Costliest Copywriting Mistake #1: Underestimating The Value Of Ad Copy

Why do some salespeople sell like gangbusters while others fall flat on their face? Because what they say, and how they say it, is everything.

The same with advertising copy. Your copy is your surrogate salesperson. And the way it is written has everything to do with whether or not your ad sells, your website converts, your business succeeds.

The difference between under-performing copy and brilliant copy can translate into many thousands of dollars over time. Bad copy can actually have the opposite effect of damaging your image and suppressing sales.

Yet many advertisers don't get this. Copy is an afterthought. They spend extraordinary amounts of time, energy and money setting up a business, then doom it to failure with poorly written, cheaply bought or crudely constructed homegrown copy.

It's not enough just to be out there. Your copy has to work hard, really hard, to grab attention, communicate clearly, convey benefits, overcome skepticism, outfox the competition, generate excitement, exude energy and charm, and close the deal...all within a short span of time! Just like a star salesperson would.

It takes ability, experience and time to craft copy like this -- to research, write and rewrite it to achieve exactly the desired result. That's why exceptional copy comes at a price. But one that will repay you many times over.

I can't tell you how many clients come to me after throwing away their money while trying to save it, hiring cut-rate, self-proclaimed copywriters who are big on promises and short on results.

Lesson: don't hire anyone until you've seen their work. Note what businesses have entrusted their brands to them. Take the time to read their copy. See if it sells you.

And don't be afraid to invest in outstanding, professionally written copy. It's all a part of doing business. A very critical part.

Little Is Large: Making The Most Of Customer Touchpoints

Good restaurants put a great deal of time, money, and energy into crafting their menu. While they may be successful in satisfying their customer's taste buds, it's the totality of the dining experience that brings back repeat patrons. This means that little things count, actually they count a lot.

Customers have many dining options these days and frankly good food often isn't enough to bring them back. According to Restaurants and Institutions New American Diner Survey nearly 43% of diners take into account all the aspects of the restaurant to determine if they'll return. Of course, that's just one sample of what's going on out there but haven't we all experienced a restaurant with good food and attractive prices but then they completely drop the ball when it comes to all the many touch points: an unfriendly server, a dirty table, a stoic hostess, dirty windows, empty condiments, a funky restroom with little soap and no paper towels. Every negative touch point will cancel out any positive effort accomplished by good food and prices.

But don't fret too soon if you think you may be in this situation. Weak spots in the touch point grid are easy to see and fix. Do all you can to hire people who believe strongly in hospitality, consider them investments, as they make a big impression in the customers mind. And that's the mind that will later be deciding if they should return. When problems arise let the customer know that you see their point of view and not only are you on their side but you're working to correct anything that's negative for them. The nice aspect about problems are that they are opportunities. Everyone knows that nothing is perfect and that things go wrong in every business sometimes, but let them see you shine as you take care of the negative no matter how little, because little is large in the customer's eyes.

Remember, everyone likes a problem solver.

Content Writing For Your Website's Audience

What do you know about your website's audience? How well do you understand them? As with any communications medium, the web requires authors to have a good understanding about those with whom they wish to communicate.

Content writing can be one of the most difficult parts of search engine marketing. You need to write to please both the search engines and your website’s audience. A good Search Engine Marketer (SEM) will understand his or her target audience. A great way to understand your targets audience’s nature, you can conduct online market research. Doing thorough research can bring valuable information such as the keywords that you as an SEM needs to be targeting. When writing your content these keywords need to be weaved into it while still focusing on the purpose on the content.

When it comes to content writing the first thing you need to keep in mind is that your audience needs to be drawn in. The content needs to be interesting, descriptive and it needs to lead the audience to a purchase decision.

How your content is written can affect how your website appears in relation to its competition. To search engines such as Google, the content of your website is very important. You can no longer just pummel your content with one specific keyword to try fooling search engines into listing your website higher in its rankings. Many search engines now search your copy for relevancy, making their results more valuable to users.

Another useful byproduct of writing quality content for visitors is that if they like it, they will link to it. This will result in the page (and the site) climbing even higher in the search engines' rankings.

In the end it is your website visitors that you should write for and not the search engines. Search engines are looking to please their users and so should you.

Discover Timeless Fundamental Online Success

I believe that working on sound business fundamentals will always out produce the latest online fad. Fundamentals of business are timeless. They have worked in the past, they work today and will work into the future.

So what do I mean by business fundamentals? In the online context I mean looking to produce good content for your site. I mean producing great value added products. I mean using sound marketing practices and finally giving great service. I'm talking about never engaging in trickery, spam (of any kind), or production of junk sites.

These current fads have only one real purpose. That is to take money out of your pocket. All the products for blogging, tagging, pinging, cloaking, comment spamming, junk blog creation, junk site creation, and anything else used to build fast and avoid work without adding any value to the universe will ultimately fail. Why? Because they add nothing to the net and even less to your long term financial success.

Think about this for a moment. Lets say you had a solid, cast-iron way to generate a consistent six figure income online.

Then lets say it you only needed to work on this for ten minutes a day. Would you allow people to copy you for $97? Of course not. You would be making too much money using your ideas.

Read all product offers with a keen eye. Ask yourself if the tool is of fundamental use or is it just some fad. Are you using this tool for trickery? Are you just pushing junk onto the web? Or are you genuinely helping someone with your product? Build a solid business... built on rock not quicksand.

Remember good content, good marketing, good product and good service are the best way to build a real business for the long term.