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Excess Voice Newsletter
May 2007, Issue # 156
In this issue:
>> Intro: What we write
>> Review: 2 from MarketingSherpa
>> Article: Don't offer me a gas company membership card. Offer me free gas.
>> Survey: What would you do with your time?
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Find out about my COACHING service for freelance writers and copywriters.
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Greetings,
Thank you to everyone who took part in the last issue's survey. There were a lot of responses, which is great.
Here you have it...here's what we do...
91% of us write content for a company web site
14% of us write content for an intranet site
39% of us write online sales copy
70% of us write e-newsletters
68% of us write emails
36% of us write blog entries
And some of us also write banner ad copy, PPC ads, presentations, white papers and more.
In this issue we have a number of links to guides, and an upcoming event for marketers.
The article takes a look at writing effective headlines for web sales pages.
(Now I look at the survey results, I'll start writing more articles on web content, emails and e-newsletters.)
And please take a few moments to respond to this issue's slightly unusual survey question.
Until next time,
Nick
Nick Usborne
>> Feedback: mailto:nick@excessvoice.com
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REVIEW: 2 from MarketingSherpa
To my mind, MarketingSherpa is one of the few sources of online marketing information that is consistently reliable and useful.
Here are two new guides worth checking out...
1. 2009 MarketingSherpa Business Technology Benchmark Guide
This guide looks at how new media and technologies impact the way engineers, network admins and other online technology buyers behave.
Download a free Executive Summary of the 2009 MarketingSherpa Business Technology Benchmark Guide:
www.marketingsherpa.com/exs/BizTech08_09Excerpt_1037.pdf
2. 2008 Online Advertising Handbook
If you have responsibilities for either buying or selling advertising online, this guide will show you what's happening now, and what's coming in the future.
Learn more here:
http://www.sherpastore.com/onlinead08.html?1037
POPULAR PRODUCTS AND REVIEWS:
#1. Nick Usborne's Million Dollar Secrets to Online Copywriting
This is a "professional-grade" course written to address the full complexity of writing online. It is a strictly how-to course in which I go through the process of writing all kinds of web pages, emails and newsletters. Take this course and you'll know everything I know about writing for the web.
More details here:
http://www.awaionline.com/onlinecopywriting/index.php
#2. Writing Rituals
My productivity guide for marketing writers and copywriters. This set of 5 rituals will help you stay focused on your writing tasks, avoiding the perils of procrastination and writer's block.
Learn more...
http://www.writingrituals.com/
#3. Michael Masterson's Accelerated Program for Six-Figure Copywriting
Other than my own, this is the only copywriting course I wholeheartedly recommend to any copywriter who wants to write copy that drives results.
Read my review:
http://www.excessvoice.com/michael-masterson.htm
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ARTICLE: Don't offer me a gas company membership card. Offer me free gas.
I have been working recently on optimizing a landing page for a client of mine. I think and hope my new version will do better than the current control.
My optimism is based on a number of changes I made. But in particular, I think I made a significant improvement to the headline.
As I was working on it, it struck me that the existing headline had something in common with many other headlines I see. It came very, very close to a pure and simple expression of the offer...but not quite.
Let me give you a couple of examples of what I mean.
Example 1:
"Get your 2 week FREE TRIAL at nicksaudiodownloads.com"
Sounds good, but the headline actually misses the mark. Here's how I would rewrite it:
"Get FREE AUDIO DOWNLOADS at nicksaudiodownloads.com"
It's not the free trial that's exciting...it's the free downloads.
Version one promotes the free trial, and will then go on to explain how you can download some e-goods free during your trial. Version two offers the free downloads, and will then explain the terms of the free trial offer.
This sounds obvious, but if you browse the web a bit, and even look at some magazine ads, you'll find a lot of marketers are selling free trials, instead of the free goods or services that are available during the trial period.
Example 2:
Here's an offer you might find on a sandwich board outside a local coffee store.
"Buy eight coffees and get the next one free!"
Why not say it this way:
"Regular Customers get FREE Coffee!"
My point being that it's not the "process" that is compelling, but the offer itself. You can explain the process later.
This may sound like simple variation on the "feature/benefit" argument so beloved by copywriters.
But it's not quite the same. What I'm suggesting is that you be careful not to find yourself selling the process or framework of any offer. Instead, sell the benefit that the process or framework contains.
Don't offer me a gas company membership card. Offer me free gas.
>> Feedback: mailto:nick@excessvoice.com
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SURVEY: What would you do with your time?
If your income took care of itself, what would you do with your time?
Imagine you succeeded in creating a source of income that continued to flow into your account each month, with close to zero work or involvement on your part. What would you do with your time? (No, this is not a prelude to offering a miraculous money-making scheme. It's just a question. : )
Maybe you'd become a sculptor or hat maker, or work to help the poor in Africa, or publish an underground magazine, or kayak the world's rivers...
What would you do?
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Comments:
(NOTE: Any comments and your name may be published in the next issue, or on the Excess Voice web site.)
Cut and paste your replies to me at mailto:nick@excessvoice.com
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NICK USBORNE'S SERVICES:
Yes, I do more than write articles and publish newsletters.
Ask me to give a training seminar or webinar for your writers or web team.
http://www.nickusborne.com/speaking.htm
Ask me to write for your site, emails and newsletters.
http://www.nickusborne.com/copywriting.htm
Ask me to optimize your key offer pages...
http://www.nickusborne.com/consulting.htm
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