tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-227197142011-12-13T22:55:13.180-05:00Marketing, Advertising & Copywriting For Mass AppealDaniel Levishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15490093810292421852noreply@blogger.comBlogger411100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22719714.post-16381362705480655672008-05-06T14:59:00.003-04:002008-05-06T17:08:33.238-04:00

In this issue:The “build it and they will buy” trap …Claude Hopkins, rolling over in his grave …The secret to online marketing nirvana …And much more!Dear Web Business Builder,Whoever said knowledge is power, was wrong …Web marketing junkies desperate to break into the biz are buying the latest, greatest info-products like they’re going out of style … reading the manuals … listening to the CDs …

Daniel Levishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15490093810292421852noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22719714.post-56208023790931776382008-02-25T05:22:00.006-05:002008-02-25T05:52:35.774-05:00

Last time we talked about the importance of the “lead” or opening few paragraphs of your copy and its primary job: To open the mind of your prospect to giving your sales argument a fair hearing.This time, I want to talk about the argument itself: The reasons you put forward that prove: a) that buying your product will change your prospects life for the better… and b) that NOT buying it right now

Daniel Levishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15490093810292421852noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22719714.post-22206662317184399242007-10-11T13:44:00.000-04:002007-10-11T14:30:35.618-04:00

Today’s issue is about opening your prospect’s minds to receiving your sales argument …The Secret Structure That Forms The Bedrock of Every Successful Persuasion Attempt …Your selling efforts online in many ways resemble those of a trial lawyer in a court of law. The jurors are your prospects, and the verdict is the decision to buy, or not.This may come as a surprise to you, but one of the

Daniel Levishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15490093810292421852noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22719714.post-40161766303534440672007-09-10T12:55:00.000-04:002007-09-11T13:49:37.119-04:00

In my last article you and I talked about the holy trinity of web marketing.Having a powerful offer. Communicating it to a starving crowd who've ALREADY proven they want and can afford what you're selling. And Communicating with your starving crowd in a way that effectively moves them through the Attention, Interest, Desire, Action continuum. Now, if you've got the first two down cold, here are

Daniel Levishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15490093810292421852noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22719714.post-78977346043570502102007-08-16T12:56:00.000-04:002007-08-16T15:01:03.450-04:00

This is an article about writing for the purpose of extracting money from people who habituate the Internet. If that offends your delicate sensibilities, then you might as well stop reading right now.On the other hand, if you're looking for ways to either turn that beautiful whiz bang web site of yours into a money sucking monster... or get paid big bucks to help other web entrepreneurs do the

Daniel Levishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15490093810292421852noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22719714.post-65365762668742629432007-07-30T13:17:00.000-04:002007-08-01T12:58:22.370-04:00

I love Americans, don’t you? Not only are they great people, they’re great spenders. It pays to know them.But sometimes, they’re hard to fathom …Old, young, doesn’t matter. They love fast food, blue jeans, and loud violent movies. One day they’re up. One day they’re down. Crazy, rebellious, invincible!In America, dreams come and go like the noonday sun. Certainty leads to uncertainty just as

Daniel Levishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15490093810292421852noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22719714.post-54512694847123934662007-07-10T02:32:00.000-04:002007-07-12T12:57:14.717-04:00

Why do your prospects buy from you?I often ask my consulting clients this very question. And the first answers I get usually look something like thisBecause we’re the most affordable Because we offer the best service Because our product offers the best value Because we have a superior reputation in the marketplaceWhat do you think of these answers? All of these reasons are putting the cart before

Daniel Levishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15490093810292421852noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22719714.post-61512400350033828062007-06-19T07:01:00.000-04:002007-06-19T22:20:14.515-04:00

Online marketing is a contact sport.Only the strong ultimately survive, and that's healthy. It keeps everyone on their toes, constantly striving, developing, innovating, one eye on the market, and the other on the competition, whether that competition be other businesses offering similar products, or the simple status quo.Let's talk about some of the competitive weapons you can use to stay in the

Daniel Levishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15490093810292421852noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22719714.post-63389295851240914582007-05-31T08:23:00.000-04:002007-06-02T01:44:22.715-04:00

Have you noticed? Everywhere you turn it seems people are making buying decisions that don’t make sense at all…Poking around, Princeton researchers believe they’ve found something new that will explain it.Decisions are made primarily in two parts of the brain they tell us. The first part is the Prefrontal Cortex. This is where deductive reasoning is supposed to take place, such as when a person

Daniel Levishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15490093810292421852noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22719714.post-19708023276851345452007-05-10T13:56:00.000-04:002007-05-12T14:08:23.241-04:00

This weekend I had a strange dream ...I was many years older than I am now. What was left of my salt and pepper hair was snow white. I walked with a beautifully decorated hickory and silver cane. And my little grandson was a grown man with a business of his own.We were at home and it seemed to be the holidays. I was sitting on the back porch trying to explain what online marketing was like in my

Daniel Levishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15490093810292421852noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22719714.post-39151464458188239652007-04-24T02:11:00.000-04:002007-04-26T14:24:17.768-04:00

What can face to face selling tell you about online salesletters & advertising? Plenty, once you understand the basics of direct response marketing. Remember, the Internet is the ultimate direct response vehicle. Using a website, or email as an advertising medium gives you two very important elements that are critical for direct response success. You have virtually unlimited messaging space, so

Daniel Levishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15490093810292421852noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22719714.post-43392472429368147292007-04-16T00:54:00.000-04:002007-04-17T12:31:11.750-04:00

If you're like me, you're constantly on the look out for an edge. A new key that can ignite your online sales and profits, and take your business to new heights …And one of those keys for sure, is the constant quest for vivid pictures of satisfaction that you can install in the minds of your prospects to magnify their desire to buy. Agreed?In an earlier issue we talked about using mental imagery

Daniel Levishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15490093810292421852noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22719714.post-52109452332692796592007-04-06T01:17:00.001-04:002007-04-06T02:11:42.954-04:00

I do a lot of critiques, and by far the most common criticism I have is directed at the sheer length of the copy people seem to be writing these days. It seems they think they need to write a book to sell a $39 ebook online, complete with a 74-word headline.There is a time and a place for long copy, and there is a time and a place for short copy. But there is never a place for copy that’s

Daniel Levishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15490093810292421852noreply@blogger.com55tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22719714.post-67009621129102628882007-04-02T02:42:00.000-04:002007-04-02T02:49:32.218-04:00

The first thing you need to do is get your e-mails opened & read. Spend at least as much time worrying about the subject line of each e mail in your sequence as you do worrying about the body.Brainstorm at least five subject lines, pick the one most likely to stop your prospects dead in their tracks (tip, the only way to know for sure is to test), and use the rest of them in the body of the

Daniel Levishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15490093810292421852noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22719714.post-32479236186755994252007-03-22T11:39:00.000-04:002007-04-09T00:34:07.136-04:00

Ah the wants, needs, hopes, longings, yearnings, cravings, and urges of human kind. Let us corral them all up and call them "desire". The invisible force that makes web marketing, or any marketing for that matter, work.As the great direct response copywriter Gene Schwartz correctly pointed out: It is not your job to create desire, only to channel it. As a marketer or copywriter you need only

Daniel Levishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15490093810292421852noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22719714.post-84119460445763895752007-03-15T00:56:00.000-04:002007-03-15T01:01:42.071-04:00

When you boil it right down, there are really only three things that you need to do exceedingly well to market your business effectively online, and you should think of all three simultaneously with each new advertising campaign you entertain.And they are,Obtaining an Opportunity to Sell – Lead generation, driving traffic to your web site.Closing the Sale – The sales presentation, online sales

Daniel Levishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15490093810292421852noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22719714.post-51407248667487840712007-03-05T10:20:00.000-05:002007-03-08T06:43:31.169-05:00

You’ve got targeted traffic coming to your site. You’ve made a big, passionate, and clear promise on your landing page. But you’re still not making the sales you’d like.It could be because your offer sounds too good to be true.Believability above a certain point makes sales; below that point it does not. Ad copy must make what lawyers call "a prima facie case" -- that is, a case that warrants a

Daniel Levishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15490093810292421852noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22719714.post-85730688316175341902007-02-27T10:00:00.000-05:002007-03-12T03:33:51.724-04:00

Last week we talked about the growing skepticism online, and how to challenge it with your headline. Also how to momentarily halt your web site visitors, and force them to focus on a single thought that opens their minds to reading your sales message. And as you'll remember, this can mean deliberately not mentioning your product (or service), or even the benefits your prospect will derive from it

Daniel Levishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15490093810292421852noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22719714.post-36672079821426284082007-02-13T22:34:00.000-05:002007-02-13T22:43:02.862-05:00

Whoever said knowledge is power, was wrong.Way too many people read a few online marketing books, and then figure they know everything there is to know in those books just because they read them. And then at a certain point they stop buying any more books, because they know EVERYTHING. But guess what? They don’t practice any of it. And then they wonder why they’re not making any money marketing

Daniel Levishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15490093810292421852noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22719714.post-13006921838402899412007-02-07T01:00:00.000-05:002007-02-09T10:13:40.503-05:00

Here’s one of your biggest opportunities to outflank the competition online. Use your website as a Direct Marketing vehicle, in the classical sense. Have a very tightly defined action that you want people to take, and focus all of your efforts on getting people to take that action.Few websites operate under this cardinal rule of Direct Marketing.As a result, all too many business people labor

Daniel Levishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15490093810292421852noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22719714.post-70810337211084854062007-02-01T01:09:00.000-05:002007-02-02T04:04:37.429-05:00

It's true, healthy skepticism is at an all time high online. Especially if you're slugging it out in hotly competitive markets. And God, who isn't these days?If you're wondering what you can do to keep your conversion shorts up, and your costs down, then pay close attention ...I'm going to reveal some little known "contrarian" headline writing tricks that will help you wrestle this problem to its

Daniel Levishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15490093810292421852noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22719714.post-16351533108410966682007-01-26T00:20:00.000-05:002007-02-01T01:20:07.963-05:00

It's true, we were all taught in school to express ourselves differently on paper, than the way we speak. To follow rules of grammar, and inject an artificial air of formality.Forgetting about this training when you write web copy is one of the best thing you can possibly do, unless you’re selling to the academic community. And forgetting about it may not be as easy as you think.Do you write like

Daniel Levishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15490093810292421852noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22719714.post-55408032038020956512007-01-12T02:33:00.000-05:002007-01-12T02:35:24.240-05:00

Establishing & maintaining rapport with your online audience is perhaps the single most important ingredient in marketing online. Actually in marketing period, but even more so online because of the lack of personal contact. Rapport is at the core of selling, always has been, always will be.Let me tell you a little story.Earlier this week, I got a call from a salesman after leaving a message

Daniel Levishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15490093810292421852noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22719714.post-26563736240365210942006-11-29T00:04:00.000-05:002006-11-30T19:31:30.907-05:00

There’s a lot of talk about Web 2.0 and something called “social networking” these days. It’s the idea of using the web to facilitate symbiotic relationships like Michel Fortin’s new blog http://www.copywritersblog.com/.Michel’s new site is a loose collective of writers who in exchange for publicity do a lot of the work that Michel would normally do to maintain the site. It’s a win/win for all

Daniel Levishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15490093810292421852noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22719714.post-72338162205572937552006-11-15T01:33:00.000-05:002006-11-30T02:18:37.067-05:00

Since the first caveman figured out how to tie a sharp rock to the end of a sturdy stick with a piece of vine, and hack off slabs of mastodon meat with it for fire roasting, storytelling has been the way knowledge has been passed from one person to another.Around the campfire blaze, the tribal members would gather, the little children gazing cautiously out from behind their parents, their eyes

Daniel Levishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15490093810292421852noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22719714.post-1161322863399541552006-10-20T01:37:00.000-04:002006-11-30T02:21:15.403-05:00

You’re ready to launch that new product or promotion, & you’re really counting on a piece of advertising copy to come through for you.You’re looking for stellar results! And, you’re determined to do everything in your power to get them. Which means surveys, thorough testing, and ongoing refinement of your ad copy.Hold the phone!When you’ve got your draft, run it through this 12-point inspection.

Daniel Levishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15490093810292421852noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22719714.post-1160031612282026422006-10-05T02:51:00.000-04:002006-11-14T01:01:17.982-05:00

What can Mother Theresa and Charles Schwab teach you about marketing online.Certainly these two historical figures saw two vastly different worlds in their lifetimes. Mother Theresa spent hers with the poorest of the poor, while Charles Schwab spent his with the richest of the rich.But look at these two famous quotes."There is more hunger in this world for love and appreciation than for bread"

Daniel Levishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15490093810292421852noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22719714.post-1158503905656022132006-09-17T10:33:00.000-04:002006-11-14T01:01:17.912-05:00

This fortnight distinction between sales & marketing.Many business people have a distorted view about the distinction between sales & marketing. The common view looks something like this. "Market by advertising to get your name out there, so that people will be familiar with you. When they need what we’re selling, they’ll know who to call".And off they go, to promote their company with image

Daniel Levishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15490093810292421852noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22719714.post-1157271685892051292006-09-03T04:19:00.000-04:002006-11-14T01:01:17.819-05:00

When it comes to marketing strategy blunders, pretty much everybody remembers the nosedive failure of New Coke, right? But what most people don’t know is the fascinating story behind the story, & the valuable lesson it reveals.In the early eighties, Coke was about to lose a marketing trump card to Pepsi. Coke’s market share had been in free fall since the end of the war, declining from 60% at

Daniel Levishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15490093810292421852noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22719714.post-1155837422194164872006-08-17T13:53:00.000-04:002006-11-14T01:01:17.745-05:00

Here are 4 product positioning tips to differentiate your business.Luckily, it’s not all that hard to stand out from the crowd, as long you realize the importance of product positioning. Positioning is the art of matching your marketing message, with the desires, feelings, & beliefs of the particular type of customer that you know you can service better than anybody else. You make yourself "

Daniel Levishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15490093810292421852noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22719714.post-1154372045282014342006-07-31T14:45:00.000-04:002006-11-14T01:01:17.679-05:00

Most people who have been involved with sales & marketing for any length of time have heard the axiom, “Sell them what they want. Then sell them what they need”. But what does it mean? It sounds a little odd doesn’t it?Does it mean that people are frivolous & go around making irrational purchases that don’t meet their needs, before more serious ones that sustain them? Should you try to sell

Daniel Levishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15490093810292421852noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22719714.post-1152518783138381842006-07-10T04:04:00.000-04:002006-11-14T01:01:17.590-05:00

A website is one of the most powerful mediums of advertising expression. You have ultimate freedom and flexibility to create powerful sales messages using both words and pictures. But is a picture really worth a thousand words?Perhaps, but pictures built up in the mind of your prospect with words are even more important.If you want to captivate someone's imagination, paint a picture with your

Daniel Levishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15490093810292421852noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22719714.post-1150370636794762922006-06-15T07:08:00.000-04:002006-11-14T01:01:17.521-05:00

THE UNSPOKEN DIALOGUEWhen it comes to online copywriting, it's not the words you use that count. It's the reaction to those words in the mind of the reader, as he reads them on the screen…And it's your ability to anticipate and plan out those reactions that spells the difference between being able to get your web site visitors to opt-in or buy your product in sufficient numbers to make your

Daniel Levishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15490093810292421852noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22719714.post-1146433367509353882006-04-30T17:23:00.000-04:002006-11-14T01:01:17.437-05:00

Recently I revealed 5 tips for FASTER copywriting. You can read them on this blog, a little further down. NOW, here are 3 killer exercises that will ratchet up your writing speed still further ...But be careful. These techniques are very powerful, and can be downright dangerous if you try them on anything but the very best copy you can find. I recommend only using them with "control" copy. Ads

Daniel Levishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15490093810292421852noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22719714.post-1144618679162192442006-04-09T17:30:00.000-04:002006-11-14T01:01:17.367-05:00

Words & phrases are psychological triggers. They are like Pavlov’s bell. They create an auto response in the reader, based on his or her previous experience. The most powerful of words, are those we fist became familiar with in our childhood & adolescent years. They are anchored most deeply in our psyches & create the most universal & therefore predictable responses.Here is a short list of such

Daniel Levishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15490093810292421852noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22719714.post-1143476122104994322006-03-27T11:14:00.000-05:002006-11-14T01:01:17.227-05:00

Many people when they put together their marketing assume that qualified prospects already know certain things about their product. For example, if it's a software product, they assume that people know that they will have to install it.And that's generally true. Most people do. What these marketers don't realize however is that by leaving the "obvious" out of their copy, they're inviting their

Daniel Levishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15490093810292421852noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22719714.post-1142811243252439912006-03-19T18:33:00.000-05:002006-11-14T01:01:17.159-05:00

What would it mean to you if you could double your output as a copywriter? I can tell you from first hand experience that it would more than double your income.And here are 5 simple yet very powerful tips to help you do just that ...1 - Use a timer when you write, and give yourself a specific goal. Right now I have my timer set for 1 hour, and I'm going to write this blog post, and an email

Daniel Levishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15490093810292421852noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22719714.post-1141754078770757982006-03-07T12:52:00.000-05:002006-11-14T01:01:17.093-05:00

The legendary ad man David Ogilvy observed that the editorial material in newspapers and magazines received 5 times more readership than the ads... so what did he do?He made his ads look and read more like editorial ... (that's one of David's classic "advertorial" style ads for Ogilvy & Mather to the left, circa 1974). Ogilvy's ads did not look exactly like editorial, but they read very much that

Daniel Levishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15490093810292421852noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22719714.post-1140849242396504072006-02-25T00:50:00.000-05:002006-11-14T01:01:16.823-05:00

Every great copywriter I know has gone to enormous lengths to build a swipe file of ads and sales letters known to have pulled like gangbusters... spending decades and thousands of dollars to compile a precious stable of proven winners.A killer swipe file can spell tens of thousands... hundreds of thousands... perhaps millions of dollars in additional income and royalties for you, permeating you

Daniel Levishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15490093810292421852noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22719714.post-1140676599287368462006-02-23T01:35:00.000-05:002006-11-14T01:01:16.678-05:00

Here’s one of your biggest opportunities to outflank the competition online. Use your website as a Direct Marketing vehicle, in the classical sense. Have a very tightly defined action that you want people to take, and focus all of your efforts on getting people to take that action. Few websites operate under this cardinal rule of Direct Marketing. As a result, all too many business people labor

Daniel Levishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15490093810292421852noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22719714.post-1140544433956077952006-02-21T12:51:00.000-05:002007-04-08T20:45:25.242-04:00

3 Copywriting Tips - How To Edit For Mass Appeal!By Daniel LevisWeb copy that's intended to sell or generate leads needs to quickly reach out and grab attention and build rapport with a target audience. You can connect with your audience more effectively if you understand something about how people process information, and how they think.Every one of us is constantly sorting, distorting, and

Daniel Levishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15490093810292421852noreply@blogger.com2