Posted on: 02 December, 2001
Author: Kevin Nunley
A lot of people shy away from writing their own ads and ... when it's really not ... If you have even a ... of writing skills, you can easily write your own stuff ... sel A lot of people shy away from writing their own ads and salesletters when it's really not necessary. If you have even a basicgrasp of writing skills, you can easily write your own stuff thatreally sells. You probably just need a few pointers about formatand language.When formatting an ad or a sales letter, put the most importantbenefits right up front. Put yourself in the customer's shoes andask yourself what the customer will really go for. Focus onthat point.Keep your sentences short and simple. Sales copy needs to becrisp and clean or people lose interest. With simple sentencesyou can steer clear of confusion and get right to the point ofthe ad. Take it a step further in your classified ads andalternate complete sentences with catchy two and three-wordphrases.Break your copy into short sections. Professional writers oftenkeep their paragraphs to two or three sentences. This makes yourcopy much easier to follow.Use visual tricks to grab attention. Use headings and sub-headings to emphasize your most important features, and usebulleted lists when describing product features.Include a P.S. in sales letters. Most people read the P.S. first.Use it to restate your main offer, and then add a special bonus.Include a time limit to get the good deal. This encouragespeople to buy more quickly.And finally, once you've got your sales letter or ad set up inthis clean and simple format, make sure you're using clean andsimple language to match, and not gobbledygook.We all know what gobbledygook is, it's that overcomplicated,cliched and unnecessarily formal language that can either totallyconfuse us or just put us to sleep. Either way it loses thecustomer, and loses you the sale.In an effort to seem smart or serious or professional, badbusiness writers often end up using gobbledygook. I see salesletters and emails all the time with business-speak phrases like"in our considered opinion" and "enclosed please find." Thismakes the seller sound stuffy and unapproachable. Simplify theseinto everyday language. Write how you would speak: "we think"and "here is," are much better choices. Customers relate toconversational language.If you follow these pointers you should be able to come up withsome pretty good copy. Keep plugging away at it, and you'll findyou get pretty good. Who knows? People might even start comingto you for writing advice. Article Tags: Sales Copy Source: Free Articles from ArticlesFactory.com