Web Copy that Sells – Book 14 of 50!

Done with my 14th book! Maria Veloso’s book “Web Copy That Sells: The Revolutionary Formula for Creating Killer Copy Every Time” 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.