There is no secret or magic formula to writing effective advertising copy and crafting ads that work. It requires knowledge, practice and following the key fundamentals that I've discussed in the previous post and testing to find out what's working and what's not working.
If you're one of the many people that have been bamboozled into believing that all you need are some basic details, then you're doomed, until you are ready to give up the meals of mediocrity down in the valley and climb the mountain to take sips in the stream of success. The Bible states it best in James. It says that "Faith without works is dead."
I read a quote from another marketer on the article Want To Know The Dark Secrets Behind Monster Success, who puts it this way "when people ask how you did it & when you tell them, they refuse to believe it involves hours of study, work, effort, & putting your hard earned money into programs to learn from the best so that you could study & work your butt off implementing those programs."
Getting Started Writing Advertising Copy
SO, if you're looking for a quick fix, you can stop reading here or get out your pen and pad, or open a new document and prepare to take some serious notes as I take you on a journey to master writing successful advertising copy. I'm going to take you on a round by round, blow by blow account of what it takes to get your writing read and become a sought after writer and not just a writer seeking his next gig.
There are two ways to harness the power of words. One is to ask a struggling writer and make sure you don't do what he does or ask a successful writer and make sure you follow his instructions to the letter.
Seven Story Secrets
Here are some tips I've learned from some of the most successful advertising copywriters in the world. One of the best copywriter's Vin Montello's published Seven Story Secrets. It's a must read if you ever want to get your writing to break out of the box.
If you would rather have someone elese write for you you can try a Ghostwriter Service - This ghostwriter service offers writers from every walk of life, capable of taking your ideals and turning them into a compelling manuscript.
Before you go to the next blog, let me share this one last word with you. It's not enough to just read about writing ads, you have to begin to write and write until you can write an ad with all of the right elements in your sleep.
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How To Write Headlines That Attract More Readers
To write a headline that will attract more readers you need to understand three basic things. What audience you are writing for, what words that boost your headline performance and how to inform and educate prospects about your product or service.
Headlines That Attract Like Magnets
According to Jay Conrad Levinson the Father of Guerrilla Marketing, advertising that feature numbers out pull all other kinds of headlines. When you use a title like 5 Ways to Rid Your home of Ants Today, it's a surefire way to attract more eyeballs to your ad.
According to Robyn McMaster Sr VP of the MITA Brain Based Center, "Odd numbers seem to have a whole or completeness about them. When we see groups of three, five and seven they are more pleasing to the eye." In "7 Reasons odd Numbers can Power Up Your Headlines" Yvonne Russell said "Odd numbers appear more scientific and legitimate. That’s why Listerine kills 99% of germs instead of 100%."
15 Power Words To Use In Your Headlines
There are some words that can boost the performance of your headlines. Add them to action words that communicate the value and benefits of the product to create the effective headlines for your advertising.
5 Quick And Easy Steps To Write A Killa Headline
In order to really grasp these headline writing techniques, I'll take you through the process by outlining 5 steps to help you write a headline.
Step 1. Determine who you want to read your headline. What group will benefit the most from your product or service.
Step 2. Now write out a list of one line statements that list each important benefit about your product. (Use some of the power words listed above).
Step 3. Next combine your statements into one sentence that tells why someone should chose your product instead of the competitions.
Step 4.Review your headline to make sure it answers one or all of these three questions. Why is this important? Why should I care? How can this benefit my life?
Step 5. The last step to complete your headline is to proofread your headline for grammatical errors and misspellings.
Making headlines that will pull more readers gets easier the more you do it. Keep these steps handy whenever you write a headline and just rinse and repeat the process.
It's just as vital for the body of the ad to hold the readers attention as it is for headlines that capture their eye. In the next post I'll give you a few more details about writing the copy and a few other essential things about writing effective advertising to accompany your headline.
Effective Online and Offline Advertising That Works Like A Magnet
If you're trying to create effective online or offline advertising for a website, using print or classified ads you'll find lots of helpful tips in this info packed short blog post. You'll learn how to write a headline that attracts customers and how to get your message to speak to the right audience. Most of the details are complied from previous blog post on advertising principles and other industry publications and websites.
In the Holy Bible John the Baptist started a new trend that is still being carried out today. He used his a finely tuned message that was prefaced by a headline “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!”. You business will benefit from having a concise message that speaks to your potential customers in all of the various medias where you advertise. You do advertise your business?
Advertising Resources For Small Businesses
Advertising is a crucial resources for Christian and small businesses. I want to take you behind the smoke and mirrors in advertising and provide you with links to informative resources that I used in researching this important subject so that you can understand how to make advertising work for your business. Here are some previous blog post and other related articles on advertising.
Effective advertising
Free classified ads
Free advertising for businesses
Advertising design and copywriting
How to Write Effective Headlines
To write an effective headline you need to include as many of the underlying principles of advertising as possible. These key principles are attention, interest, desire and action.
Attention- Your headline that offers a bold promise or benefit is a your best bet to draw the reader into your ad.
Interest-The best way to get a reader interested in your product is to by letting them know how it can help them.
Desire-Your ad should tell the potential customer how your product can solve a problem or challenge or make their life easier
Action- Many ads do all of the above things well but fall down when it comes to having a strong call to action that tells prospects what to do now that they've found your remarkable product.
Crafting Headlines That Work
There are some principles for crafting headlines to grab a readers attention that we need to discuss briefly. Using a headline that tells a story is one of the techniques I highly recommend and is often used by the top advertising copywriters. According to research done by Pew Internet & American Life Project in 2009, researchers found that online ad effectiveness can even vary with something as simple as the time of day.
Knowing just that fact alone should let you know that crafting advertising and especially the headline is serious business and warrants paying attention to every detail.
The Story Headline
How An Average Golfer Improved His Score and And Turned Pro Using My Valuable Product
Using this kind of headline is a technique favored by masters of copywriting to attract a readers attention and pull them in to the body of the ad.
The News Headline
A Revolutionary New Product That Kills Ants Safely
I'm sure you've seen and been lured by an advertising headline that you thought was a news story. This kind of headline is effective for 3 main reasons.
They are informative.
They convey value
They use a hook to draw readers.
Guarantee Headline
The New Ant Bait Guaranteed To Rid Your Home Of Ants Today
This is a powerful way to build credibility for a new product.
The How-To Headline
How to Get Rid of Ants Without Harmful Chemicals
This headline attracts readers by offering to give do-it-yourself information, advice and solutions to deal their problems.
Command Headline
Stop Pesky Ants In Dead In Their Tracks
A headline style that tells your customers what to do. It should encourage action and offer your prospect a huge benefit which will help them.
John The Baptister
John was the first prophet that baptisted people. His simple message worked like a magnet to raise the consciousness level of his followers about the devastating affect sin was having in their lives. It compelled them to strive for a better lifestyle. One that was approved by God and would help them reach the Kingdom of God.
His message offered both a benefit and a solution to people. An effective advertisement should achieve that same goal.
To craft effective online and offline advertising that works like a magnet you have to know and master the art of headline writing. To do that you need to know your audience and what will help them to improve their lives. I've already discussed the major aspect of headline writing. You'll learn few more details on how to make headlines in part 2 of this post.
I'll explain how to make a headline pull more readers and get you started on building a list of powerful words that will boost the performance of your headlines. You'll also be enlightened to a few other important things about effective ads that I didn't have the time or space to cover in this short post.
Building A Business Using Wisdom From The Bible
There some benefits to Building A Business Using Wisdom From The Bible that you should know about. First I'll tell you the list of promises God has in the Holy Bible that you'll obtain from wisdom, then I'll share some of the benefits that men have accredited to wisdom.
In order to build your business using wisdom, you have to flip the script. Let me explain just what I mean. We all have been used to seeking the knowledge of experts to get help with business decisions. That's a good habit. A better way is to seek the counsel of Christian businessmen who have wisdom and knowledge to guide your business.
Is there a difference between wisdom and knowledge? It sure is. Wisdom comes from God and has proven time and time again to provide the answers to questions that elude some of the most knowledgeable men in the world.
How Christian Can Apply Biblical Wisdom
He was often referred to as the Peanut Man, the plant doctor, or the sage of Tuskegee. Dr George Washington Carver said "I have risen regularly at four o'clock and have gone into the woods and talked with God. There he gives me my orders for the day."
Carver publicly discussed using his inspired methods of research and it left him at odds with the members of the scientific community. They valued rational, deductive methodology over intuition and divine revelation as methods of scientific inquiry.
It was the wisdom gained during his morning talks with God that helped Dr. Carver a former slave, contribute to turning the economy of the South around after the Civil War. He created about 100 products from peanuts that were useful for the house and farm, including cosmetics, dyes and gasoline. Dr. Carver is also credited with over 105 food recipes that used peanuts.
How You Can Obtain Wisdom
Wisdom comes from seeking God. It's one of God's many blessings he bestows on us when we seek him with our heart and soul.
It's not a result of seeking to answer the age old the question of, is there a God.
It's a benefit Dr Carver repeatedly acknowledged. As did King Solomon, who is known as one of the wisest men to have ever lived. The Bible records in Chronicles 9:2-3 that the Queen of Sheba put to King Solomon many questions and was delighted to find that he was able to answer them with wisdom.
Benefits Of Applying Wisdom To Your Business
In his book "The Gospel Of Good Success" (Simon and Schuster) Rev. Kirbyjohn Caldwell listed what he called Rules for the Road. They can help every struggling businessman understand how to use Faith and wisdom in their daily business decisions .
7 Rules For Applying Wisdom
1. The Who's in Charge Principle- Remember God is the owner of your business, you're just the manager.
2. The Give and Grow Principle- God expects blessings to flow through you to those around you.
3. Identify The Spiritual Gifts-When you practice stewardship, you do what God is calling you to do and do it to your very best.
4. Increase Your Faith-When you practice your spiritual gifts your Faith will increase.
5. Become Spiritually Sensitive-When you are spiritually sensitive you can hear God in places other than your ears.
6. Be a Blessing- We should want to be a blessing and not just receive a blessing.
7. Remember Your Indebtedness-We are all indebted to God and our previous generations.
Building A Business Using Wisdom From The Bible will allow you to experience untold benefits. Everyday lots of successful Christians apply wisdom in their business decisions in the 21st Century.
When you access and use wisdom to build a company, you can expect God to surround it with pleasantness, peace and prosperity. To activate wisdom in your business you have to start by making Faith one of your greatest allies in all that you do.
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A.I.D.A The 4 Principles Of Effective Advertising
I've put together a video on A.I.D.A the 4 principles of effective advertising. I used some creative signs written by men who are homeless and rely on their signs to communicate a message to passerby. If you watch this short video you'll see that most of them are unwittingly applying some or all of the 4 effective advertising principles to hustle pocket change.
How To Write Effective Advertising
Every Christian business owner should be familiar with how to write effective advertising. A.I.D.A. are the 4 basic principles at the foundation of crafting advertising copy that grabs the readers attention and attracts customers for your business.
They are effective tools to use in your sales offers, marketing brochures and advertising copy. It's these four characteristics that will enable your advertising to be more than just another ad. When used properly they should inform and motivate your prospects to act.
It reminds me of the Bible verse in Habakkuk 2:2 where the Prophet is instructed to write down his vision. Then he's told to make it plain, so that the message could be easily understood and taken it to others.
Writing effective advertising has the same requirements. It too should tell an important message and be written using everyday wording that easy to understand and compels the reader to act upon what they've read.
Attention
Your ads should use attention grabbing headlines, words like "free and how to" work well when you are trying to attract buyers to an ad. This is the first principle and it's where most advertising copy falls short.
Interest
To generate interest every ad needs to have information of value to the reader. If it doesn't address a specific problem or need of the target audience it won't hold their interest.
Desire
To create a desire for a product your ad should list the benefits of using your product rather features or pricing. People would much rather pay a few dollars more for a flu shot than spend less money on medicine that doesn't completely solve their problem.
Action
This has to be the most crucial principle in the ad. You always want to tell your prospects just what action you want them to take. Using words like "click here" and "buy now" are the best way to let potential buyers know just what it is you want them to do after they have finished reading your ad.
I've put together a post on where Christian business owners can find free advertising for small businesses not long ago. It has lots more information that you'll find useful. I just completed a video on writing effective ads, using creative signs written men who are homeless and rely on their signs to communicate a message to passersby. Watch the short video and you'll see that most of them are unwittingly applying some or all of these advertising principles to hustle pocket change.
The key to writing effective advertising is using the 4 principles of I've discussed, and to meet as many of the following criteria as possible.
Use bold offers
Generate interest with a story
Offer information of value
Tell prospect what action you want them to take.
People seek out Prophets for answers, because of their relationship with God and their wisdom at solving problems. Customers will seek out your products, if you craft advertising copy that tells them how your product can solve their problem.
10 Tips For Christian Businesses To Attract Customers Online
Attracting customers online is an essential part of owning a successful business. It's one of the skills that every Christian business owners needs. The Holy Bible has a biblical principle in Proverbs that entrepreneurs that want to become successful on the Internet should remember.
Do you see a man diligent and skillful in his business? He will stand before kings; he will not stand before obscure men.
Pr 22:29
You've probably already been offered hundreds of opportunities to join traffic exchange programs and generators that promise to send a flood of customers to your website. But what really works best is to have a variety of sources sending traffic to your blog, store or business website.
Since, most Christian businesses don't have an infinite amount of time or finances to bring customers to their site. I'll cover the simple and easy ways that will give you the best payoff for your efforts.
How To Get Your Content To Work Like A Magnet
If you want to get your share of the free traffic on the web you have to be consistent and realize that it takes time to build an authority site with quality visitors who'll spend money.
Make sure you have the name of the brands and product that your customers are looking for displayed prominently in the titles and body of your articles.
You should develop a a large list of several thousand keywords and phrases associated with your product or service to drive traffic to your website.
Add one or two keywords and phrases at a time to your website, starting with the words with the lest competition and move-up gradually to those that are more competitive.
Learn what's working and what's not by consistently analyzing the metrics for your website using Google Webmaster and Google Analytics.
Make sure you link to your website content and not just the main page from Social Media sites and interlink all of your content on your blog.
Use the Adwords Keyword Tool to research every keyword and focus on the words and phrases that your customers use regularly.
Submit your blog/website to as many directories as possible.
Spread your RSS feed around the web, by adding it on your Social Media profiles.
Post you content using multiple methods, video, articles, podcast etc.
Make sure all of the stationery, brochures and anything you do offline has your website address on it.
Why Free Traffic Is The Best Source
You should attract customers to your site using free traffic as often as you can. The 10 tips I've shared with you are the one's I use as well as most of the businesses on the web. You need to focus your efforts on this source of customers so you can have a steady flow of prospects even when your budget is tight. The ideal scenario is to locate a waterfall of free traffic and position your website under it.
His training in the Mosaic Law and skills as an orator are some of the things that made the Apostle Paul such a brilliant letter writer and effective witness for Christ. Over two thousand years after his death we are still reading his letters. Wouldn't you love your website to have that kind of staying power. Then learn the principles and get the skills you need to create useful and relevant content that will attract a flood of business to your website.
How Start-ups Can Attract More Local Customers To Their Websites
If your start up has just launched a website one of your main concerns will be getting your website designed to attract more local customers. It is a lot easier than you might think. It doesn't require being a computer whiz or a computer programmer to make it happen. A focused effort using the right words, will get the right people, coming to your website in no time flat.
Many new website owners aren't aware that the local search arena is a little different than competing in the global search market. There are a lot of success stories detailing how local search can pay off for businesses in some big ways. When you target a mix of local and regional traffic, using the appropriate keywords, and making sure your website is part of your sales funnel you can replicate these successes using any website.
How To Attract Customers Who Are Ready To Buy
In a recent New York Times article on Internet marketing Perrone Maintenance Corp., a carpet-cleaning business in Brooklyn, N.Y., discussed how he started his search for more website traffic by advertising on Craig's List. His ad attracted more paying customers for his business, but it had to be updated every week.
People who are ready to spend money often use classified advertising to find a company and a set of keywords different from people who are just looking for information. When individuals are ready to purchase they often will use buying indicators in their search terms and keyword phrases. These are words like buy, purchase and compare that are added to the general search term such as, " where to purchase laptops".
According to recent research 33% of the Internet audience online are ready to buy and looking for businesses to spend their money with. To get them to your website you need to make sure that your content has buying indicators sprinkled throughout your pages.
Start-ups using these terms and phrases will let the search engine know that your page is a place for people to buy your product and not just a source for information on your market.
How To Get Customers To Return To Website Faster
Today, Mr. Perrone says, he gets about 90% of his business from his website that targets New York area customers. Your content should tell local customers that you are in their immediate area and why they should buy from you rather than all of the other choices in the marketplace.
Valuable content should do more than attract a lot of Internet traffic to your website. You should be able to use it to get customers into your sales funnel and build repeat business.
In order to encourage visitors to return to your website try posting coupons and freebies on your website. A coupon that has a significant savings will motivate them to come to your store sooner. If you give them a coupon after a store purchase for a discount for an online purchase you can get them back to the website faster.
Website Traffic Tools
These are just a handful of the traffic tools that every business start-up's website should contain to attract more local traffic. There are also a variety of free E-books on just about any subject you can imagine, that make good gifts to your customers, if they are related to using and caring for your products.
The fuel that drives the biggest part of all Internet traffic is finding quality relevant information. The goal is to align local customers who plan to spend money with one of your sales messages that will direct them to the product that offers the benefits they desire.
Starting A Home-based Business
If you're you're unsure whether starting a home-based business is right for you I've got a few things that I'd like to share with you. I was getting all of the sales collateral and other marketing pieces together for the launch of a new business and I thought about all the people who will soon be able to start their own business. They won't have to depend on the income from a job that pays them just enough to keep them coming back each week.
Then I read Doug Thorpe's blog talking about the origin of the word “job”. He summarized that it's closely related to morsel or “piece”. In other words a “job” should only be a “piece” of the work you do. However, for some it has become the biggest piece in the puzzle of life.
Job vs. Joy of Business
If you are currently employed you can still put in a few hours each day, toward building your own business. If thinking about the joy of business is all that you've done, and you’re trying to decide between either starting a business or job hunting, let me share a few facts with you.
Do you like a routine or variety?
Do you enjoy competing or cooperating?
If you have any doubts or you’re struggling with the idea of working for yourself, then the joy of business ownership is not for you and you should be looking for a job. Entrepreneurs must have strong self-confidence and be self motivated.
If you are ready to take your future, your destiny, into your own hands and the idea of working for yourself and creating your own income excites you, then let me give you a few facts before you get started.
Most U.S. business have 20 are fewer employees.
Ideas for potential new businesses are climbing each year.
Courageous entrepreneurs in the U.S. start more than 600,000 businesses each year.
Now that you realize that starting a home-based business puts you in good company and that you're not the only person that feels compelled to own their own business. The next blog post will talk about how get there from where you are today, starting with a personal assessment of some of the skills that you will need to be successful in business.
Biblical Principles For Starting A Business
Using biblical principles when starting a business is not for everyone. It's a must for some people. Especially Christians who want to reinvent themselves, take control of their future and those you've grown tired of exchanging their time for way too little money.
Each year over 1 million new businesses are started in the U.S. I have been self-employed for the past 19-years and helped others get businesses started. I'm in the process of launching another business and if you're thinking about starting your own business I'll gladly share a few tips to help you get on the right foot.
I discovered that owning a business and getting married have a lot in common. For instance about 50% of the business started fail in the first few years. Marriages in The U.S. have about the same rate of survival too. Could it be because people spend months and even years planning for the physical aspects of the wedding, but little or no time mentally preparing for the marriage.
The same thing happens with a lot of new business owners they're willing to spend lots of time, money and effort on the nonessentials, colors for their business, the decor, the furnishing, but little if any on making the needed mental adjustments. If you want to avoid falling into this trap, you need to start by getting yourself prepared mentally, spiritually and physically for business.
Preparations For Starting A Business
The crucial first step is to prepare your mind…heart…spirit for the paradigm shift into the new mindset you need for the journey to become an entrepreneur. If you have been earning an income by working in a job for most of your life you have to accept the fact that you are taking your future into your own hands.
There won't be anyone to tell you how many hours to work and when it's time to start and stop. Nor will there be a paycheck waiting just because you spent 60 hours in the past week trying to make a sale. The whole concept of being paid for each and every hour you work is a key part of the old way of thinking, that you will have to change.
If want to create a business that has a positive cash flow and adds value to your life instead of draining your energy, you need to understand that it all starts with your mind.
Biblical Principles For Business Success
We were wonderfully made and God equipped our brains with the tools that we need, we just need to learn how to access them. James Allen may be credited with writing the timeless classic "As A Man Thinketh", but this a principle that is intrinsic to man. A divine principle, we are directed to follow, taken from Proverbs 23:7 in the Holy Bible.
If you're planning to start your own business you should learn how your state of mind influences your future through these key habits.
Self talk...how what you say to yourself, about yourself, influences your feelings, stress, and the overall outcomes.
Positive affirmations...positive statements that you should repeat with attention, conviction, interest and desire to influence your subconscious mind and trigger it to promote positive action.
Attractions principles...how to attract the things you want and deserve and not what you don't want.
Now that you are aware that using biblical principles when starting a business can make a huge positive impact on your future, you should be applying them and accessing your mental tools. They are some of the things that successful Christian businessmen use and you need as part of your daily routine, if you want to increase your chances for success.
This is one of the areas that people fail to adequately prepare for in business and later on it comes back to haunt them. If you want to get your mindset in shape for business? Take the time to visit one of the best Internet coaches there is, James Holmes at the Internet Business Blueprint. He has put together vlog and podcast on the attraction principle that will give you a better understanding of how to apply it to tune-up your mindset.
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