Copywriter asks, "why bother?"

So I'm working on direct response copy today and instead of writing, 'we'll send you...' I write: 'we'll RUSH you.'

And I'm looking for a slightly softer word than 'FAST' plus I'm trying to tone down a paragraph and make it more readable, more conversational. And yet 95% of the direct mail I receive is poor and obviously pounded out by someone without a direct response background. Or it's been watered down by lawyers and/or our brothers and sisters in branding.

I should have written the last sentence in the active voice: Lawyers and/or our brothers and sisters in branding have watered down the copy.

So...why bother? Why obsess over finding the perfect word and writing copy in the active voice and spending plenty of time really finding out what's going to motivate the reader to buy or hand over their email address? Why include specific numbers? Why do I write 'discover' instead of 'learn?'

BECAUSE...it's all about MAXIMIZING RESPONSE...we're different in direct marketing. All of us MUST use every technique and obsess over every word and sentence so that we maximize response for clients. Serious direct marketers understand it's all about maximizing response. And it works. A page I wrote is getting more than a 30% opt in for a special report and the client's client is swamped with qualified leads.

Sometimes people ask me, 'why do you like direct response?' Because it's all about the results and the results of the results.

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I'm a direct response copywriter based in Charlotte, North Carolina. I specialize in providing copy and content for the direct marketing environment--for clients around the world. Enter your info to the right for my free series: Seven Steps to High Converting Copy. Or contact me here for a quote.

What is an SEO Copywriter?

SEO Copywriter is a fairly common phrase. And here's a definition I found.

SEO copywriting refers to the knack of being able to create original text (possibly) after referring to existing material in such a manner that it propels your website’s ranking amongst the top 1st rank contenders on a Search Engine. Common factors influencing a good SEO copy are keyword choice, keyword relevancy, keyword density and placement, use of synonyms and knowledge of Latent Semantic Indexing.

Some heavy fuel there!

So an SEO copywriter simply plops keywords into copy or writes copy around the keywords. And there's a TON of SEO copywriting on the web and it shows. It's mostly drivel and while it may help with SEO, there's no excuse for copywriting this poor...this from a lead generation website in Delhi.

SEO is constantly evolving and it is necessary to determine the goals, target users, and competitiveness of a particular website before charting out a customized SEO plan accordingly. Internet-Marketing-Services-India believes that SEO is much more than getting the #1 position in Google search results.

Really? Then why is your copy so poor? Where's the response mechanism?

A direct response copywriter incorporates keywords AND writes copy that compels the reader to take the next step in the sales process. One of my clients handles millions of dollars in PPC spend and gets superb SEO results for their clients. But that's only half the battle. The copy has to convert readers into buyers and so their copywriting model is direct response. And it works.

So while an SEO copywriter might be able to help with SEO, it's all waste of time if the copy fails to deliver a lead or a customer. If you can get those high rankings AND generate leads and revenue--why would not want that?

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I'm a direct response copywriter based in Charlotte, North Carolina. I specialize in providing copy and content for the direct marketing environment--for clients around the world. Enter your info to the right for my free series: Seven Steps to High Converting Copy. Or contact me here.

'Branding Man' hails direct response marketing

Here's a peach of a video from David Ogilvy on YouTube. One of the heroes of image advertising, or 'general' advertising, as he calls it, hails all of us in direct response!

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I'm a direct response copywriter based in Charlotte, North Carolina. I specialize in providing copy and content for the direct marketing environment--for clients around the world. Enter your info to the right for my free series: Seven Steps to High Converting Copy. Or contact me here.

Salient Advice from Jay Abraham

A great piece of advice I read yesterday. From Jay Abraham.

You can’t discount your way out of a marketing problem — you need to educate your way out.

Yes...I write a TON of copy to get readers to take the next step in the sales process. I also write white papers, special reports, and other 'educational' pieces. The goal is to set up the company/individual as THE expert. Information is also an incentive to get email addresses and other valuable data.

Discounting can be an admission of marketing defeat. "I can't get the business in the door so I have to discount." I can see that with discontinued merchandise, etc. But avoiding discounting and especially avoiding price wars is a sign your marketing is humming along. A couple of thoughts...

1. I think it's perfectly fine to offer a discount as a 'bribe' to get data or encourage someone to try the product/service.
2. However, if you can get that data by giving away information, it's even better.

For most companies, some type of free information is a must.

As I rebuild my website, one of my goals is to build a big library of free information. You can see the start here.

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I'm a direct response copywriter based in Charlotte, North Carolina. I specialize in providing copy and content for the direct marketing environment--for clients around the world. Enter your info to the right for my free series: Seven Steps to High Converting Copy. Or contact me here.