If you’re like most people you probably cursed and felt a strong urge to abandon and start all over again.

Big Mistake.

It’s amazing to me how a few tweaks to a webpage can not just improve conversions… but turn a flatlining piece into a roaring success.

My point?  Don’t give up too soon.

No matter how bad you think your intial piece of copy is, you now have a base to work from.

Quick story…

When Dan Kennedy was called in to improve the performance of a sales letter, he didn’t rewrite or start over… he simply added one letter to the headline…

“Put The Magic Of Music Into Your Life” was the original head.  Can you guess what letter he added?

The letter ‘S’.

“Puts The Magic Of Music Into Your Life” ramped up conversions and boosted sales — all from one additional letter.

(And we’ll get to WHY that made such a difference another time).

So don’t despair… don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater… you may be only one letter from success.

Over the past 12 months I’ve been involved in at least 20 product launches. And truly irresistible offers have been as rare as hen’s teeth.

And when you consider that piecing together a tremendous offer easily ramps up your chances of a sale… you have to wonder why nobody seems to bother.

Is it a case of there’s nothing new out there… all the good product ideas have already been taken… or is it just laziness?

One thing’s for sure, over on Clickbank they’re taking very seriously some of the more — ahem — over the top copy that masks the crappy offer beneath.

And so I predict that The Offer is about to strike back.

Many copywriters would disagree with me but I personally think the copywriter/marketing consultant should be responsible for…

1) Identifying a great offer…

2) Building up a not-so-great offer into something worth at least double the price you’re asking for…

Case in point…

I’m currently working with a client who is charging $197 for 6 pretty nice pdfs on social media.  Now his original copy can be improved.  No doubt about that.  But the catalyst to much higher conversions will be creating a better offer.

So we’re adding interviews with some of the top CEOs and entrepreneurs in the country… a nifty bit of proprietary software… AND a 30 minute phone call with my client (who really knows his stuff).

Suddenly, the offer becomes damn near irresistible.  And we’ve yet more to add.

So look out marketers.  It’s time to go back to the “good old days” of crafting offers to die for.

It may be that the days of relying on fancy-pants copy alone are numbered.

Peter Buck -- Copywriting Guru?

Those three bands were tailor made for an adolescence spent in Nowheresville, Suburbia.

And I always remember an interview with R.E.M.’s guitarist Peter Buck.  I have no idea why this sticks in mind.  But over the past few months its become increasingly relevant to me and my work.

The exact quote I can’t find it anywhere online, but Buck reveals how the band spent 7 albums becoming more complicated  melodically.

They added more and more ‘layers’ and complexity because they figured it would improve the music.

But when it came time to record ‘Automatic For The People’ Buck realized the key was to strip everything back and simplify.

That made the music connect more directly with the audience.

And anybody who’s heard Everybody Hurts would probably agree it’s their most direct and affecting song.

So what’s my point?

Recently, I’ve seen way too much copy where the copywriter is drawing attention to himself.

Fancy metaphors, analogies and ‘word pictures’ get used so often they suffocate the copy and lose their power.

So if I ever find myself getting too “flowery” with my copy…  starting to fantasize I’m more novelist than copywriter…  I strip back to the essentials.

Let the copy breathe and it resonates that much better.

Thanks Peter for writing Man On The Moon and giving me a virtual kick up the behind in my everyday writing

(In case you’ve been on Mars, ClickBank is the no.1 affiliate network for digital goods.  And a great place to spot what’s working NOW in the marketplace.)

And what I saw was pretty… ugly.

Ok, not all bad.  In fact, there are some powerful tactics at play if you look closer than the screaming hype. We’ll get to those in the next blog post.

But right now, there’s a huge chasm between good quality products and trash software with excessively loud sales pages.

Why?  Well a client of mine put it best this week…

“You can’t sell candy when everyone else is selling crack.”

This is a guy with years of experience and millions of dollars in the bank who can’t get his product noticed because the top 10 in CB is filled up with (what I like to call) ‘push button bullsh*t’.

But just last week CB appeared to have woken up from their cash-induced slumber and declared war on over-the-top sales letters.

First a product claiming it had the secret to free Facebook ads was chopped.

And then, one of my favorite sales pages of the year (if you don’t take it seriously), Stripped Down Profits was also axed.

Side Note — anybody buying the latter in the hope that a stripper would give them financial aid deserved everything they got.

So what does this all mean?

Have ClickBank suddenly decided they better start actually keeping an eye on what’s happening in their network?

Or are they merely making an example of a couple of folks to keep the heat from the FTC at bay?

Time will tell.

Over the past few years, I’ve devoured hundreds of books, watched dozens of seminars, listened to countless audios and just drowned myself in the teachings of copywriters past and present.

And although I’ve received some incredible insights from the copy goorooz of the world as well as my more underground but no less talented colleagues, no one book has really hit home as much as…

Made To Stick.

Made To Stick by Chip and Dan Heath

This is now my official copywriting bible.

It deals with how to make your communications in print, audio, in person or on video more — yep — sticky.

And not only does it reveal the 5 key things any message must have to be memorable, it also talks about something we copywriters need to be mindful of…

The Curse Of Knowledge

I saw an example of this happening in a recent Warrior forum post.

Sometimes you can be so deep into your subject or market you forget what it’s like to be fresh on the scene.

Case in point — everyone in that forum post has their marketing goggles on trying to figure out why such a hypey, get-rich-quick style sales letter is working.

And, although the letter may be ethically questionable, it works because it taps perfectly into the mind-set of someone who desperately wants to believe in the “autopilot money” dream.

But Made To Stick deals with so much more than just that idea. It’s filled with anecdotes, real life examples and fascinating stranger-than-fiction tales.

If you want your messages or sales copy to stick like glue… memorize this book.

That step is your research. Getting clear on:

• Your prospect: how can you sell her if you don’t know who she is and how she thinks?
• Your product: how can you sell it if you don’t know how it changes her life?
• And your market: If you don’t know why your offer is unique, how will you rise above the clutter of your competition so your prospect buys from you RIGHT NOW?

For this short post, I’m going to focus on your prospect and how a simple tweak to your thought process can change your results dramatically. Then I’m going to share a personal example of how this tweak took my business to new incredible heights.

The Two Personas of Your Customer

Step 1: Is

This tweak is a two step process. First, you need to get clear on who your prospect is. This is the common strategy you read in most copywriting books (we’ll take it 1 step further). You need to know:

• The Big Three: Her top fears, biggest frustrations, and deepest desires
• Her demographics: her appearance, family life, occupation, and everything else relevant to forming a complete image of her in your mind
• Her emotional hot buttons you can ramp up her desires to achieve salvation (and buy)
• And the language and tone she uses to talk about her problem

The end goal for thinking over these points is to get explicitly clear on exactly who your prospect is… so you know exactly what to say (and how to say it) to exercise complete persuasive control over her.

Many successful business are built on this step alone. Because so many marketers skimp their research, taking this seriously will give you massive advantages over your competitors.

But don’t stop there. Not if you really want to take your sales to the next level…

Step 2: Wants to Be

Because your prospect has a second persona, one that she protects and likely only exists in her mind… and that’s who she aspires to be.

Your prospect isn’t going to buy your product to keep life as it is. No matter what you’re offering, she’s going to buy it to take her life to the next level of ease, joy, or prosperity.

Dudes buy sports cars to become James Bond. Moms buy cook books to become Martha Stewart or dinner party aficionados. You buy marketing products to become the Top Gun in your niche. I bought spinning class membership to become Lance Armstrong.

This aspirational persona is where you can exercise terrifying amounts of persuasion, because it shows you her end goal. It’s much, much deeper than this outer level of who she is.

For example, ask your friends about their life’s current state. A lot of times, their eyes glaze over as they recount what’s happening. But, talk to them about what they WANT to do, and notice the change. There’s much more buzz, hope, and energy. This is the emotional level you will tap by communicating to your prospect on her aspirational level.

Once you know where she wants to go, you know where you need to take her. All you must do then is show how your product takes her there.

So once you’ve completed Step 1 and know who your product is, you can move to step 2 to learn who she wants to be. Here’s how:

First, pull out your prospect research notes and read them slowly. Allow this persona to overtake and envelope your mind. Completely assume her identity, so you feel the same hopes, dreams, and fears as she does.

Now, in the mindset of your prospect, imagine where she wants to go. How does she want to feel? Focus your thinking on the kinds of values and experiences she desires. What does she dream her life looking like?

With this understanding, you can now reflect these desires back at her. Show her how you are already living the life of her dreams.

What type of environment does she want to exist in? Does she imagine life on the beach? In an immaculate house? Out at the bar surrounded by attractive friends? Film your videos in that environment.

• How does she want to be spoken to? Direct and aggressive? Calm and collected? Use that language and tone.
• What kind of experiences does she wish she was having? Show her you’re already having them.
• What lifestyle does she imagine? Show her how you’re living it.
• And show her how your product helped you get there… and can help her get there, too.

By speaking to and reflecting these desired feelings, values, and experiences back at her, you’re validating them. You’ll connect with her on a far deeper, emotional, and identity level than any of your competitors…

• You’re more likeable and more interesting to follow… so you keep her attention easier. She’ll read not only more of your messages, but larger portions of each message, too.
• You’re easier to trust because she sees her own identity reflected in you… so you face far less skepticism in anything you say.
• And you’re much easier to buy from because you represent the exact person she wants to become… so you experience far more (and far easier) sales growth.

The results come almost like magic, but it’s not magical at all. It’s a simple process of learning your prospect’s desired emotional destination, and showing how you can get her there.

An Illustrative (and Real) Story to Finish up

In August 2007 I launched my first product, a niche hookah pipe designed for the travel and party lifestyle.

We knew we had a great product (based on real feedback)… we knew exactly who would benefit from it… and we even bucked industry trend by adding a guarantee to make our offer unique.

I approached the release with high hopes.

And they were all dashed. Every single hope, crushed. Nary a sale came in that day.

Fast forward to our 2nd hookah model release in December 2009.

By this time, we know much more about WHY our customers were buying and the hopes this product embodied for them. We knew the experiences and lifestyle our prospect wished to achieve.

So in that sales letter, I reflected all these dreams back at my prospect. I showed her how this simple device made me the center of countless parties and social events, and how owning it brought me countless crazy travel adventures… the exact experiences she wanted for herself.

In essence, I showed her how owning this product let me live the life she dreamed about.

And that launch sold out in less than 14 hours, converting a massive 18% of our entire email list… and the product continues to bring reliable, steady sales to this day.

The copy isn’t extraordinary. No elaborate launch sequence. No affiliates, crazy pop ups, or up/down/cross sells.

Just a simple offer that showed why this new hookah was key to getting her where she wanted to go. I took the time to get clear on my prospect’s aspirations, and then validated and spoke to her on that level.

If you follow this simple 2-step process, chances are the same extraordinary results will happen to you, too.

Mike Williams is an entrepreneur and former freelance copywriter in Jersey City, New Jersey who runs an online hookah store and teaches an online copywriting course.

Not quite.

A few of my copywriting compadres are quaking in their boots. The reason?

Video is all the rage right now.

Sales letters with nothing but a few powerpoint slides and a voiceover are (in some cases) out-pulling traditional sales letters.

So does this mean the end of the “regular” sales letter?

Not likely. But I do think we’re seeing the evolution of selling online.

Sure, plain text sales letters which run on for 60+ pages can seem a little tiresome nowadays. But only if the copy is weak.

So why are some videos… with pretty flimsy copy… managing to out-perform the tried and trusted sales letter?

Novelty for one thing.

But it won’t be long before the market (especially in the internet marketing niche) become immune to the fresh, new appearance of video sales letters… just as it did with long-form sales letters.

And when that happens there’s only one thing that will save your sales.

Great copy.

It’s always been this way. Whether you’re communicating with a letter, an email, an Adwords ad, audio or video. It’s all copy.

So fear not my copywriting brothers… the skill to sell in print (or webpage, video or audio) will always be needed.

But here are two reasons why I think video sales letters are here to stay, even after the inital novelty has died down.

1) The Text/Audio Killer Combo

Back when I worked in shopping TV, the time the phones would ring the most were when we put up a “full screen graphic.

Namely, a slide detailing the features of the product.

There’s something about the text/audio combination that is utterly compelling. I guess it’s how we’re taught at school.

Now just imagine if those shopping channels knew how to write great bullets.

Then they’d be really cooking…

2) You Control The Sale

You and I both know… when a prospect hits a long-form sales letter, before long they’re scrolling down to the price.

With a video sales letter you can’t do that.

You can delay your prospect viewing the price until they’re fully jazzed and ready to buy.

It means your sales message has time to build and work the way you want it to.

For a copywriter this is heaven. For a product owner it means more conversions.

Let’s face it…

The sales letter video style is here to stay. It’s going to be fun watching things evolve further…

There I was, banging my head against the keyboard in frustration when an inspirational pdf  appeared out of the blue.

My latest project was to write the copy for some pop-up software. Yeah you know, the same stuff that annoyed the heck out of you when you arrived on this blog.

Now using it is one thing, selling it… quite another.

How in the heck do you make pop-up software sound exciting, thrilling even?

Well at first I figured you can’t… it’s all about the testimonials, features and benefits. But there’s no way you can make pop-up software sound compelling, right?

Turns out I was wrong.

My inspiration for turning a simple pop-up ad into a no-holds-barred, rip-roaring rampage of sales copy came in the form of a Skype message.

A certain “underground” copy living legend (who worked alongside Jay Abraham don’t you know) sent me an ad for sh*ts and giggles.

As I read it, the hairs on the back of my neck stood to attention. I got that feeling of nervous excitement in my chest whenever I’m transported by a piece of writing (or is that just me?)

The ad painted gorgeous images in my mind, whipped up woozy feelings of elation in my body.

The subject of this masterly piece of prose? A cordless phone.

The ad was by Drew Kaplan, a true artist in the field. And since I don’t have the rights I daren’t reprint the ad here so you’ll just have to imagine how incredible the writing is.

Suffice to say when I saw what was possible with a cordless phone ad… writing about pop-up software became a walk in the park.

Thanks Drew, you just got me an awesome testimonial.

UPDATE: Just found the ad here —> Message Missile Unleashed

It’s probably… along with, say, weight loss and dating… the most profitable niche in the world.

At least, there’s a ton of money floating around and folks happily snap up new releases even if they already have a bulging hard drive or overflowing bookshelves of unread courses.

(We’ll get into the “how” and “why” of that in another post. I’m not in the mood for grim insights into human nature today…)

But because I work in this field and because it’s so damn competitive…

Every single sales letter has to be polished to perfection, tweaked to within an inch of its cash-pulling life and… crucially… stand out from all the rest.

So I work extra hard to make sure my work feels fresh and new while still contained within proven, time-tested copywriting techniques.

But you know, sometimes you just have to come out with a “Who Else…” style headline or an “If… then” lead-in. (Trust me these are copy cliches of the highest order).

Because, although I believe writing copy is a mixture of art and science, sometimes you have to dispense with the fancy-pants artistic self-indulgence and stick with what’s proven.

Gary Halbert said it best…

I think it was his last ever seminar where he’s creating a letter live in front of the audience.

His pre-head is something like “Who else wants to slash strokes from their golf game in 24 hours flat…?”

So he asks the audience (and I’m paraphrasing here)… “anyone know why I used ‘who else’ in my pre-head?”

A few shout out… “because it gives the impression others have tried it…”

And… “it makes it more inclusive” there’s a lot of discussion and all the comments are correct.

But Gary replies…

“I used it because it’s been proven to work in 40 years of copywriting.”

He goes on to point out if those two words are proven and time-tested why come up with something new and risky?

Like the man says…

“Business is tricky enough as it is…”

On the phone with a couple of well-respected marketers last night and we were talking… squeeze pages.