Professional Secrets for Writing Dynamite Sales Copy

Make no mistake—it’s the sales copy  that does the selling.

Professional writers, editors, and marketers know this.  They also know (as do we all) that “a picture’s worth a thousand words,” but the bottom line when it comes to selling on the internet is that it’s always the sales copy, not the images, that actually captures people’s imaginations and motivates them to buy. 

On the internet, there’s no sales person to assist a buyer, no one to ask a question of, so it gets down to the language—the sales copy.  Making the sale is often totally dependent on it.  This is why exceptional sales copy is paramount when selling online. 

A typical mistake that most people who are new to selling on the internet make is to focus too much time on getting their website designed and built—and not near enough time on what they are going to actually say once it’s up and running.  People tend to neglect their sales copy—or to leave it to the last minute—so that the website turns out to be ineffective in terms of converting their visitors into customers.  And isn’t that the point—that conversion? 

You might not have thought about it this way before, but whether you are writing text for your website, emails to your customers, advertising of any kind, or scripts for video or audio recordings—you are writing sales copy.  So, you need to be able to tackle writing and editing—and don’t forget proofreading—just like a pro.

It’s been well documented that flashy graphics don’t do the selling.  Instead, it’s the well-written, compelling sales copy that does.  In fact it is absolutely one of the most critical factors in determining the success or failure of any online business.

Think about it—sales copy is everywhere on your website.  It's not only in your text and core message—it’s in every single button, link, title tag, and product description—it's literally in everything you write. 

Great copywriting is not rocket science, though.

If you are not an experienced, professional writer, writing your own sales copy can be an intimidating, daunting challenge at first.  But it’s not rocket-science, so don’t feel that you have to be a published author to be able to write good copy that will motivate people to buy. 

There are, however—very fortunately—some proven copywriting techniques that you can use to develop a highly successful website that will turn you into an internet marketing dynamo.

Here’s how you approach the whole thing.  Writing sales copy is just like any other large task—you break it into small pieces and then start doing those small pieces one at a time, step by step.  It’s really no tougher than that.  And I’m about to break it all down into small pieces for you so you can see exactly how to accomplish it.

Sales copywriting has been around for a long, long time—and for a good reason—it works!  There are definitely tried and true formulas for it.  It’s a special language all its own designed to pique interest and sell—and most importantly—it’s based on human nature and founded on highly-successful, well-proven strategies—designed to close sales.

As you read through the following formulas, your first instinct may be to think, “Oh, people don’t really think like that,” or “That wouldn’t appeal to me,” or “No way—that’s not the way to do it.”  All I can say is—keep an open mind as you go through these.  I’m about to show you how it’s been done—by extremely successful people—for decades.

First, you need to understand the fundamentals behind the most popular copywriting formulas. 

At the most basic level, there are two unvarying guidelines for writing really dynamite sales copy, and they are:

• People have short attention spans, so don’t fight it, just go for short.  Short words, short sentences, short headlines, short paragraphs—not long ones.  You want attention-grabbers—easy to read, easy to grasp.
  
  
• Use “action” words.  You’ll be using plenty of terrific adjectives to describe whatever it is you’re talking about, but you need to be directive with people, too.  That’s what action words do—they tell people what to do and how to do it—and, most importantly—how to think!

A professional writer approaches the writing and editing of sales copy pretty simply.  It goes something like this:  Articulate the problem.  Stir up the emotions around it.  Then last, provide the solution. 

Pretty simple.  First, you state a problem your audience is having—something of burning interest.  You’ve already done your target-market research, so you already know what their big issues and hot buttons are.  Next, you go into detail explaining the pain involved—raising the temperature, agitating them about it.

Last, you empathize with them about the “ain’t it awfulness” of it all so that you can save the day by, not only offering the solution—but also proving that your solution is the very best one.

Now, here’s where you really bring it home.  Right after you prove that yours is the best solution—you offer them an incredibly compelling reason to take action now.  Not tomorrow—now.  And there you have it—the secret to writing professional sales copy.  You’ll find that it’s totally reliable and never wears out. 

So, to expand on this a bit, let’s get into some specific formulas. 

The following are formulas that you can select from and customize easily.  Some you may find work better with your particular product or service than others, but it’s good to know about all three of them, so you can mix and match them to maximize your message.

The Before and After:  This one’s a classic.  We’re all familiar with it—because it works!  It’s sold everything under the sun.  “Before I was ashamed to take my shirt off at the beach, I had gained so much weight, but now...” (you know the rest).

The Big Scare:  Ride on your readers’ hopes and fears.  What kinds of things is your target audience worried about?  What are they hoping for?  Start this pitch with the “problem,” which is the fear—and then end it with the “solution,” which is the hope.  “What happens if I’m disabled—will I have enough money to make it?”  Ergo, “I need to buy disability insurance.”

The “It Worked for Me”:  This one’s the classic testimonial formula.  “It worked for me = it’ll work for you.”  With this one, you write your entire copy in the form of a testimonial.  You’re weaving a fascinating story with this, but it must include all of your sales information and core messages—including the reasonable price, the great guarantee, and so forth. 

P.S.  This last one’s written entirely in the “voice” of the person who’s recounting the story.  It can be very, very powerful when done right.  It “proves” how credible your product or service is.

So, there you go.  The bottom line is—the secret to writing professional-grade sales copy is to follow the tried and true formulas developed by marketing experts over decades.  Their reliability is derived from the fact that they’ve been based entirely on extensive research into consumer purchasing patterns—and they’ve been proven to work for nearly every type of product there is.