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For your headlines to stop readers in their tracks, capture their attention through every word of your copy, and persuade them to click that “Add to Cart” button without a second thought, you need to master the “headline reading psychology” of your soon-to-be customers.

Once you understand why magnetic headlines pull readers in, you’ll know how to do it for your own sales pages, every time. Follow along with me for the next ninety seconds and I’ll show you exactly how you can turn a casual browser of your sales page into an avid reader, curious to drink in your copy until ultimately hitting the “Buy” button.

First, get relevant: Tell your readers’ they’re in the right place

So many people create clever turns of phrase hoping to pull people into their sales copy and wonder why their catchy headlines just don’t work. The answer is simple: Readers are busy people, and they don’t have time to study your sales letter to see if it’s relevant to them. Instead, they rely on you to do that work for them.

But how do you do that? The answer to that is simple as well: You ensure your headline is clear, not clever, telling the reader exactly what your sales copy is poised to deliver.

Use specific keywords that show without a doubt that your page is relevant to people with a specific need or a specific problem – and don’t over-think it. If you’re a blogger, you probably already do this with your post titles, so apply that same thinking to your headlines.

For example, look at the title for this post – it’s about “how to write headlines.” (Ever wonder why you always hear such high praise for “How to” headlines? It’s because they’re extremely relevant by nature. Keep in mind, however, that a “how to” headline might not be the most powerful choice for your particular sales page.

When it’s time to write your headline, think of the primary, top-of-mind problem or result your readers are after and make that the foundation of your headline. Do this right, and your readers will automatically know that they’re in the right place – and save your cleverness for later.

Next, add the carrot: Attach a powerful result to your headline

After you establish relevance to your readers’ immediate needs, you need to help your readers connect to a mouth-watering result that comes from addressing that need. The often quoted “How to ____ so you can ____” is a great example of bridging relevance to result.

Never forget that your readers aren’t looking for products or services – they’re looking for beneficial outcomes, and the relevant keywords you write into your headline are often the means to that outcome. So ask yourself why your readers want to take that relevant action, and you’ll be guided to a promise or two that you can make in your headline.

I’ll use this post as an example again – you’re reading this far because you want to know how to write headlines, but what you’re really after is getting people to buy from your sales page. Look at your browser title bar and you’ll see I worked that into this post’s headline as well.

Finally, dress it up: Add emotionally stirring and action words to your headline

Once you’ve married relevance to outcome, it’s time to add a little flavor to your headline by hand-picking compelling words to make those two features “pop.”

In this post I modified “headlines” with the adjective “eye-catching” to add some life to the text. I’ve also used the powerful transitive verb “transform” to suggest actionable change, which intensifies the promise of desired results.

Pick words that make the relevant keywords or the desired results seem more powerful and attainable – or simply add a third component to the headline like a timeframe or a variation of “easy” or “simple” (if it applies).

I could go into additional examples here, but you’ll find all that you need in the Magnetic Headlines series. Take a few moments to read through the posts there with a more educated eye, looking for how each example uses relevance, results, and powerful modifiers to make you want to read each post to the very end.

Which, now that you think about it, you’ve just done with this post.

Sharpen your skills – how can you improve your own headlines?

If you want to get better at writing sales page headlines today, take another ninety seconds right now and use these three tips on a recent headline you’ve created. In the comments below, show us your original – and improved version – and get those headline writing muscles working!

About the Author: Dave Navarro is a product launch manager who can’t wait for you to join the 7,000+ people using his free workbooks in the Launch Coach Library (a crowd favorite in the Third Tribe forums).

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Fresh out of college, I landed a job writing one-page sell sheets for a marketing company for $50 each. On a rare excellent day, I might do as many as two of these.

Soon after, I found a freelance gig that would pay me $300 per article I wrote for an inter-organizational newsletter. I got to interview people for that one. It was more work, but better money.

Eventually, I hooked up with a pretty big industry magazine and was being paid $1300 for 2000-word feature articles. That was the big money.

Magazine pay doesn’t go much higher until you get into the really big-name publications. I could often get two of those assignments at a time, but I needed to coordinate and interview around ten people for each article, so doing two in a month was a hell of a task.

Today, I’m doing much better in my writing career. Since I started blogging, I’ve written hundreds of posts, both for myself and for other blogs. I don’t have to interview people anymore, so it goes much faster and I can write much more. The combined total I’ve been paid for all of those posts (including what I’ve been paid for writing sales copy, promotional emails, and so on) is zero dollars. And really, it pays the bills better than my magazine writing ever did.

How to make “not getting paid” pay off

I just recorded a call with Copyblogger Associate Editor Jon Morrow entitled “How We Make $2000 per Guest Post,” and the funny thing about that call was that I’d had the idea to write the post you’re currently reading before Jon came up with the hook for the call. I guess great minds think alike.

See, newbie online entrepreneurs often want to “make money blogging,” and seasoned writers often come to the internet to expand their freelance businesses by doing online what they do offline: selling words for dollars. Both of those approaches assume a straight line between composing paragraphs and getting a check, but that straight line hasn’t reflected my experience in the blogosphere (and I’m in good company).

To put it succinctly, I don’t make money writing. I make money through a business, and that business does its marketing almost exclusively through writing.

Writing for me is a means to an end. It’s a way to gain exposure, gain popularity and authority, and build trust. Once you have enough exposure, trust, and authority with your audience, they’ll consider buying products and services from you if what you offer them is good. The cool part? It almost doesn’t matter which category or niche those products or services fall into.

It works like this:

Writing -> Readers -> Exposure, popularity, authority, and trust -> The ability to sell stuff.

Need a fancy term to make it legit? Call it content marketing.

Notice that I’ve used the very specific noun “stuff” to describe what you’re able to sell to a well-matched, receptive audience with enough of those preceding magic ingredients.

• Information products? Yep.
• Software and services of all kinds? Yep.
• Hats? Maybe.

Want to sell hats? Then write enough, in places where people who like hats congregate, to become a popular and trustworthy personality who happens to sell hats. Or makes hats. Or wears interesting hats. Or at least likes hats, and talks about hats a lot.

Your audience has to be willing to pay for hats, but if they are, they’re going to buy from someone. If your writing has put you in front of them, and made you popular and trustworthy, they’ll buy from you. It works for just about anything.

This is all about thinking outside of the nine dots. I came to the blogosphere as a humorist, but what I found was that people wouldn’t pay for humor. So what could I do with my funny writing? Why, sell consulting and website services, of course.

I remember asking my readers at the time, “Can I be the funny guy who writes about business, and also build websites somehow?”

Give what attracts, sell what people want to buy

And the answer was apparently that yes, I could write humorously about business — and tattoos, and unschooling, and The Matrix — and build a large readership who seemed to like and trust me. And at that point, I could offer websites. And consulting. And info products. And likely waffles. If those folks needed a site and/or were hungry, they’d work with me rather than finding their website guy or waffle house on Google.

When Jon and I did that call about making $2000 per guest post, what we meant was that guest posting is our primary (almost our exclusive) marketing strategy, and that on average, each post — each performance in front of a blog audience to build trust and exposure — resulted in around $2000 of income. That’s income that was created through writing, but wasn’t income we received for completing a writing assignment.

You want to be a writer? Well, don’t confine your thinking to the obvious example of putting words together for pay. There’s a whole world of ways out there to make money as a writer… and the interesting part is that most of them mean you’ll be writing for free.

About the Author: Johnny B. Truant is apparently a writer or something and is one of the two guys behind The Charlie and Johnny Jam Sessions. If you’d like personal help on getting paid to write for free, he’s got you covered.

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There’s a new book out called Success Secrets of the Social Media Marketing Superstars. Yes, that title sets off my hyperbole radar a bit too (not to mention my alliteration alert), but it’s a solid collection of smart social media advice based on real-world case studies, best practices, and proven techniques.

I wrote Chapter Two of the book – The Psychology of Social Media. It’s about applying tried-and-trued influence factors in the social media space to build a business or make whatever case you’re trying to make.

Here’s what else you’ll learn:

• How to Create a Mega-Following With Social Media – Gary Vaynerchuk
• Personality: How To Stand Out In Virtual Crowd – Andy Wibbels</li
• Build Strong Online Communities Using Social Media – Chris Brogan
• Creating Content People Care About: The Cornerstone of Social Media – Ann Handley
• Building Your Social Media Relationship Strategy – Keith Ferrazzi and Tahl Raz
• Mastering Online Marketing: Six Key Principles – Mitch Meyerson
• Social Media Success Qualities – Joel Comm
• How To Communicate With Impact Using Social Media – Craig Valentine
• How To Profit From Your Social Media Efforts – Starr Hall
• PR Strategies for Social Media – Dan Janal
• Making Your Content Go Viral With Social Media – Michael Stelzner
• Business Blogs: How To Make Your Blog The Centerpiece of Your Social Media Enterprise – Denise Wakeman
• Facebook: The Essential Rules For Building a Large and Loyal Following 
 – Mari Smith
• Twitter: Your Power PR Tool for Attracting A Tribe of Raving Fans – Deborah Cole Micek
• LinkedIn: Transforming Networks into Dynamic Business Connections – Barbara Rozgonyi
• YouTube: Leveraging the Power Of Google To Get Your Video Content To Millions – Julie Perry
• Podcasting: Leveraging the Power of Apple To Get Your Content To Millions – Paul Colligan
• Using Social Bookmarking To Improve Your Traffic, Links and Visibility – Chris Garrett
• Mobile Marketing: How To Integrate this Powerful Tool With Your Social Media Marketing – Kim Dushinski
• Online Video: A Mini Guide to Your Own Web Show – Shama Kabani
• Social Media In One Hour A Day – Dave Evans

Head over to the website for the book and check it out. I’m not an affiliate or being compensated for this in any way, so buy the book however you’d like. I think you’ll get a lot out of it, and at less than $15, it’s hard to go wrong.

About the Author: Brian Clark is founder of Copyblogger and co-founder of the writer-friendly Scribe SEO software. Get more from Brian on Twitter.

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• Darren Rowse doesn’t make his money from Problogger.
• Brian Clark doesn’t make his money from Copyblogger.
• Chris Brogan doesn’t make his money from his blog, either.
• Neither does Sonia Simone.

Not a single founding member of Third Tribe earns the bulk of their income from the blogs that are practically (or in Brogan’s case, literally) synonymous with their names.

Yes, they make some money directly from those blogs. But revenue directly from the blog doesn’t represent the bulk of their income. Not by a long shot.

So why do so many bloggers equate blog success with financial success?

Many, if not most, of the bloggers I see are hoping that their blogs will make them popular. They are also hoping their blogs will make them money. This isn’t exactly surprising. Fame and riches are supposed to go hand in hand, after all.

But when you need a new stream of income tomorrow, you don’t write ten more blog posts.

You create a new product. You launch an email campaign. You make a special offer. You network. You find a great new JV partner. You ask for referrals and check in with your current clients.

Similarly, when you want to get more subscribers for your blog tomorrow, you don’t launch a product.

You write better content. You get more active on social media. You guest post on other people’s blogs. You link to other good articles. You improve your SEO.

Building a profitable business and creating a popular blog are two different things

Related, yes. But different.

The most popular blogs you know do not make most of their money simply by racking up the subscriber numbers. They make their money with products, consulting, services, and advertising.

They make their money by running a successful business. The fact that they run a popular blog facilitates that business.

If Brian wants to launch a product tomorrow, he has a big, engaged audience to whom he can launch it.

Having a huge audience who will listen when you launch a product isn’t the profitable part, though.

The profitable part is that Brian will create a product that his audience wants and needs. He’ll run an informative and compelling launch. He’ll have an affiliate program that works and a sales sequence that converts prospects into buyers.

Does the large subscriber base help with that product launch? Absolutely. But the blog itself is not the thing that’s making money.

If Copyblogger, with its magnificently large platform, were to launch a terrible product with a really weak campaign and only promoted it with a few blog posts to this vast audience of readers, they wouldn’t make enough money to pay my grocery bill.

Having a popular blog is not enough. You still have to build the business.

No, of course you shouldn’t neglect your blog

There are many, many virtues to a popular blog: social proof, credibility, enhanced visibility. They’re good for forging new business contacts and partnerships. They’re good for attracting potential customers for the products you’ll make or services you’ll provide.

They’re brilliant for creating relationships. I don’t know my dentist as well as I know some bloggers. And I trust my dentist with my teeth even though he comes at them with a variety of pointy things with hooks on their ends. Blogs help us make those trusting, potentially valuable connections, and for that reason alone, they’re worth pouring time and energy into.

But no matter how hard you try, your subscriber numbers are never going to magically transform themselves into your bank balance.

When it comes to making money, simply having a blog isn’t enough. Now you have to take all the things the blog has given you — visibility, authority, a reputation for knowing your industry, social proof — and put them to work building you a profitable business.

Because it won’t happen on its own.

If you want to use your blog as a jumping-off place for that business, though, Third Tribe has got you covered.

The seminar you’ll want to listen to is the 4-part series on Building a Business Around a Blog, which features interviews with Sonia Simone, Darren Rowse, Chris Brogan, Brian Clark, and Leo Babauta of Zen Habits. They cover a lot of ground, including:

• The three factors your blog must have if you want to make serious money with advertising
• Brogan’s two favorite ways to start bringing in revenue by using a blog
• The specifics about where the bulk of their income really comes from (you may be surprised)
• Why “blogging about blogging” isn’t the way to go
• How Darren uses surveys to build his business (and why Brian doesn’t)
• A quick creativity technique to develop the next killer idea for your business
• How to handle pushback if your customers respond negatively to your products

I listened to all four of these interviews. And not once, in hours of discussing techniques, business-building ideas, and marketing strategy, did any of these bloggers say that the best way to make money was to get more subscribers.

They’ve got a few ideas for how to do that too, though. Because blogs are valuable — just not in the way you think.

You can get instant access to all four seminars (and a dozen more), as well as Q&A sessions and the web’s best networking forum for internet businesspeople, by joining the Third Tribe today.

About the Author: Taylor Lindstrom is a freelance copywriter and Assistant Editor of Copyblogger. She’s taking lots of notes about how to turn sharp copywriting into a profitable business.

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Sonia and I will be speaking again this year at BlogWorld in Las Vegas, October 14 – 16. This time we’ll be doing a keynote presentation along with our friend Darren Rowse of Problogger.

We’re excited to be presenting together, and if we pull it off like we plan, it’ll be educational and entertaining. Of course, the show is much bigger than the three of us, which is the real reason you should attend.

BlogWorld & New Media Expo is the only trade show and conference created for the industry of blogging and new media. It gives participants the strategies, tools, and technologies they need to stake their claim in the blogosphere.

Specifically, BlogWorld is all about creating content, getting it noticed, and achieving your goals – whether that be money, influence, or both. The even bigger draw is the networking, deal making, and good ol’ fashioned camaraderie that happens in between the sessions.

Not to mention what goes on at the parties.

I’ve watched BlogWorld grow from its inception in 2007, and it keeps getting bigger and better. This year should be no different, and I’m especially stoked that the show will be held at Mandalay Bay this year instead of the convention center.

And besides… everyone’s gonna be there.

Save 20% With This Promo Code

Okay, here’s what you’re really looking for. Save 20% off the price of admission when you use this code:

COPYBLOG

Sign up for BlogWorld here, and we’ll see you in Vegas!

Note: We are marketing and media partners with BlogWorld — it’s a good match. If you’d like to promote BlogWorld as an affiliate, check out the program here.

About the Author: Brian Clark is founder of Copyblogger and co-founder of the writer-friendly Scribe SEO software. Get more from Brian on Twitter.

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Gather round, everyone. It’s time to have “The Talk.”

You know the one I mean. You’ve started asking lots of questions and I can tell you’re ready for it, so make yourselves comfortable and let’s go over the basics.

Because if you’re in business, you need to know about this. It’s crucial to your success. Mastering this technique will put a spring in your step, and bring new life to your ventures.

Plus, it’s actually pretty fun.

Birds do it, bees do it

The birds and the bees do this naturally, and we can, too. It’s called cross-pollination.

They fly from one flower to another, or one tree to the next, picking up bits of one plant and carrying it to the other.

The plant on the receiving end of this pollination is hardier and able to reproduce with greater variety. It meets environmental challenges more successfully because it’s genetically diverse.

In the same way, when you cross-pollinate ideas, you make your business stronger. You’ll be better able to weather the difficulties that every business and brand has to face to survive.

Keeping your eyes open to sources for ideas is the first step. Having a system for gathering and using these ideas is important, too. Really great ideas can be found where you least expect them.

Get started here

First, the obvious sources. Cross-pollinate your business with innovative new ideas by:

• Reading books, magazines and websites outside your field.
• Talking to people in different industries. Find out what their challenges are and how they’ve met them. Ask yourself how you can apply their solutions to your own business.
• Learning from your customers. Design thinking is a concept that is built around staying in close touch with your customers’ needs, and building your products and services around meeting them.

Look for love in all the wrong places

You can find great new ideas in places you never expected, too.

• Get inspiration from your fiercest competition. Your competitors are fighting the same battles you are. What are they doing that you can learn from? How have they solved the same challenges you face? What techniques do they use to succeed? What are some problems they don’t solve particularly well, where you could fill in the gap?
• Learn from your own failures. The School of Hard Knocks can teach you more than anything else. Look back on your projects and learn from what went wrong, so that you can get it right the next time.

Keep the innovative ideas flowing

Finally, it’s easier to keep the new ideas flowing in to your business if you have a structure in place that allows cross-pollination to happen on a regular basis. Here are some techniques:

• Create an informal Board of Directors. Gather a group of 3-5 people who are willing to support your efforts. Meet with them in person or by phone at least four times a year. Update them on your goals, the progress you’re making, and your struggles. Let the ideas flow, and take good notes.
• Join a Mastermind group. Many groups meet monthly, some more often. Some Chamber of Commerce organizations coordinate them, but you can also find virtual Mastermind groups with a quick web search. The group supports each member, so you’ll both offer and receive encouragement and ideas.
• Join a virtual private community. Sites like Third Tribe are great places to connect with like-minded people and to generate exciting new business ideas.
• Consider working with a coach. Because business coaches speak to many different clients, they’ll naturally cross pollinate your conversations with ideas they’ve picked up from helping other people.

Small business, big ideas

We all want a more resilient business, and a lot of Copyblogger readers have very small organizations. Letting ideas flow freely between your small-scale operation and the larger world will build a business that withstands the challenges of the marketplace.

How about you? Are you gathering and applying ideas from all over? Buzz down to the comments and cross-pollinate them with some thoughts of your own.

About the Author: Pamela Wilson has been in the same Mastermind group since 2004. She cross pollinates her Big Brand System site with ideas to help small businesses use the power of design to grow.

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When your sales page isn’t converting the way you need it to, it doesn’t just hurt your bottom line – it can cripple your confidence as a writer and make you doubt your future as a marketer.

On top of that, the frustration of having to rewrite underperforming copy can make copywriting seem like a tedious chore instead of the enjoyable exercise in persuasion it’s meant to be.

Fortunately, there are simple (but powerful) ways to write highly effective copy the first time – copy that gets readers emotionally invested and ready to click that “Add to Cart” button.

Read the next few paragraphs, and you’ll have a step-by-step, can’t miss foundation that will make your next sales letter a whole lot easier to write.

1. Get in touch with the pain your reader brings to the table

Features aren’t what sell your product – solution-oriented benefits are. You know, the kind of things that say “That thing that’s keeping you up at night? This will fix it.” Before you even begin to try and impress your readers with how incredible your offer is, you’ve got to establish situational relevance with them.

You absolutely must get yourself in tune with the pain points that are bringing them to a buying decision. Why are they searching for the kind of thing you’re writing about? What’s holding them back, causing them stress, or making them break out into a cold sweat?

Take the time to step into your future customer’s shoes and get a sense of what they’re feeling. What are the most important pain points that they care about, the ones that make them say “If only this could be taken care of, I’d buy that solution in a heartbeat?”

Then you can begin framing your product not as “impressive,” but as “the thing that makes their pain go away.”

2. Understand their frustration with “so far” and “out there.”

Chances are, your reader has tried to find a solution on their own. They may have tried everything and seen no meaningful result – or worse yet, they could have seen their efforts blow up in their face. This is the “so far” element you have to look into (and if you’ve already stepped into your customer’s shoes, you’ll probably have an idea of how this could play out).

This is your chance to think about how your product or service can work for them, even if they’ve failed “so far.” Consider how you’re going to position what you’re selling as a way to make sure those mistakes don’t happen in the past. This time, it’s different. Why? It’s your job to figure that out and express it.

The same goes for the “out there.” Your customers may be feeling frustrated that others have it easier in terms of having this problem solved, because other people are smarter, or more established, or naturally have the deck stacked in their favor. There’s a lot of “if only I had what they have …” thinking going on in your customer’s head, and if you can demonstrate how your offer closes the gap, then you’re halfway to the sale.

3. Step them into their “Dream Situation”

Once your reader understands that your offering might just be what helps them get away from their pain and frustration, it’s time to take them a step further. Envision what your customer’s perfect outcome would look like as they use your product or service. What problems go away? What new opportunities appear? What changes happen in their life?

People don’t buy products – they buy outcomes. Look closely at the outcomes that your offer can produce for your customers and help them see themselves there. Phrases like “Imagine if …” and “Just think of when …” contain powerful words.

Let them taste their future, and craft your sentences in such a way that they can immerse themselves in the feeling of being there. When you do this part right, you’ve helped them vividly see how your solution can move them away from pain and frustration and toward their desired outcome.

4. Close the deal with an “Ideal Solution”

By this time your reader is excited at the prospect of making their outcome happen – and now’s your chance to position your product as a slam-dunk solution. This is where you bring the features of your offer into play, stepping them through the specifics of why what you’re offering is perfectly suited to helping them achieve that desired outcome.

Maybe it’s the format you’re delivering it in – audio, video and PDFs are a great way to guarantee hitting the top learning modalities customers want. Maybe there’s one-on-one consulting tied into the offer, or a Third Tribe-style online community … or maybe it’s all of this.

Since your customer’s shoes are still on, think about how your he or she would view the ideal delivery method of your solution. Ask yourself what would make it easier for a customer to tap into the power of your offer, and then make sure it’s worked into your product or service.

Once you’ve done that, all that’s left is communicating just how well-suited your offer is to easing their pain, ending their frustration, and helping them finally get closer to their dream situation.

Use these four steps to make your next sales letter much more powerful

There’s no denying the power of a solid headline and a killer set of opening paragraphs. But the source of that power comes from these four elements – wrap them into the headlines and teaser text at the beginning of your sales letter, and your chances of having readers stick with you to the end go through the roof.

Need proof? No you don’t – because I worked these four steps into the introduction of this very post … and you’re still here.

The question is, where will these four steps take you next. Take a moment in the comments to share which of these points resonated with you the most, and how you can use them to make your next offer more enticing than ever.

About the Author: Dave Navarro is a product launch manager who can’t wait for you to join the 7,000+ people using his free workbooks in the Launch Coach Library (a crowd favorite in the Third Tribe forums).

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Writing with emotion can be hard. Really hard. Especially when it’s on a subject that’s technical.

I’m speaking from experience. You see, I recently launched an ebook about keeping WordPress sites more secure, and I asked my friend James Chartrand of Men with Pens if I might be able to write a guest post to try and spread the word.

If you’ve been following James’ blog for awhile, you know she doesn’t publish many guest posts, and when she does, her standards are high. The reply to the first article I submitted was, “I’d prefer one that’s less technical and more emotional.”

“Um, it’s WordPress security enhancements.” I think I may have said that out loud.

Now how the heck am I supposed to tell an emotional story about setting up a WordPress Firewall?

I’ll tell you though, it can be done. The story just needs to be told in the right way. It can’t only focus on implementation. After all, the implementation and the “how to” are covered in the ebook.

To write with emotion about WordPress security, I had to get to the Why. And whys can be very emotional.

I’m not a copywriter, nor am I the world’s greatest storyteller. I’m just a guy who knows a thing or two about how to keep your blog safe at night while you sleep. I know what it’s like to wake up one morning with a nightmare you never knew you had.

Telling the “why” from your heart

My wife and I had that nightmare once. Our dream was taken from us by someone we never met, someone who could care less that the website they ruined for us helped put food in our kids’ mouths.

I tried to describe what happened to us, in hopes it might convince others to take action so it wouldn’t happen to them.

My goal in writing the post for James was to convince her readers that the threat of someone breaking into your blog and destroying what you’ve worked so hard at building is real.

In fact, it happens all the time. And it’s getting more and more common.

When I told the “why,” the “how” became easy to sell.

How I learned to become a copywriter (sort of)

The truth is, I’ll never be a great copywriter. I’m just a guy who wants to help people, and to sell some copies of my ebook.

But my understanding of marketing changed when I understood why emotion matters. When you’re getting out there and trying to sell your product or service, you’ve got to connect on a deeper level.

We all hear how you should mention your product’s features, but you really need to glorify the benefits.

Features, Advantages, Benefits (FAB).

Okay great, got that.

But if that’s all you’re looking at, there’s one more piece of the puzzle missing.

You need connection

You can glorify the benefits of your product to customers all day long. And yeah, that might be good enough.

But they also need to connect with you.

If you can not only convey the benefits of your product or service, but also the passion you have to help your customers, especially if you tie that into your own personal story, then you’re that much closer to retiring to Hawaii.

Since I know my limitations, I asked James to tell my story for me.

Reading how James rewrote my own words made me realize just how complex attractive sales copywriting can be. It’s not only about conveying benefits. Nor is it about simply sparking an emotional response.

In fact, it’s not “simply” anything.

To me it’s almost like a mathematical formula (sorry, I have a minor in mathematics). Attractive sales copywriting is about making connections.

Connecting features with benefits. Connecting your “why” story with their problem. Connecting desire to action.

Since Copyblogger readers are some of the best copywriters around, I’d love to hear your thoughts.

What other connections do you think are critical when we’re writing to persuade customers to buy?

And how have you used emotion and storytelling to create a stronger message? Let us know in the comments.

About the Author: John Hoff isn’t a copywriter, but he does blog for a hosting company, WP Blog Host and has created a free video mini course on how to secure WordPress from unwanted intruders. He really, really, really hates hackers.

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Usually on Copyblogger we talk about how to grow your business, get more customers, increase your conversion rate, build thousands of daily readers, and all the rest of it.

But you also need to know about the factors that will kill off your business. Sometimes it’s a question of attitude, like when you’re sick of it, when it’s only a hobby and you don’t want to take it too seriously, or when you’re equally scared of success and failure.

And then there are just downright mistakes, which, fortunately, can be corrected.

If you want your business to thrive, watch out for these warning signs. Get them straightened out and you’ll get your business on the road to robust good health.

#1: A sucky attitude

Your attitude about your own business will affect everyone else’s attitude about it. Every web visitor, every person you speak to, every twitter and FaceBook contact. They’ll know, without you telling them, exactly how you regard your business.

What are some of the warning signs that your attitude may suck?

• When you don’t post for weeks on end.
• When you haven’t put out a new product or service for the last six months.
• When you say your business would be great if it wasn’t for those $#%^& customers.
• When you whinge about how hard business is and how all those successful A-listers must have had friends in the right places.
• When you’re expecting to be an overnight success and you’re surprised that you aren’t both rich and famous after six months.

#2: Marketing to a demographic, not a niche

The best and simplest definition of a niche that I’ve seen is “a group of people with a common problem who congregate together.”

What isn’t a niche? Freelancers are not a niche. Work at Home Parents (mums, dads, or both) are not a niche. Small business owners are not a niche. Copywriters are not a niche. Women over 40 are not a niche, neither are men after retirement.

Those are all demographics — and they’re all groups that I’ve seen people try to market to.

It’s only a niche when they share a problem.

So what’s the problem in your niche, and how are you going to solve it? Where does your niche group together so you can market to them specifically?

It’s a marketing paradox that the more you narrow your niche, the more successful your marketing will be.

Have a look at who you’re aiming at now and ask yourself if it’s a demographic or a real niche.

How can you narrow your message down to their core problem — the one that you solve brilliantly and uniquely?

#3: Looking like a cheapskate

It’s so easy to set up an online business these days — just whack up a WordPress.com or Blogger site and off you go.

Need graphics? Pick up some clip art. Logo and website header? $50 should take care of that if you outsource to the lowest bidder. Business cards? You can get freebies from Vistaprint, why pay money for a designer and printing? Newsletter list? Send that from your desktop with Outlook.

The only problem here is that your business looks cheap. And the overall impression visitors and potential clients get is that you’re (a) broke, (b) cheap and (c) unprofessional.

There are some things you can do free or low-cost and no one will notice. Your website is not one of them.

Don’t get me wrong here, you don’t have to go to the other extreme and mortgage your house to pay for the website. You do have to make sure that your site has a clean, professional look, that it’s easy to navigate, and that your web presence makes you look worth the prices you charge.

#4: Not capturing visitor details

Someone comes to your site, looks around, reads some posts, and then leaves. Sure, they liked it and intend to come back and read some more — but they never do. They forget, lose the url, get busy. And you’ve lost them forever.

I’m amazed at the number of small businesses that don’t have a way to capture visitor details — their names and email addresses. They’re losing customers and making life harder for themselves. It takes time and effort to attract people to your site, so why let them leave without a way to keep in touch?

Set up an email newsletter list (NOT from your desktop, see #3 above) and offer a valuable free report or ebook in exchange for their details. MailChimp is free up to 500 subscribers if money is tight at the start, and you can build from there.

Once you’ve lost a visitor they’re gone forever — along with every person they may have referred you to. Do you really want to let them get away that easily?

#5: Failing to plan long term

Or don’t plan at all. Business plans are for big businesses, and for when you need to go to the bank for capital, right? Wrong!

When you don’t plan you’ll drift. You’ll chase the latest marketing guru and technique, flit from this to that and wonder why nothing seems to work for you. What are you aiming for? What do you expect out of your business? How will you know when you’ve reached it?

You don’t need a 100 page plan full of legalese and possible budgets and financial projections that no-one but your Accountant understands.

But at the very least you do need to know what your aims (goals) for your business are, who you’re marketing to, and what makes you different from everyone else out there.

No plan = No business.

#6: All learning, no action

Are you a ‘gunna’? You’re ‘gunna’ do this and ‘gunna’ do that?

Just as soon as you’ve studied this marketing e-course, read those 136 ebooks, listened to the 84 teleseminars and watched the 78 hours of business videos that you’ve downloaded onto your computer?

How many information products have you bought that you’ve never read, listened to or watched? How many of them have you actually worked through step by step?

We all do this, or rather, don’t do this. Me? I’m waiting for retirement before I work through my resources folder — it’s the only way I’ll ever have the time.

Ebooks, courses, videos and all the other teaching methods are great, as long as you utilize what you’ve learned. Information junkies abound. People who take action on what they’ve learned are rare.

You’ll learn more in your first twelve months of actually running your business and putting yourself out there than you will from any number of books, courses and videos. Information is great, but nothing beats taking action.

About the Author: Mel Brennan is the antipodean force behind both SuperWAHM and the Two Hour Business Plan. You can also catch her on Twitter.

P.S.

Looking for the advice we talked about at the beginning: how to grow your business, get more customers, increase your conversion rate, gain several thousand daily readers, and all of that good stuff? You’ll find it on the free Copyblogger newsletter, Internet Marketing for Smart People. Come join us today!

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Five reasons?

There may be seven thousand reasons why your newsletter won’t get the response you’re looking for.

Most of those reasons have the same common problem, though: readers just don’t like it.

And that’s probably because you’re making one of these five mistakes.

Mistake # 1: Your newsletter isn’t helpful

This is a big one. My wife signed up for a newsletter on Ayurveda, thinking she would get some helpful articles and ideas on a topic she was very interested in. All she ever got was a whole bunch of promotional stuff.

Now, I know what you’re thinking. You know very well that non-stop shameless self-promotion doesn’t exactly endear you to others, and of course you’d never make every single newsletter into a pitch.

Because you’re a Copyblogger reader, you know that your content has to be useful or it won’t get read.

Yet most folks can’t help themselves.

They mean to write something useful, they mean to be helpful, but they end up being self-promotional because it’s easier. It’s easier to say “Yoga class on Friday, 17th December” than it is to write yet another article about yoga.

So they wind up being self-promotional by default — and since it was the easier option, they don’t think of it as being unhelpful to their readers.

That doesn’t mean the readers don’t see it that way, though.

Mistake #2: Your voice isn’t particularly compelling

Voice is not everything, but it sure counts for a lot. When you speak to a friend over the phone, they sound excited and vibrant. Ask them to put down their feelings on paper and you often find what they’ve written just doesn’t sound like them.

Their voice doesn’t show up in their writing, and that means their writing doesn’t really convey how they feel. Every artist, singer, and yes, writer has a signature voice. This voice needs to be authentic.

If you’ve tried and failed to find your voice before, put down the pen and Skype a friend. Get them to ask you questions about the topics you’ll be writing about in your newsletter — recording every word, naturally. Then just blab away, and transcribe what you’ve said.

I know this method sounds tedious. But it’s quicker than slaving over a boring newsletter that takes you two days to write, and still winds up completely devoid of voice.

Voice matters. And you have one — you just have to get it on paper.

But tone alone won’t save the day.

Mistake # 3: You’re not telling stories

Many people think their newsletter has to be full of perfectly organized and structured articles — and since they don’t know how to create those kinds of articles, they get frustrated and stuck when they’re trying to write.

Structure isn’t the way to create a great newsletter. Stories are.

As human beings, we’re entranced by stories from an early age. Start with stories about your clients. Write about what you’ve experienced in your industry and your thoughts about it. When you’re trying to elicit response, nothing gets your readers engaged like the color and drama of a good story.

And how do you finish? Tell the moral of the story — just like you would in a real story. Explain what you learned or what you should have learned or what someone else could learn from this experience.

The moral of the story also does double duty as the springboard for your call to action. Which brings us to Mistake # 4.

Mistake # 4: You have a half-hearted call to action

This week, you need to fill up your yoga class. In your newsletter, you’re going to ask a customer to write back or comment. You need that customer to respond. You can’t hope they will — you have to ask them to do it.

You have to be pretty darned clear what you want them to do, too. Just saying “please respond” is far too vague. Your customers don’t know exactly what you want them to do or how to do it.

Do you want them to click on a link? Tell them to click here (and also tell them why).

Do you want them to write back and tell you you’re a god/goddess/schmuck? Use the words “just click reply to email me back and tell me I’m a god/goddess/schmuck.”

Do you want them to buy? Tell them.

Most folks just hope their customers will act on their own. And their customers mostly don’t — because they’re too busy to figure out how you want them to respond. You need to tell them. Just a little nudge will do.

Of course, none of this will work if you’re a complete stranger.

Mistake# 5: You don’t have a specific frequency

Switch on your TV at 6 pm. What do you see?

In most countries, it’s the evening news. And every evening it’s the same old news, but hey it’s consistent.

Most newsletters aren’t. If you’re going to write a newsletter, then you’ve got to have a publishing schedule.

You have to promise your readers that your newsletter will go out once a month, or twice a month or three times a week — whatever it may be.

Your newsletters can’t go to Bermuda on vacation. They’re doing all the grunt work for you. Our newsletter has gone out since 2002 and has done so week after week without any stoppage.

You want to stop? You are ill? Sorry mate, but that won’t wash well with your readers. Imagine the TV station canceling the news because some newsreader didn’t turn up.

One of the big reasons for the lack of response is that your newsletter is a stranger to your readers. You can’t send them a newsletter whenever you feel like it and hope they’ll respond. Response is directly related to frequency. Muck up on frequency and the rest of the four points don’t even matter.

So there you have it:

1. Pure self-promotion won’t work — make it useful.
2. Your tone of writing is critical. Record yourself if you have to, but connect with your own unique voice.
3. If you can’t get your head around structure, use customer stories.
4. Don’t be half-hearted about promotion — give a strong call to action.
5. Without consistent frequency, your customers will forget who you are even if you do everything else right.

Newsletters are a lot of work. There’s no point in doing them unless you see the response you’re looking for. And avoiding these five big mistakes will perk up your response in a hurry.

About the Author: Sean D’Souza offers a great free article on ‘Why Headlines Fail’ when you subscribe to his Psychotactics Newsletter. Be sure to check out his blog, too.

P.S. Have you checked out Internet Marketing for Smart People, the Copyblogger email newsletter? It features a free 20-step course that will build your business, so you really should click here and subscribe.

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