Do Landing Pages & PPC Ads Really Have to Match?

I got stopped while at NAMS4 in Atlanta and asked about coordinating PPC ads with landing pages.  This quick video will give you some good insights on how to do it right.

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Karon Thackston Discusses Targeting Your Audience

I recorded this video about writing to your target audience from the NAMS4 conference in Altanta, GA a few days ago.  It gives some good insight about writing specifically to those you’re trying to persuade.

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Progressive Headlines Guide Customers to the Point of Purchase

Headlines are, without a doubt, one of the most important elements in copywriting.  As has been said countless times before, if you don’t get your visitor’s attention with the headline, the chance of them reading your copy is virtually none.  But headlines (and sub-headlines) play a vital part in the copywriting process for reasons other than capturing attention.

Whether we, as copywriters, like it or not, the fact is most people will not read all the copy word for word.  Headlines can help fill in the blanks in several ways so skimmers still get the gist of the information included in the copy. In the same way that tweets communicate in short bursts, so headlines and s give a summary of your copy.

Headlines Outline the Benefits

Using headlines and subheads that state benefits about your product/service can be a powerful strategy.  Using wireless home networking for example, you might create headlines and subheads that read:

–Work From Anywhere In Your Home

–No More Jumbled Cables Strung Everywhere

–Have Multiple Computers Online At The Same Time

–Make All The Computer Users In Your Home Happy

Even if the customer didn’t read the copy included in between these heads and subheads, they would still be made aware of all the benefits of having a wireless home network.

Headlines Give An Overview

Depending on the type of copy, headlines can help urge your customers to read further.  In fact, in long-form copy, headlines should create their own sub-set of copy.  If you read just the headlines, they should make sense all by themselves.  For example, copy about a new book on how to start your own business might use the following headlines.

New Book Takes You Step-by-Step Through Starting Your Own Business

An introduction would go here as well as copy designed to gain the attention of the reader.

Starting A Business Is Easier Than Ever

Continue with the copy here.

The Little Known Secrets In This Book Will Show You How

More copy here.

See?  As you read through the headlines and subheadlines they make sense even without any copy.  This serves to give an overview of the information to those customers who may not read every word of the copy you’ve written.  If they read just the headlines and subheads, they’ll still understand what you’re offering.

Headlines Can Raise Curiosity

Create “cliff-hangers” with your headlines and only give so much information before stopping.  When you use this and other interest builders, you can encourage customers to read further into your copy just to satisfy their curiosity.  Using natural gardening products as our example, the headlines and subheads often look like this:

–My Roses Are Bursting With Blossoms Since I Stopped Watering Them

–My Prize-Winning Tulips Would Wither Up and Die If It Weren’t for…

–Which Annual Blooms Twice As Big When You Give It A Beer/Shampoo Cocktail?

These statements make you think.  They start the reader wondering so that he/she continues to read on to get the rest of the story.

When creating headlines in your copy, think about how they all work together.  Instead of just plopping bolded words in between paragraphs, create a plan revolving around progressive headlines that can lead your readers to buy.

It starts tomorrow!  The Online Copywriting 101 Telesummit kicks off Wednesday, September 1, 2010.  I’m so excited!  Don’t miss my session on headlines where you’ll get dozens and dozens of ways to create headlines that pull better than ever!  It’s absolutely free… just sign up today for your free pass at http://www.OnlineCopywriting101Class.com.

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Nip and Tuck – 3 Quick Tricks for Writing With Keywords

Have you ever been to one of those sites that has obviously been written to get high search engine rankings?  You know the ones… they have copy that sounds like this:

“When you buy quality silver jewelry from us, you know your quality silver jewelry is of the highest quality because we only sell quality silver jewelry that is top-notch.  No other quality silver jewelry site on the Web offers the selection of quality silver jewelry that we do!”

Want to take a wild guess at what keyphrase they’re targeting?

Copy like this simply doesn’t sound real.  It’s very forced.  When visitors click to your site they’ll be faced with stiff copy that sounds like a robot.  It doesn’t flow… and it doesn’t sell, either.  With a little nip and tuck, you can create copy that appeals to your target audience and ranks high with the engines.

So just how do you begin writing with keywords and still have a nice, flowing sales message?  It’s really easier than you might think.

Here are a couple of strategies I use when writing SEO copy.

Headlines and Subheadlines

These make the ideal place for keywords.  Why?  Because keywords are normally descriptive by nature.  Since headlines describe what the site visitor is about to read, it makes perfect sense to include keywords within them.

Titles

Create a chart, or a list, and give it a keyword-rich title.  Just as with headlines, titles should be descriptive… another perfect keyword/copy match.

Lists

In your chart or list, include keywords in the headers and within the list descriptions.  For example, if your keywords include softball trading pins, employee recognition awards, lapel pins, and lapel pin you could create a list that reads like this:

<Keyword Title> Creative Lapel Pin Uses

<Keyword Headers & Descriptions>

• Baseball and Softball Trading Pins – Lapel pin trading among baseball and softball teams has dramatically grown in popularity… be sure to support your team with custom-created baseball and softball trading pins.
• Employee Recognition Awards – Employees take great pride in wearing lapel pins that show their achievements, and they will treasure employee recognition awards that they can frequently show to others.

See how the list uses keyphrases within the headers and again within the list description itself?

Using keywords in carefully chosen places allows you to have more freedom with your copy itself.  So now, instead of the forced, unappealing copy we read in the first example, you can have something more relaxed like this:

Quality Silver Jewelry Is A Rare Find

If you’ve been looking for quality silver jewelry long, you know that quality is, in fact, a major issue.  Unfortunately, many companies combine low-cost metals with their silver that compromises the quality and the appearance.  That’s a practice we never participate in.

How To Recognize Quality Silver Jewelry

When shopping for the best, look for these tell-tell signs of excellence.

• Quality silver jewelry created of pure silver displays a radiant sheen.
• Touching the surface lets you know it’s quality. Silver jewelry that’s pure will immediately show a fingerprint.
• Breathing on the finish of quality jewelry will produce a fog, while breathing on the finish of poor-quality substitutes will not.

And so on, and so on.

So you see, you can have copy that makes sense, provides solutions for your site visitors, and ranks high with the search engines.  It’s not impossible… it just takes a bit of training and practice.  Before long, you’ll be tucking keywords in all the right places.

(c) 2010 Karon Thackston, All Rights Reserved

Check out my session on SEO Copywriting during the FREE 10-day telesummit at Online Copywriting 101.  Runs Sept. 1 – 10, 2010.  Get full details and your FREE silver membership pass at http://www.OnlineCopywriting101Class.com today.

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How Good is Your Press Release?

I have another excellent guest post for you today from PR pro Shannon Cherry. Did you know that the vast majority of press releases never produce *any* measurable improvement in traffic or rankings? That’s because most are nothing more than a glorified advertisement… not news.  How do you find out if your press release is any good?  Read Shannon’s article below!

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To increase your exposure, nothing works better than a well written and focused press release. Media coverage provides wider visibility than most advertisements, is perceived as credible – unlike most advertising, and of course, media coverage is free publicity!

Of course, the key here are the words ‘well written and focused’. Out of the hundreds press releases issued daily, very few are actually used by media professionals and producers.

Why? From time to time it’s simply a question of available time or space. However, it’s far more common for a press release to fail because the writer doesn’t understand the how to write them.

If you’ve been having difficulty getting results with your media releases, maybe it’s time for a little studying. Here’s a quick quiz to take prior to you dispatch out your next news release.

#1 Have you got news to say?

You’ve got to give news to get news coverage. Business expansion is news. Award or industry-specific certifications are news. Sponsorship of events, changes in senior personnel or the announcement of a corporate position on a specific event or issue: these are news. Human interest stories are feasible, but call for a special kind of method. (More on this later.)

#2 Does your news release do what it’s designed to do?

Every media release should be written with a purpose in mind. A press release without a purpose has no focus and won’t go anywhere(especially not into print).

#3 What’s the hook?

There are essentially two ways to write a media release: News item or feature. Both have their uses, but stay constant all through your press release. Slipping from news-style to feature or vice versa results in an problematic, ineffective release.

In a news style release present the most key facts first and work your way from these facts to the background information. Cover all 5 “W”s of journalism: The who, what, where, when and why. Model a newspaper or wire service to make it read well.

If you’re writing in the feature style, the rules are a little more relaxed. The idea here is to entertain, then inform. Entice the reader in with the details. For a few ideas on how to form this sort of piece, have a look at magazine feature articles and human interest stories from newspapers to see how it’s done. A lighter tone is permissible, even appropriate, here.

#4 Know the proper formatting

It would take too long to go into all of the rules of how to properly format a news release here or discuss the finer points of Associated Press (AP) Style vs. The Chicago Manual of Style, since you can easily look these up for yourself. AP style is the most common, but if your business has its own house style this is fine too; the key is to be consistent.

#5 Are you using attributions correctly?

Attributions (quotes) are useful in news releases for two reasons:

First, there’s nothing better than a quote to put a human face onto your business and these quotes will often make it into the story. Quotes have a psychological effect on the audience which is stronger than you may think.

Second, an attribution allows you to make points or arguments which would otherwise be out of place in a news release. Press releases shouldn’t convey opinions (though there is some wiggle room for this in a feature-style release if you’re skilled enough to pull it off subtly) or make claims about the business or its products (hype).

Media releases may be objective, but thankfully, people rarely are. If there’s anything in your release which expresses an opinion or directly promotes the business, it should only be in the form of an attribution.

#6 Are you telling a story?

Your news release should have an simple to understand, easy to follow narrative. If you can explain briefly what your release is about, no one else will be able to either. Try rewriting it and take another look.

#7 Is it to the point?

Editors are very busy people; you have less than seven seconds to get them interested in your release. Keep it brief: one page or less. This is a rule that shouldn’t be broken. Longer press releases will rarely be read, let alone used. A good rule of thumb is to keep it to around 500 words, maximum and preferably closer to 400. If it’s longer, start editing.

#8 How useful is it to editors?

Journalists are very busy people, often doing more with less. Give them enough information to build a story around without having to call you for more information,  but ensure that you include a way to contact you if they do have any questions.

#9 Did you double or triple check it?

Although typos happen, they look unprofessional and could kill a good release.. Proofread, proofread again and if possible, have someone else look it over as well. Rewrite and edit as needed and look it over once more.

Did you pass the test? Then your release is ready for the world!

Catch Shannon Cherry’s enlightening session on press release writing during Online Copywriting 101′s FREE 10-day telesummit. Mark your calendar for September 4, 2010 so you won’t miss a second of this hour-long session.  Get your FREE pass today at OnlineCopywriting101.com

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Will Your Prospects Take an Oath?

This guest article is from Michel Fortin, Sales Letter Copywriter extraordinaire and presenter of the Sales Letter 2.0: More Than Just Long, Scrolling Copy session during the FREE 10-day copywriting telesummit from my new site Online Copywriting 101.   Welcome to the blog, Michel!

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One problem in copywriting I often see is the fact that the audience is not targeted for the offer. An untargeted, unqualified prospect won’t buy, no matter how good the copy is.

Or at least, they will ask for a refund once they smell the coffee. But that’s not the topic I want to discuss…

It’s the second biggest copywriting problem. Which is the fact that the copy doesn’t speak to the customer at the stage of awareness at which they happen to be.

This is absolutely essential to ensure that the copy is long enough, and strong enough, to appeal to, qualify, educate, and sell the prospect. It’s about connecting with them.

What are these “stages of awareness?” There are four.

I’ve used these before I ever learned about their existence. Mostly unconsciously through researching a target market while writing copy. I know, for example, that Eugene Schwartz talks about this and at great length in his book, “Breakthrough Advertising.”

Schwartz discusses the various stages of awareness and sophistication of a certain market, but I prefer to use an acronym so it is easier to remember and follow.

I call it “OATH.” As in, “Is your prospect ready and willing to take an oath?”

It’s a cool mnemonic to help you remember how aware is your market about the problem, their need for a solution, and of course, your solution specifically. Here’s what I mean.

Depending one where your reader is at, and the level of education, credentialization, and agitation you need to provide (and the length of copy you need to write, to a certain extent), depends very highly on how knowledgeable and aware your market is.

Maybe they’re hurting right now. Maybe they’re not there yet. “Not there yet” means they may be hurting, but do they really know they are hurting, and by how much?

That’s what their awareness level of the problem means. And it’s also how educated they are about the solution — let alone your solution — and how sophisticated they are.

Granted, this is answered to some degree by how targeted your audience is, which is the first problem I mentioned earlier. But the sales copy should flow from, and follow with, that stage of awareness in order to bring them to a successful outcome.

I like to look at it this way: how prepared they are to take an oath, meaning how ready, willing, and able they are to buy, is based on any one of those four stages.

Here’s what “OATH” means…

O — They’re oblivious.

At this stage, they’re unaware about the problem let alone a need for a solution. They don’t know they’re hurting or could be hurting (i.e., that there’s a potential problem they don’t know about and should prevent with your solution).

So in this case, you need to educate them a lot — about the problem or potential problem. You need to bring it to the top of their minds. If you hit them too hard and too fast with the solution and particularly the benefits of the solution, without knowing they have a problem in the first place, you’re only going to confuse or lose them.

Often, this is what happens with copy that’s too short or too presumptive.

Do they really know they’re hurting? Even if they simply have an unmet desire for something, unbeknown to them they’re still hurting at some other level. As my friend and copywriter Craig Perrine once said, “An unmet desire is also a problem to be solved.”

A — They’re apathetic.

They know they have a problem, but they’re indifferent about the solution. Any solution. They simply don’t care for whatever reason. Perhaps the problem is not important enough or urgent enough to them. Perhaps they’re not hurting enough.

So you need to blow up the problem — or the risk of the potential problem, which is a problem in itself. You need to aggravate it. Make it more real, more present, more urgent, more vivid. You need to pour salt into their wounds, so to speak.

More importantly, you need to make them feel the consequences of their inaction. Because good copy doesn’t really induce action. Good copy, in reality, is meant to prevent procrastination — and procrastination is the biggest killer of sales!

This is particularly true with higher stages of awareness, for the more aware they are, then the more their inaction is about procrastination than it is about the lack of desire.

T — They’re thinking.

They know they have a problem and that there is a solution, but they don’t know about your solution. They’re shopping around, considering other offers or just thinking about whether they should be doing something about their problem in the first place.

So at this stage, you don’t need to sell them too much on the problem or the solution. After all, they’re thinking about it. But you do need to sell them on your solution.

What is it? Why is it a good solution? Why is it important to them? What makes it so unique, different, or valuable? What makes your offer so compelling above over all other alternatives, including unrelated ones? With the latter, I mean indirect competitors.

An indirect competitor may be a totally different solution, a different product or service, that soothes the same pain. So you need to build value in your solution, too.

H — They’re hurting.

At this stage, they’re desperate! They know they have a problem and how bad it is, they may know about the various solutions that exist on the market, and they even know about your specific solution. But they haven’t gone ahead for some reason.

Perhaps they don’t know how to go ahead, or why they should go ahead right now. Perhaps they’ve used other solutions unsuccessfully in the past and are afraid.

Their inaction may be they’ve seen other offers but they’re overwhelmed, distrusting, skeptical, or suspicious, or they’ve been burnt by other, substandard solutions or scams.

Think of it this way: if they’re desperate, then clearly they’re already sold. So why haven’t they bought, yet? What do they need to get over the remaining “hump?” What’s stopping them? What objections do they have left or what questions remain to be answered?

So here, you need to increase proof, urgency, and the value of your specific solution. No need for a lot of education here. Just sell them on reasons why on getting your solution and getting it now. Build perceived value, proof, and urgency.

At this stage, procrastination is the culprit. Often, it’s based on fear. Whether it’s the fear of the unknown (they don’t know you from a hole in the wall), the fear of making a bad decision, or the fear of buying — such as security concerns, for example.

You need to allay that fear. To do so, you need to truly understand your customer at a deeper, more intimate level. You need to learn why they haven’t gone ahead yet or what they need to go ahead. And finally, you need to give it to them.

In a nutshell, that’s my OATH formula.

So the bottom line is, by and large your audience may be oblivious, apathetic, thinking, or hurting. Granted, this may not be true all of the time, but if your targeting is done properly, then the vast majority will predominantly fall into one of them.

Knowing this will tell you a lot about not only how much information you need to gather and provide to educate your reader, but what kind of information, and what kind of offer, that will stimulate them and transition them into buying your solution.

And remember, it all starts with your market. Copywriting is more about knowing your audience and helping them to buy, than it is about knowing your product and selling it.

Catch Michel Fortin’s enlightening session where he outlines the pro’s secrets for sales letter copywriting during Online Copywriting 101′s FREE 10-day telesummit. Mark your calendar for September 3, 2010 so you won’t miss a second of this hour-long session.  Get your FREE pass today at OnlineCopywriting101.com

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5 Common Mistakes That Will Kill Your Web Copy

Sometimes learning what not to do is as important as learning what to do.  Copywriting is no exception.  I oftentimes see copy that is well written, but obviously created by an amateur.  How do I know?  One or more of the following five mistakes was made and they killed the copy.

You must plan before you write copy.  Most of these mistakes came about because a newbie put fingers to keyboard and started rambling.  But once you understand why these mistakes are so deadly you can easily avoid them and overcome them before you ever write the first word.

Pull up your site in a browser and follow along.  See if you’ve made any of these mistakes on your site.

#1 – Writing Without Knowing Your Target Audience

This is, without a doubt, the biggest mistake of copywriting and the #1 killer of conversions.  Why?  I’ll answer with a question.

When you write a letter (or email), do you just start writing and decide afterwards who you’re going to send the letter to?  Of course not.  So why, then, do so many people just jump in and start writing website copy without having a clue about who they are writing to?

How can people communicate with their site visitors if they have no idea who they are, what they are looking for, their preferred communication style, what problems they face, how they hope to use the product/service to solve those problems and countless other information?  Truth is, you can’t.

Take knowing your target customers to the extreme.  Find out everything you can about them.  Then combine all that info to create an imaginary person (or imaginary people) who fit the profile of your target audience members.  You can even name them if you want to.  Then – with every sentence – write to that person (or persons).

#2 – Writing Without Knowing the Product/Service

Like it or not, copywriters have to be salespeople.  That means you have to know all the details of the product or service you’re writing about.  How else can you convincingly convey the information to prospects who visit the site?

Ask your client for samples of products, use of the services or access to member areas of a site before you begin writing.  Using or taking part in what your client is offering to his/her visitors will make a huge difference in the quality and persuasiveness of your copy.  Nothing comes across as well as copywriting that has been created from experience.

#3 – Writing About the Company Instead of To the Site Visitor

For the most part – at least in the beginning – your site visitors don’t care about your company.  Rather than hear about how long you’ve been in business and that you’re specialists in this, that or the other thing, customers would rather find out how your product/service can benefit them.

If your home page starts with something like this, you’re in trouble: “ABC Company is the specialist in [insert industry here] with over 20 years experience.  We provide [fill in the blank] with our extensive knowledge and helpful service. Dedicated to providing the highest quality, we guarantee our work with a 100% money-back promise.”

You’re we-ing all over yourself.  The customer has the money.  Don’t you think the copy should at least acknowledge him/her at some point?  Rather than using “we,” “us” and “our” so much, turn it around.

Talk to your site visitors instead of about the company.  Let them know you understand their needs and have answers to their problems.  Don’t ignore them by talking only about yourself.

#4 – Outlining Features Instead of Benefits or End Results

Features are nice, but benefits and end results make the sale because they clearly explain why the customer will be better off after buying your product or using your service. One of the biggest selling factors in copywriting is the ability to tell the customer what he/she can do with a product or service.

Take a tip from the infomercials.  They don’t simply tell you that a rotisserie cooker rotates as it cooks a chicken.  No!  They tell you that this rotisserie cooker can bake a whole, marinated, Italian herb chicken that’s juicy, moist and succulent.  That the seasonings slowly seep into the meat so you get bite after tender bite of flavorful chicken so good you’ll beg for more.  Who cares that the thing has a pointed, metal prong that rotates a chicken while it cooks?  You’re buying it because it can deliver that wonderful whole, marinated, Italian herb chicken!

#5 – Neglecting the Medium

Does it make a difference as to where your copy appears online?  Isn’t all Web copy the same?  The answers are “Yes” and “No.”  Landing pages are not the same as home pages, which are not the same as catalog pages, which are not the same as sales letters, and so on and so on.  Don’t neglect to find out the differences between these and the other types of Web copy.  They all have special considerations that should be studied before you begin writing.

Now you can add these five “don’ts” to your favorite copywriting checklist.  Avoiding these mistakes will give you a better shot at reaching your visitors on their level and converting them into repeat customers.

Catch Karon Thackston’s enlightening session where she outlines the pro’s secrets for copywriting basics and planning during Online Copywriting 101’s FREE 10-day telesummit. Mark your calendar for September 2, 2010 so you won’t miss a second of this hour-long session.  Get your FREE pass today at http://www.OnlineCopywriting101Class.com

(c) 2010 Karon Thackston, All Rights Reserved

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Enticing Your Target Customer: Are You Missing the Mark?

It’s a term that’s used by virtually everyone involved with Internet marketing: target customer. You’ve heard it a million times.  You may even be able to define its meaning.  But, are you actually focusing on this target when you write copy, or are you missing the mark?

It’s a common mistake in copywriting: one I see very often.  People want to push information at a group of readers instead of pulling a single target customer toward them through effective communication.  The difference?  One is all about you, and the other is all about them.

I’ve seen copy that completely ignored the site visitor.  It didn’t make a single mention of the word “you” or “your.”  It was all “we, we, we” and “our, our, our.”  Considering that your target customer has all the money and they are the ones whose business you want to win, I’ll bet you can figure out where the focus should lie.  It’s time to stop “we-ing” all over the place.

A Picture’s Worth a Thousand Words

Before you begin writing copy, take about 1,000 words and create a profile of your target customer. Jot down all the information you know about them.  Don’t guess!  If you’ve never done any target audience research, now’s the time to get started.  After all, how will you be able to write effective and enticing copy to someone you know nothing about?

Male or female?  What is their home life like?  How much money do they make?  Are they the end user, or are they buying on behalf of someone else (a business, an older parent)?  What challenges do they face that your products/services can help them overcome?  What dreams will your products/services help them fulfill?  What results will they see after they’ve used your products/services?

These are just a few of the dozens of questions you can ask about your target customer.  If you’ve never attempted to get this information, try using a Survey Monkey or some other online survey tool to collect details.

Does it Really Make a Difference?

Who would know whether you wrote copy to a group of people or to your particular target audience?  Can understanding who they are, where they’re coming from and what they need really make a difference?  You be the judge.

For the sake of example, we’ll pretend we’re Realtors and our product is a beautiful one-story, brick house on a gorgeous corner lot.  As you know, Realtors have many different segments within the single homebuyer target audience.  We’ll look at three: first-time homebuyers, growing families and retirees.

First-Time Homebuyers – Fresh out of college, these young couples probably have a ton of student-loan debt hanging over their heads.  Excited and anxious at the same time, they have no idea what to expect from all the paperwork and meetings that come when buying a home.  They’ll need guidance.  With no kids and a very limited budget, price is a primary factor: they’ll sacrifice space and amenities for a few dollars less on their mortgage payment.  After all, it’s just their first home… they’ll upgrade in a few years.

Growing Families - With student loans paid down (thanks to several promotions and pay raises) growing families are looking for more room.  They’ve got money to spend and priorities to fill.  With 2.4 children in tow, safety, good schools and short commute times rank high on their wish lists.  Experienced in the home-buying process, they are ready to show off the rewards of their hard work with a newer, bigger and better house.

Retirees – These folks are downsizing.  They’ve raised the kids, put them through college and gotten them out of the house.  As their life focus changes, they no longer want days filled with yard work and housecleaning.  They’ve got fun things to do in their retirement years.  On a fixed income, seniors still have some money to spend, but it doesn’t flow as freely as when they were working.

Can you see the difference?  You wouldn’t use the same language or highlight the same benefits within the copy when writing to growing families as you would when writing to retirees.  Yes, they are all shopping for houses.  Yes, we are selling the same one-story, brick house; but each buyer has their own needs, wants and criteria.  The copy has to be individually crafted to entice everyone on their level.

The same applies to your target audience and its individual segments.  Finding out as much as you can about them will help your copy strike a more personal and emotional chord while – at the same time – positioning your product or service as the perfect solution.

Catch my enlightening session about knowing & writing to your target audience during Online Copywriting 101′s FREE 10-day telesummit. Mark your calendar for September 1, 2010 so you won’t miss a second of this hour-long session.  Get your FREE pass today.

(c) 2010, Karon Thackston, All Rights Reserved

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The Seven-Step Process for Writing Enticing Product Descriptions

If you want a challenge, try writing ecommerce product descriptions.  Within a typical 60 to 70 words, you must concisely convey the benefits and selling points of your product plus include search engine keyphrases that engage your target audience… all while working within the constraints of your content management system (CMS).  How do the pros do it?  We understand that balance and organization are key.

Using this simple, seven-step process will allow you to quickly master the art of ecommerce copywriting. Once you do, you will be able to generate enticing copy that drives sales and boosts search engine positioning.

1. Familiarize Yourself with the Target Audience

Amazingly, most people completely ignore their target customer when writing product descriptions.  However, the site visitor is the key to how the copy is shaped, the tone it takes and which angle is used to communicate the benefits.  For example, let’s look at a box of gourmet chocolates.

If your target audience consists of gourmet chocolate lovers, you’ll want to focus on the distinctiveness of your flavors, the quality of the ingredients or perhaps the luxurious texture.  What if, on the other hand, your target audience consists – in part or in whole – of those seeking gluten-free treats?

It’s not uncommon to find chocolates on the open market that are gluten-free.  However, the added ingredients in gourmet chocolates may cause problems for those with celiac disease.  They are regularly forced to stick with ordinary, plain chocolate candies and bars due to their condition.  Since gluten-free items are the most popular, up-and-coming grocery products, you’ll want to make certain this segment of your gourmet site visitors understands you have something that meets their dietary needs.

Knowing your audience as a whole, and understanding each segment, is imperative to creating ecommerce copy that hits the mark every time.

2.  List the Biggest Benefits of the Product

The steps in this process are progressive.  So, while still keeping your target audience and its needs in mind, make a list of the benefits which are most important to your customers.  You may want to include various segments in your list.

Continuing with the example above, let’s create a mini-list for a boxed collection of international chocolates.

• Gourmet Chocolate Lovers – Distinctive ingredients imported from across the globe.
• Health Conscious – Organic ingredients, premium dark chocolate, high-quality nuts.
• Special Dietary Needs – Gluten-free.  Other collections available that are sugar-free, vegetarian, vegan and kosher.
• All Customers - 100% pure ingredients, no artificial colors, flavors or additives.
• Gift Givers - Attractive, boutique-style gift boxes wrapped in a silk bow.  Gift card included at no additional cost.   Appropriate for both personal and business gifting.

3.  Predict the Future

Good copywriters look past the buying experience toward the future.  After the customer purchases this product, how will his/her life be different and/or better?  What will the specific end result of their purchase be?

In the case of gourmet chocolates, the end result for those purchasing for themselves might be breathing a sigh of satisfaction as these divine confections melt in their mouths.  For gift givers, the end result could be impressing the recipients (whether business or personal) with a truly distinctive collection unlike any they have ever received.

Whatever the end result, it is important to give your site visitors a glimpse into the future so they can see how purchasing from your company will make their lives better.

4.  Know the Limits of Your CMS

Content management systems (CMS) can be frustrating at times. Before you set out to write product copy that’s 150 words long with a catchy headline, you’ll want to verify what can and cannot be accomplished in your system.  Some have limited room in the copy field.  Others force the headline pulling from information you enter into the product specifications.  For example, the headline on each product page would be automatically fed from the title of the product.

Knowing what quirks must be overcome will make the process of writing copy much easier.  A few common areas to check include:

• Maximum word or character count in the product copy field
• Additional fields below the fold (If you run out of space in the product copy field, then you can add a link for “more information” that drops the reader to a space further down the page.)
• Forced information (headlines that are automatically inserted, product copy automatically fed to the category pages, etc.)

5.  Incorporate Search Engine Keyphrases

Depending on your site design and your CMS, your product descriptions could conceivably be hundreds of words long.  Generally speaking, however, you’re most likely looking at around 60–80.  That doesn’t leave much room to incorporate keyphrases.

While longer Web pages benefit from the use of multiple search terms, I recommend sticking to one keyphrase for short product descriptions.  Start with the framework of your page including the title tag, description META tag, file name, page name in the navigational structure, breadcrumb trail, forced page headline and other elements.  Then move on to the content.  Use search phrases in the:

• Headline - If your headline isn’t forced by your CMS, make a point to include your keyphrase provided it doesn’t detract from the message.  It is usually very simple to incorporate a keyphrase into a headline, but – if for some reason it just doesn’t flow – leave it out.
• Product Image Caption – Too many ecommerce sites simply shove “Product #12345″ below graphics.  Instead, underneath the hero shot of your product, enter a short, keyword-rich sentence that briefly describes the item.  This assists your visitors with learning about your product and gives a little nudge to your rankings.
• Product Copy – Even within 60–80 words, you should be able to comfortably work your search term in two or perhaps three times.  Read the text out loud.  If it sounds redundant, take out one instance of your keyphrase.

6.  Write the Copy

It’s time to put all the pieces together.  Look back over the previous five steps.  We have our target customer, benefits, end results and keyphrase.  Combine everything you have to create a compelling product description that will capture lots of clicks.

While there are dozens of ways to write copy for any given product, here is one version of sample copy for our gourmet chocolate product above. Our keyphrase is [gourmet chocolates].

Tour the World with International Gourmet Chocolates

Do a little culinary globetrotting with our collection of gourmet chocolates. Only 100% pure ingredients from across the globe are used. Organic Hawaiian coconut, Australian macadamia nuts and other exceptional treats blend with the richest dark cocoa from West Africa for distinctive gourmet chocolates that truly indulge the senses. This assortment of 16 truffles is gluten-free, elegantly packaged for personal or business gifting, and wrapped with a silk bow.

7.  Tweak, Test & Track

Satisfied?  You shouldn’t be.  There is always room for improvement.  Change a word or two in the headline.  Alter the focus to one particular segment of your audience.  Gradually make small tweaks to your product descriptions and test them against the original version of the copy.  Track your results in order to gain the best conversion ratio possible.  This is an all-too-often skipped step that – when done correctly – frequently brings about tremendous gains.

Once you understand the components of good product copy, it’s easier than you think to put together descriptions that garner more sales. Keep this simple outline handy and you’ll quickly gain speed when writing high-converting ecommerce copy.

Karon Thackston is author of the newest ebook in the Wordtracker Masterclass series: Ecommerce Copywritiing, available now. Get yours today at www.wordtracker.com/ebooks/ecommerce-book and discover the proven strategies for boosting sales and search rankings on ecommerce sites.

(c) 2010, Karon Thackston All Rights Reserved

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