In the interview I reveal:
• How injecting “organic urgency” can boost response
• The one thing to add to your “story” that will grab the attention of your audience
• When online copy can be similar to offline copy and when it needs to be different
• How to write better headlines
• Why knowing the rational benefits of a product or service is not enough

This issue of Monthly Copywriting Genius also features an analysis of one of my recent direct response winners for an investment publication subscription campaign which beat the original control by 444%.

To read an excerpt of the interview, click copywriting interview.

To read the full interview plus analysis of one of my projects click
www.Monthlycopywritinggenius.com (subscription publication)

Now you might say, “can’t the museum staff tag its own collections?”
In fact it does.

But the point is that curators and museum visitors see art in  different ways.
According to  Shelly Bernstein, the museum’s manager of information systems:

“The way curators and museum professionals see an object isn’t necessarily the same as the way a student or the general public would think to describe it.”

When visitors click on the object, they are encouraged to apply any keywords that come to mind (vulgarity not included).The museum then adds the tags to its online database.

The museum also uses tagging to encourage visitors to register online.  Registrants can participate in a game of “tag” to see how many tags they can come up with, object by object.

I applaud the museum for using an effective, easy way to employ social media tools to increase engagement with its target audience.

If you’re looking for effective ways to use social media (or other marketing tools) to deepen the interaction between your target audience and your products or services, click consulting services.

1) Discover the _____ hidden in your_____

(Discovering something good that is hidden, especially when it is close by, is a powerful incentive to find out more)

(example) Discover the fortune hidden in your backyard

2) Do you have what it takes to____________

(When posed the right audience, this kind of challenge is intriguing and hooks them in to reading the text.)

(example) “Do You Have What It Takes To Be A Day Trader In The Hottest Financial Market In The World?”

3)(a person, expert, book, report, etc. ) reveals ________________

(The word reveals in the headline is a classic. It increases the engagement factor by implying  that a secret is about to be shared.)

(example) Free Report Reveals Little Known Secrets Overweight Women Use To Look 15 Pounds Slimmer Than They Really Are
 

4)  Are you tired/ fed up with_______?

(taps into genuine frustration and desire for a change)

(example) Are you fed up with waking up tired every morning because you didn’t sleep well?

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Looking for headlines and copy that can bring more leads and bring more sales to your business? Click this link

Want to learn how to write business-boosting headlines and copy?
Then click this link

© Altman Communications 2008

They will read your copy, but they first need to be enticed or seduced into spending the time to read your message. They need to feel they’ll get something out of it.

One of the best ways to work around that skepticism and resistance is to provide a more editorial approach - a headline that clearly indicates there is valuable information in the text below (but make sure to pay it off with real value in the copy).
1) What [ different kinds of people ] need to know in order to accomplish something

(example) What everyone needs to know about getting their first job

(example) What entrepreneurs need to know about succeeding on the Internet

(example) What investors need to know about the gold market today
(”today” adds topicality and urgency to the information you are delivering)

2) [number] signs you’re [something negative]

(example) 8 signs you’re headed for financial disaster

(example) 4 signs you could be headed for a heart attack

3) Asking a provocative question with dire consequences

(example) When are you most likely to have a heart attack?

4) Little known or hidden ways _______
(another way to tap into the desire to know what others don’t know)

(example) Little known ways to win at negotiations

(example) Hidden ways to lower your pay per click costs

5) If you think [assumption]
(makes people examine their assumptions)

(example) If you think your computer is free from viruses, wait till you read this

6)Give me ____ and I’ll give you_____
(Quickly shows the reader that there is a quick way to achieve the benefit

(example)Give me 1 hour and I’ll set you up with a money-making website that runs on autopilot

7) If you have _____________ then [benefit]
(”If you have” lends a reasonable tone to big claims. Helps overcome skepticism and resistance because it asks something of the reader in order to achieve the benefit)

(example) If you have 30 minutes a month, I guarantee to make you feel 10 years younger

Test the reader
(classic engagement device)

(example) If you fail this test, you could have gum disease
(adding a visual element as I did in this ad makes this construction even more compelling. Visual showed a model’s teeth. Around the teeth were captions in the form of test questions witharrows pointing to gum disease symptoms in the teeth.)

(example) Test your market savvy with this quiz

To read the rest of this article, click copywriting headlines

———————————————————————–

 Looking for headlines and copy that can bring more leads and bring more sales to your business? Click this link

Want to learn how to write business-boosting headlines and copy?
Then click this link

© Altman Communications 2008

Context is important in creating the right headline. Website sales pages, opt-in pages, direct mail, ads, are all somewhat different. Tone must be aligned with the target audience. Here is a group of headline structures that with a little work have proven to be exceptionally effective in many different marketing contexts.
1)I call them the “How’s”
This is one of the most effective and versatile headline structures. The How’s can be arranged in many different ways. For example:

[How I……..] tells a first person story. The testimonial slant of the approach adds to its power.

“How I was able to retire to a tropical island at aged 35 by creating one website”

“How a simple idea led to a promotion and a 50% salary increase…
and how you can do the same”

[How to…………]
How to turn the oil crisis into a personal windfall
Add a preceding address:
Stock market investors: How to make money in a bear market

Add a double benefit:
[How to ____ and _____ ]
How to increase traffic to your website and lift profits 155%

Add a triple benefit:
[How to ____ and____ while_____]
How to increase traffic to your website and lift profits 155% while working less

2) Something is missing approach:

The idea of missing out on something is a very powerful motivator. This naturally evokes curiosity – “what am I missing out on?” and even stronger emotions, such as anger, “Why haven’t I been told such and such.”

Here are two good examples. The first one uses the “Do you know what is missing” construction. It’s from a Nightingale Conant direct mailing talking about the controversial book and video “The Secret.”

You know of The Secret.
But do you know what it’s missing?

By the end of this letter, you will…

The next “missing” headline capitalizes on a 60 Minutes feature story on oil.

Missing 60 Minutes Oil Sands Story gives you a chance to make 575% over the next 12 months

You mean 60 Minutes didn’t tell me the whole story. And the missing part of the story can make me money? I’m all ears.

3) Mistakes Approach:
No one wants to make a mistake that can cost them dearly. That’s why the thought of avoiding costly mistakes is often a more potent motivator than taking advantage of an opportunity. Some examples:

This investment mistake could ruin your retirement

The biggest mistake average golfers make on their pitch shots

The 3 worst mistakes you can make on a job interview

4) Going against the big guys or the Common Enemy approach:
(you and I against the people/institutions that are trying to hide something from us.) In this age of increasing skepticism (often well-founded) of corporations and institutions, this can help get the reader on your side.

The investment secret superrich hedge fund managers pray small investors never find out and use for themselves

What pharmaceutical companies don’t want you to know about B-complex vitamins

These are just a few very powerful, proven headline structures that can boost response to your marketing. Stay tuned for more powerful headline structures.

—————————————————————————

Looking for headlines and copy that can bring more leads and more sales to your business?
Click this link

Want to learn how to write business-boosting headlines and copy?
Then click this link

Does the headline command attention?

Does the main subhead (“deck copy”) elaborate on the headline and make me want to read the next sentence?

Is your unique selling proposition evident?

Do you address the readers problem/pain?

Make it sound like a personal letter written to one person (the target audience)

Is your guarantee convincing?

Use active tense instead of passive tense

Use compelling details/facts/statistics to support your case

Don’t state your call to action too soon or too late

Answer the implicit question “so what?” throughout the letter

Keep in mind the 4U’s of effective sales copy: Urgent, Useful, Unique, and Ultra-specific

For a list of 36 suggestions and tips on more effective sales letters and pages, check my newsletter at http://www.yourmarketingroadmap.com/ezine6_23.htm

If you’re interested in using my services to craft more effective sales pages and letters for your business, call 1 888-650-9714.

Or check out my copy coaching program…

Take a look at the share of searches of May 2008 (U.S.)

Google: 71.5%
Yahoo: 13.3%
Microsoft Live + Live Search Club: 10.6%
(Microsoft Live: 7.9%)
(Microsoft Club Live: 2.6%)
Ask: 3.0%
AOL: 1.2%

For more on the study , click http://searchengineland.com/080617-173543.php

From an article posted on my blog, I quickly received about 100 visitors, evenly divided between Digg and StumbleUpon as the source of the visitors. The real eyeopening statistic was time spent on the page. StumbleUpon visitors: 10 seconds, Digg visitors: 2 minutes and 30 seconds. Now that is a huge difference. People who spend more time on the page have more time to engage with the site.

What accounts for the difference? My instinct is that people using Stumbleupon have a browser’s mindset. They are willing to take a few seconds to view a page in the course of browsing through websites.

Digg users arrive with a reader’s mentality. Digg was  conceived as a site to post and vote for  news items that you think others might want to read.

So while these results are very preliminary, as of now I’d say if you had to choose between Digg and StumbleUpon to  spread the word, choose Digg.

Two of the biggest difficulties people say they have in using press releases are: 1) Don’t know how or what to write about 2) Think it’s too expensive.

Let’s start with what to write. Press releases are about news. If you don’t have news about your business, you can manufacture it. Companies do it all the time. One of the best ways to do this is to tie your business to current news items.

Use the news to create news for your business
Let’s say a new study or a book about stress-related illness was just published. If helping people deal with the consequences of stress is part of your business, you could offer comments about the news story.You can agree or disagree with parts of it. Show how the study supports what you are doing with your own clients/patients.

A great way to find out what people are interested in (reading, watching videos, blogging, etc.) is to go to www.popurl.com. The typeface is tough to read but the site offers a wealth of information about the latest articles, blogs, press releases, videos, etc. in order of popularity. You should be able to find many popular items that you can tie to your business in press releases.

In writing a press release for an online audience be sure to optimize it for the keywords you want. Include those keywords in the title, the summary, and at least 3 times in the body of the release (but don’t overdo it).

Press releases have traditionally been written in the AP, or inverted pyramid, style: State the who, what, where, when, and why up front. Online press releases are a bit different because they are also intended for a consumer audience, in addition to the media.

Online press releases shouldn’t be dry recitations of the facts. You need to attract attention as soon as you can. If that means starting with a story type opening, do it. You can talk about the facts later on in the release.

Want to keep your PR costs down? Here is a list of free online press release submission sites:

1)www.pr-inside.com
2)www.pr-usa.net
3)www.seenation.com
4)www.dbusinessnews.com
5)www.google.com/base
6)www.openpr.com
7)www.free-press-release-center.info
8)www.przoom.com
9)www.prlog.com
10)www.i-newswire.com

Many of these sites only put your release on their sites, though some also distribute to google news. In any case, they give you valuable backlinks to your site and improve your search engine rankings.

For $80 you can use prweb.com. While this service costs a bit, it is still far cheaper than prnewswire and businesswire, and the kind of distribution and SEO it gives you is extremely powerful.

Here’s a strategy I recommend to get lots of PR bang for your buck:

   •Distribute 2 releases a month.

   •Submit one to PRweb, and the other to the no-cost news release site of  your choice.

   •Make sure to use different releases for each of the two PR sites.

   •Use prweb for your most important releases, and use the free services for less important items.

With this system you’ll add losts of juice to your campaigns. Not only will you get immediate traffic, but your release will live on the web for years to come.
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You can use this article for your website or newsletter if you keep the following resource box intact, including the hyperlinks:
Leon Altman is a Internet marketing consultant, copywriter and entrepreneur with 25 years of  experience. For his free marketing ecourse, go to www.YourMarketingRoadmap.com . For more about his PR services, go to:  http://www.yourmarketingroadmap.com/PRcoach.php