As you may already know, we raise pigs.  And, just to warn anyone who is a little uncomfortable about the reality of meat – we raise them to eat them.  This article refers to this hard fact of my life.

See for first the 6 months or so on our farm, our pigs enjoy days filled with mud lolling, acorn chewing, sumac leaf noshing, and simply sleeping in the sun.  But when fall comes around, this carefree life ends.

It’s time to bring the pigs to the butcher.

To take them to their place of reckoning, we have to get them loaded on a trailer.  And here’s where the trickiness comes in.

Pigs are smart and perceptive.  Getting them onto a trailer is tough enough as it is because it’s completely outside of their normal piggie routine.

But woe upon you should you be thinking of bacon when trying to lure them on.

It’s farmer’s lore, but I certainly think there’s something to it.  If you’ve got pork chops on your mind, the pigs will pick up on this.  And instead of an easy transition, you’re left trying to move over 200 pounds of pork with 2 tons worth of will power somewhere it doesn’t want to go.

So when this day arrives, we’re careful to keep our minds strictly on the business on hand.

What does this have to do with copywriting and marketing?

Several things . . .

Bacon Breath Rule #1: Don’t Set Off The Ad Alarm

Hard hitting copy still works. There’s still a place in marketing for unabashed sales copy.

But you can’t always put it out there first thing.  Consumers have their ad radars up more then ever. With tighter budgets and ads flying at them from every direction, you’ve got to work harder to get their attention . . . and trust.

That’s why it’s ever so essential to strike up a conversation with them before they feel like you’re selling to them. Start the communication by introducing yourself, addressing a problem, gaining their interest. And then build a relationship. Eventually, you’ll be in a good position to make them an offer. And they’ll be more receptive to listening to you.

Good articles, white papers and autoresponder series can get you invited to take a seat at their table. If done right not only do these marketing matchmakers build a rapport between you and your prospect, but they also subtly sell your solution to them.

By the time you’re ready to make the full offer in a sales letter, you’ve got their attention, their trust and their interest in what you can do for them.

Bacon Breath Rule #2: You Can’t Pretend

It’s just about impossible to effectively promote a product you don’t believe in. Just like the pigs, your prospects can tell if something is amiss.

So to really promote a product, get passionate about it.

Get to know what the product does. Get to know what your prospects are struggling with. Understand how frustrated they are. And how eager they are for your solution.

Fortunately I’m in pretty good health. But every time I get hit by something – even something as minor as a cold – I take note of my misery. And translate it a bit into how it would feel to face this same discomfort day in and day out.

I use this understanding to help me understand – albeit somewhat imperfectly – what it’s like for someone facing a chronic illness.

So when I write about the solution I’m offering to my prospects I can address their skepticism and their desperate need for some relief.

This fuels me emotionally as I research and write. It fuels my copy. And it keeps me writing sales copy that rings true with the people I’m trying to connect with.

Copywriter Bob Bly just talked about this in one of his recent ezine articles. As he explains, it’s why some copywriters can be so effective writing what others consider hypey copy:

If you believe in what you’re saying . . . if you feel enthusiasm for your solution welling up inside of you so that you can’t help but crow like a rooster . . .

Your copy sounds passionate – not hollow. And your prospects can tell the difference.

Bacon Breath Rule #3: Reduce The Risk

Now obviously I can’t do this for my pigs. There’s no way of getting around their fate.

But your prospects are different. They are rightfully worried about being taken advantage of – fleeced, burnt, scammed.

They are rightfully worried that you could very well take their money and disappear with it. And they’ll be left with nothing to show for it.

When it comes to health, this can be even more of an issue. Many of your potential customers have been whipped around until they’re dizzy by conventional medicine’s merry go round of side effects and more drugs. With their money flying out of their pockets.

While a natural alternative looks appealing, new alternative health consumers have very few reference points for verifying your claims are true. They may not have yet accessed literature and experts that support your claims.

Meanwhile, they’re flooded with all kinds of negative press about supplements and alternative health care. Every time a miscreant spikes their product with Viagra, the press jumps on it as an example of how the whole industry is dangerous and corrupt.

For this reason, the more you can strengthen your credibility and reduce their risk the better. Use a spokesperson and expand on their credentials. Reference well-known media or experts in your copy where possible.

And always offer a good guarantee. A guarantee tells your customers that you stand behind your product. And that you understand how important it is for them to see for themselves whether your product will work.

Understand Your Prospect’s Fear And Skepticism

Now, don’t misunderstand me . . . I’m not for thinking about your customers like they’re lambs ready for the slaughter (or pigs).

But the mental exercise I go through each butchering day on the pig farm here translates well into similar mental gymnastics I use for building effective lead generation campaigns and sales funnels that sell.

Understand your customers are distrustful and skittish. They’ve probably been burnt by a few bad sales experiences. And this economy just makes it worse.

However, they still need you and your solutions. You just need to find the right way to approach them.

You need to mentally put yourself in a spot where you understand your prospects’ concerns, genuinely care about helping them and fully believe that the product you’re writing about offers a viable solution.

In other words – as us pig farmers say – Keep your mind on tofu and the job at hand.

I observed the funniest thing the other day.  We were just leaving our neighbor’s house after dropping off some maple syrup and eggs.  As we pulled out of the driveway and turned onto the road . . .

Whoa!

A 1-ton bull was heading right towards the truck.

One of her herd was loose.  It looked like one of her teenagers had jumped the fence. And giddy with spring fever and freedom he was tearing around the yard.

Fortunately he swerved away from us just in time.  So we quickly reversed the truck and pulled back into the driveway to alert her to the runaway.

She was pretty calm until we told her he was going after cars.  That’s when she picked up speed.

We stayed parked at the bottom of the pasture to make sure she got him back in all right.  And here’s where it got entertaining (if you’re not Wendy trying to get the freedom-loving guy back in) . . .

At first, he seemed to be quite docile once she picked up a feed bucket.  He followed her around the scrub tree, past the furnace shed and stood there quietly as she struggled to open the pasture fencing.

He looked patient, even a little eager to get back in with the rest of the herd after his little bout with life on the other side of the fence.

Everything looked under control.

However – just as she was about get him back and go back to her morning activities. . .

From behind the shed came a little blur of white, bulleting towards the bull.

Coming to Wendy’s rescue was her little white and brown dog, tail pointing straight behind him, yipping all the way.

And sure enough, the formerly relaxed scene took a turn for the worse.  The docile bull was on the run again, running around the scrub tree, eyes wide and tail swinging. The cows on the other side of the fence scattered.

And Wendy was back at square one.

I couldn’t help but laugh as she lectured the dog and went back to business.

Fortunately, in the end, after his initial attack, the dog got bored and sat down for the show.  The young bull decided the dog was no threat and he really wanted back in.

Eventually she got the errant guy back to the herd.

However, this isn’t just a farming story.  As usual, this is a marketing lesson as well.

Too often, you work really hard to get your customer to your website. And like the bull, they’re standing there next to you at the fence. Your future customer is just ready to cross over that fence and buy from you.

But just as you’re ready to close the deal, along comes that yippy little dog like a bullet and scares your customer away.  All your work is for naught!

It’s one of the worst feeling to see that.  Someone 8-10 minutes  on your website and then flitting away without a purchase.

So what are those yippy dogs chasing your customer away? And how do you keep them at bay so you can close the deal?

Yippy Dog #1 Unanswered Questions

I’m a big advocate of longer vs. shorter copy.  And here’s why.  For most of your would-be customers, they are already in the mode of looking to buy.  They just want to have their questions answered, their doubts allayed, their desires whetted a little more.

Good copy does this.  As stellar health copywriter, Parris Lampropoulis told me when I interviewed him for my nutritional supplement copywriting ebook, you have to be like the most “hard-boiled” prospect when you prepare your copy.  Be skeptical, be unsure, be doubtful.  Turn all those questions, doubts and skepticism into providing good, satisfying answers.

Sure, people buy on emotions, but then they need proof to justify their decision to themselves, their spouses and their mother.

Don’t leave a question unanswered or a doubt mollified and then have them click away because of this.

Yippy Dog #2: Too Much Copy

Okay, I’m not contradicting myself.  But here’s the thing.  Lots of people come to your site ready for action.  They don’t need a lot of info, they just need a few facts to help them settle on their decision.  Perhaps they’re returning customers looking at new product.  Perhaps they read something about your product somewhere else. Maybe they just don’t want to waste a lot of time period.

They want to move fast.  For this reason, I always advise start off your product pages with bullets and a quick, appetizing summary of your product with a go-get’em headline.  Conversion master Bryan Eisenberg emphasizes this strategy repeatedly in his discussions at Grokdotcom.

Right after that, put the “Add to cart” button.

Make it easy for fast-operators to move fast.

If you have a nice long landing page, incorporate some quick summaries and bullets as sidebars along the side.  Make it easy for folks to jump off at any point if they’re ready to go.

Yippy Dog #3: Unintelligible Search Engine Optimized Copy

I just finished some work for a client who had developed great rankings with the search engines . . . But when people got to their site, they found gobbledy-gook.

He’d outsourced overseas for SEO copy, but ended up with website copy that not only wasn’t converting, it was in some cases nonsensical.

Imagine what people thought arriving there.

It doesn’t matter if you get 50,000 visitors a day!  If your website doesn’t hold them there and convince them to buy from you, you might as well be getting 1 visitor a day.

In fact, if your website makes you look bad, it’s like getting negative visitors since it creates such a negative image for your business.

So if you’re going to optimize your site for search engines, don’t just go with an SEO company or expert, make sure you get an SEO copywriter on board.  Use someone who can incorporate the technique of SEO into the fine art of creating copy that converts.

Yippy Dog #4: No Guarantee

If there is one thing I particularly admire about the direct-response natural health industry, its the use of guarantees.  I wish doctors and pharmaceutical companies would do the same.  (But then again, they’d lose too much money!)

Especially now, most people are nervous about purchases.  Especially online.  Especially from a new company they’ve never bought from before.  Especially if they haven’t bought many natural health products before. Especially if they’re going to be eating it.  Especially if their doctor raised an eyebrow when they mentioned trying something like your product to them. Especially . . .

Well, you get the idea.

Make it easier on them.  Make it clear that there is no risk.  That you understand how much careful they are and you value they’re health and satisfaction above all else.  Let them know that if they don’t like your product they can get their money back.  No questions asked.

A current client of mine was concerned that a guarantee would make him look shady.  Like a pushy salesperson.

I explained that it did just the opposite.  Certainly you need to stand behind the guarantee and make sure you have the customer service personnel to make it easy for your customers to return items.  But bottom line, it makes you look like you have absolute faith and pride in your product.

If there is one thing that makes you look good and decent as a company, it’s a good guarantee.

Yippy Dog #5: No Visible Phone Number

Most of my clients sell to the older market.  And while more and more seniors shop online, they’re still nervous about it.  And like any seasoned veteran of buying stuff, these guys usually have lots of questions, to boot.

They want to talk to someone.

Truth is, they’re not alone.  Over and over e-commerce sites serving all ages find that having a visible 800 number helps with conversion. I use this feature all the time when I purchase things online and I’m in my 40′s.

Live-chat is another option but still not always the preference of someone who doesn’t want to type and just wants to pick up the phone and talk to what really sounds like a real person.

So make your phone number – and live-chat option, if you have it – very visible.  Put it on your website header.  Integrate it into your sales copy.  Put it on all your emails.  Make sure that people can easily talk to someone if they want.

The Cure For Yippy Dogs

Unfortunately though – too many websites haven’t done enough to ward off these yippy dogs.  And they end up losing prospects.

However, if your prospect gets scared away by a yippy dog, all is not lost. You can still coax them back again with some good followup in the form of a feed bucket.

Make sure you have a free offer that is made available on every page of your website.  Make sure your web visitors only have access to that freebie – an ebook, video, audio, e-class – when they’ve given you their email address and name.

Then use autoresponders to continue to build your relationship with them.  Coax them back to the fence with the grain bucket.  Answer more questions, allay more doubts.  In fact a favorite early autoresponder email of mine is a survey that helps you gain more insights into your potential customers.  It also makes them feel like you’re listening to them.

And don’t neglect social media as a means to stay in touch until they’re ready to buy.  Make it easy for them to like your Facebook page and follow you on Twitter and then use these growing arenas to keep their interest until they buy.

Eventually, they’ll learn to ignore that yippy dog and amble back over to the fence and cross over.

Don’t Let These Yippy Dogs Scare Your Customers Away

You work so hard to get people to your website.  You work hard to get them to buy.

Don’t lose because that little white blur of a yippy dog, tail spiked out, comes charging through and scares them away at the last moment.

I’ve given you 6 great ways to make sure you don’t lose customers to yippy dogs. Put them to use and see your prospects jump over the fence and happily join your herd of happy customers, chomping on the nice spring grass.

If you have other yippy-dog antidotes to add, please do below in the comment section.  I’d love to hear from you.

Quite, honestly, despite my best efforts I’m tired of chasing down runaways. Help me out and we’ll all rest easier!

In my freezer sits 10 gallons of frozen blueberries.  Every summer, we trek up our little mountain, rakes and buckets in tow, and spend the whole glorious day picking.

Even though my back and wrist gets tired, the pain quickly dissipates when I look up for a moment, munch on a handful of blues, savor the view and enjoy the prospect of blueberry pancakes in January.  The mountain birdsongs mix with my kids chatter as they learn the value of a good day’s work.

But I have to admit a little insanity kicked in this summer.  With my copywriting business booming, a few days before we were due to go berry picking, my mind leaped into a little calculation of how many hours I’d miss up on the mountain and what that would cost versus the price of 10 gallons of blueberries.

Thankfully, my noodle didn’t get too noodley.  I quickly remembered all the good stuff in each annual trek that had nothing to do with money. When the blueberry day dawned, I was raring to go.

But that brief moment enmeshed in dollar signs gave me a little marketing lesson.  It reminded me that even in these tough times, money is not always the big decision-making factor.

Because as Mastercard argued so deftly in its ad series, plenty of things you get with your purchase are really "priceless". And even when consumers are tightly holding on to dollars with white-knuckled fists, there are some experiences that are so desirable that they hardly note the price when they make the purchase.

And this is the exactly what we need to focus on as copywriters. We’re not selling a product.  We’re selling an experience. And the experience has very little to do with the actual price of the product.  In fact the better you sell the experience, the more irrelevant you make the price.  And the more irrelevant you make the price, the less resistant your prospect becomes to buying from you.

It’s the copywriting masters secret of "Transparency", a label coined by top copywriter Michael Masterson. 

No, this is not the same transparency talked about in social media – letting your prospects know you . . . This is the transparency of helping your prospects see right through the product to the experience you’re offering on the other side.  The product actually disappears – becomes transparent.

As Masterson explains:

Transparency is based on the recognition that the product you’re selling is not, in itself, what your prospect really wants.  What he wants is something more, something deeper, something closer to his heart. 

Great salesmen understand that people want more than mere things.  They want what they believe these things bring.

It could be the relief from the worry about cholesterol . . . It could be freedom to hike again despite a few rusty joints . . . That supplement or health book that got them to this point – and the cost – fades into the image they’re enjoying.  Your job is to make this image bright and clear. So bright that the price becomes almost inconsequential.

Here are a few ways to bring transparency into your copy:

1. Make your headline and lead focused on their problem and the solution you offer.  Not the product

Here’s an example from a web page I wrote:

Surprise Your Doctor…

It needles you each time you go to the doctor’s office. The fear that this time, he’s going to tell you, "Time to do something about your cholesterol."

For this cholesterol supplement, I didn’t focus on lowering your cholesterol, but on the satisfaction the person would feel that they had great test results.  Instead of feeling guilty or defensive that they still had bad numbers.

2. Good use of testimonials and stories

One of the reasons testimonials and stories are so powerful is that they can help your prospects see themselves experiencing the results.  It’s not a bunch of facts and arguments but a representation of the reality they want – embodied in a person’s experience.  Someone pretty much just like them! Put in a video or photo and you’ve made the image even more sharp and real to your prospect.

3. Close with a powerful image

This is one of the places I especially love to paint a picture.  The solid proof you’ve offered in the promotion has made the product sound like it works.  Show it. Help your prospect envision the results in their own life.

• Remind them of how good it feels not to worry about bringing extra underpants on a daytrip because they don’t have to worry about incontinence with your supplement.
• Nudge them with the image of being the person who stands out at work because of the energy they bring and the work they accomplish.

Use this clear picture of the benefits as a final solid push to buy your product.  Let your prospect really see how it will change their lives.

Ultimately, if you make a strong, vibrant picture of your prospects’ life improved thanks to your product, you make the price fade into the background.  It becomes a negligible hassle to get through in order to reach the results they want so much.

This Sunday, while we were in the middle of applesauce making, our neighbors stopped by to pick up our goats.  They’re keeping them a few days to breed their does.

We can’t say we’re sorry to see them go.  They’ve been noisy . . . and incredibly picky eaters.  All those myths about goats eating everything are not true.  They won’t eat grass or apples.  And seem to have a yen only for fruit trees and raspberry bushes.

Truth is, the other goat owners in the neighborhood look at us somewhat askance since we don’t raise goats for milking . . . but for meat.  It doesn’t matter that chevon (goat meat) is the most widely consumed meat in the world.  Or that it’s one of the healthiest.  Or even that it’s milder tasting than lamb.

It’s just that it seems so strange to eat goat meat.  I’ve changed a few minds with a potluck contribution of curried goat, made according to recipes bestowed upon me by my husband’s aunt and sister. A few bites and all doubts are gone.

But I can’t cook curried goat for everyone.

My husband hit upon the best way to help people understand that goats can be multi-purpose livestock.  When we first moved into this neck of the woods, he was invited to join a four-wheeling excursion sponsored by the Swamp Stompers, a local off-road club.  Although he prefers taking these old logging roads by mountain bike, he had a good enough time.

But then came this awkward moment . . .

Just as everyone was relaxing around some barbecue, it came up that he liked goat meat.  Immediate silence.  Just like in those westerns when someone says the wrong thing in a saloon and the piano player, the chatter, the clinking glasses all stop on a dime.

“It’s a lot like venison . . . in fact,” continued my diplomatic husband.  And all the noise started back up with some backslapping to boot.  Since then, that’s all we’ve had to say to explain our odd choice of food.

There’s an important copywriting lesson in this story.

While people are drawn to the new and exotic, people are also wary of the unfamiliar.  Like goat meat.  And these moments of wariness can turn into roadblocks when it comes to selling your product.

Your job is to keep the excitement of the new alive, but also calm down the Nervous Nellies.  And the best way to do this is to use analogies, similes, and metaphors.

Yep, back to English 101.  These two wonderful rubrics of grammar will move your copy forward big time.  Just as a refresher, these are all ways to use some creativity and compare something that is unfamiliar to something that is familiar.  Usually you’ll use the words “like” or “as” somewhere in the process.

For example, the health benefits of acai berries are intriguing.  But they don’t give you that usual berry flavor you’d expect from a berry.  So explain that it tastes like chocolate.  And with the funny-sounding goji berries from Ningxia Province in China you might say it tastes like a mix of carrots and raisins.

Even if these points of references aren’t exact, they serve their purpose.  They provide a jumping off point into familiar-seeming waters.

The same is true with health concepts.  Don’t throw a bunch of technical terms at people that sound like something from Planet Mars.

For example, don’t explain that macrophages’ phagocytosis is responsible for the uptake and degradation of infectious agents and senescent cells.  Who can get their mind around that?

No, explain that macrophages are like the vaccum cleaners of the immune system, sucking up unhealthy cells and unwanted trespassers.

Give your readers something they can relate to.  Which is easier for you to understand?  Phagocytosis or vacuum cleaners?

Put this tactic to work and your prospects will read your next copy with that comfy, confident feeling a good analogy brings.

Please add your insights below . . .

Oh, and by the way.  I’ve included my curried goat recipe at the end should you be able to get a hold of some good local chevon.  It’s worth looking for . . .

Curried Goat

1. Wash 3-4 pounds of goat meat with a little distilled vinegar and water.  Pat dry.
2. Rub meat with the mixture:  1 bunch fresh thyme, 1 chopped onion, 5 chopped scallions, 3 T Blue Mountain Curry (or other West Indian curry mix*), ½ t salt, pepper.  Let sit for at least a half hour on the counter.  Ideal if you season it and let it sit in the fridge overnight.
3. Put meat in a Dutch oven with a little cooking oil.  Shmoosh a 4 whole pimentos (allspice seeds) and toss them in.  Add a whole scotch bonnet pepper (careful not to let it pop open), a few thin slices scotch bonnet pepper or a scotch bonnet pepper sauce.  If you can’t find any scotch bonnet you can use habanero pepper.  Add just enough for your spiciness tolerance.
4. Put it on medium-low heat until it’s reached a nice steamy simmer and then turn the heat down to a simmer.  Let it cook slowly for at least an hour until meat is tender.  I like to cook it all day in the slow cooker. In the last 20 minutes, you can add a few cubed potatoes as well.

Serve over plain rice or rice and pigeon peas.

*Note:  West Indian curry mixes taste different from the Indian ones.  I think it’s due to less fenugreek and more coriander.  You can use an Indian one but it will taste differently.

“You’ve got potato bug picking duty.”  At these words, my daughter’s face transformed into a grimace.  As if she had just eaten one of these striped rascals.

It’s Saturday morning and we’re starting out our weekend chores.  The kids moan and groan a bit – almost out of obligation - and then we get going.

But this morning my daughter kept the groaning going. “Mom, it’s so hot.  And I hate picking potato bugs.” Complaint tagged after complaint, ending with the usual “Do I have to?”

Several years of chores like this one have helped turn these squeamish kids into reasonable farm hands.  But there are some things that still just get to them.  Picking potato bugs is one.  I have photos from when they were ages 5 and 8, taking on these spud leaf nibblers.  They geared up like they were taking on toxic biohazards.  Not only did they put on gloves, but they also had on full rain gear – coats and pants – big boots, and goggles to top things off! (BTW it was in the high seventy’s that day!)

I guess I’ve spent enough time messing with grubby stuff and grubs that it doesn’t faze me anymore.  And with a big to-do list on my mind, I was in no mood to back down.  I figured, she just had to get over this one, too.  But I knew there had to be a way to send her off to the potato patch with minimal cajoling.

Copywriting technique saved the morning . . .

“Okay, you can either pick potato bugs . . . or clean out this pig barn . . .”  Ellie looked beyond me to the mess of straw, dirt and pig manure, made into a noxious stew by two weeks of rain.  Her face wrinkled up even more, like she had swallowed two potato bugs frosted with swine sludge . . .

“I’ll do potato bugs . . . ” she sighed, turned around and headed over to the garden.

I just used one of my essential copywriting techniques.  A standby that million-dollar health copywriter, Clayton Makepeace, revealed to me.  Something that should always go into your copy at some point, but most strategically towards the end:

Compare and contrast buying the product with other outcomes and with other uses of your money.

Basically, no one wants to spend money.  And now especially, getting someone to open up their wallet is like pulling teeth.  So your job as a copywriter is to create a context for this distasteful act.  A context that transforms it to being palatable if not delightful.

You want your prospect (who’s feeling that anxiety about shelling over money for a book or supplement or services) to relax, feel confident.  Not feel that cramp in her stomach of “Ooh, do I have to spend this?”  Am I going to regret it?

The best way to do this is a two-step process:

One, keep your focus on the benefits of your product.  Reiterate the image your prospect should have of how your product will change and improve their life.

As part of this image, contrast it to the yucky-muck alternative.  Perhaps it’s spending lots of money on doctor’s visits and prescription drugs.  Perhaps it’s never having the energy to visit friends or get that pile of laundry folded.  Perhaps it’s the frustration of watching jeans after pair of jeans go into storage as you go up another size.

Contrast the life you offer with the unsavory alternatives.

Two, contrast the expense to other expenses.  Minimize the amount your product costs in the context of how much your prospect is spending on other items without even blinking. You see this all the time in sales materials. Simply because it works.

The usual contrast is to a cup of Starbucks or a gallon of gas . . .

The cost of a newspaper subscription . . .

The cost of orange juice . . .

The cost of a bagel and cream cheese . . .

The cost of cable each month . . .

Essentially you’re positioning your product in the context of your prospect’s hopes, fears, dislikes, habitual comforts and more.

You’ve got something that can make your prospect’s life better, so let them know about it.  And just like it’s your job as a copywriter to explain the benefits, it’s your job to diminish the pain of parting with some of their increasingly-precious money by placing the purchase in a context.

Just like forty minutes picking potato bugs can turn into an easy – relatively painless – Saturday morning chore.

Now if I could just find a way to make the pig barn palatable . . .

Add your comments – I’d love to hear them.

Don’t let the doom and gloom get you down.  There are still plenty of marketing tactics to keep your business moving while minimizing the cost.

And to get the most bang for your buck, nothing can compare with the internet.  Search engine marketing is a great way to get customers for minimal advertising dollars . . . if done right.

See my article below about some cautions to keep in mind when working on your website.

And at the end, check out this great online copywriting course for getting a hold of some web copywriting techniques that sell.

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In mid-December, I received a hands-on lesson on the limits to technology – or actually, I should say, the beauty of older technologies.  Ice storms left us without power for five days.

Left without the usual conveniences, I had to develop a savvy that three generations ago would seem commonplace.  I learned to gauge the different spots on my woodstove for heating different foods.  How to take an efficient bath with stove-heated water.  And I kept a careful eye on the thermometer outside as I shuffled perishables between my porch and the root cellar.

I became focused on the most basic strategies for keeping comfortable during these few days.  And interestingly enough, I also became more aware of how satisfying warmth, a good meal, and a clean kitchen is.

And while I have since welcomed the return of my dishwasher and refrigerator, it made me think about how new technologies can sometimes prevent us from attending to basic skills and experiences.  Sometimes even causing us to neglect fundamental things we should be attending to.

A great reminder for me, a health copywriter who specializes in writing for the web.

You see, the web is a fantastic combination of new technologies.  My business depends on it.  It enables me to write for clients in California and Texas from my home in New Hampshire.  Just like it enables your business to expand your customer base, communicate more cost-efficiently and measure the effectiveness of these communications with analytics.

But it’s easy to get so swept up in the technology of the web, that we lose sight of some of the basics of communication.  I admit I’m a little biased, being a copywriter, but I have to emphasize how great technology can’t make up for good copy.

Here are a few examples of what I mean:

SEO Madness Search Engine Optimization is one of the most cost-efficient ways to market.  As a copywriter, I love SEO because it forces me to really think about how the people I’m trying to reach are thinking about the product I’m writing about.  It forces me to be more of a communicator  – not just a writer.  But it’s easy to get lost in SEO.  I’ve seen too much copy that is like a splatter of key words with very little sense pulling it together.

Use SEO to make your website friendly to your customers and the search engines.  But keep it in the realm of communication.  Don’t sacrifice interesting, compelling, and comprehensible copy for a bunch of key words.

Autoresponder Dependency Autoresponders make our life easier – it’s like keeping up with 1000’s of penpals and not losing track of it all.  But how many autoresponder messages in your inbox do you really feel like reading?  Or even worse, leave you confused.

I mentioned this in my report, “17 Health Copywriting Tactics for a Tough Economy”, and I’ll harp on it again.  Make sure you take advantage of each communication – no matter how automated – to build a stronger connection with your customers.  Good autoresponder messages are:

• Personable.  They don’t sound like a form letter.
• Identifiable.  The from and/or the subject line clearly link back to previous messages or the website.
• Clear.  They anticipate questions and confusion and clearly explain what’s going on and what action the customer should take, if any.
• Helpful. They connect people to additional help if they should need it with an url, phone number and email address.
• Interesting.  Use it to continue to pique your customer’s interest and excitement about the product they just bought; the next one they might buy from you; or your company in general.

Blinding Glitter Now I have to admit, after reading and writing all day, I often get a kick out of a well-done bit of Flash art on a website.  While researching one Nutrition Business Journal article, I lingered on each visit to Dr. Smoothie’s website.  The website’s background music kept me feeling mellow, despite my deadline.  But don’t let these technologies get in the way of your customers getting to your copy.

• Don’t let flash art, etc. slow down your website.  And make sure you present a way to opt out of flashy openings to your website for customers who just want to get down to business.
• Provide alternative text for graphics and videos.  Search engines can only read the text. No matter how pertinent and interesting your graphics may be, they won’t help your rankings.  Provide a brief alternative text description.  And for better mileage, refer to a benefit in that alternative text as well.
• Don’t rely on artful technology to keep or even capture your prospect’s attention.  Remember, many web shoppers are very task-oriented.  Words do the best job of letting people know they’ve come to the right place, getting them excited about what you have to offer and helping them make that purchase.
• Don’t rely on graphics to help your customer navigate your site.  Provide clear text instructions and information that reinforces your graphics.  Don’t risk ambiguity.

Online shoppers like to feel there’s a person behind the website. So talk to them.  Put good basic communication up front and technology will just help it go further.

Resource:

For a fantastic tutorial on how to craft great online copy – from sales pages to emails – nothing beats Nick Usborne’s Million Dollar Secrets to Online Copywriting. Nick has been copywriting for 25 years, 11 of those focusing exclusively on online copy.  His clients range from Disney to Yahoo.

This professional-grade online copywriting course provides you with everything you need to know to write hard-working web copy.  Get your copy here.

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If you’d like some help in making your website or e-communications more shopper- and search-engine friendly, consider using my services.  Contact me at sarah@healthymarketingideas.com.

Even with the rise of internet commerce, a good sales letter can still do good work for you.

Even the most sophisticated, skeptical, even jaded prospect can be drawn into a well-formulated package – but what makes a package well-formulated?

I go back to the direct response copywriting fundamentals that seem to stick around from the days of marketing maestros, Ogilvy and Caples, to today’s enterprises- Here they are:

1.  Know your prospect. The most important ingredient for any successful direct mail package (or any advertising) is to know who you’re talking to.  When it comes down to it, we don’t like to get lost in the crowd.  When a copywriter really takes the time to research prospective customers, understand what they’re concerned about, what interests them, what excites them, that copywriter can write a package that really speaks right to them.

And when the customer gets that package, they know that it was really meant for them – not misdelivered.

Furthermore, it immediately makes a strong emotional connection with the customer because it addresses exactly what’s bothering them or what they are yearning for.  And this brings me to the second ingredient . . .

2. Make an emotional, benefits-driven appeal. If we just bought purely on logic, we would have pretty simple lives: a basic well-rounded meal and a warm bed protected from the elements.  Truth is we buy for much more complicated, and even somewhat messy and inconsistent reasons, rooted in our emotions:  We buy Vitamin D because it alleviates our worries about breaking our hip when we hit menopause and ending up in a nursing home; We buy a low-energy light bulb because it makes sure that our children and grandchildren can look out on the same beautiful river scene we’re enjoying right now.

We buy things because they promise us a better life and as a marketer you need to be clear that you are offering that promise.  But to make sure that you’re not exploiting your prospect and to strengthen your promise you need something more. Which brings us to the third ingredient . . .

3.  Be credible. This to me is the foundation of good business and copywriting.  While the emotional appeal brings someone into your copy, you still need to offer them a solid, good product.  It’s part of doing business right and it’s also part of being profitable.  You see, consumers are increasingly skeptical and sophisticated – with access to a huge amount of information on the web.  You have no room to mislead.  And yet you have every opportunity to distinguish yourself by providing reliable information on a reliable product.

Bottomline, it costs more money to aquire new customers to keep current, long-standing ones.  While you may make a few sales up front based on hype, over the long term those customers will go elsewhere when your product doesn’t meet their expectations.  The most important thing you can do for your business is to build it on solid evidence and an unwavering interest in serving your customers well. This not only brings success to you, it brings good returns to your customers as well.

But with all this good convincing, customers have little time and patience with marketing.  So make it easy on them – which brings us to the final ingredient . . .

4. Give your prospects a clear offer and a clear call to action. Tell your customers in clear terms what they are getting and tell them how to get it.  It may seem self-evident to you when you’re wrapped up in getting sales that someone should call, email, click or do whatever you wrote the package to get them to do.  But when someone is poring over your sales materials it helps to give them a clear direction of what to do next.

It makes it easier for them to purchase from you and it even gives them a little nudge if they’re waffling a bit.

Put these 4 ingredients together and you’ve got a great sales package.  Contact me at sarah@healthymarketingideas.com to discuss how we can put together a package with this rich mix for your business.

And get a copy of my free report, “17 Health Copywriting Tactics for a Tough Economy” to see how your direct response mailing can go further.

When you’re busy trying to communicate how great your product is in the smallest space possible, it’s easy to get stuck on features and lose sight of benefits.

The worst mistake a catalog marketer can make.

Despite their size, catalog copy entries still require the same elements of any good sales letter to do the most work: An eye-stopping headline, clearly stated benefits and a persuasive argument. But you have to do this in just a few sentences – so it takes some skill to do it right.

And bottomline a catalog still has to be written for the prospect, not from the company. In other words, to write the best copy for a catalog you have to hone in on what a customer might want a product for, what will capture their interest – not necessarily what got your R&D department all excited.

For example, you could have a great summary of how your whey protein is filtered, its protein content vs. calorie count, etc. But if you don’t start off with a headline that tells your prospect, “XX Whey Protein Turns Your Breakfast Into a Powerful Start For the Morning” and follow up with a line about how it can transform an ordinary bowl of oatmeal or a smoothie into a meal that allows them to take the day by storm, you’ve lost an opportunity to tell your prospect what this can do for them.

And you also can bolster your catalog’s performance with some other additions:

• Provide an opening letter from the company president or noted expert that immediately builds your catalog’s credibility and starts a person-to-person relationship with your prospects.
• Use testimonials and case studies throughout to create interest and show your customers how people just like them are enjoying the benefits of your products.
• Provide other useful information. As an avid gardener, I use good seed catalogs as a great reference source. Integrate snippets, quotes, articles and more to make your catalog quality reading material that might not get shelved so quickly.
• Connect it to the web. A large percentage of internet shoppers start with a hard copy catalog. Find ways to facilitate this connection by making sure your online landing pages coordinate with your catalog and offer additional resources and information online. Hint: Many supplement companies have created web sites to provide more in depth information about research that supports the use of their products than the FDA allows in immediate sales copy.

Contact me at sarah@healthymarketingideas.com to discuss how your catalog copy can tap right into your prospect’s interests – succinctly.

And get a copy of my free report, “17 Healthy Copywriting Tactics for a Tough Economy”

Tomorrow is the Winter Solstice – the longest night of the year in the northern hemisphere.  We know it well here.  In Northern New England, we’re perched on the part of the earth tilted away from the sun from September until March.    These days, in the midst of December, the sun is but a thin sheen of orange shining through the trees by the time the kids get home. By 4:30, darkness has closed in, making us think dinner long before dinnertime and bed well before bedtime.

I often think I should follow the lead of the wildlife and not-so-wild farm animals during this time.  They slow down and do less.  Chickens lay less eggs.  The squirrels are squirreled away with their cache.  Even the trees have slowed the sap down until spring’s warmth and light herald maple sugaring time.

And it’s a good lesson for us copywriters and marketers.  For in order to produce, to create, we also need quiet and nothingness-times.

I use it all the time when I’m working on a project.  Stuck facing a blank page or writing a headline, I take a ten-minute break and go pull weeds, letting my mind drift.  Sometimes I wash some dishes or go for a bike ride.

Legendary copywriter Eugene Schwartz swore by the creative insights released by a good shave and I know plenty of copywriters who use a good night’s sleep or a nap to solve a writing problem.

Here’s why this helps:

Sometimes when you focus too hard on a problem, you get stuck in your conscious mind’s train of thoughts.  When you take a step away and release your mind from that conscious effort, the subconscious mind starts to percolate up.

And this subconscious mind makes those wild connections that lead to both crazy dreams and creative bursts. For the truth is, creativity is not making something out of nothing. It’s more about creating connections where they weren’t any before.  And transforming the nature of your original materials into something new and different.

Your conscious mind can’t do this so well.

Not only does this work for taking on the ogre of the blank page, it also helps at momentous times of change like right now.

With the new year approaching and the tough economy, there’s a lot of emphasis on reconnoitering and reorganizing.  Anyone with a business to run is putting time into getting ready for January and beyond.

I’ve certainly been doing a lot of thinking about next year’s goals and plans.  I’ve been analyzing this year’s successes and failures trying to gain some perspective.

But Solstice reminds me to take some time and just enjoy the darkness and quiet.  Don’t force the thinking process.  Let things percolate up from the depths and take up some mind space.

In other words, find some ways to step away from all the conscious planning that keeps you in the same tracks (and ruts) and let some new perspectives creep in when you’re not looking.

If there are lessons to be learned from the history of people on this planet and life in general -  we need this time of darkness, quiet and nothingness to regenerate and create.

I’m looking forward to the discoveries and ideas this Solstice time will bring to me to help me gear up for next year . . .

What are your thoughts?  Share your insights and experience with this . . .

Now as much as I have gotten great value out of every copywriting course I’ve purchased, (no duds, so far) I’ve also gotten invaluable ideas, tips, pointers and step-by-step instructions for nothing online.

And I know right now – however useful these courses are – times are tight.

So I’ve listed my favorite price-less copywriting resources on the HealthyMarketingIdeas blog.  You can find them here. 

(The order is not necessarily in terms of preference).

1. Clayton Makepeace’s Total Package.  If you don’t know about Clayton, you should.  He’s brought in more millions with his copywriting than any other copywriter.  And it’s because he knows what he’s doing when he sits down to write.  But he’s also very generous with this knowledge and he gives it away every day with his Total Package Newsletter.  Also, be sure and check out his archives for interviews with great health copywriters like Carline Anglade-Cole (she writes articles for him as well), Parris Lampropoulis and Kent Komae.

www.makepeacetotalpackage.com

1. Gary Bencivenga’s Marketing Bullets.  Gary Bencivenga is recognized throughout the business as an A++-level copywriter.  And he’s put together his best tactics distilled into bullets – or articles – for us aspiring copywriters and marketers.  I’ve printed them out and studied them carefully.  You can access his archives right here

www.marketingbullets.com/index.htm

1. Copyblogger.  Copyblogger’s Brian Clark and Sonia Simone have studied the basics of copywriting and then taken it somewhere else to fit the new criteria of social media.  But just because they bring a “new” approach doesn’t mean they haven’t built a solid foundation with the old techniques.  If you’re looking for great insights on how to write copy for the web or even just insights on basic copywriting, sign up for Copyblogger.  In particular, you might want to check out Brian Clark’s complimentary Copywriting 101.  And Sonia has an email course going right now on Internet Marketing for Smart People.  She’s pretty smart, so I suggest you check her out.

 www.copyblogger.com

1. John Forde’s Copywriter’s Roundtable.  A bunch of you just came over from this rich ezine.  John Forde doesn’t skimp when it comes to insights on copywriting. He’s built a solid reputation in the financial copywriting world and now is not only an in-demand copywriter but also an in-demand trainer. I always learn something from his articles – often pieces of marketing or copywriting history that yield great lessons. A few of his articles are standby references I use when checking my copy.

www.copywritersroundtable.com

1. American Writers and Artists Incorporated.  As you can see from my course selections, I’ve tapped heavily into the expertise of AWAI to build my skills and business.  But AWAI offers plenty of great information without a charge.  Sign up for The Golden Thread ezine.  And if you’re writing for the web, subscribe to the Wealthy Web Writer. You’ll be glad you did.

www.awaionline.com

 Take advantage of these terrific no-cost treasure chests. 

Pass them on to other people who may need them. 

And let me know what you think of this selection.  If you’ve got some other favorites, add them on below.