Copywriting Dean

Probably one of my largest online business mistakes is trusting my web host to provide reliable email services.

At one time, I used PHPMail to deliver copywriting applications to my inbox. And only after a long period without receiving an application did I discover that my web host turned off PHPMail without telling me.

Thanks!

Just last week I woke up to 3 emails in my inbox. And if you’ve ran an Internet business for long, you know that number is remarkably low.

I started poking around the ‘net and realized I could count for several emails that SHOULD have been delivered but weren’t! (Payment notifications, auto-response messages and the like.)

I contacted my web host who set up a “test” and discovered my email was working “just fine.” (And miraculously, it did start working after I complained.)

But as was confirmed today, potential clients did email me and, of course, received no response back from me.

Overall, I like my web host and I’d be very hesitant to move. But it’s becoming very clear that I need to stop using their email.

GMail, The Reliable Free Mail

It used to be that a free email address was a big no-no for business. But that’s changed since Gmail came along.

Gmail REALLY IS that much better than paid alternatives. There’s little excuse not to use them as your primary email address, and many of the IM GURU’s do.

Needless to say, I hope to quickly move away from my web hosts email and rely solely on Gmail for the foreseeable future.

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Recently I’ve seen a few copywriters guarantee a specific conversion rate, without knowing ANYTHING about the project in advance.

Hmm… To me this shows the copywriter is a novice. It’s just impossible to do. Look what the famous copywriter, Bob Bly had to say about it…

“4-Do not promise your copy will generate a specific result. It is unethical and not true: no one can guarantee a particular response rate.” ~ Bob Bly

One BIG reason why talking conversion rates before you know about the project is the traffic source. This sole factor can have the BIGGEST impact on your conversions.

Because some sources of traffic convert MUCH better than other sources of traffic. Here’s a list of traffic sources, from the best converting to the least.

Product Announcement Lists

People who have opted-in to be TOLD when your product is ready… will be the most likely to buy by far. Here’s where you can hit REALLY high conversion rates. 30% might be average.

Your Customer List

People who have bought from you before… are VERY likely to buy from you again.

Your Subscriber List

It depends on the list, of course. If you haven’t built a responsive list, you may not get a good response.

But, in general. Emailing people who already subscribe to YOUR list and KNOW YOU is a great way to get 10%-20% response rates.

Other Business’ Lists

Having someone else promote your sales page to a list who knows THEM is almost as powerful as mailing your own list. They’re giving an endorsement to a crowd of people who trust them.

Signature Links From Articles/Forum Posts

A signature link from an article or forum post can be more valuable than other advertisements or links because the reader has gotten to know and trust you a bit by reading your content. Then when they hit your sales letter, you are positioned as an authority.

Paid Advertising: Text Ads, Banner Ads and So Forth

Then FINALLY we get to paid advertising. You can obviously still get great conversion rates from Google Adwords and other forms of paid advertising. But you’re probably not going to hit the 10%-50% conversion rates that you might from some of the traffic sources above.

This is good information to know when hiring a copywriter. If they promise a 2% conversion rate and hit 3%, you might think that’s great.

But if the traffic came from your customer list… the copy may not be nearly as great as you thought.

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Seems like the economy has people tightening their belts. It’s not as easy to throw money at business opportunities these days.

And one thing I’ve noticed for sure is that people are being more cautious before hiring a copywriter.

Good.

One question I get a lot is, “Are you sure you can improve my conversion rate?” Or, “Can you promise a 2% conversion rate?”

Sounds to me like many online marketers are getting burned. And while I tend to agree with Bob Bly who says it’s dishonest to guarantee a conversion rate, I refuse to be a copywriter who turns his back on a client after handing over the copy.

So when you invest $4 to $6k with me for your sales copy, I’m ready and willing to help you test and track your copy for 30 days. With software I even customized myself to get results as quickly as possible.

Often times underperforming copy can be fixed with just a tweak here and there, and multivariate testing can help you find it.

So if your new copy is missing the mark a bit at first, I’ll be tweaking the copy to fix the problem maybe even before you notice!

This makes it easy for potential clients to decide…

…which copywriter should they hire in a recession when every dollar counts?

The copywriter who sticks around to test and track your copy to make sure it’s a winner? Or the copywriter who hands it over and is done with you.

The answer is clear, and you can fill out an application here: Copy Productions.

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One purpose of buying the domain “CopywritingDean.com” was that it’d be easier to rank in the top 10 for the term “Copywriting.”

I’d reached the 2nd page of Google results for “copywriting” with Stephensblog.com, but I wanted to leave that domain for a number of reasons I won’t go into here.

Well a month or so ago when I checked the ranking of “CopywritingDean.com” for the term “copywriting,” I was shocked to find myself ranked 450th. YIKES. So I started making some changes.

Fixing a mistake

A major mistake when switching domains was copying the posts from StephensBlog.com over to CopywritingDean.com. We’ve all heard about the duplicate content penalty… well l got it.

After I went through and deleted a few dozen posts from CopywritingDean.com that were also on StephensBlog.com, I jumped from #450 to #119.

Still a long way to go, but that’s a start.

Sticking with what works

At Stephensblog.com I was able to jump from about #75 to mid twenties by having posts submitted to Blog Carnivals.

You can do this yourself here: http://blogcarnival.com/bc/submit.php

Just look for blog carnivals that fit your blogs topic, and submit individual blog posts to the carnival.

I’ve found software that automates the process for you before, but it seems to have stopped working. I assume the site doesn’t want you to submit via software, so now I just do it by hand. It doesn’t take too long and it’s a mindless activity, so I just do it while chatting on the phone to the GF.

Blog Friends

I’m also on the lookout for people who want to trade links in their blog rolls. I have 164 pages listed in google from CopywritingDean.com and each one will have a link to your page if you’ll put my blog in your blogroll.

Of course, if you don’t care for my blog then there’s no reason for you to add me to your sidebar. But if you do enjoy my blog, adding me to your blogroll has an extra benefit.

Just leave a comment to this post letting me know that you added me and I’ll make sure to add you to my sidebar. (Assuming your site isn’t objectional… you know, like illegal stuff and the like.)

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I recently was reminded of a quote from Michel Fortin that I blogged about once before. In one line, he sums up the problem with many of the new copywriters sprouting up on the web:

“The biggest error that most people commit when they write copy is that they try to be clever, trying to ‘WOW’ people with every sentence.” ~ Michel Fortin

EXACTLY. Here’s an example to show his point.

The prospect asks himself…

“How can I retire at 50 on my current income?”

The faux copywriter writes this headline for the prospect…

Attention! You Are About To Discover How You Can Unleash A Flood Of Interest-Generating Cash In To Your Bank Account So You Can Retire Young And Never Worry About Money Again!

The pro copywriter writes this headline for the prospect…

“How To Retire At 50 On Your Current Income.”

Copywriting isn’t about trying to impress the reader, it’s about connecting with the reader. While it’s important to get the prospect excited, it’s just as important to make your ideas as exciting as your words… or maybe more so.

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Do you have a blog? Do you have a question about writing sales copy, designing squeeze pages, creating products, getting traffic… or just want some advice on a headline?

Then leave a comment to this post with your question (and make sure to list your blog as your website in the comment fields).

If you’ll agree to post my answer to your blog with a link back to here, I’ll answer your question at length. That’s worth at least $100, so I highly recommend taking advantage of this opportunity.

If you don’t have a question but do have a blog, how about swapping guest posts? Either way, leave a comment!

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Just about any money-makin’ plan you might pick online requires that you start a web site. And if you’re like me, you’re starting new sites all the time.

So I wanted to share with you how I, as a copywriter, find the perfect domain name.

Pretty much every word in the dictionary is taken. There are plenty of two word combinations available… but the most obvious ones are usually taken. A lot of what’s left over doesn’t necessarily make a lot of sense without good marketing.

MySpace.com, FaceBook.com and YouTube.com might seem like self explanatory domains to you now… but if you didn’t know what the sites were. They’d be a mystery.

Those two domains are a good example of what’s left.

BUT… those domain names aren’t bad at all. I just helped a client find the perfect domain name for his new product. It’s two words. Easy to remember. Easy to spell…

Well, why don’t I just go ahead and tell you my rules for selecting domain names.

1. They must be extremely easy to spell. Short words like… cat, hat, free are great. Stuff like “genius” isn’t good. You may think it’s easy to spell, but you’d be surprised how easy it is to mess up.

2. I like to avoid double vowels between words, and sometimes double consonants. For example, giveeasy.com is a domain name that I once considered, but that double “e” in the middle. It’s a little confusing. This can happen with consonants when double l’s or t’s get involved.

3. Less than 3 words. You can get away with breaking this rule every now and then. But in general, keep working ’til you find something that doesn’t take an hour to type in.

4. Benefit-laden. IF POSSIBLE, it’s great to have a domain name that states the benefit of your product or service. Why? Because the domain name can act like an ad for your site. It’s almost like a headline!

I bought a domain name a while back called snackawaypounds.com. Check out that benefit. Putting a benefit in the domain ALSO helps people remember the name.

Ok, those are my 4 biggest tips for selecting domain names. I could have said, always go for a .com. But you should know that.

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Raise your hand if you’ve ever come up with a product that was a dud…

People who are just beginning their business pursuits often forget to check if there’s a market for their “hot idea” before they create the product. This can lead to a waste of time, energy and a lot of money.

While there are more thorough ways of checking if your product has an audience, here are 3 quick ways to get a general idea of the demand.

1. Spyfu.com. This site lets you analyze pay-per-click data similar to what the old Overture tools used to do. Just type in your keyword and you’ll instantly see how many people are placing ads for that keyword, how many clicks they’re getting on average, and what it costs to run an ad.

If you see a website is running ads for a few months at a $1.00 click, you can be relatively sure they’re making a profit from that market.

2. Amazon.com’s Magazine Section If you can find a magazine that’s focused on your market, chances are there’s enough people out there to support a product for this business. After all, there’s enough to support the magazine…

3. http://www.clickbank.com/marketplace.htm. The Clickbank marketplace lists tons and tons of information products. Search for your keyword and look at the results.

If you see products similar to your idea, check out the “Gravity” number. The higher the number, the better the product is selling. Compare the number to other known hot sellers and you’ll get a decent idea of how popular that market is.

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Have you been checking your stats programs lately?

I’ve been checking mine. And my stats program has been DECEIVED by black-hatters. (Those are people who use questionnable (at the least) tactics to make money online.)

Black hat marketers tend to be the most creative in the bunch. And they realize that getting traffic to a web site is as simple as sharing a URL with someone.

One way to get website traffic might be to walk down the street and tell people about your site. Or you could send them a letter. You could wear a sticker with your URL.

Anyway you can get your URL in front of someone is a way to get traffic.

And the black-hatters have discovered that one way is to “link” to your site from theirs… and then have a BOT click on the link to your site so that the Black Hatters URL will show up in your stats program!

(All stats programs will tell you where your visitors came from. In this case, it looks likes visitors are coming from the Black Hatters site… when it’s most likely a fake visit from a computer program.)

Because there are so many webmasters addicted to their stats, people will naturally click the link to see who’s linking to them. And that’s how you find yourself on the black hatters website.

Several of my sites have been targeted by these Mad Black-Hatters lately.

My question is… Is this a clever, innocent way to get traffic? Is it dishonest? Is it wrong?

I think at the least it’s very disingenuous. It’s not a very good way to introduce your business to someone.

But tell me, is this free traffic method too tempting for you? Would you use this technique for your business?

Please respond below, cheers!

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Step 3 of 7 Steps To A Successful Squeeze Page is adding an animated video that starts automatically.

You can create this at SitePal, but you need to write your own audio script.

What should your audio script say? I’ll be testing different strategies in the future, but this script helped balloon the conversion rate (2x-3x higher) and is extremely easy to put together.

Here’s a winning squeeze page audio script in 6 pieces.

Piece 1: Say, “Attention!” or a similar phrase to alert the visitor. This works well for cheap traffic.
Piece 2: Read the headline of your squeeze page. (And maybe the subhead if you have one.)
Piece 3: State the “Reason Why” they should give an email address.
Piece 4: Tease them with information they’ll discover after giving their email address. (This might be simply reading the bullet points of your squeeze page.)
Piece 5: Call To Action: Specifically tell them to enter their email address in to the form now and restate the “Reason Why.”
Piece 6: Tell them what will happen if they don’t. What will they miss out on? What will they be too late for?

And that’s that. You may see an instant increase in squeeze page conversions.

Of course, then you’ll need to send them to a killer sales page. To get one, fill out an application at CopyProductions.com.

At CopyProductions.com you’ll find I can create your squeeze page, thank-you page, sales page and more. If you’re ready to take your business to the next level, fill out an application now.

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