Author Archives: Al - Page 3

My copywriting cheat sheet

Posted by on December 21, 2011 No comments

I’m a fan of formulas. I can’t see any point in reinventing the wheel.

When I started working with Drayton I used to be terrified when he’d ask me to write copy.

I used to joke to clients he’d only change it in three places: the start, the middle and the end.

Anyhow, copy that did get Drayton’s blessing all followed this simple formula:

  • The offer – It has to be in your headline and subheads.
  • Expand on the offer in the first few paragraphs.
  • Proofs and specifics – give testimonials, facts and figures. Never be vague. Never say, “You’ll lose weight on this plan.” Say how much they’ll lose and how quickly – but only if you can prove it. And if you can’t, you’ll sound and look like a crook – so don’t be surprised by your crappy results.
  • What will happen if they don’t act.
  • Add urgency.
  • Summary / repeat offer.
  • Tell them to take action (don’t ask – tell).

Then see where you can crow bar in any of the 7 raw emotions.

And then, get editing:

  • Short paragraphs.
  • Short sentences.
  • Short words.

And guess what? The pages that sell the most for me online all follow this wonderfully stale and hackneyed formula.

Okay, it’s old hat – but if it’s not broken, why try and fix it?

More on SEO versus PPC

Posted by on December 21, 2011 No comments

I’m really biased towards PPC traffic – but only at the start of projects.

Here’s a great example of why.

Look at this screenshot. It’s showing the traffic sources for a new site I’m promoting that is less than a month old. You’re looking at last Saturday and Sunday’s stats.

The goal is a sign up to the mailing list.

Now here’s the biggie. Notice anything?

Clearly, the PPC traffic is much hotter. It converts at 8.46% (not too shabby – but room for improvement).

The SEO traffic converts at 0.45%. Appalling.

To put it in to perspective, at these rates I’d need the SEO traffic to give me 13,702 visitors to give me the same number of signups as the 773 visits from the PPC traffic.

So it’s PPC all the way, right?

Nope.

SEO is a lumbering beast. But using the information from the PPC account, you can point your SEO efforts in the right direction.

Again, all the heavy lifting is at the start, but once the SEO is ranking with the converting keywords, you’re on your way, without the PPC costs.

Of course though, building a list with your sign ups is only half the battle.

You then need to seduce your list by sending them great content as often as possible.

Send them anything that isn’t relevant, interesting or helpful and you’re dead in the water.

And every mail needs to be sent automatically – in the background – so you don’t have to think about it or lift a finger (you do this with an auto-responder. I use Aweber – try it out here).