9. Don’t use up all the space or minutes just because you were given. Say what is relevant, then stop.
10. Don’t say the same thing that you are saying in pictures.
11. Don’t get "too creative" and lose the message.
12. To be relevant, communicate.
13. The very fact that there is a need for advertising shows people don’t care what you do. You need to find a point of contact.
14. Tell the truth with a spin. "We’re number two, we try harder"
15. Keep the message and ad simple.
16. Avoid
    • Complicated tense – use first person.
    • Complicated construction – use short sentences.
    • Stresses – reduce the copy until everything will be read without bolding.
    • Cliches, mini cliches, long words.
    • "-ing" sentences.
    • Dull words.  Use active descriptive words.
    • Showing off talent. No flowery scripts.
    • Showing off knowledge.
    • Undesirable personal styles – agency or personal marks.
    • Bad dialogue – don’t copy real dialogues exactly.
    • Redundant words and sentences.
    • Abstract words.
    • Mistakes – spelling, grammar.
    • Sloppy layout.
    • Unintentional repetitions.
    • Adjectives that don’t mean much.
    • Ambiguity – could the sentence possibly have another meaning?
17. Know your media.
18. Radio – cut your talk as much as you can.
19. Poster – 6 words or less. Really need to stand out.
20. Press copy – go for long copy. make sure the copy flows. Aim for reading age of 12, but don’t write like a 12 year old, be original, not overly
21. Television – spend time on your script.
22. Be ambitous and crazy with your ideas.
23. To get ideas, go out more. Look at more simulating things to feed the brain.
24. Use freelancers only for a quiet life, and simplicity of working with them.
25. Review and improve your work.

On to the next book! whee!!

Done with my 14th book! Maria Veloso’s book “Web Copy the Sells” is an excellent book if you want to learn about copywriting for the Internet.

This is in fact, my second time reading through this book – first time reading it in detail and taking notes, though. Here are my notes.

1. Words are the currency of the web.
2. Direct response copy – produce immediate and measurable results.
3. Need to model the process which the copy has been written.
4. Rule 1: Don’t make the website look like an ad. Use editorial style, free of hype.
5. Develop irresistable content that slides smoothly into covert sales pitch for your product.
6. Rule 2: Stop readers dead in their tracks.
7. Rule 3: Capture email addresses.
8. Less than 5% of your visitors will buy. Don’t lose there people.
9. On the web, people buy from people they like and trust.
10. The first fold is most important – logo not important. Headline must be there.
11. A headline calls out to a specific audience.
12. Ask questions, let the reader imagine what will happen.
13. Put a testimonial early in the copy.
14. Use conversational style.
15. Communicate a clear benefit.
16. Testimonial in 2nd fold, and at order form.
17. Write in simple vocabulary.
18. Write scanable copy – bullet lists, highlighting, subheads, one idea a paragraph, inverted pyramid style (important stuff first)
19. Use boxes to feature interesting ancetdotes.
20. Words tell, emotions sell.
21. To learn, write a good copy out by hand.
22. Try www.magicwordsthatmakeyourich.com
23. Before you write, know your objective, your audience, your product.
24. Five questions you must ask. Answer factually.
    • What is the problem? Write downa specific problem.
    • Why hasn’t the problem been solved?
    • What is possible? What is the promise? What will happen when the problem is solved?
    • What is different now? What makes your product different? State your USP.
    • What should you do now? State specifically what your prospect needs wto do.
25. After answering the 5 questions:
    • Inject emotion in each element.
    • Add bullets, bonuses, guarantee and close.
    • Reveal the price only at the end.
    • People are ready to buy at different points of the copy. Have many closes!
    • Add credibility building elements – testimonials, stories, facts, case studies, quotes, stats.
    • Add psychological devices.
    • Replace rational words with emotional words. Replace "if" with "when"
    • The "reason why" device – give people a reason why you are doing something. The word ‘because’ is powerful.
    • The Zeigarnik effect – there is mental tension and unbalance caused by uncompleted tasks. Minimize unnecessary links, follow a linear path in your copy.
    • The cliffhanger principle – tell them something that leaves them hanging and curious.
26. NLP
    • embedded commands (writing in positives), e.g. I wonder how quickly you are going to buy this product? Write the command first then embed it in a sentence
    • presuppositions e.g. what would you do if you earned $2000 more a month? Gets them presupposing they actually earned $2000 more a month.
    • linguistic binds. As you (state something obvious), you begin to (what you want them to think). First part obvious, second part is what you want your reader to think.
    • reframing – shifting the focus to something more desirable, justify the price by comparing to something more expensive.
    • Commitment/Consistency element of influence – early in the copy, ask as question that they will not answer ‘no’ to, during the close, get them to be consistent with what they agreed earlier.
    • Cognitive dissonance – early in the copy, write a promise so that they will think "this is exactly what I need"!
27. Involvement devices – help them get focused and involved on the copy.
28. AIDA – Attention, Interest, Desire, Action
29. Know what is a feature and what is a benefit. Use "which means" to find the benefit.
30. Create and communicate your USP. "Unlike most other …. , we …"
31. Make the offer irresistable – how will they gain pleasure or avoid pain?
32. 16 desires – power, independance, curiosity, acceptance, order, saving, honour, idealism, social contact, family, status, vengence, romance, eating, physical exercise, tranquility.
33. Add testimonials to add credibility. Collect them and ask for permission to publish them. Testimonials need to be specific and quantifiable.
34. Introducing the cost
    • minor purchase – compare with something which people would buy without much thinking
    • daily cost – breakdown to how much it costs per day
    • Order form
    • check box
    • summary of offer, bonuses, guarantee
    • price
    • assurance of secure ordering
    • how the product will be delivered and when
    • testimonial
35. Money back guarantee – "Do this, and if you don’t get this result, then simply give us a call and we will cheerfully refund your entire purchase"
36. The close – need to inject urgency with free gift, time limited offer, limited supply offer, notification the price will go up.
37. Call to action – always use action words. "Click the download button to start your 30 day free trial"
38. Most people don’t buy on their first visit – collect email addresses with an opt in form!
39. Writing a riveting headline
    • write 30 to 50 headlines before deciding which to use.
    • step back for a day and read with fresh perspective.
    • ask, how can the headline be any better?
    • don’t take shortcuts, it is most important part of sales copy. It determines what percentage of people read your sales letter
    • convey a benefit – gain pleasure or avoid pain, appeal to emotions, specific, call out to specific audience
    • use editorial style
    • reframe your benefits to appeal to emotions.
    • frame it between quotation marks – 28 more attention!
    • use an imperative voice, starting with action words.
    • short sentences, simple words, small paragraphs.
    • use words daringly, no need to be "politically correct"
    • no buzzwords, no corporatespeak, no cliches, be specific
    • write to communicate, not to inform.
40. Early in the copy, give a compelling promise why they need to read the entire letter
41. Establish early who the writer is – credibility important.
42. Write in the first person.
43. Use a drop cap.
44. Have different price points that cater to different people
45. Ask question to get them wondering, don’t make claims.
46. Admit flaws if you can refame them into benefits. Admitting flaws makes you credible.
47. Have text links to direct them to order button straight.
48. Make purchasing look easy – "click here to … ", avoid "buy now" or "order".
49. Web copy should be long enough to make the sale. Period.
50. Use http://www.webcopywritinguniversity.com/formula.htm to evaluate your sales copy and fix the flaws
51. Have a good email signature – with a call to action (which collects people into your marketing list)
52. More people use email than surf the web.
53. Use email to build relationships.
54. Email monetizes the lifetime value of a customer.
55. Customer lifetime x Sales per custoer x Number of referrals x Percentage of referrals that become customer = LTV
56. Emails retain customers.
57. Understand the reader’s frame of mind when you are doing email marketing – the last thing they want to read is junk mail or advertisements.
58. Email should be personal and conversational.
59. Write as if you are talking to one person, not mass mailing.
60. Deliver what you promise, don’t break the trust.
61. Test with a spam checker to make sure your email will be delivered well.
62. Emails that sell
    • Compelling subject line – As if you are sending to friend
    • From line should be a person name, not company name.
    • Personalization might not always be the best thing. They may be overused.
    • Use "this", "here is", "about your", "…" and an uncompleted sentence.
    • Avoid words that indicate any buying or investment of money.
    • Opening sentence as if you are speaking to a friend – say hi!
    • First screen must be to the point.
    • One email, one message, one call to action.
    • Provide value in the email!
    • Emphasise the benefit.
    • Have a call to action.
63. Start by writing down 3 words you want to communicate with your reader.
64. How to activate prospect’s RAS
    • Ask them to write something down
    • Create a small but entertaining or interesting activity
    • Ask them to answer a poll or survey
    • "Please forward"
65. Always test the strategies with your list!
66. Opt in offer is more important than anything else!
    • compelling title speaking to needs of target audience
    • appetizing benefits
    • ease and speed (instant gratification)
    • assurance of privacy
    • form to collect first name ane email
67. Free newsletter / ezines are not attractive enough to be the primary opt in offer.
68. In general, prospects must see / hear your message 7 times before they buy.
69. Crafting autoresponders
70. Ask them to consume what you sent them, not keep as digital junk.
71. State a benefit in each email you send out when you promote your product.
72. Autoresponders can go to customers to reinforce the purchase, get feedback.
73. 60 – 80 characters in width, max.
74. Writing free reports and promo articles – must brand you as the expert.
75. Make reading time for each newsletter less than 5 mins. Putting "Estimated reading time" is useful.
76. Writing online ads – make people curious, get people to opt in, don’t sell, must shout out a benefit
77. Track and fix your copy to keep improving it, learn from your audience over time.
78. Ask the buyers – What are the reasons that motivated you to buy? Why didn’t you buy? Can you list the top benefits? Was there anything confusing about the order?
79. Use rotator scripts, ad tracking software, email marketing services to keep track.
80. Use webFerret to find out which sites link to your competitors’ use 2bpop to find an email address on the site.