Is your copy layout hurting your sales?

Years ago, newspaper ad reps used to tell people that they needed plenty of white space around their copy. Most people I talked with had the opinion that the advice was just a ploy to sell bigger ad spaces.

But it wasn't.

You really DO need some white space. Breathing room, so to speak. And now that we're using the web it seems more important than ever. We've all gotten in a hurry - so we look at a web page almost to see if we HAVE to read it. It's true - we're looking for an excuse not to.

This is a completely different situation than we have with a newspaper or a magazine. Those you might read while eating a solitary meal, or while riding a bus or an airplane. At those times you're looking for something interesting to read. On the web, most of us are not. We're looking for information, and scanning to see if what we want might be there.

And who can scan a wall of copy? Who even wants to try? It's easier to click away and find a friendlier page.

Even in print the white space around a headline or between paragraphs is helpful. It gives our eyes a rest and lets us focus in and find what we want to read.

And yet - I see web copy so dense, and in such a small font, that the only way I'd read it is if I believed it held something I absolutely needed to find.

I get marketing emails in the same format - but I can't tell you what they're selling, because I've never taken time to read any of them.

Right now you might be thinking about some of the long running ads that are dense copy covering an entire page in something like the Enquirer. But think twice about them. The copy is long, but there are definitely paragraph breaks, and sub heads and bullets scattered throughout.
Those elements keep pulling the reader's eyes along the page - so even if they're scanning, they've got a place to stop and see what's next.

Before you send your next letter, go back and make sure you've left space between your paragraphs - and slice up those paragraphs so that none is over 7 lines long - less is better.
If it's a sales letter, take some of your information and put it in bullet form - and add some sub-heads to build interest and keep your reader moving.

Meanwhile, check your web site. Make sure the font size is large enough to see when you're sitting back in your chair relaxing. Then check the white space for both readability and visual appeal. You don't want all of your sentences the same length, by the way.

Make everything you send out look easy to read - that's the key. Let your reader quickly scan to see what you're offering - and if that's the right person for your product, they'll go back and read everything in between.

Call or write if you need some help!

Marte
writer@marte-cliff.com
208-448-1479

Marketing without revealing the price

I've made up my mind - from now on curiosity can motivate the cat, but not me. When I get a promotion that doesn't reveal the price, I'm hitting the delete button.

How about you? Will you keep on clicking that buy now button just to see how much it is - and be drawn in to the next step in the letter to get you buy, buy, buy?

I remember a LONG time ago reading some of the rules for promotion. I mean the rules beyond giving the prospect a good reason why they should buy, appealing to emotions, being conversational, and remembering to include both some proof and a call to action.

These rules had more to do with ethics, or perhaps common sense, if you want your prospects to trust you.

One was to give your name and a way for would-be customers to contact you. Don't hide behind your copy and hope no one finds out who you are.

Another was to be up front about the price. I think maybe the final was to be honest - but hopefully that's a given.

Anyway, right after I read that, some of the "big guns" in internet marketing started leaving the price out of their promotions. It made me cranky then, and it makes me more cranky now.

So - add that to my New Year's Resolutions. No price, no curiosity. Just delete.

I'd love to hear your opinion!

Marte
writer@marte-cliff.com

Marketing Resolutions for the New Year

Did you make a New Year's Resolution? I hadn't really thought about it until tonight, when I read an ezine suggesting some cool ways to build business by resolving to do one thing each day toward that end.

It could be working on your marketing, it could be writing and publishing an article, it could be reaching out to get one new client, or it could be thinking up some new way to improve some part of your business. For us copywriters, he suggested writing a mini-ad each day for business we'd like to work for - and then sending it to them as a gift. Now that sounds like fun.

How about this? Monday write an article and send it to article site #1, Tuesday do a Craig's list posting, Wednesday write an article and send it to article site #2, Thursday call a past client, and Friday call someone you'd like to have as a new client.

You could come up with any combination of the above, but doing one thing each day to market yourself or your business would have to make a difference by the end of the new year!

Go for it! Make 2008 the most fun and profitable year of your life (so far)!'

Yours for prosperity,

Marte
writer@marte-cliff.com

E-mail marketing: the subject line puzzle

How much time do you spend each day hitting the delete button? And how many tenths of a second does it take you to decide to click?

I'm personally getting pretty fast -- hope I don't accidentally delete something I want. But sometimes the titles, or the sender names, are so silly that I stop and stare a second. For instance, I've been getting mail from someone named Ron Representive. How clever.

Meanwhile, I read a good tip this week, so have to share. The writer was discussing the difficulty of getting email opened, and he had a good idea. Put your main subject first, and some follow up words after a colon - like I just did with this title

It makes sense, especially if you're talking about 10 ways to do something or promoting a class or maybe sending an invitation to an industry event. For instance. Instead of writing
"10 ways to write a better business letter", you could say "Business letters: 10 ways to improve yours."

That method might help your open rate, and might alert quick fingered folks like me to stop and look just an instant longer.

The other method I've read, which I think is really good if you're writing to folks who know you, is to put your name or your company name in brackets at the beginning. Such as [Marte Cliff]
Not much help though, if you're writing to strangers.

Whatever we do, its definitely time to identify who we are and what we're offering - or at least find a way to differentiate our messages from the ton of pure junk that floods our in boxes.

I'm hoping that all those people who write the cute, tricky subject lines will become so discouraged by their results that they'll fade into the sunset. You know, the ones that say things like "I got your message" when it's from someone you've never heard of. But, I expect when they do, others will take their places.

If you have any great tips to share on this subject -- or any other -- please write!

Yours for success,
Marte

P.S. If you want some tips on writing a better business letter, join my marketing ezine. Just send a blank email.

Grow your business by helping others

It just occurred to me that one of the best things about the internet is that we have the opportunity to help each other prosper. That's pretty neat, I think, and it isn't even difficult.

I'm talking about link exchanges. Everyone knows they need their web site to rank high in a generic search -- unless they want to pay for clicks. And while optimizing a site for SEO is fun and does do a lot of good, there's that external SEO to deal with.

And that's where friends come in.

While the big companies can hire someone to go out and get them links, most of us cannot. But we can trade with all the people we know and trust to do business well. We all have someone else who helps us do business in some way, or we have customers we can trade with.

For instance, if you run a small retail store, you have dozens of vendors -- some of whom are small enough that you could call them up and suggest a trade. You also have customers who buy from you regularly. Why not trade with them?

The same holds true for Realtors, Insurance Agents, Plumbers, Landscapers, Dog Groomers, Hairdressers, Chiropractors, Motel and Restaurant owners... in short, everyone.

The links you add can also be a source of referrals back and forth between your businesses -- which is a second benefit. Would you rather choose a plumber from the phone book, or from a list of "preferred vendors" on your favorite Realtor's website? I'll admit, you won't get a ton of business that way, but it certainly won't hurt.

One thing to keep in mind is the content of the links. For the maximum benefit, they should be from your keywords - definitely not from "click here." It will take a little extra effort to decide how to word a sentence to do that, but from everything I've read, it will be worth the effort.

Right now I'm working on getting links from "web copywriter" because I'm trying to raise the ranking of that page on my site. Location doesn't matter to me, because my clients come from all over the country, but if you have a local business, try to work in the name of your City as well as the keyword that will draw folks to you. For instance, link from "Boise landscaper" or "landscaper in Boise," rather than just "landscaper."

And that reminds me... if you link to a certain function of your business, be sure to link to the proper page. Just today I followed a link to find more information about something that was promised, and when I got there I got a home page with no clue about where to find the information. I left in disgust. I'm sure you've encountered the same thing.

That's my thought for the night. Let's all get busy and help each other tomorrow!

Yours for success,

Marte

www.marte-cliff.com
writer@marte-cliff.com

Why do you choose to open an e-mail?

Last week I wrote an e-mail promotion for a client who wanted to use the subject line: "Mother's Day Special." We did, and we got about a 15% open rate with a 6% conversion rate.

I'd like to increase her open rate on the next one and still maintain the good conversion rate. But how? I've thought about that a lot for the past several days.

What makes the difference between opening an email and deleting it without looking? The name of the sender, of course. And then the Subject line. We're all getting subject lines designed to trick us in to opening. Things like "Thanks for calling" and "Old friend found you." Those might get opened, but if you're like me, your annoyance at being tricked is enough to make you delete just as soon as you see it's bogus.

So what does work? I'd love to hear your opinions. What makes you delete without opening? What makes you open and at least give the message a glance? Was my client correct in stating that the email contained information about a special? Or should we have gone to a curiosity subject like "What does Mom want most this Mother's Day?"

What I do know for sure is that a steady program to build trust is vital. You absolutely must give your e-mail recipients something of value when you write. Not just a promotion, but information people can use. Then when they see your name in the send line, they'll open it to see what you have to say today.

After that, you have to be consistent. I've seen 3 or 4 internet marketers who started out well and have since fallen into the habit of "advertising only" in their emails. Now if they had something good to say I'd never know, because I delete automatically when I see their names.

So, do you have a rule of thumb? What makes you open or delete?

Looking forward to your answers,

Marte

Marte Cliff, Copywriter
www.marte-cliff.com