Copywriting Shortcuts

Copywriting is a skill that is developed over years. It is one of those things that we wish was not true. It would be so nice if we could just plop down words and without effort they would just draw people in.

Many of us can not stop what we are doing in our business to really study and build our skills in this area. Here are 2 shortcuts though that will help to improve your writing very easily without too much effort.

1. After you write something make sure it passes the "So What?" test. Read your copy and then ask yourself, "so what?" Do you have a good answer? If not, rewrite. You words should mean something to the reader. What you are saying should have some value and solve a problem for them.

2. Appeal to the pressure points that make people take action. Your words should appeal to a person's sense of fear, greed, guilt or anger offer them exclusivity, salvation or flattery. The list is not pretty, but it is effective.

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Exclusivity

It is so easy to water down your brand. You offer more and more free stuff, you lower your price and you practically beg to get yourself heard and to get customers.

Hey, I admit I have fallen into that trap. Quit it now, it is a method of doom. How cheap are you going to go? How many hoops will you jump through.

If you have a product worth something, then stand up for it. Be proud and wait for the right customers. It never hurts to give something away so that customers can test your product and test you as a business, but don't get caught giving away the keys to the city.

Think about creating a sense of exclusivity around your product. This is the reason high end products work. Don't market in the internet "dollar store." Make sure that what you are selling is worth being in an exclusive market and keep it there.


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Kaizen?

I just learned this great Japanese word, Kaizen. It means to continually improve in a gradual and orderly manner. What a great mission for business and for life. What are you doing to gradually improve?

Too often I find myself like the "hare." I run at full speed then take a nap. It is better to work on your business like the "tortoise." Make an improvement everyday. Set goals and systematically work toward them.

Prioritize your time and your resources and build upon previous work and achievements. Step by step gain customers, improve your service and product, and make more money.


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Creating Expert Status

No matter what your business, your customers what to know that you are an expert. Truly though, how many of us can claim to be an expert in our field? The vast majority people are way to humble to consider themselves and expert, but that is exactly what you need to do!

I am not telling you to lie or make things up, just know more that your customers. Anyone can be an expert relative to someone else. As a science teacher, I would never have compared my knowledge and abilites to those in the scientific community. I knew a whole lot more than my students though. In that situation, I was the expert.

For your business, make sure you know more than your customers and then project that confidence. There will always be people in your industry that know more than you. You just make sure that you know more about your product or service than those you are selling to.

Helping your business grow,
Shelley Brownfield

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Blog Blog and Blog some more

If you are struggling to get your business or website off the ground, or wanting to pick up traffic for free or just wondering about how all this internet marketing stuff works...then get thyself a blog.

I am already seeing web crawlers hitting my brand new blogs after just a day or so.

It is free. It is therapeutic. Don't worry about what to say....just talk or write what comes to mind. If you are true to your own conversational style then people will enjoy reading your work.

I wish I had started this up seriously months ago. I thought that it was going to be just another task on the "to do" list. I find it quite enjoyable though.

If you are going to do it, then do it right. Make sure that you use Feedburner and go through their optimization section. It is just a few clicks, but it is worth it.

Get free sites to advertise your business, a copy of Free Traffic for Broke Marketers and a free trial of Proverbs 31 List! Click here

Free Websites? Top Domain Name too

In my previous post I spoke of the importance of having a web presence. It can be done so inexpensively. Notice though, I did not say for free. There are so many scams and crackpots out there that the average consumer wisely avoids anything that does not have the complete appearance of legitimacy. Do not use the free hosting sites for business use. They are great fun for personal reasons, but most people will never take your business seriously. You usually also have no control over the advertising placed on your site. I have found one notable exception, blogger.com. It can be a great addition to the site that you already own. My blogs are just part of proverbs31list.com

On that same note. Take the time to register your own top level domain name, like proverbs31list.com. It can easily be done for only 10$ or so a year and it is invaluable in helping customers find your website and consider using your services or buying your product.

Hoping your business grows today,
Shelley

Get free sites to advertise your business, a copy of Free Traffic for Broke Marketers and a free trial of Proverbs 31 List! Click here

Building a Web Presence

You have to be on the web. Very few businesses survive, much less thrive without the vast resources and contacts that can be made though the internet.

The good news is that it is so easy for even the technologically resistant to get a website up and running. Like most products and services improvements are contstantly being made. No longer do you have to pay thousands of dollars for someone else to design a website for you. The big guys will still go this route, but for small businesses there are so many more options.

If you do not have a website yet, find a company that will host your site for a fair monthly fee and also will allow you to create your site using their premade designs. It is so simple that most people can have a professional quality website in 30 minutes.

Blogger.com is a perfect example of the variety of options out there.