Donna Knight’s Internet Marketing Tools and Reviews

By Donna Knight of DonnaKnight.com

Word can be used not only to influence people but also to change their mind about something. Choose the right words, and you have the power to persuade, entice and motivate. In marketing and promotion, power words are like tools used by people in multiple professions, including politicians and people in public relations. Adding just a few power words can make a world of difference in your ads and headlines.

The words “New” or “improved” create a sense of curiosity. Potential customers get the impression that the product is different from similar products. If it is a product she has been looking for, she may want to get it before anyone else does in order to have an edge over others in the same profession or social position. Laundry products have been advertised as new and improved for many years. You don’t have to spend a lot of time making an improvement in your product. You just have to make some improvement to make it better than the competitor’s product. You’d be surprised how just one difference between your product and your competitor’s can make a customer want to buy from you.

Another common but powerful phrase is “Money back guarantee”. This phrase is used to help the customer trust you enough to buy from you. After all, what do they have to lose if they can get their money back if not satisfied. When you offer a money back guarantee, the risk falls on you instead of the customer.

Many successful ads advertise the fact that they are revealing a little known secret. People are always looking for an advantage over others. They love to know that they may be one of the few people in-the-know about a particular subject. If they think you can supply them with some juicy tidbits of information that will help them achieve success in something, you’ve sold them.

Words such as “an Insider says that” is similar to “secret”. It conveys information from an expert that is not commonly known to most people. The catch is you must pay for this insider information.

The word “Free” in the headline of the message simply does wonders for you sales, even if you’re giving something away. The key is to give some interesting useful information while including information about your paid product which will provide even more information. If the free information isn’t very good, your prospects won’t bite. Likewise, you can’t trick people into thinking they’re getting something for free when in fact they have to pay. You will infuriate prospects and lose their trust instantly. Obviously, this is the opposite of what you want to do. In email messages, the word “FREE” is spelled “FR~E” in an effort to get past the spam filters many internet service providers have in place.

“You” is a word that should be liberally sprinkled throughout your advertising. It makes the prospect feel like you are speaking to them directly. Anything you can do to make your ad personalized will help. Use this word to get your prospect to picture themselves using and benefiting from your product. The best way to do this is to pretend you are the customer and think of very specific ways in which they will benefit from the product. Be sure to answer the customer’s possible objections to buying a product, as well.

The word “limited time offer” gives your visitors a reason to buy now. After all, if they wait, the price may go up or you may stop selling the product. Recently there has been a trend of selling a limited quantity of digital products, such as 500 or 1000. It’s one thing to have a product the customer wants, but you have to take it one step further to make them want it now instead of tomorrow. Once the visitor leaves your site, they are very unlikely to return, so it’s very important make them see the urgency of the situation.

The word “Power” is a powerful word itself. People love something that gives them power in their life, whether it’s the power to save time, money or work. It’s all about making something more convenient for your visitor.

The ultimate goal of an advertiser is to understand what your target market wants and then design your ad to push the right buttons so they’ll buy what they want from you. However, listing the advantages of using a product or service isn’t enough. For example, if you were selling a computer hard drive, you don’t just want to say the hard drive holds 100 GB of data. You want to let them know it will hold 50,000 mp3 files or 10,000 videos. You’ll see lots of ads for computer equipment make the mistake of giving technical details without making appealing to non-techies. They miss out on customers who might otherwise buy their hardware simply because they can’t read between the lines of what the technical specs mean in real world benefits.

Take a look at advertisements you have written and posted and see how you can improve them by adding a few power words to them. Keep in mind that most of what you write on the web is an ad, including your home page and your website links. Using power words will keep people on your site as they click through to find out more of what you’re offering.

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By Donna Knight

Try to win the love of a man by wearing a pretty dress, and you’re in for a major heartbreak. Likewise, try to get a sale by posting just a product description and picture, and you’ll get your heart broken every time. Winning a man’s heart and winning a customer’s trust requires the same process, salesmanship. With winning the one you love, unconscious salesmanship may work; he may like you for characteristics you never knew were lovable. In selling a product, however, passive salesmanship won’t work. You have to consciously take steps to win over a customer.

The painful truth is products don’t sell themselves, no matter how good they are. You, the marketer, have to tell the prospect why they need your product. You must convince them of why they will love your product. You have to let them know they must buy now or they will miss out on an opportunity they may never have again.

While selling products online and offline have some similarities, there are some major differences you need to know. Online you don’t have the benefit of your potential customers seeing your trustworthy face and winning smile. People are much more resistant to parting with their hard-earned money to a faceless stranger or company.

Copywriting is the key to making a sale online and offline. The sooner you take this to heart, the sooner you’ll be making more sales than your little heart ever thought possible. Most people think the product is the most important element to getting a sale. The fact is even a mediocre product can sell boatloads with great sales copy backing it up. Good sales copy can convert an undecided prospect into a successful sale.

If you try to write sales copy on your own, without knowing anything about copywriting, you will fail miserably. All it takes is one word to win or lose a customer. That’s why many business owners willingly fork over $10,000 to an expert copywriter just to write one sales letter. They know that winning sales copy will earn them their investment back in no time.

If you don’t have hundreds of dollars to hire a copywriter, don’t worry. All is not lost. You can learn to write sales copy that sells. You just need to know some proven direct response copywriting rules.

Here is a step-by-step formula for writing killer sales copy to increase your conversion rate:
1. Write an attention grabbing headline. There are 3 parts to a winning headline:    A.   A line that sets up the main headline.    B.   The main headline, using the biggest font you’ll use in your entire sales copy. Preferably it should be in a different color and in bold text. Most expert copywriters swear by red as a color that draws the most attention to the headline. Blue is another color frequently used by copywriters. It must be readable, i.e. no lilac.    C.   A line that elaborates on your main headline.

Here is an example of a headline that uses this method:

Would you like a website that will make you money even while you sleep?

“FINALLY! A FULLY AUTOMATED WEBSITE THAT WILL HAVE YOU READY TO MAKE SALES IN ONLY 7 DAYS. DON’T TRY TO BUILD A BUSINESS OFFLINE THAT FAST. YOU CAN’T!”

Take Orders and Deliver the Product Without Even Touching Your Website!

2. Write an introduction that your readers can relate to. The most effective way to do this is to write about a problem that your target market has. Examples include baldness, acne, or lack of money.
3. Tell them why they should trust you. Tell them who you are and what are your relevant accomplishments. This helps establish your credibility and trustworthiness. Most people are wary of buying online. This section helps put a face on your product.
4. Now tell them about your product. The mistake many people make is they talk about the product before they explain what problem the product will solve and why they should buy from you. Internet users hate sales pitches. If you mention a product right from the start, they’ll be onto the next site so fast it will make your head spin.
5. Let them know why your product is effective. Here are two ways:    A.   List statistics with sources related to the need for your product.    B.   Show testimonials from satisfied customers who have already bought your product. To make testimonials most convincing, include:      i. The customer’s full name      ii.  City and state or their website URL
6. List the features of your product. Don’t use technical jargon. Don’t always assume someone looking to buy your product is familiar with the technical terms associated with it. You can lose a customer just by using words they don’t know, no matter how badly they need your product.
7. Describe the benefits of your product. While all of these steps are important, this is one of the most important sections of the sales letter. This is usually where the sale is made.
8. Add valuable and unique bonuses. Tell the value of each bonus. Bonuses make customers feel like their getting way more for their money. They might even feel like they’re stealing from you. Some people will even buy the product just to get the bonuses.
9. Give them a reason to buy now. Ways to do this include:    A.   Threaten a future price increase    B.   Tell them bonuses are available for a limited time only

Whether you’re getting 100 visitors a day or 10,000, traffic will do you no good if you don’t know how to convert the visitor into a sale. I’ve had customers literally begging to buy a product that was not even available for sale just because of copy I wrote telling them what the product would do for them. Using these simple rules, you too can transform disinterested website browsers into customers who crave your product.

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Donna Knight is a Website Promotion Specialist who has sold everything from digital products, including ebooks and software, to hard goods such as computers and medical transcription equipment. For more tips to help you sell your product or service, visit her Internet Marketing Tools and Reviews blog at http://www.DonnaKnight.com
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Copyright (C) 2005 Donna Knight. All Rights Reserved. Permission granted to post this article in newsletters, free ebooks or websites as long as the article and resource box remain intact. For product reviews, you may substitute your affiliate referral link for the product URL.

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