Latest Publications

5 Reasons Why People Buy (Sometimes Without Knowing…)

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

Why People BuyCutting to the point, there are plenty of reasons why people buy stuff… but for now, I want to hit on 5 of the most ‘cutting edge’ reasons that will be most beneficial for you to understand and focus on.

When you’re writing, consider these 5 points… pull these triggers together with the benefits of the product or service your writing for, blend them together and they can make a reader melt!

Let’s get stuck in:

1. To Increase Happiness and Fulfill Their Desire: Now this is some serious ‘buying factor’ going on here! People just flat out buy thinks due to the fact they just want to feel happy and satisfy desires.

So you ask: What desires does your product meet? Why would your customer feel happier if they purchased your product? What would your customer say if they bought your product and were over the moon “I’m extremely happy I bought this product because ______________”

2. The Popularity (WOW) Factor: People tend to buy expensive cars, clothes, boats etc just for the ooooooh factor, they what their friends and passers buy to look at them and say “WOW! Nice car”

People all like flattery, popularity, fame and power, and this is a main driving factor you must consider with your writing.

You can tap into these emotions if your prospects gravitate towards those desires

3. We All Want To Save Time: If you can find a way for your prospect to save time, you’re onto a winner!

You hear many say “time is money” So with that theory, if you can save people time, you can make them money…

You may have friends or family members who are in the position at work, where they would sacrifice money in order to have more time.

I know in my last 75hr per week job, I would have happily cut down the hours to give myself more time. The negative to that though is, when I had less money I wanted more of it…

It’s a fine line to achieve, more time and more money, but that’s what people want, and again if you can give it to them, then you my friend just found your ‘yellow brick road!’

4. We Buy For Entertainment: People will always have extra time on their hands and if you don’t have anything to do in that time, you will become bored.

We all enjoy entertaining ourselves…right? and were all  fast to spend money on movies, going out on the town with friends, eating out and many other events that provide entertainment.

Thing is, we may tend to be slow to pay for the things like the mortgage, doctors bills, groceries, because they don’t provide entertainment.

If your able to position your offers in ways that are entertaining, your conversions will gain, like wise if your offer itself is entertaining, people will buy.

You need to tap into the reader’s inner desire to be entertained. You need to map it out for them how your offer will provide entertainment and that owning the product will be an experience.

5. People Like To Be In Style: Being in style is almost an addition for some people because not being in style may draw criticism from others and can bring down their  self-esteem .

Likewise, being in style can bring your self esteem up (all emotion based…)

Recently I was out with a friend who was looking to buy a new car, I won’t mention what he ended up with, but we were at the dealership and the salesman was going through his normal role…

But almost at the click of his fingers, he had sold the car to my friend in one sentence, at the point where he turned to my friend and said:

“Sir, in this car, you will set the trend”

After that there was no looking back, what color, what price, sold!

So next time your setting up to promote your next product or service, run through these tips and try to implement them in to your strategy. You will notice a difference!

Subscribe For My FREE Report!

Here Will Discover The TOP 7 Tips You Can Use In Your Sales Copy TODAY To Increase Your Sales & Cash In On Lost Conversions!

Name:
Email:
 
Powered by Optin Form Adder

5 Essentials To Aid Your Video Marketing

Video MarketingVideo marketing has been huge since it landed on the internet and is growing day by day, if it’s not part of your marketing arsenal today, then I encourage you to at least take a look into it (or have me do it for you ;) )

So what I’ll explain for you here is how there’s really only one major factor that can control your success with video marketing – QUALITY…

But, quality isn’t only focused around the ‘visual pleasure’ that video has the power to bring you…

Here you will discover my top 5 critical qualities that you need to include in your video marketing today, along with tools, tips and of course the errors you may fall victim for.

1. Plan for Success

If you write out a paragraph of text and it just doesn’t take your fancy, you have the option go back in and edit… well with video it’s not quite that easy.

It’s a good… no, it’s a great idea to do some planning before you press record.

To do this, start by determining your goal, the objective to the video, and then plan to meet that objective.

Below are some recommended marketing objectives and content that should be considered for your next production.

  • Brand Recognition – Show company logo, emotional and/or entertaining content.
  • Advertisement – Your benefit proposition within the main body of a story.
  • Lead Generation – An incentive combined with instructions for sharing contact information.
  • Education – Product tutorials, step-by-step instructions, product comparisons.
  • Social Proof - Customers testimonials, success stories.
  • Immediate Sale – The immediate benefits of your products or services and a strong call to action.

Hot Tip: Keep your options open.

It saves time and money to shoot  a few different introductions or endings for your video, not only will this allow you different options for editing, but you can split test in different fields or personalize your video for audiences with different interests.

Depending on the length of your video I highly recommended writing out some type of script.

Short Video - Your written content can be laid out word for word

Longer Video - It’s easier to use an outline of the script instead of word for word, unless it’s a subject you’re not 100% comfortable with.

With both written and video content you provide your customers two options, some prefer to read, other prefer to watch…hell some will even do both.

Also with the written script this also allows you to put content in to benefit the search engines.

Warning: Don’t forget to plan for the context of your viewer – today, mobile phone are becoming increasingly more adaptable to watch videos from the internet, if that’s where the majority of your viewers will be coming from, you may need to consider a smaller screen, location of your viewer and the options the phone may have when opting in for the call to action…you know, the bit that makes you money!

2. Video Production

With your video you can plan the visual effects, audio, the quality of the spokesperson, the story line and believability etc

But if the production quality is ‘poor’, no matter how well the rest is played off, it can turn viewers away in seconds.

Production quality can really make or break your online presence and image.

Today with HD making itself into millions of homes, it’s becoming an industry standard, consumers expect serious businesses to adhere to high quality video and audio presentations.

But don’t sweat, you don’t need to spend $1000’s on equipment, special effects, locations and actors for 30 seconds of fame.

Smaller investments are more than capable of helping promote your next venture and production companies can adjust the amount of services they provide to help match your budget. LIGHTGROUP.COM

If you’re going in alone (DIY) like many,  but have no technical experience, no understanding of what equipment to use, or if again the budget is holding you back, you can always search local studios and televisions stations to rent theirs out. NEVER let money restraints hold you back!

Idea: For marketing purposes, shorter ‘bitesize’ videos with good, valuable, rich content work great. If your delivering a longer message try a miniseries and cut it up a bit, or provide a ‘taster’ showing off the benefits of watching the longer version.

If producing yourself, no matter what tools you use your going to need some type of software to upload/download, edit and format. The ones I recommend are Adobe Visual Communicator, Camtasia and QuickTime Pro

3. Direct Video Distribution

Once you’ve put a video on the WWW for the first time, the next is easy, and putting a video on your site is great for visitors, but if you stop there, you cutting off your traffic potential to levels that can’t be measured!

The truth is, people who prefer to research and learn through video, primarily search though certain sites such as YouTube and Hulu because they believe they will find a wider variety of online videos for the topic their looking for.

Once you have a video ready for distribution make sure you post them to the following sites:

  • Your site (of course)
  • Your Blog
  • RSS feeds
  • Social Media Sites – Facebook, Twitter, Digg
  • Online video sites such as YouTube, Itunes, Hulu etc

Many people like to distribute their videos to as many channels as possible but this can take forever. Using a syndication method allows you to distribute to all the same sites but at the click of a button…MAGIC!

My personal favorite is TubeMogul.com, they have a free service that allows you to release up to 100 videos per month!

Idea: On many distribution channels i.e. YouTube they allow you to optimize your videos for search engines and give you the opportunity to place ads next to your video that display relevant content.

Where this is beneficial is, the ad displays next to the video while watching, so the viewer won’t be scrolling down the page like they would if they were ‘reading’ down the page . Meaning the ad is displayed insight for a longer period of time…

BUT… be careful, some distribution sites will allow you to post your videos for free, for exchange that they can show ads next to your video.

Make sure the ads aren’t conflicting, competitive or visually distractive to disrupt the viewing of your content before you accept.

4. Provide Interactivity

It takes the passive side of the brain to physically sit down, watch the video and take the required action at the end.

So it’s in your best interest to make your videos interactive i.e. you make the watcher do things, click links, answer questions etc.

Interactivity can be built in to your video in many ways

  • Interactive links that display during key portions of the video
  • Calls to action that appear as text overlays
  • Clickable screens that allow the viewer to click on objects in the video
  • Comment forms that pop up during the video
  • Live chats that allow viewers to discuss the content

With each of these features, it also gives you the chance to collect information and measure traffic patterns from viewer habits. You will need to make sure your video player is capable of tracking interactions and include links to signup forms or social media site so viewers can join your email list or keep up to date with you on Twitter.

A typical player you will need should include play button and clickable controls, you can even brand your videos with your company logo.

Companies such as Viddler.com allow you to record and publish with viewer comments, share links, add tags and use your branding. Veeple.com is also very useful for interactivity as it allows you to make parts of the screen clickable.

If on a budget, Jwplayer.com and Flowplayer.com are great companies but don’t offer extras when it comes to interaction.

Caution: Too much interactivity can move the viewer away from the original goal or intent of the video. Each time you add interactivity, ask yourself, if it’s not encouraging the viewer closer to a purchase…do you really need it?

5. Be Polite and Share

Anyone can share their video to help aid in brand recognition and count the number of views they get. But if your real goal is to generate leads and get in front of as many people as possible to find that next immediate sale, don’t lose focus just trying to make your video go viral…

Instead… put all your effort into the ‘content’ of your video, and get other people to start sharing your campaign and incentives. Have your viewers to do the work for you!

For example, if your video promotes a sweepstakes to collect leads, your video should ask people to share the sweepstakes information, not the video.

Again, don’t forget about the mobile devices out there, consider the formats in which your content can be shared. Today, YouTube automatically enables mobile sharing.

Remember: Many of the distribution channels today make it almost too easy for viewers to share their videos with other social networks, such as the Viddlers and YouTubes in our world.

But if you haven’t heard of it before Sharethis.com is a site that also allows you to place their share links or RSS feeds on web pages that contain your videos.

Companies such as Mogreet.com allow you to proactively send mobile videos to your customers via MMS messages and ensure that the videos are formatted to play on almost every mobile device.

Caution: Keep an eye on your formats…

There’s only a few options when it comes to formats – AVI, MPEG, MP4, FMV are some of the more popular ones. But this may always be threatened by technology. Flash is great but not supported everywhere.

Make sure the distribution channels you work with have the ability to display your video in a selection of formats to help suit the needs for as many viewers as possible.

Subscribe For My FREE Report!

Here Will Discover The TOP 7 Tips You Can Use In Your Sales Copy TODAY To Increase Your Sales & Cash In On Lost Conversions!

Name:
Email:
 
Powered by Optin Form Adder

Do People Actually Read This Stuff?

Copywriting

Lets be honest…I’m sure you’ve thought that a few times before…

right?

You’ve completed all the writing for your business, blog, marketing etc, but no one’s really saying much, some say it’s good others don’t really have a say.

Traffic just seems to come and go like people at the local bus stop and the comments section almost seems to be like the beach on a Christmas morning.

And this just keeps you thinking….

Is everyone around just being nice as to not hurt my feelings, do I just need to be patient?

Do readers actually like my stuff….?

First Prize Goes To The First To Find Out..

To help comfort you somewhat, this question isn’t easy to answer and there’s no real way to find out for sure.

Let’s say you’re starting out as a beginner, you have managed to herd up 200 regular readers of which 30% are family and friends and only 15% of them will actually know what you’re writing about in depth and always give you a good report anyway for moral support…

Your open to all being subjective with different definitions to your subject and quality of work..and unfortunately you don’t get the option to post your work out to the world for a public consensus as that would be too good to be true….

So where can I find the answers!!

Listen to everyone and everything….every opinion either good or bad will teach you something, even if you’re starting out or a veteran in your business, just keep listening to as few or as many opinions as you are able.

Correct, not everyone is right, but there aren’t any rules to this, but there are warnings.

If what your writing really isn’t settling with others, you will start to see signs of this, and if it’s that bad, you’ll start to see more and more.

Below I’ve collected the top 12 signs that when I started became common to me and were signs that I needed to change my approach:

1. You think your content is “good enough”

If you were asked to give you’re writing a score out of 10, chances are many people would score themselves 6 or 7.

Which tells me: Your not that impressed with your writing yourself……so why should others.

When people read your articles or blogs their either put to sleep or blown away, meaning if you’re not blowing them away, you’re not going to have many readers…so if you don’t believe you’re a 8-10 it’s time to step it up!

Put simply: If you’re getting a 6-7 you might as well be scoring a 1…

2.Dear Diary

Not too long ago, most people used their blog as a sort of online journal, where people took a few minutes every day to write down their thoughts. But blogs have evolved beyond that. Now they’re more like online magazines, with highly polished content.

If your posts look more like “Dear Diary” than a magazine you would see at the newsstand, you’ve probably got a problem.

3. Not Many (if any) Are Taking the Time to Comment

Comments are one of the best ways to measure reader engagement. If you have a few hundred subscribers, and yet none of them are commenting, then it might be because they find your content unworthy of their attention.

Translation: it sucks.

4. Your visitors don’t hang around for too long

It’s an easy process to install Google Analytics, and with that you will be able to monitor how long people stop and have a read of your website.

For the majority of traffic sources that you can direct to your site, 2 minutes is on the extreme low side for them to stay, anything less than 1 min you’re actually turning people away.

(Or advertising to the wrong crowd)

5. Readers aren’t talking to you

If your providing good, knowable, original content that’s helping people out, people will go out of their way to thank you personally. This isn’t just by a quick ‘thank you’ I mean a 2 page thank you letter where they explain you helped change their life!

Of course when you start out in your chosen filed, you won’t get much, but some will trickle through, but if you don’t then you need to step it up and improve your content as it can be better.

6. Some readers don’t dislike you yet??

To counteract point 5, if your providing good content, you will always fall into the path of some vocal groups, where no matter what you say, they will always have the opposite feelings and don’t mind sharing them with you and as many people as they can find.

Nothing you can say will appease them, so don’t even try, believe me, it can get messy and that can come across as unprofessional to others and can be damaging.

But this is all the right signs your heading in the right direction.

7. You focus on the right words to often (SEO)

From time to time you come across beginners where all they talk about is SEO, and it scares me. Purely concentrating on SEO will destroy your writing ability when all you think about is deliberately stuffing in keywords in the attempt to be number one in the search engines.

If you believe this is you, you need to sit back, chill out pour yourself a cold (non alcoholic) beverage, then get creative. If SEO is your goal, then go back in afterwards and you can make some delicate changes in the search engines favor.

8. You save your best ideas until last?

Get your good stuff and throw it to the crowd NOW, if your holding back on your best ideas, because in 3 months time your releasing a new product and they complement each other DON”T, get it out now and get people talking, the more people that see your worthy work now, could benefit you when the time comes

……….still waiting, WHY! Go do it now…..

9. Get to know your benefits

In a measurable result, how are you hoping to improve your reader’s lives?

I don’t mean “Having a higher self steam or fulfillment in life” you need to be able to say “They will double their stocks and shares” or “Learn to play the piano.”

If you find it hard to think like this or measure your results, it’s time to sit back down and find out how….

10. You don’t research your skills

Articles, blogging, brochures, sales copy, if you don’t study copywriting, it’s like building your IKEA bedroom set without the instructions…. You will get it done, but how will it look when you’re finished, and there will always be some parts left out..

If you haven’t studied, read a book, practiced copywriting, then you should. Like right now.

11. Do you really know your readers….

To be a great writer includes intimacy with your readers, and getting to know them will allow you to touch them when you write.

You need to find out what makes them tick, what makes them scared, think, excited and what keeps them up at night. Then write about it. This will make the communication levels so much more personal and deeper they will just need to keep reading your work.

12. Experience is minimal

Let’s be honest, if you’ve only been at this for less than 6 months, there’s not much you can do, either your content is just going to suck or you’ll have no followers that you’ll never know how your really performing.

All you can do is be positive, ignore any negativity and just keep writing, it will just come with time and don’t let anyone tell you any different!

The bottom line

I would be a beautiful thing if I could say producing compelling content is easy or is a ‘push button’ system that you can learn in an evening.

But I can’t and won’t…

To come up with new, original and great content does take work, yes…some people have the knack, but they are few and far between, also, at the same time it isn’t rocket science, it just takes time and dedication.

The fact you’re reading this and concerned what people think of your writing is a good thing, because it means you care and you’re hopefully not just going to throw any old piece of work up on the web.

If you’re willing to get your head down, then there will always be a place for you on the web. You’ll always be in demand and you’ll always be able to stand out.

It’s hard work, yes, but it’s worth it.

Subscribe For My FREE Report!

Here Will Discover The TOP 7 Tips You Can Use In Your Sales Copy TODAY To Increase Your Sales & Cash In On Lost Conversions!

Name:
Email:
 
Powered by Optin Form Adder

The Secrets To Increaseing Website Conversions

Conversions within your buisness, products, sales copy are key. I strongly encourage studying or at least reading into to it to get a clear understanding of what this really can do for adding money to your bank account.

SNE8T2RF6QDD

Subscribe For My FREE Report!

Here Will Discover The TOP 7 Tips You Can Use In Your Sales Copy TODAY To Increase Your Sales & Cash In On Lost Conversions!

Name:
Email:
 
Powered by Optin Form Adder

5 Easy Tips To Have Your Blog Post Explode When Opened

Blog tips

We consider the headline of an article/post to be the most important part…but whats the second most important?

Many Master copywriters will spend hours to days on just the first 50 words of their sales copy – the headline and the opening paragraph.

Picture how upsetting it would be if you had constructed a killer headline for your post, only to find that your were loosing readers because your opening paragraph just lost momentum and turned readers off.

A great headline followed by a poor opening is like winning the lottery to find out you ticket immediately expired….

So, I’ve put together 5 methods you can start using today to grab the readers attention and naturally entice them in deeper to your content.

1. Got Questions…Ask Them

To open a post with a question creates curiosity and starts to get the reader thinking, when a reader is thinking this put them into a state of active engagement with your post or copy and starts working different emotions, all of which is a good thing.

2. Express others famous words (Quote)

Share anecdotes or quotes wit your readers, these again can get people thinking, laughing or immediately send home the main point of the post. Showing a pleasant quote from a familiar  famous or authority person in your filed of expertise can also work magic when trying to maintain the reader focus in those crucial opening seconds

3. Turn Words Into Pictures

One of the most powerful talents a writer can poses is having the ability to produce mental images in the readers mind while reading, as this expressly engages the readers imagination and this is a powerful opening techniques to be mastered and not over looked. Words such as “remember when,” “picture this,” “imagine,” “think back to when,” etc.

4. Use Metaphors, Simile or Analogy

All the above are like the lethal weapons when it comes to writing and all bloggers/copywriters should carry these tools in their weaponry and be well trained in such. There most powerful when telling stories in single sentences (twitter). This will engage the readers mental imagery , captures the readers attention and aid them in allowing them to tell a story to themselves inside.

5. Get The Facts Out On The Table

Opening with a shocking statistic or interesting fact works wonders, people love information and interested data(we should know were writers) but it has to be startling, new, unique and even shocking. But it does have to be directly relevant to the point of your post otherwise it will strike unnecessary confusion.

6. Bonus: The third most important part of your writing is the closing. A way i found that this can be done is to tie the closing back into the opening of the piece.

So, can you find which one of the 5 techniques we have run through here, I DID NOT use in the opening of this post above?

SNE8T2RF6QDD

Subscribe For My FREE Report!

Here Will Discover The TOP 7 Tips You Can Use In Your Sales Copy TODAY To Increase Your Sales & Cash In On Lost Conversions!

Name:
Email:
 
Powered by Optin Form Adder