8 Strategies To Catapult Your Copywriting Skills To The Next Level

By:Stu McLaren

I am about to share with you 8 quick ideas and suggestions to dramatically help you improve your copywriting skills as you get going.

You can use these tips when it comes to creating offers, E-mails and sales letters that grab people’s attention.

So without further ado, here they are!

Number one:

Always write your sales letter with the individual in mind.

Whenever you’re writing a sales letter or an E-mail, you want to write that E-mail or sales letter as though you were talking to one person.

Number two:

Pull them in with the first line.

You’ve got to create interest with the reader, the very first line that they read.

Number three:

Use bullets.

People like to scan, they like to quickly read things as fast as they can, and using bullets makes that whole process a heck of a lot easier. So use them.

Number four:

Just let it flow.

When you’re starting to write a letter, it is very difficult to just start from top to bottom and write everything. When it comes to writing it and actually putting everything down in order, I want you to just write as it’s coming out. You’re going to have moments when inspiration hits you and your pen is going to go like crazy or your fingers are going to go like crazy on the computer keyboard, and I want you to just let it flow.

Number five:

Write like you speak.

I briefly touched on this in one of the earlier points. But it’s much easier for you to envision that you’re communicating with one individual as though you’re having a conversation with that person, because when that person reads your sales letter or your E-mail, they’re going to feel like you’re talking right to them, and that’s exactly what you want.

Number six:

Make your communication easy to read.

What I mean by that is use short paragraphs. Use pictures. I want you to bold certain things. I want you to highlight important areas.

Number seven:

I want you to stress the benefits and not the features.

I want you to put yourself in the shoes of the person reading your communication piece

The number one question that they’re going to be asking is: What’s in it for me? You have to address those things, and you’ve got to stress the benefits of your particular communication piece that you’re trying to use.

Number eight:

I want you to keep the reader interested.

How do you do that? On a sales letter there are a ton of ways that you can keep the reader interested, and I’m going to give you a few of them right now.

- You can use graphs.

- You can use pictures.

- You can use audio.

- You can use video.

- Another one that people love to see are testimonials.

- Another one that you can always use is giving examples of proof.

- Do you have checks?

- Do you have screen shots of people registering for certain things?

Whatever you’re trying to sell or promote, I want you to give proof that it works or that it would provide benefit to the person that is reading it – screen shots, pictures, testimonials – these are all great things of proof.

So there you have it… 8 quick tips to improve your copywriting skills. This is not the be all and end all of copywriting techniques but they will definitely help you jump over some of the hurdles that are standing in your way!

Digg del.icio.us Blink Stumble Spurl Reddit Netscape Furl

Article keywords: Copywriting, Beginner, Marketing, Internet, Internet Marketing

Article Source: http://www.articles2k.com

Don’t let your brainchild go to waste! Discover how to start making money with your ideas by grabbing a special report entitled 11 Creative Methods To Make More Money With Your Ideas In Less Time And With Less Effort at your source for creativity

Top Copywriting Articles
1). Writing SEO Copy – 8 Steps to Success By : Glenn Murray We all know that the lion’s share of web traffic comes through the search engines. We also know that keywords and links to your site are the two things that affect your ranking in the search engines. Your keywords tell the search engines what you do, and the inbound links tell them how important you are. This combination is what determines your relevance.
2). Stop Stealing my Copyrights By : steve barnes Have you ever been stolen from? Do you know how it feels? You work hard to achieve, to acquire, or to create and then some undeserving fool steps in and takes it all away from you. You feel violated! Your efforts were in vain. Something meaningful that was rightfully yours is snatched away. As a young man, I developed a real love for music. I grew up in it, with Mom on the piano, my uncle on the guitar, and my aunt and sisters singing.
3). The most sacred secrets of copywriting services By : Peter Finers Successful copywriting is one of the most important elements of your advertising. It attracts attention of your potential customers and makes your message memorable and it might induce your clients to take some actions. Many research in psychology show that words may affect our vision, they may either change our depressed mood or uplift our spirit. Words can convince other people to hold a particular point of view or adopt certain way of live or belief.
4). Copy Makeovers Made Easy By : RBoduch Copy makeovers can work magic. Perhaps all you need is a little medicine... and not major surgery. Take whatever sales copy you have now and modify it. Recast, rework and repackage what you've got. Chances are you’re sitting on some solid (yet hidden) sales material. Often simple copy makeovers can work wonders in terms of response. So, before you crumple it up and toss your sales letter in the trash, try tweaking it first.
5). Sales Letters that Sell! By : Alex A. Kecskes The average consumer is inundated with sales pitches. So if you’re selling a product or service to today’s ad weary consumer, if you want your sales letters to get results, you’ll need a step-by-step plan that breaks down the barriers to buying. A plan that bypasses the head and goes right for the heart. If the heart’s in it, the brain will follow.
6). Copywriting Basics - Answer The Questions You'd Want Answered By : George Dodge Anyone can write effective Internet copy. You just have to know a few copywriting basics known to journalists and writers as the 5 W's. Throw one "H" in there and all your copywriting basics are covered. Who? Tell the reader who your product will help. This should be your target market. What? Tell your reader what your product or service will do to improve their lives.
7). 9 Essential Items Your Website Copywriter Must Know About Your Business BEFORE Writing a Word… By : Alan Richardson …And if he’s not asking, you don’t want him writing for you. It’s pretty much a given…when you hire a copywriter for your newly designed web site, your getting someone with above average writing skills. But the best copywriters are more than merely good writers. They are expert interviewers, researchers and marketers. Before sitting down to compose.
8). Pharmaceutical Copywriter? Maybe? By : Anthony Hemsey DOLA So you are just getting out of college. You want to earn your living as a writer, and you decide on a career as an advertising copywriter. Naturally everyone wants to write the next great sneaker ad, or be the brainchild of the newest 20-year Vodka campaign, right? Not so fast. While a career in “consumer” advertising has always been the benchmark of the industry, more and more young copywriters are finding their way in the growing world of pharmaceutical advertising.
9). Does Your Copywriting Trigger What Makes Your Visitors Buy? By : Jeff Baas You study your website stats and see the amount of traffic coming through. Nice numbers. But when you compare your traffic against your sales, what do you get? A small fraction of 1%? Wouldn't you love to see those conversions grow? But how can you get them to buy? The secret isn't some magic trick or tool. But your Internet marketing is just shooting into the dark if you don't know the needs that lead people to buy and how to focus your copywriting to tap those needs.
10). Writing Benefit-Driven Web Copy – 4 Steps to More Sales By : Glenn Murray You've identified the benefits you offer your customers, but how do you turn a list of benefits into engaging web copy which converts visitors into customers? Recently I wrote an article explaining how to identify the benefits you offer your customers (http://www.divinewrite.com/benefits.htm). That article challenged business owners and marketing managers to think in terms of benefits rather than features when writing their web copy.

New Copywriting Articles
1). Make Money Online By Becoming A Ghostwriter By : Joshua Spaulding Anyone can make money online by being a freelance article writer. You do not have to know perfect English and the best part is, there are thousands of webmasters that are just too lazy to write their own articles.
2). How Copywriters Can Cultivate Quality Clients By Creating Powerful Newsletters By : Chris Marlow How copywriters can cultivate quality clients by creating powerful ezines that develop a loyal and eager readership.
3). How Copywriters Can Bounce Back After a Client Messes Up a Direct Marketing Campaign By : Chris Marlow How copywriter can set themselves up for success - and what to do when a campaign still fails.
4). A Different Way to Generate Leads By : Victoria Rosendahl Generate leads for your copywriting business by turning convention on its head.
5). Keyword Use That Goes Beyond the Search Engines By : Karon Thackston © 2006, All Rights Reserved It seems to be a single-sided debate. When you mention keyword use, all thoughts normally go to the search engines. Copywriting, however, is more about your human visitors than it is the engines. In fact, even the mainstay of SEO copywriting (keywords) is based on a need to spur visitors along as they work through the information on your site.
6). What Does It Take To Succeed As An Independent Copywriter? By : Marcia Yudkin In looking back on the nearly four dozen aspiring copywriters I've trained and mentored over the years and asking which personal qualities posed challenges and roadblocks and which enable beginners to carve out a lasting niche for themselves, I have zeroed in on four key skill areas. To build and sustain a copywriting or marketing consulting business, you need to be or become good in these four competencies: 1.
7). Making It Easy for Customers To Choose You By : Karon Thackston © 2006, All Rights Reserved Isn't it frustrating? All you need is a new computer desk (or whatever you may be currently shopping for), but you can't make a decision you're comfortable with. It shouldn't be this hard, should it? What's holding you back? Probably lack of information. Here's something every web site owner should know. When visitors come to your site, they are looking for a reason to buy from you.
8). Copywriting Tips That Will Make Your Visitors Buy! By : John Navata Copyright 2006 John Navata You wouldn't believe how many web sites don't ask for the sale! After all the work people put into their salescopy, describing the benefits of their product, and leading people through their sales process, they overlook one simple but VERY IMPORTANT "call to action": "Click here now to buy." And that oversight could be losing them 20% of their potential sales! If you want people to take action on your site (buy, subscribe, fill out a request for more info, etc.
9). Website Copywriter Tips: Web Copy Sabotage By : The Rezon8or How does your personality affect your web copy? Whether you mean to or not, your site reflects you in ways you might not notice: sometimes good, sometimes bad. While personality peccadilloes can be endearing in social situations, minor personality flaws can cause web copy sabotage. So before you get out your keyboard, get out a mirror. Why not see.
10). Website Copywriter Tips: Web Copy 101 By : The Rezon8or You already know how to create great web copy. Just remember your childhood nursery rhymes. As silly as it sounds, “3 Blind Mice” will show you the way. For some reason, “3 Blind Mice” paid me a visit. As I heard the 100th replay, it hit me – this would make great web copy. As a matter of fact, this simple little ditty contains 10 elements of Web Copy 101.