copywriting

6 Copywriting Techniques That Will Boost Your Conversions

If you’re wondering why your landing pages aren’t making you as much money as you had hoped for, you might be using common landing page copywriting techniques the wrong way.

While the six copywriting techniques we’re about to cover have been proven to work, too many marketers use them in a way that cancels out their otherwise potent conversion power.

This really is too bad because your landing page could be raking in larger profits if you only paid closer attention to how you implement these proven techniques.

The good news is that once you become aware of how badly you may be implementing these techniques, you can quickly fix them.

The key is to become aware that you’re using them the wrong way in the first place.

1: Tell A Story To Personalize Your Landing Page’s Value

Storytelling is one of the most powerful landing page copywriting techniques you can use. Not only do you pull your reader into the scenario your offer addresses, you also create emotional urgency with your offer.

Once emotionally engaged, chances are much higher that your viewer would enter his or her email address or make a purchase.

Awesome, right?

Well, sadly, too many marketers tell stories that are simply worthless.

They are duds.

They seem too good to be true. They show extreme conditions. They simply fail to convert.

What went wrong?

The stories most marketers tell in their landing pages fail to focus on putting a human face on the problem the reader is facing.

Instead, these low converting landing pages tend to present almost ‘too good to be true’ situations.

If you want your landing page stories to convert, take the most probable circumstances faced by your target audience members and base your stories on these.

These realistic stories are more believable because more of your audience members can relate to them.

By the way, if you are serious and want to avoid the most serious mistakes that novice copywriters make, then make sure you download this free report called Copywriting Blunders. This is a premium free report that takes you through each and every one of the worst mistakes a copywriter can make and you can find it here.

2: Use A Question As A Header Title For Your Landing Page

Questions are very powerful ‘centering’ devices because they draw your prospects attention to one central concept or a small set of concepts. Questions help narrow and define the problems and situations your offer addresses.

If a question is well-defined, it is easier to present your solution and it is easier for the prospect to see the value in your solution.

Sadly, too many marketers use a header question that has little to do with the questions their target audience members care about the most. For example, the question focuses on cost when most users are actually interested in saving time.

To fix this problem, figure out the primary concern of your target audience members and pose relevant header questions.

3: Change Up Your Font To Emphasize Key Points Of Your Pitch

When you’re talking to somebody, you normally change your tone of voice when you are trying to emphasize certain things. By the same token, text in bold or italics or larger, ‘special’ fonts tend to be noticed more.

The problem here is that too many marketers overuse these font changes. They use them so much that the reader is confused or reads the text like the formatting isn’t even there.

To maximize the impact of special fonts when emphasizing key points in your landing page text, make sure you use them SPARINGLY.

Keep special fonts to a minimum so when you do emphasize certain words, they truly STAND OUT.

4: Use testimonials from happy customers

One of the most powerful selling tools you can use is social proof. People are more likely to buy whatever you are offering if they see that other people have had positive experiences with what you’re selling.

Pretty simple, right?

In fact, this is so simple that you’d think this would be hard to screw up.

Wrong. Marketers actually blow this all the time.

The key problem is RESTRAINT.

Steer clear of using overly positive testimonials that may look fake. People are very suspicious of overly positive testimonials. ‘Over the top’ recommendations make them skeptical.

Make sure you only use REAL testimonials on your landing page.

Real testimonials are grounded in reality. This means there’s a mix of both positive and not-so-positive elements in the testimonials.

Above all else, use testimonials from happy customers who got results that are not outliers.

Otherwise, your testimonials might seem too good to be true and won’t carry much weight with people you’re trying to convince.

5: List Out The Benefits Of What You’re Promoting

One of the most common, yet powerful, copywriting tips you’ll ever come across is to write out benefits of your product, not features.

People buy based on benefits not features. Benefits solve their problems. Benefits are easier to understand. Features, on the other hand, tend to degenerate into so much sales talk and technical jargon.

Sadly, too many marketers list SO MANY BENEFITS, they flood their prospects with information. This data overflow leads to, you guessed it, lower conversions.

Your landing page shouldn’t read like a laundry list or check list. Instead it should be focused on a very small set of benefits which were strategically selected to appeal to your target readers. To figure out which benefits to focus on, ask your target audience members.

Of course, you need to cross reference this information with the landing pages of your competitors to make sure you’re operating in the right ballpark.

6: Link Your Call To Action With The End Result Your Target Customers Want

One of the most useful copywriting conversion tricks you could ever learn involves pairing a call to action to a specific benefit the reader wants.

For example, instead of relying on the tired and weak “Click Here” try using “To finally get rid of the high costs and headaches of random outsourcing, enter your email here to take your labor sourcing results to the next level!” See the difference?

People buy because they are looking for solutions. By pairing the action you want people to take with the benefit they are looking for, you increase the likelihood they will take that action. Clear, right?

Well, marketers tend to blow this technique when they end up listing a ton of benefits with the call to action. Not only does this result in horrible run on sentences, this dilutes the conversion power of your call to action.

The reader is simply too confused to take any action at this point.

The solution?

Focus on one central benefit and pair that with the conversion action.

This is quite risky because your target audience might be looking for a number of benefits instead of just one.

This is where split testing comes in. Test different landing pages with different action-tied benefits and see which pages produce the best results with your traffic.

Don’t Be A Victim Of ‘Proven’ Landing Copywriting Techniques

Make no mistake about it, the landing page copywriting techniques we’ve just covered can turn your landing pages into quick winners.

However, you have to use them the right way. Avoid the common implementation pitfalls outlined and truly take your landing page conversion rates to the next level!

Copywriting For Beginners: How To Write Good Sales Copy

Learning to write good sales copy isn’t something you can learn by reading a quick tutorial – it takes practice. Although you probably won’t turn into a world-famous copywriter overnight, there are a few tips you can use to increase the response from your sales letters.

The first thing you should learn is that the headline is incredibly important. If your headline is terrible – or worse – boring, most people won’t even read the rest of your sales letter. A headline needs to be exciting, enticing, and intriguing.

It needs to grab the attention of your visitor quickly. Your headline might have shock value, ask a compelling question, or be the beginning of an extremely interesting story. “Six months ago, I was living on the streets of L.A., homeless after my Adjustable Rate Mortgage soared so high I couldn’t make the mortgage payments, but now I’m living in a sky-rise apartment twenty stories up that I paid seven figures for…”

This makes the reader want to know more – how did this person go from being destitute to being wealthy? Good sales copy usually tells a story that the audience can connect with. Copy ideally shouldn’t tell a fictional story, though.

You certainly don’t want to run into any trouble with the FTC or an attorney general with something to prove. Good copy gives people a reason to keep reading. If you tell an interesting, compelling story that’s somehow related to the product and how it will affect them, it will naturally appeal to your visitor.

Every single paragraph should lead into the next paragraph, drawing the reader further and further into the pitch.

Consumers usually buy based on emotion, and then they justify their purchase with logic. They rarely buy based on logic alone.

They don’t buy a product because of the features – they buy because of the benefits it will provide to them, the WIIFM (What’s In It For Me) factor. If you’re selling a car, you can’t tell the buyer that it has Corinthian leather seats, ABS brakes, and a superior sound system.

You have to sell them on the fact that their neighbors and coworkers will be envious, girls will flock to them, and they’ll feel like the king of the world whenever they drive it. Then they’ll buy based on the fantasy you’ve just given them, and they’ll use logic to justify their purchase later.

Within each online sales letter, you’ll want to have a main headline, numerous sub-headlines sprinkled throughout, and aside form the written storyline, you’ll want to add sections of benefit-driven bullet points that break up the monotonous text.

So. the headline is incredibly important. But it isn’t the most important part of your sales copy!!

Any idea what that is?

The most important part of your sales letter is the ultimate claim you’re making throughout the sales letter.

This is the big idea – the main premise around which you’re going to build your sales letter.

I’m talking about the primary purpose and promise of your product. This is the desired outcome your prospects have been hoping for.

Without a big idea, your sales copy will be pretty much the same as anyone else’s which will make converting your prospects much harder.

But with a powerful big idea, you will be able to stand out and this gives your prospects hope that your product or service may be the one that actually delivers on its promises.

Combine the big idea with a unique mechanism and now you are really compelling. The unique mechanism is the way in which your product works to produce the desired effect.

This can make all the difference in marketplaces that are saturated and sophisticated i.e. they have been exposed to the same type of offer for years.

If you are in a niche that has a high level of marketplace sophistication, it is imperative that you are able to stand out and having a big idea and a unique mechanism helps you to do just that.

And you should be incorporating the big idea and/or unique mechanism into your main headline(s) to grab attention and arouse curiosity, so take some time to develop these to draw your readers in.

Don’t forget the call to action at the end and a Post Script (PS) or two that sums up the order in case they’re bona fide skimmers who hate to read.

In all honesty, most people will not read the entire sales letter, but skim to the things that grab attention such as headlines, bullet points and the PS which is why it is important to really work on these to either increase the pain points or clearly explain the benefits.

Go to some of your favorite sales pitch sites and emulate their style and approach. Bookmark it for your “swipe file,” where you borrow ideas (not content) from the original author and use it on your own target audience.

The best sales copy is a complex mix of marketing and sales messages. The marketing is about the prospect; their desires, pains etc. and the selling is about the product; features etc. so the best sales letters focus heavily on marketing.

The reason for this is that a good marketing message can create a lot of desire for the product before you even mention it and this makes selling much easier.

So, in future, think more about your prospect, what they feel and what they want and how your product can give that to them and you will find that your conversions and sales will be much higher.

And be reassured; writing good, persuasive copy is a skill that can definitely be developed by anybody. Like anything, it just takes time and effort to get good at it and hone your skills.

But if any skill is worth developing, especially online, it is being able to write persuasive sales copy, so I urge anyone reading this to seriously consider learning it as soon as they possibly can; it will pay dividends in the future, believe me.

Copywriting 101: 7 Things You Need To Know About Writing Great Copy

Well over a decade ago I bought and devoured an expensive course called “Hypnotic Writing” from Joe Vitale. If I remember correctly, it cost $1,000 and arrived in a heavy box with tons of CD’s and two thick manuals. And it was perhaps one of the best investments I ever made in learning not just good, but great copywriting that converts like crazy.

This morning I was cleaning out some old files, and ran across my handwritten notes from the course. In the notes I discovered a list of “The 7 Secret Principles of Hypnotic Copywriting.” They still stand the test of time today, so I thought I would share them with you here.

Please keep in mind, these aren’t so much a primer as a list of clues as to what Vitale’s “Hypnotic Writing” is. But from these clues you can discern enough valuable information to almost instantly improve your own writing, whether it’s blog posts, sales letters, emails or anything else.

You need to understand that copywriting is a key skill that ALL marketers need to master (or outsource it to someone who already has); it is that crucial to your success, so these 7 tips are pure gold, so use them to make your copywriting more persuasive and effective.

1: Make it Personal

Hypnotic writing speaks to YOU, the reader. You’ll find words such as you, me, I, yours, etc. All of this makes you feel like the writing is speaking to your personally.

In fact, it is. The more personal, the more hypnotic. This is an incredibly powerful tool when used correctly.

2: Keep it Active

Hypnotic writing is active. You’ll find lots of verbs. You’ll find little passive writing. It’s the difference between saying, “The writing was hypnotic,” and saying, “Joe weaves hypnotic writing.” The first is passive, the second is active.

Don’t use over the top adverbs as this can scream BS, so use adverbs sparingly; your copy should be persuasive enough without resorting to over the top or outrageous claims that most readers would doubt or disbelieve. If in doubt, reign yourself in a bit.

3: Get Emotional

Hypnotic writing taps your emotions. You may find it doing so in a story format or in a direct narrative. Either way, the writing will pull at your heart strings. One of Joe’s most famous letters began, “I was nearly in tears…” That line engaged the emotions of readers. You had to read the letter to discover what the tears were for.

4: Be Sensual

Writing hypnotically involves your senses.

You’ll find descriptions of feeling, tasting, seeing, smelling and hearing.

All of this will help you become involved with the writing and therefore susceptible to what it commands.

5: Be Commanding

Hypnotic writing commands the reader to do something. As the reader, you might not detect the command as it may be embedded.

But there will always be one. Ask yourself, “What do I want to do after reading this?” What you do next may be a result of the hypnotic command.

6: Curiosity

Hypnotic writing plays on your curiosity. You may find it beginning a story – but not ending it until the end of the article.

You may find it promising to tell you how to do something, but it will only give you limited details, thereby urging you to order the product it’s promoting to get more information.

7: Hypnotic Writing is Hidden

You won’t find any obvious clues that signal, “Warning, hypnotic writing at work.” The writing will instead be smooth and personal, and the hypnotic aspect will sneak in below conscious awareness.

Now imagine if you actually had the power to influence your prospect’s subconscious mind.

Imagine if you could do it by using simple trigger words that activate involuntary reactions in their brains.

And imagine you can do it in writing and in speech.

You might not believe you can do this. But I’m going to tell you that you can, because over time we are all subtly hypnotized to accept certain suggestions. This process started when we were babies and has never stopped.

You wouldn’t even suspect these simple words of holding any special power. But when you use them correctly, they can dramatically improve your power of persuasion.

Yes, I’ve just given you a sample of ‘hypnotic writing.’ If you re-read the previous 5 paragraphs, and if you study it very carefully, you will notice I used three little words to great effect – “Imagine, you and because.”

If all you do is begin using these three words more often in your copy, you will experience an increase in the persuasiveness of your writing.

Imagine if you could persuade anyone of anything, because when you do, you’ll hold the power to make a fortune. 😉

Try it out next time your write and see what happens.

Just remember that copywriting is a skill, and just like any other skill, it can be learned. Take the time to learn this critical skill and your business will thank you for it!