Writing and educational news and views

You’ve probably heard the old saying - I know that half of my advertising dollars are wasted, if I only knew which half! Although it’s not possible to know all the factors that go into effective advertising, there are a few elements that are crucial to an ad campaign that is profitable. If you strive to achieve as many of the following 7 factors as possible, you can be confident that you’ll have a winning campaign.

1) Choose an appropriate medium to convey your message. This is so obvious, but you’d be amazed at how many people don’t use common sense when buying media. If you’re trying to reach a 14 year old, don’t buy an ad in the daily paper - buy the radio station that plays hip hop music! Try to target your advertising as much as possible. Think about the person you’re trying to reach with your message. The more you know about that person, the easier this will be. If you’re selling clothing to working women, buying TV is probably not a good idea. They’re probably so busy doing household chores and taking kids to various activities, they probably don’t have time to watch much TV. But billboards and radio are great because she’s probably on the road a lot and those media fit for that audience.

2) Don’t believe that everyone uses media the way you or your spouse does. Just because you don’t like a certain program on TV doesn’t mean that your potential customer doesn’t like it - they may be big fans and never miss an episode. Don’t assume that everyone reads the newspaper because everyone you know does. Ask for information about the medium’s audience - let your rep show you exactly who is watching/reading/listening/driving by/surfing their medium.

3) Don’t judge the price of the ad by the dollar amount alone. Just because an ad is expensive doesn’t mean it isn’t a good buy - and the opposite is true also. If an ad is cheap, but no one reads or sees it, it’s worthless to you. If an ad is reaching tens of thousands of people for $1,000, it might be a good buy if those are the people who are in the market for your product. Try to gauge the real value of an ad by the cost per thousand or cost per rating point (for TV, radio & cable). If you’re not familiar with those terms, ask your ad rep - they will be happy to fill you in. (And if they aren’t, find a new rep.) Visit Website Copy

4) Develop a relationship with your customers and prospects. This is another thing that should be obvious, but very few companies actually do this. Proctor and Gamble has found that this is what makes them money. And it makes sense. If people trust your brand and feel that they know your company, they’re far more likely to buy your products. This is actually easier to do as a smaller business than a large one - and many local businesses have done this for years. It may be schmaltzy, but when the local furniture store owner is on camera for all his TV commercials, people develop a relationship of sorts with him or her. They feel like they know that business. Anytime you can link a personality - even if it’s not a celebrity - to a business, that makes that business stand out. This is an important element that there’s not nearly enough room to cover - so think this one through for your business and come up with ways (and they can be very simple) to develop a relationship with your customers and prospects. An email newsletter is a simple, cheap and very effective way to do this, by the way.

5) Have a hook. Give people something that makes them remember you. Big companies spend millions on this - and for a good reason - it sells stuff. Whatever you do, don’t say “for the best in service and quality” - no one will believe you! If you want to convey that message, have one of your customers give a testimonial on camera - have them describe how you provided them with great service and quality. Give details. A hook needs to be simple, memorable and if possible, fun or heartwarming. The Taco Bell Chihuahua is a good example - the Pillsbury Doughboy is another one. Do something different and let people know about it. Give them a reason to choose your company over your competitors. Visit Web copy

6) Be relevant. Talk to your prospects in your advertising - let them know that you feel their pain and are going to help them make it go away. If you’re talking about something they can’t relate to, they’ll ignore you. There are way too many advertising messages in the world today - and people have learned to tune them out unless they click with something that is important to them. You know how this works - you do the same thing. If you’re sick of how your car is nickel & dimming you lately, you suddenly are much more aware of ads for cars. Find out why people buy your product and talk about how you will give that to them. It’s really pretty simple - but an overwhelming majority of businesses totally miss this.

7) Make sure you know what you’re trying to get your prospect to do. Do you want them to come to your store and buy a specific product? Or do you want them to call your business to get an estimate on a project so your sales person can close the sale in person? The more specific you are in your call to action (please make sure to include one!), the more likely your audience will do what you want them to do.

All of the elements that go into your advertising - the media, the creative, the copywriting, the call to action - create a synergistic result. The more focused you are with any of those elements, the better your results will be. It’s always crucial to measure your ad results. Determine what you want to achieve and include devices that will allow you to determine whether or not you achieved your goal. Then you can tweak results from there. Visit copywriting

————————————————————————————————

More SEO Copywriting Tips can be found at www.copywritingtip.com also Power copywriting for the internet.

from @

Shorts are 500-700 word articles that are generally found in the front part of a magazine or as a blog post. If you’re new to a publication, the editor will probably assign you a short rather than a full-length feature. Once you’ve proven yourself, you’ll get the longer and better paying 3000-5000 word articles or blog jobs.

Some people love writing shorts, and I’m one of them.

My natural style tends towards shorter pieces, so the more shorts the better. True, some writers feel that shorts aren’t worth the money, but in my experience I can research and write a short piece quickly enough to keep my “pay per hour” rate high.

In his book for freelancers (that includes information on marketing strategies), Michael Sedge relates the story of a fellow-writer who wrote nothing but shorts, without decreasing his annual income.

Sedge’s friend said “ I’d say that 80 percent of today’s magazines use short news, humor, and human-interest items. For a lot of editors—including those at top-paying publications—this is an area in which they are desperate for material. . . I can put out one or two short items a day, in most cases with little research. The best part is I normally make $1 a word.”

When writing the short article, keep in mind that every word counts. This is the time to use your editing skills and chop every unnecessary word you find. Shorts require the skill of pulling out the most important points of the story—there is no room for flab.

Once you hone your “shorts” skills, you may be surprised at the broad subjects that can be written as a short. Some of mine include the Lewis and Clark Expedition, Wild and Wacky Collectibles, Keeping Fit With Your PDA, and Collecting Elvis.

Structuring the Short

You can easily write a short (500-700 word) piece by following a simple structure.

Allow yourself approximately 100 words for a dynamite lead, and 100 words for a wrap-up.

What’s the most fascinating fact about your short? Find it, and then pop it up to the lead sentence.

Next, figure out how many points you want your article to cover.

For example, if you’re writing about a new handheld computer and you know you want to include information about its capabilities, software, and price structure, then you need to cover three points.

Give each of those points 100 words, and you’ve got a 500-word article. Or, give two of the points 125 words, and 50 to the third. Just divide wordage depending on the importance of a particular point.

A short doesn’t give you the luxury of four paragraphs to get into the body of the article. You’ve got room for a few sentences at best, so make them count.

Need to book a writing gig fast? Discover how to make money writing and you’ll be set, even in a down economy.

Want to learn more about freelance writing. Check out the video below.

from @

A large amount of online marketers spend their time chasing one trend to another. Be it search engine optimization, social media, product launches et cetera.

Needless to say, I’m not declaring those techniques are entirely of no use. If completed accurately and in the apt background, they’re all extremely powerful.

Although lacking the proper foundation, they’re basically that - advertising processes. They don’t bring in any sort of proceeds without this skill.

And it’s the cause you see loads of folks go out of business on the web. They thoughtlessly skip from one huge trend to another, eager to become successful, all whilst overlooking the foundation.

Can you guess what is this skill I am talking about?

It’s web copywriting, needless to say!

All advertising campaign comes down to how effectively you know how to communicate and persuade - and that is what copywriting is all about.

Don’t worry. Copywriting is distinct from writing… at least in the conventional sense. Copywriting is basically regular communication crafted to persuade someone.

The goal of copywriting is not to obtain perfect language rules or write powerfully. It’s about sawying - and that suggests you have got to be understood first. As a result it’s in reality better if you write as simply as possible.

If truth be told, expert writers are regularly weak copywriters because they try to sound complicated, employing buzz words and extended sentences.

Plus, writing copy is effortless as soon as you’ve done your research. If you know what an individual needs and how your product fit into pleasing that wish, isn’t it easy to link the dots?

But despite the significance of copywriting, a large amount of online marketers are overlooking it. They selected in its place for more traffic. The term “drive more traffic” is a great deal more searched than would “copywriting” or “increase conversion”.

But you should know by now that extra traffic is not the solution. Most traffic creation methods entail money. To generate large numbers of traffic you have need of large numbers of money.

If none of those traffic converts, you’ll soon notice yourself going broke - just as many folks did.

Now, wouldn’t it be awesome if someone reveal to you how you can write a persuasive sales letter? Well, I’ve put together a web copywriting blog for you to learn more concerning the details and make sure you subscribe to make sure you don’t anything.

Of course, if you aspire to really hit the big time as an internet marketer, I would suggest you get yourself a web copywriting course.

——————————————————————————————–
——————————————————————————————–
The best SEO copywriting course on the web Power copywriting for the internet by Bob Serling can be found at together with copywriting tips at www.copywritingtip.com - click here for more information.

from @