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How To Ramp Up Your Business With Sizzling Ad Copy

by: Cathy Qazalbash

What is the importance of Ad copy? Your ad copy, sales letter will make or break your business. You can have the best product/service but without a good sales copy, you cannot sell anything. Website visitors are becoming increasingly savvy, hype and hard selling no longer work, as they used to. A subtler approach is necessary and gets good results.

Common mistakes in business ad copy:

* Features not benefits

* Too much hype

* Misuse of graphics

* Using the negative trigger words

* Font hard to read

The most frequent error in ad copy, is listing features not benefits. Your visitor does not need to know how fancy the product is, they are just looking for the answer to "what's in it for me?" Why should they buy your product, or use your service? You will need to persuade them that the benefits for them are irresistible and they would be seriously missing out if they did not buy your product/use your service.

Here is one of the most irritating of all mistakes, hyping up your product/service. Nobody likes to be played for a fool least of all your prospective clients. Unbelievable exaggeration (hype) does just that. It insults the intelligence of your reader and will alienate them very quickly from the sale. Would you buy from someone who treated you like this? Besides if your product is good you will have enough real benefits not to need any useless hype.

Graphics, be careful with these. Small relevant pictures can go a long way to helping sell your product, especially if you are selling hard goods and e-books. Some websites try to use cartoon graphics and different eye catchers, this can divert your visitor and take away from your sales message. Again this can bring down the prestige of your site. Presentation is very important with a business site. Your visitor needs to take you seriously in order to buy from you, they need to know you are a professional. Presentation in your ad copy is especially important if you are offering a service.

Here is a more subtle mistake and one that with some careful planning and knowledge does not need to happen. The use of negative "trigger words." If you have been on the internet for any length of time you will have heard about "Mr. Fire" Joe Vitale, a legendary copywriter and article writer. Joe Vitale is the master of the use of "trigger words" and subtle "Hypnotic Selling." What are "trigger words?" These are words that subconsciously spark a feeling of well-being and urge to buy in a reader. For example "Ramp Up" your business with... "Boost" your business using this... "Discover the secret".... I am sure you have seen these and many more (there are over 200 ) When you have looked at good sales pages.

Alternatively negative "trigger words" will have the opposite effect, for example "low-income" "failure" and many more that you can probably think of. These words generate an unconscious feeling of depression and sadness with a reader and deter him from buying. Don't you buy more when you are in an upbeat mood? Be careful how you write your sales letter or even a small ad, words are very powerful in copywriting and will make or break the sale. As all good copywriters will tell you selling is all about understanding your visitors' mindset.

Readable font, includes use of punctuation, capitalization and color arrangement. Let me explain:

Excessive use of punctuation, especially the !!! exclamation point and sometimes the??? question mark. This distracts the reader and is a turn off for sales. Respect your reader's intelligence and do not belittle your reader with this unprofessional technique.

Too much CAPITALIZATION is also unprofessional and has the same effect. Capitalization is known as shouting a word. Do you the reader want to be shouted at? I am sure this does not put you in a buying mood.

Color combination is also a sign of being a good sales person. Always write with credibility in mind. As mentioned credibility is very important in convincing your prospective buyer. Unusual fonts and color combinations will take away from your sales copy and leave an unfavorable impression with your reader. Size is a factor too, make sure the font is normal sized. Style of font should be Ariel, Times Roman, Veranda, or similar styles, do not make a sales letter in fancy type set, it will distract your reader, (selling art work and cartoon drawings may be an exception to the rule).

Always keep your reader in mind. Write your sales letters as you would to a respected friend. Remember your visitors are taking time out of their busy schedule to read your sales letter, write in a concise, persuasive, polite way, as you would expect to be treated by a sales person when you want to buy something. With these points, you will be able to ramp up your business with sizzling ad copy and improve your sales 110% and more.

About the author:
Cathy is a freelance writer and copywriter. She has written
over a hundred articles on small business development and
marketing. She has also written promotional articles and
sales copy for a variety of businesses. and is the publisher
of 2 online publications. Her resource websites are:

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