19 secrets to making your ad copy more effective

Ad copy, sales copy, sales letter, copywriting or whatever you want to call it – the goal is the same for every Internet marketing business.

Get the traffic and convert the hits into cash. And how do you do just that? With an effective sales letter.

Let's find out how to make your sales letter more effective.

1. Create a "teeth-pulling" headline. We live in a headline society. Ignore this fact, and you lose. With the overload of information, people don't have the time to stop at every webpage and read it. Instead, they use the headlines to direct their attention. If your headline doesn't pull them to your sales letter, they may just pass by your information and off they go to your competitor.

In your headline, do something for the reader. Tell them how to solve a problem, ask them a question that will peak their interest, give them what they want, pull them by their "teeth" and tell them to sit down and read. Instead of saying: "Increase Your Profits," say something like: "How to increase your profits for a whole 50% in the next month," or "How would you like to see your profits increase for a whole 50% in the following month?"

2. Include a picture of yourself in your sales copy. That will show people that you're not hiding behind your website and you're not afraid to back up your claims.

3. Introduce yourself before you start the body of your sales letter. That way when you make a statement with an "I" people won't be scratching their heads saying: "Who in the world is this person telling me all this stuff?"

4. Make your ad copy an article or a report of some sort. Educate them or inform them of something related to the product you're selling. Majority of the people don't go online to spend money but to read free information. When your ad copy sounds like an article, they will not ignore it. That's because they will not get the feeling that you're trying to sell them something. At least not at the beginning. Your job will then be to slowly lead them to your sales link.

5. Be focused and talk to only one person with your sales letter. You and I. Just like when having a conversation. Have you noticed that I'm only talking to you right now and not a group of people?

6. Make sure that the ad copy is "YOU" oriented and not full of "I's, me's, my's." Unfortunately, your potential customer has absolutely no interest in you nor your business or service. They don't care for you. Instead, he or she is preoccupied entirely with his or her own needs, wants, wishes, interests and so on. Concentrate on telling them what's in it for them and not you.

7. No copy is long copy. It could only get boring. You visitor will read until he or she gets bored. So, don't worry about the length of your ad copy. Keep it interesting at all times. It helps to ask someone to read it for you. How do you make it interesting? As long as you're greatly focused on your potential customer, they will be reading.

8. Have fun with the paragraphs. Don't write massive letters with no breaks in between. Make one paragraph with one sentence, next one with 2 or 3 and so on. And keep the sentences short and to the point. Having massive paragraphs with run-on sentences discourages people from reading.

9. Make the sales copy "scanable." When people arrive at your page they usually scroll down and back up before they start reading. Along this "scanning" process, they will stop at everything that gets their attention. How do you make a page scanable?

Do anything that will break the monotony. Have various different sub-headlines indicating what each section in your ad copy is all about. Highlight certain lines, make them bold, include bullet points, and so on.

10. Make your sales copy friendly. How do you do that? Don't forget what separates amateur from a professional. You don't have to be perfect, but there's no reason for you to be sloppy either. What kind of a feeling do you get when you see clutter and how do you feel when you see a well organized page?

Provide a lot of white space. A white background with black lettering would be sufficient. Organize your page, align your text and images so when your visitor arrives, he or she feels comfortable and has a good feeling about it.

11. The only job of your sales copy is to sell and not impress. Keeping it as simple as possible will do you more good than trying to impress them with your design. Anything that you include in your sales letter and adds absolutely no value to the sales process, will only distract your visitors and break their concentration. You lost the sale.

12. People buy benefits. Your job with the ad copy is to tell your visitors what benefits they will get when they buy your product. More benefits, better the chances to make the sale. Organize the benefits so they're easily noticeable. So, if your visitors decide to just scan your page and not read it, they will at least see the benefits and maybe stop to read them.

13. Include a guarantee statement. That will increase the integrity. People will trust you more when you tell them that you guarantee your product, and that will deliver the benefits - or their money back.

14. Don't mention the price until the last quarter of your letter. And even then, make it sound that it will be their investment and not an expense. Tell them what they're investing in – the benefits - when they purchase your product.

15. Try to include some bonuses with the purchase and place them right after you talk about the price. That way, people will see that they're getting even more value with the purchase and it will also distract them from the negative thoughts they may have after seeing the price.

16. Include testimonials all throughout the letter. How do you get testimonials before you make a single sale? Simply, give your product for free to a certain number of people and have them tell you how they feel about it. If they have their own website, tell them that you will include their website in your sales letter if they write you a nice testimonial. The testimonials are good for people who cannot make up their mind whether to buy your product or not. When they see what other people are saying, they will have more belief.

17. Make a call for action. This is a "must." Tell them what you want them to do. "Click here to buy" , "Download the book here" , "Click here to download the software" , "Click here for an instant download" , and so on.

18. Include a PS at the very bottom. Almost everyone reads the PS statements. In your one, two, three, or however many PS statements you want to add, make your last call for action by either promising something or telling them that your offer may expire soon. That's your last chance to get them to buy your product. So, be creative with your PS statements.

19. Test everything. Make few versions of your ad copy, put them on a separate page and gather the results from each. Test different headlines, organize it differently, write a few versions of the body of your ad copy, etc. Whichever gives you the best results - keep it, and dump the others.