Saturday, June 11, 2005

Subtle Emotion - The Key To Copy That Works


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by Karon Thackston © 2005
http://www.marketingwords.com

Say the word "emotion" to a man, and he'll immediately jump out of his seat and run from the room! Utter the word "emotion" to a woman, and she begins to conjure up thoughts of romantic, long talks centered around feelings. However, speak the word "emotion" to a copywriter and s/he should see dollar signs. Why? Because a good command of subtle emotion is the key to copy that works.

The Difference Between Subtle and Obvious Emotion

Confusing obvious and subtle emotion is a common mistake among copywriters. Let's say your copywriting client tells you his product should make the end user feel classy and sophisticated. He wants the copy you write to convey that message.

What happens when writing with obvious emotion is this:

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Our silverware patterns will make you feel classy and sophisticated. They will decorate your table in an upscale manner so you and your guests will think you're in a fine-dining restaurant.

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Obvious emotion tells readers what they will think, see or feel. This approach is clumsy and awkward and rarely has the result the client is looking for. On the other hand, subtle emotion has a much greater appeal. Why? Because it deals with imagery. When you show people, rather than tell them, how they'll feel or what will happen after they buy your product or service, you evoke core emotions rather than shallow feelings. Here are several examples of subtle emotion at work:

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Graceful and elegant, these silverware patterns are sure to bring compliments from your guests. With an exceptional display of taste and style, you can adorn your table with distinctive stainless or sterling silverware that highlights every element of your table setting.

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As peaceful and charming as a Sunday afternoon on grandma's front porch, these metal gliders are recreations of the WWI originals. Rock the afternoon away with a big glass of lemonade and a little nostalgia wafting through the air like a gentle summer breeze.

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Spend lazy days and restful nights in this poster bed dreaming about romantic interludes. Finished with Gabon mahogany veneers, your bed has reed posts, a removable canopy frame and a louvered headboard reminiscent of a shuttered window.

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Do you see what's happening in the copy examples above? No one came right out and said, "Your table's gonna look real classy if you use our silverware," but the notion is there. From the description given, you pick up on the fact that this silver will do more than make your table look good. It will make you look good in front of your guests and give you a little boost of confidence due to all the compliments you'll receive.

The metal glider chair copy never said your blood pressure would be reduced as you sat on your porch de-stressing from a long, hard workweek, but that's the distinct impression you get from the copy, isn't it?

And the poster bed? Just the mention of the materials (Gabon mahogany, reed posts) and romantic interludes gives a feeling that this bed is something special, although the copy never actually says so.

By using subtle emotion, by painting a picture of what the customer will get from these products, by incorporating them into the customer's everyday life, you - as a copywriter - are able to pique interest and increase sales. Ah! The power of words!

About the Author:
Karon Thackston is owner of Marketing Words, Inc., a full-service copywriting agency. She is also author of the highly acclaimed Step-by-Step Copywriting Course, now in its third edition. You can find Karon online:
Marketing Words, Inc. or at her Copywriting Course.

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Friday, June 10, 2005

Do Search Engines Like Your Web Site?


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by: Paul Silver and David Rosam

Between 75% and 98.8% of visitors to Web sites come from searches made at search engines. If you're going to get high levels of traffic - and hence the levels of ROI you're looking for - it's very important that the search engines can access all the information on your Web site.

Do the search engines know about all of your pages?
You can find out which pages on your site the search engines know about by using a special search. If you search for 'site:' and your Web site address, the search engine will tell you all of the pages on your Web site it knows about.

For example, search for site: http://webpositioningcentre.co.uk in Google, Yahoo! or MSN Search, and it will tell you how many pages they know about.

If the search engines haven't found some of the pages on your Web site, it is probably because they are having trouble spidering them. ('Spidering' is when the search engine uses an automated robot to read your Web pages.)

Spiders work by starting off on a page which has been linked to by another Web site, or that has been submitted to the search engine. They then read and follow any links they find on the page, gradually working their way through your whole Web site.

At least, that's the theory.

The problem is, it's easy to confuse the spiders - especially as they are designed to be wary of following certain kinds of link.

Links which confuse spiders:
If your links are within a large chunk of JavaScript code, the spider may not be able to find them, and will not be able to follow the links to your other pages.
This can happen if you have 'rollovers' as your navigation - for instance, pictures that change colour or appearance when you hover your mouse pointer over them. The JavaScript code that makes this happen can be convoluted enough for the spiders to ignore it rather than try to find links inside.

If you think your rollovers are blocking your site from being spidered, you will need to talk to your Web designers about changing the code in to a 'clean link' - a standard HTML link, with no extra code around it - that is much easier for the spiders to follow.

HTML links like these will look something like this:
Home Page

Page addresses to avoid:

Spiders will also ignore pages if they don't like the URL (the address needed to find the page).

For example, a Web site that has URLs containing several variables can cause spiders to ignore the page content. You can spot pages like these as they have a ? in them, and &, for instance:
http://webpositioningcentre.co.uk/index.php?page=12&cat=23&jib=c

This URL has three variables, the parts with the = in them, between the ? and &s. We find that if a page has one variable, or even two, the top search engines will spider them without any problems. But if a URL has more than that, often the search engines will not spider them.

Spiders particularly avoid URLs that look like they have 'session IDs' in them. They look something like this:
http://webpositioningcentre.co.uk/index.php?page=12&id=29c8d7r2398jk27897a8

The set of numbers and letters do not make much sense to humans, but some Web sites use them to keep track of who you are, as you click through their Web site.

Spiders will generally avoid URLs with Session IDs in them, so if your Web site has them, you need to talk to the people who developed the site about re-writing it so they do not use these IDs, or at least that you can get around the Web site without them.

Clean links = happy spiders

If you use clean, easy to follow links without several variables in them, your Web site should be spidered without problem. There are, of course, many other facets to successful Search Engine Optimization, but if the search engines can't spider your content, your site will fall at the first hurdle.

About The Author:

Paul Silver and David Rosam are Head of Technical SEO and Head of SEO Copywriting at Web Positioning Centre webpositioningcentre. Paul has been involved with the Web commercially since 1996 and David has been writing marketing copy for 20 years, and writing for the Web for a decade.
paul@webpositioningcentre.co.uk

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Thursday, June 09, 2005

Internet Business – How to Make Real Money


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by Peter Dobler

We all are in search of the silver bullet that will put our business on autopilot and the only thing we have to do is to cash the checks. Aren’t you looking for this as well? Isn’t this the reason why you’re actually reading all these articles, including this one? You’re hoping to find the one tool, the surefire method, the hidden trick or the magic system that will make your dreams come true.

Once again I have to disappoint you. There is no such thing as a silver bullet that will magically run your business while you sit back and relax. If there would be one, why is everybody trying to sell you the next big thing or the breakthrough that will make you rich and you won’t need to chase the magic system anymore?

Are you as confused as I am? You bet. Without clear definition of exactly what you are trying to do, there will be no answers. What does rich mean to you? What exactly will the next big thing solve for you? It sure means something different to you than it does to me. The only thing we all have in common is that we all strive to achieve our personal financial freedom.

Sorry for getting off topic here. You still want to know how to make real money with an Internet business, don’t you? Instead of repeating marketing material over and over again I will tell you how I make real money with my Internet business.

First, you need a product and a website to sell your product. I’m a member of several clubs that offer new tools and books with master resale rights every month. This means that I can sell these products and keep 100% of the profit. I also have full control over the sales letter. This is very important. You set the price and you can add any bonus material you want to. You also need somebody to process the credit card payments. My choices are PayPal and 2Checkout.

Ok, now you have a killer sales web site and you’re ready for business. Unfortunately nobody knows that you’re open for business and the spider nets are starting to grow on your front door. What you need is traffic. Lot’s of it. After experimenting with all kind of traffic exchange programs I can honestly say, they don’t work. You need something more powerful.

This is exactly what I do every time I create a new web site for e new product I’m promoting. I put an ad on the major pay-per-click engines like Google, Oveture, 7search and FindWhat. This gives my business a jump start.

Next I create doorway pages for the new web site and promote them to the search engines through a blog. Search engines will index your pages much faster when you have a link to them from a blog. Never submit your sales web site directly to any search engines. You will get much higher rankings if they find you.

I also make sure that I place an unblockable popup window on every doorway page to sign up for my newsletter. This way I capture at least the email addresses of my visitors. Also several Google AdSense windows will give me a little kick back.

To make it even more profitable, on the thank you page for the newsletter subscription I give away free stuff with lots of references to other web sites of mine and I make the subscriber aware that the real good stuff to download is hidden in an email. If they gave me a fake email just to download the free software it won’t work. But at least they download the free promo material. My stats showing me that this is working. I always make sure that the free stuff I’m giving away has viral marketing built in. It needs to reproduce itself without any intervention from my part.

This doesn’t look like a lot, but after setting up over 10 sales web sites the system is gaining momentum. After a while I will drop the pay-per-click advertising and the system supports itself with enough visitors to make a profit.

Ok, you’re absolutely right. This is a lot of work. However, do the math. Let’s say you create a new sales web site every month. After 6 months you break even with the initial setup cost and the startup pay-per-click costs. After that you’re making net profits. Let’s also say you’re making $200 a month in profits. Not much, but realistic. After just one year you have 12 sales web sites up and running and they produce $2400 a month in profits. Would you walk away from a business like this? Hell no.

Bottom line if you want to get rich quick you need to go to Vegas. If you want to start a serious Internet business you might want to follow my strategy. This works for me, chances are that it will work for you too. If you really want to push this system to the limits simply create an affiliate program on top of it and your profits will go through the roof.

Sincerely,

Peter Dobler

© 2005

About the Author:
Peter Dobler is an active real estate investor and a successful internet entrepreneur. See viral marketing in action at www.peterdobler.com

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To follow Peter's advice, and get your own website, go here:
Free seven-day trial to check everything out!
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Tuesday, June 07, 2005

Can You Really Become a Marketing "Genius"?


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© Marty Foley, ConvertMoreTraffic.com

Effective marketing is vitally important no matter what business you're in. Consider what marketing expert Jay Abraham said about a vital key to marketing success: "Anyone can become a virtual marketing genius equivalent by doing one simple thing: testing."

In other words, learn how to test various elements of your marketing to find which of them really work - and which don't - and you can learn how to market effectively.

Notice that Jay did not say that by testing anyone would BECOME a marketing genius. He said "marketing genius EQUIVALENT." In other words, if you're willing to do what most marketers don't do - test, and adjust accordingly - the results can be the same.

Yes, by testing, you can generate the same results as a marketing genius, without having to be one.

Despite the dramatic increases in response that can be gained through scientific testing, most marketers and copywriters today still don't take advantage of it. Still others either don't test enough, or don't test properly.

One reason many don't test is that by focusing on "institutional advertising," they don't have to be held accountable for the results (or more likely, the lack of results) of their marketing.

Their view of an ad's success is, more often than not, whether it "looks good," "makes people laugh," or "wins advertising awards." Not whether it produces bottom line results.

On the other hand, virtually all true marketing experts preach about the importance of testing your advertising and marketing. Yes, marketing "geniuses" are usually very big on testing! Why?

Because even professional marketers often find it very hard - if not impossible - to predict how prospects will react in a given marketing situation. So even if you have some marketing savvy, testing can show you how to boost response that much further.

You don't have to be able to write a perfect sales letter on the first draft, or the second, or third. You don't have to instinctively know what the most profitable price is for your new product or service. You don't have to guess which of your potential headlines will pull the most response.

By scientific testing, the true value of all theories, opinions and educated guesses are laid bare. If they truly contribute toward marketing success, testing will prove it. If they don't, testing will prove that, too.

In short, you don't have to be a literal marketing genius to generate better conversion rates from your online or offline marketing efforts. Nor should you always listen to the marketing advice of others, which may be inaccurate and unprofitable, though well-meaning.

Your prospects and customers can show you exactly which marketing approaches are truly most profitable in the above areas, and many more, if you only test.

More Helpful Resources...

Marty Foley's "Convert More Traffic" private members site helps web sites generate more traffic and turn more of it into buyers, leads, and higher profit:
Convert More Traffic

Use Marty's "Adwords Profit Info Course" to earn multiple income streams and generate more web traffic, with Google Adwords:
Adwords Profit Info Course

And Marty's "Scientific Web Marketing System" - Proven software for split testing your web pages:
Scientific Web Marketing

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Sunday, June 05, 2005

10 Benefits Of Submitting Articles To E-Zines


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by Dan Brown

Submitting articles can be a great help to every business owner. Here are just ten
of the many great benefits you can receive from article submission's.

1. You'll brand your web site, business and yourself by submitting articles to e-zines. You could include your name, business name, your credentials, web site address and e-mail address in your resource box.

2. You will become known as an expert on the topics you write about. This will give you and your business extra credibility which will help you compete against your competition.

3. Your article might also be placed on the publisher's home page. If they publish each issue on their home page this will give you some extra exposure.

4. You might get extra exposure if the e-zine publisher archives their e-zine on their site. People might want to read the back issues before they make the decision to subscribe.

5. You will get free advertising. This will allow you to spend your profits on other forms of advertising. You could buy advertisements in other e-zines that don't publish your articles.

6. You might get extra income from people wanting to hire you to write other articles, books, or even ask to speak at seminars. This is a great way to multiply your income.

7. You could allow e-zine publishers to publish your articles in their free e-books. Since people give them away, your advertising could multiply all over the internet.

8. You will get your article published all over the web when you submit it to an e-zine publisher that has a free content directory on their web site. They'll allow their visitors to republish your article.

9. You'll gain people's trust. If they read your article and like it, they won't be as hesitant to buy your product or service. You will then be able to increase your profits.

10. You could get your article guaranteed to run in an e-zine. You could agree to run one of their articles in your e-zine if, in exchange, they run yours in their e-zine. It's a win/win situation.

About the Author:
Author Dan Brown has been active in internet marketing for the past 4 years. Dan currently is working with the Zabang search engine, introducing their new affiliate program which is due out July, 2005. Zabang Affiliate Program



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