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' WEBSITE101: READING LIST
Reaching Great Minds Online
August 7, 2000 Issue #56
Mike Valentine, Editor, learn@website101.com
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By subscription only Welcome to the August 7, 2000 issue
WEBSITE101: READING LIST
You are receiving this issue because you subscribed or
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IN THIS ISSUE
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==> Sponsor Ad: Click&Inc.com!
==> Feature: Special Survey Request for Subscribers
==> Guest Article: Structure your Copy for Prospects
==> HOT DEAL! Time Control Training Room 90% Discount!
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Please Take Our Survey For Members Only! Free Service Offer!
by Mike Banks Valentine
This week I am making a special request of the subscribers of
this newsletter to take a moment and respond to a short survey
we've prepared to determine interest in a new Suite of Services
for Small Business Entrepreneurs. It should take no more than
five minutes to complete and will help us shape a valuable set
of business services that will be offered FREE to our members.
This suite of services is to be a subscription based service to
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it will be offered FREE to WebSite101 members who join before
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So please take the time you would normally spend reading my
article here and consider helping WebSite101 to serve you and
your business better by taking our survey at this address:
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</a>
The guest article from "CopyWritingCenter.com" reproduced
below
this week is a bit longer than usual, but very helpful and
informative. Pay close attention to the suggestions offered
within the following article. They'll help your web site and
your business immeasurably.
Don't forget to take that survey! I've provided a link at the
bottom of the article too, so you don't forget us after reading
this informative piece. ;-)
Mike Banks Valentine
mailto:survey@website101.com
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Structure Your Copy Exactly The Same
Way Your Prospect Processes Information
Much has been said about the importance of speaking with your
prospect instead of at him. But not many marketers have
ventured into the mechanism to accomplish this feat.
For the purpose of persuading your readers, you --the copy
writer-- face the challenge of speaking with someone who is
not physically present and who can not give you an immediate
feedback.
Your job is to eliminate this bridge. To write your copy,
sales letter, endorsement and presentation in such way that
you give you prospect all the answers to his questions --even
before they pop-up in his mind.
How do you accomplish this feat?
By knowing what's going on inside your prospect's mind while
he is reading your web page or e-mail. And then feeding him
with thoughts, ideas, images and proof, so you can steer his
mind in the directions of YOUR desires...
Sound impossible? Not at all. It's actually as simple as
knowing a few, very interesting facts of human psychology.
And then apply them to your copy.
First of all, we must keep in mind that your prospect is a
human being. Most human beings are self-centered. Many times
we're even selfish. So make sure you structure your copy
according to the way his self-centered mind works.
See, in order to keep your reader's interest, we must
understand his thinking process and provide him with the
answers to his unspoken questions and satisfy his hunger for
meaningful information. Information that is relevant to him!
While reading you webpage, your reader is going to make some
demands that need to be satiated. These demands have certain
STRUCTURE which we must follow if we are going to satisfy them.
To sum everything up, your reader will make three kinds of
demands:
1. Demands for "Benefits"
2. Demands for "mechanism"
3. Demands for "reassurance"
DEMANDS FOR BENEFITS
Any time your prospect scans a web page or receives
information, he's filtering it subconsciously much in the same
way you filter your e-mails.
Inside his mind he's asking repeatedly...
What's in it for me? How do I benefit? How's this guy's going
to help me be happier, wealthier and more successful? What's
in this e-mail or webpage that will help me improve my
circumstances? That will help me achieve what I want?
To say it in one sentence. A benefit is anything that makes
your customer's life better by using your product or service.
When your have satisfied his demands for "benefits," you
must
move on to satisfy his demands for a "Mechanism..."
DEMANDS FOR MECHANISM
Mechanism is the logical reason why your product will do what
you say it does. It answers the second question that pops-up
in your prospect's mind.
How? Tell me HOW? How can I have that?
If you claimed that your product is better than all the rest,
tell your readers why is better. If your software is more
advanced than all the others in its category, tell your readers
what makes it superior. Not just because you claim it is
better, but because of...
1. The extra 9,000 man/hours you and your staff spent
developing it
2. The superior knowledge of your staff and How this superior
knowledge means more quality.
4. Because of the 12 beta sites you created just to "iron out"
all bugs and programming errors
5. How the files in this software are "stacked" and streamlined
so it doesn't execute redundant tasks that slows it down
6. And any other "logical" reason you "dig out"
that "proves"
that your product will behave the way you say
The goal of your copy here --and this is important-- is to get
your prospect to "agree" and then BELIEVE that the benefits
you promised earlier on will actually be delivered by your
product.
It is important to stress here that you're building credibility,
not by the use of testimonials and other external "proof,"
but
rather by the sheer, irrefutable "logic" of your words
and the
timing of their appearance in your copy. When your prospect
is ready to hear and accept them --not before.
This takes us to your reader's next demand:
SHOW ME!
See, at this moment the distrustful part of him kicks in.
People are positive by nature but procrastinators by habit.
Remember, your prospect has made mistakes in the past. People
have misled him before. Maybe a merchant before you, took
advantage of him. And he doesn't want to make another costly
"error."
What your reader wants --and desperately needs-- at this part
of your sales copy is... REASSURANCE.
DEMANDS FOR REASSURANCE
Your reader is thinking... "Yes, I want all these wonderful
things you promised...Yes! I believe that what you say sounds
logic"
"...But wait," He says, "...before ordering your
product,
please show me that other people before me bought it...
Show me other individuals who have gotten the benefits you
are promising me. Prove to me that your company will repair
this product if something goes wrong. Please REASSURE ME.
Please "SHOW ME."
This is the time when you must show him the size of your company
--literally or figuratively--. And your potential customer will
believe you have the "financial muscle" to produce such
astonishing technological innovations.
Your copy must make him aware that you've been around --1, 5,
10 years. Show him, and he'll believe your company will also be
around to fix a problem --if this product ever breaks down.
Show your customer-to-be how many people have bought it in the
past. Give your prospect proof of how many other people "just
like him" are using it and how satisfied and delighted they
are.
He will believe that if it works for these people, it will work
for him as well. Show him your awards, the recognition you've
gotten from your peers, your lab tests and any other external
proof that verifies your claims of performance, and he will
actually believe all your claims, purchase your product and
hire your services.
There you have it. In order to increase sales this is what you
must do...
First of all, focus your copy strategy on the "benefits"
your
prospect is going to receive.
Second, offer him the "mechanism" that will "logically"
provide
those benefits.
Third "reassure" him by giving him facts about you and/or
your
company.
And finally, "eliminate the risk" of him losing his money
by
giving him a money back guarantee.
Now, you might not be selling products -- but services.
It doesn't matter. Whether you're selling Vitamins, Exercise
Equipment, Flowers, Sophisticated Electronic Equipment,
Software, Hardware, Personal Services, Marketing Courses,
Real Estate or any other conceivable product or service,
this approach works very well because it deals with human
behavior and is not attached to a particular commodity, item
or service.
Follow the preceding copy writing strategy and you'll
participate in a more engaging "conversation" with your
prospect.
Or, if you are not making any sales, incorporate this proven
strategy into every web page you design so you can start
selling today.
=============================================================
Copy Writing
Discover the secrets of professional Internet copy writers.
Learn how to write your own persuasive ads, e-mails, e-zines
and sales letters with stopping headlines, emotional body
copy, ironclad guarantees and irresistible offers.
Get more information at:
<a href="http://CopyWritingCenter.com/tk.cgi?104" target="_top">
http://CopyWritingCenter.com/tk.cgi?104</a>
=============================================================
An impressive list of great small business necessities that
others will pay for, but not you! WebSite101 members are FREE!!
Please take the time to help WebSite101 to serve you and
your business FREE by taking our survey at this URL:
<a href=" http://website101.com/Survey/ "> http://website101.com/Survey/
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Copyright © 2000 Mike Valentine
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-------------------WebSite101: Reading List-------------------
ISSN: 1527-5094
Mike Valentine
WebSite 101
learn@website101.com
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June 9, 2001
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