 WebProWorld Marketing Forum |
Serious Podcasting For Business
It's been interesting reading some of the reactions by business bloggers to General Motors' first experiment with podcasting last week. This Technorati list has lots of blog commentaries, mostly positive, although most don't discuss the podcasts from the specific communication point of view.
All About Podcasting
Podcasting, the practice of making downloadable broadcasts for the iPod (or other mp3 players), is growing in popularity. Pioneered by ex-MTV VJ Adam Curry, podcasting has a number of proponents, with Steve Rubel being one of the more vocal.
Blogs Mean Business
Blogs are becoming essential for business. Steve Rubel of MicroPersuasion.com is one of our publishing partners who is on the cutting edge of this marketing and communications revolution. Below are comments and pointers by Steve that will help you use blogs to enhance your business success.
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Y!Q on my blog...
I've just updated the template for my individual post pages to include Y!Q, which I wrote about on the Yahoo Search blog. Adding Y!Q to your site is easy. If you're using MovableType, adding something like this to your template will give you what I've got on mine, using the post title as the "context" for the Y!Q search.
Panel discussion: Blogging and journalism
Highlight points from the panel - pictured, left to right: Dan Forbush, Tom Foremski, Jeremy Wright, Heath Row - moderated by Dan Forbush. The panel addressed the impact of blogs on their work, their general view on the value of blogs as a communication channel, and how best to promote their blogs.
Podcast Movie Reviews
A clever idea - movie reviews that are delivered via podcast ... Reel Reviews Syndicated On DVD Talk Radio. We are excited to announce that Reel Reviews - Films Worth Watching is now made available to listeners on DVD Talk Radio. DVD Talk is the largest DVD review and news site on the internet.
500 Years Of Blogging History...
You think you're an early adopter because you're using blogs to be heard? Forget it. Martin Luther, Thomas Paine, George Orwell were all way ahead of you. Thomas Paine was basically a blogger - in 1776. Martin Luther's version of blogs totally ticked off the Holy Roman Emperor, who issued the Edict of Worms banning Luther's writings.
Blogs Make Perfect Aids To Learning
BBC News: Blogs are increasingly being used by academics and students. Until a few months ago, the attention paid to web logs, or blogs, focused mainly on politics and the media business.
Top 100 RSS feeds
Blogging service Radio Userland has a very useful list of the top 100 most subscribed-to RSS feeds.
Pitch Blogs with Caution
Blogs. To pitch or not to pitch? Well, it depends on your definition of pitch. I've received a ton of irrelevant pitches since starting Strategic Public Relations more than two years ago. Just yesterday, someone posted a press release as a comment to one of my posts. Can you say DELETE?!
2004's Most Popular Blog Topics
Lycos announced the following information from Tripod and Angelfire on Lycos. Tripod and Angelfire make up one of the largest communities on the Internet. Earlier this month, Merriam-Webster announced the number one Word of the Year (based on online lookups) is Blog.
How to publish an eBook without writing a word.....
There are many, many advantages to selling eBooks online, not least the fact that once the eBook is written, the sales and delivery process can be automated so that as the seller, there is literally nothing for you to do when you make a sale.
The 6 Ways To Beat Procrastination At Work
The assignment that your boss gave you several days ago still isn't done. The assignment is a report that your boss needs to take to an important meeting, and you may get a big promotion if the meeting goes OK.
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02.15.05
Creating A Powerful Sales Letter Using Four Main Ingredients
 By Steven Boaze
Everybody wants to make more money... In fact, most people would like to hit upon something that makes them fabulously rich! And seemingly, one of the easiest roads to the fulfillment of these dreams of wealth is writing effective Sales Letters and using them correctly.
The only thing is, hardly anyone gives much real thought to the basic ingredient of selling by email, selling by web site, selling by direct mail - the writing of money making Sales Letters. If your online/offline business is to succeed, then you must acquire the expertise of writing sales letters that sell your products or services!
So what makes a sales letters good or bad? First of all, it must appeal to the reader, and as such, it must say exactly what you want it to say. Secondly, it has to say what it says in the least possible number of words in order to keep your operating costs within your budget. And thirdly, it has to produce the desired results whether inquiries or sales.
Grabbing the reader's attention is your first objective. You must assume the reader is "scanning" the page on which your sales letter appears. If your message is in the company of other huge distractions, such as graphics, resource links or other images, there has to be something about your Sales Letter that causes them to stop scanning and look at your message!
 So, the first two or three words of your sales letter are of the utmost importance and deserve your careful consideration. Most surveys show that words or phrases that quickly involve the reader, tend to be the best attention-grabbers. Such words as: FREE... WIN... MAKE BIG MONEY...
Whatever words you use as attention-grabbers, to start your sales letter, you should bear in mind that it will be competing with similar attention- grabbers, only if there are other means and ways of distractive material are present. Therefore, in addition to your lead words, your sales letter must quickly go on to promise or state further benefits to the reader.
In the language of professional copywriters, you've grabbed the attention of your prospect, and interested them with something that even they can do.
The next rule of good sales letters copywriting has to do with the arousal of the reader's desire to get in on your offer. In a great many instances, this rule is by-passed, and it appears, this is the real reason that a sales letter doesn't pull according to the expectations of the advertiser.
Think about it - you've got your reader's attention; you've told them it's easy and simple; and you're about to ask them to do something. Unless you take the time to further "want your offer," your sales letter is going to only half turn them on. They'll compare your sales letters with the others that have grabbed their attention and finally decide upon the one that interests them the most.
What I'm saying is that here is the place for you to insert that magic word "guaranteed" or some other such word or phrase. So now, we've got a sales letter that opens with or leads on that reads:
MAKE BIG MONEY! Easy & Simple. Guaranteed!
Now the reader is turned on, and in their mind, can't lose. You're ready to ask for their money. This is the "demand for action" part of your sales letter. This is the part where you want to use such words as:
Limited offer - Act now! Write today! Only and/or just... Putting it all together as you flow through your sales presentation.
These are the four ingredients of any good sales letters.
Attention - Interest - Desire - Action...
Without these four ingredients skillfully integrated into your sales message, chances are your sales letter will just "lie there" and not do anything but cost you money. Although such a letter could be placed in any leading publication and would pull a good response, it's known as a "blind letter" and would pull inquiries and responses from a whole spectrum of people reading the publication in which it appeared. In other words, from as many "time-wasters" as from bona fide buyers.
 The point I am making is that:
l. You've got to grab the reader's attention...
2. You've got to "interest them" with something that appeals to them...
3. You've got to "further stimulate" them with something (catch-phrase) that makes them "desire" the product or service...
4. Demand that they act immediately...
There's no point in being tricky or clever. Just adhere to the basics and your profits will increase accordingly. One of the best ways of learning to write good sales letters is to study the other sales letters out there - try to figure out exactly what they're attempting to sell - and then practice re-writing them according to the rules I've just given you. Whenever you sit down to write a sales letter, always write it all out - write down everything you want to say - and then go back over it, crossing out words, and refining your phraseology.
Generally speaking, readers respond more often to sales letters that include a name than to those showing just initials or an address only. However, because advertising costs are based upon the size and number of words, or the amount of space your sales letters uses, the use of some names, graphics, bold or Italic wording in sales letters could become quite expensive. If I were to ask our ad representatives to write to or send their money to The Research Writers & Publishers Association, or to Book Business Mart, or even to Money Maker's Opportunity Digest, my advertising costs would be prohibitive. Thus we shorten our name Researchers, limit graphics or Money-Makers. The point here is to think relative to the placement costs of your sales letters, and to make every inch of space count on the page.
The important thing is to know the rules of sales letters writing, and to follow them. Hold your costs in line. once your sales letter is written, now is the time to use it wisely.
Know the Basics...
Grab Their Attention....
The rest is up to you.....
About the Author:
Steven Boaze, Chairman, is The Owner of Boaze.com Corporate Web Solutions. Steven is the Author of two successful Books, thousands of articles featured in radio, magazines newspapers and trade journals. Steven has 25 years experience in journalism, copywriting, certified Web Developer. http://www.copywriteplus.com Copyright © 1998-2005 Boaze.com |
