Carol Bentley

I am often asked what reference books I have on my office shelf, which ones I refer to frequently and what I would recommend to others.

Now - I have a confession to make - I absolutely love books; I get great pleasure out of exploring marketing books, copywriting books (I guess you expected that, didn’t you?) and sales or business development-related books… in fact anything that sparks an idea or gives me an insight I can use for my clients’ or my own promotions.

And I also enjoy fiction - I’m an avid fan of science fiction, historical novels and fantasy. Anything that gets the imagination going because it stretches my mind and helps me to be more creative when I’m writing.

I’ve just collated a list of the main reference books that are - literally - at my finger tips when I’m working. And I thought I’d share these with you. You’ll notice that I’ve included my first book in the list, which may seem a bit strange - but I constantly use it to refer to my favourite copywriting checklists at the back.

I’ve included the ISBN-13 code for each publication so you can find the books at your local bookstore or at an online book site, such as Amazon.

Here’s my list of Books Worth Reading

Enjoy.

~ Carol Bentley

We know words have power. What we write… how we write it can deliver a strong message and have a stunning effect on our target audience or it can be like a damp squib and fizzle out… leaving them cold.

I was reminded of this by a newsletter I received last week from Guillermo Rubio of AWAI. He described an article in which a Mother had decided she didn’t want her daughter to hear the word ‘brainstorm’ because of the word’s violent connotations. Instead she insisted on using the term ‘thought shower’.

Somehow I don’t think that’s going to get her daughter fired up enough to generate many excitingly creative ideas.

Guillermo went on to say using emotionally charged words is more likely to connect with our reader; maybe jolt him out of complacency or inaction. And sometimes that is what we need to do - for our reader’s benefit.

Of course - this is where our British Reserve can stultify our message if we are not careful… we don’t want to alarm people but at the same time we owe it to our prospects, as well as ourselves, to break through the mundane and write with excitement and a passion that generates an emotional response. Remember - it’s our emotions that make us buy, then we use logic to justify that decision.

Guillermo suggested alternatives to some of the words you might find in your sales copy…

Replace Drop with Plummet, Crash, Crater or Nose-Dive

Or how about Shock instead of Surprise or maybe Slice instead of Lower or Reduce?

Scan your sales message. Are you using vibrant words - especially verbs - to trigger emotions, paint a vivid picture and hopefully, catapult your reader into action?

Check your thesaurus, is there a more inspiring word you can use to explode your message into your prospect’s mind?

I’ve added to the suggestions Guillermo offered. Grab this PDF now - feast your eyes on the alternatives for some commonly used ‘damp-squib’ words and energise your sales letter into a compelling missive.

~ Carol Bentley

P.S. You’re welcome to pass the list onto other sales letter writers.

I received an email linking to an interesting article about segmenting your contact database and resurrecting early enquirers.

It is specifically talking about email marketing, but the principle applies equally to an offline database of people your business has dealt with.

The article (first of a series) describes how to interact more effectively with different groups of people by simply distinguishing between those who are more responsive and, for those who aren’t, how long it is since they first had information from you. The second article in the series goes on to give examples (both good and bad) of how to resurrect those original enquirers or, alternatively clean out your database. Check out email segmentation framework and the other email segmentation articles.

So is it worth doing this with your offline database? It could be, so here are a few points to consider:

1. Remember the ‘Recency, frequency’ rule. People who have purchased from you recently or who buy from you on a fairly regular basis are more likely to respond to any offers you make. Of course there’s a higher chance of this happening if you’ve kept in touch and they are used to getting your letters.

2. Keeping your database tidy reduces your mailing costs. Why continue to send expensive, printed packages to people who are no longer interested, or are not around for whatever reason?

3. Tidying your database maintains your professional image. If some of your addresses are rather old then the postcode you have may be out of date. Postcodes do change. Having an incorrect postcode rather shouts out that you have not been in touch for some time and raises the chances of your letter being discarded.

4. If you are targeting consumers (rather than business people) you want to avoid any embarrassment, upset and complaints you might receive if the person you write to has moved or is deceased.

Let’s look at tidying up your database:

If you have a mailing house you use for sending your mailshots out they can do this for you, at a cost obviously. But if your customer list is a pretty old one the savings you make on your mailings may justify that expenditure.

If you don’t have access to a mailing house you can do it yourself (or talk to Phil at Direct Mail Service if you are in the UK ). And of course, there’s an expensive DIY way and a more cost effective DIY way.

The expensive DIY way…

Engage a call centre - or set a few days aside for you or your staff - to call the people on your list and check their details. The advantage of doing it this way when your target audience is businesses is you can check if the person you’ve got as your contact is still employed there. However, if you are in the UK be careful. If the company has registered on the Corporate Telephone Preference Service you cannot make unsolicited calls. (Check out Corporate Telephone Preference Service and Guidance for Electronic Marketing (which includes telephone, fax and email)).

It’s even more difficult to do this type of checking with consumers because they are more likely to have registered with the TPS (telephone preference service) to avoid tele-sales phone calls. Don’t think because they bought something from you six months ago you can just call them up out of the blue. You can’t.

And if you do…. you risk £5,000 fine per unsolicited call and a possible jail sentence of up to 6 months for company Directors!

A better way, perhaps?

The easiest way is to let someone else do the work. Alternatively you can use the Royal Mail clean-up services on your database.

However, your database must be structured in a format that the Royal Mail service can use for comparison. So for example, if you’ve got your contact names and addresses laid out as labels in a Word document then you won’t be able to do a direct clean up (and neither would a mailing house).

Royal Mail give examples of why you should clean up your database in Royal Mail List Cleaner. The figures they give for improved response look very attractive, but bear in mind your results will depend upon how good your offer is, how persuasive your letter is and whether your reader is interested.

You can get a free audit on your database to check how accurate it is and then decide if it does need cleaning up. Incidentally the clean up service does not check contact names at businesses.

Breathing life into your list

Once you’ve cleaned up your database you can start resurrecting your older customers.

Work your list backwards. Contact a batch at a time and write to your more recent purchasers first. You’re likely to get a better response if they remember you, even if it was a little while ago that they bought.

When you write - if your database structure allows you to pull the information out - remind your reader of what and when they last bought from you. If you happen to have a note of any feedback they made at the time, you can mention that too to remind them it was a good experience - it was, wasn’t it?

As you reach your older contact records the response rate will probably drop steeply. And at some stage you have to decide that the ROI (return on investment) is no longer justified. In which case simply remove those older contacts from your database and promise yourself to keep the communication lines open more frequently with your existing and new prospects and customers.

~ Carol Bentley

For many the 13th is not regarded as an auspicious day - especially if it happens to fall on a Friday. But this is Monday and a day to celebrate three times.

Why?

First: October 13th is the official release date for the published version of my new book ‘Beat The Recession: Proven Marketing Tactics’ . I’ve checked over the book-proof and the print orders go in later today, which means we are on target to deliver before the end of October as I promised.

If you would like a signed, first-edition copy of the book it’s not too late. Simply visit beat the recession and reserve yours. You get the digital version immediately as a complimentary gift for ordering.

Second: Today is the deadline for applications for the sales copy review. If you are subscribed to this blog you got a private message from me last week inviting you to benefit from an expert review of your sales message: letter; web landing page; advertorial… whatever you want help with, at less than 10% of my normal professional fees.

As I write this post there are a few spots lurking, so you could pick yours up… provided you act today. If you can’t find the original invitation (the subject line was [Copywriting4b2b] private message I promised) pop a message over to me and I’ll send you the URL for this extremely generous offer.

Third: This one is more personal… today is my 18th Wedding Anniversary celebrated by gifts of porcelain, apparently.

I think a better way to celebrate is to share insights on how to boost business results - which is what this blog is all about.

Will you help me celebrate?

Click on the comments link below and share your experiences of what has - and what hasn’t - worked for you. Reading other’s experiences and telling people ours helps all our businesses gain some extra strength. So why not ‘click and tell’ now?

~ Carol Bentley

There was a knock on my door. And my PA popped her head around and said. . .

“We’ve just had a delivery from DHL”

“Oh yeah, I said” feeling quietly excited.

She handed me the plain, brown cardboard package - and I quickly tore it open. Yes!!

It was what I was expecting… the first printed copy of my new book; the one you helped me to write by following this blog.

It’s 2.5 times thicker than my previous book so it’s going to take some time to go through it.

And that’s what I’ll be doing this weekend… proof-reading and checking it over - once I’ve calmed down… I know, I know it’s probably very silly to get so fired up but I can’t help it when I think of how many people could find the marketing lifeline for their business in its pages…

Then - provided it looks OK, and I’m pretty confident it will be - I’ll be placing the first edition orders for the people who pre-ordered their signed copy and got the digital version free.

It’s not too late

to be part of that elite band… get your request for a copy in before I place the print order on Monday 13th - afternoon (i.e. after 2p.m.) and you too can get a signed, first edition - plus you get the digital version immediately.

Simply pop over to Beat The Recession book page

Have a good weekend… it’s a triple-celebration on Monday speak to you then.

~ Carol Bentley

P.S. If you are a subscriber to this blog, did you get the private message I sent you on Wednesday? There’s only a few left.

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If your marketing is already bringing in more business than you know what to do with; if the recession is like water off a duck’s back to you… then this is not for you.

But if you want to be sure your sales message magnetically grabs your reader’s attention with the tenacity of a Staffordshire bull terrier and you need help to do that. . . then look out tomorrow for your important, time-sensitive message.

It will be an email message with a direct link to the offer page and will only be sent to people who subscribe to this blog or one of my other private lists. That’s because there are only 13 spots in this valuable opportunity so, to be fair, I’m only making it available to my loyal readers.

Look out for your message, which will go out mid-afternoon (UK) time.

~ Carol Bentley

You have probably read before that I believe one of the most effective marketing tactics, to demonstrate your expertise, is to publish a book.

It goes without saying - or at least it should - the content must be interesting, relevant and informative for the target audience. But before the book is even opened (or purchased) it is like any marketing material - it has to attract attention and, like a letter, get opened.

That’s the crucial job your book cover does. And the importance of the design as well as the book title cannot be underestimated.

Finding a talented designer who understands that and produces quality creative work can be difficult… and expensive. So I’d like to share with you how I found the perfect designer for my new book.

You may have noticed the book at the top right of this blog. I wanted a design that would have global appeal and would look good in the Amazon listings. That’s part of the specification I gave when I posted my request for a book cover design at Design Outpost.

Need A Designer?

If you are about to publish a book and have not yet got your cover artwork created then I recommend going to Design Outpost.

The website runs a ‘competition’ for your job. When you post a design request any designer can offer their creative ideas. You choose which designer’s examples you like best and then you liaise with your chosen designer to complete the final design to your satisfaction.

Finding your designer this way means you see different artistic styles and approaches as well as getting a wealth of creative ideas for your project. Plus it is a very inexpensive way of getting your artwork completed very quickly - my design took 5 working days from when I posted my request to finalising the artwork and receiving the files ready for my printer.

Here’s the completed artwork for the full cover:

You can use Design Outpost for other design work - not just book covers. Take a look, check some of the designs supplied - you can view the public posts in the Project Forums (there is a private clients section if your design work is confidential and/or sensitive).

I’ll let you know when the first printed book with this newly designed cover arrives.

~ Carol Bentley

P.S. The links above are affiliate links but if you’d prefer not to use those the direct URL is www.designoutpost.com

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Earlier this year I gave away digital copies of my first book and one reader, who was puzzled about why I was doing this and why I give away so many copywriting and marketing insights on this blog, sent in a question.

The answer I gave him then probably applies even more now when we are looking for marketing advantages over our competitors.

Here’s his question..

Dear Carol

I am interested to know why you are providing free information to businesses on how to write promotional material instead of promoting your own services as a copywriter?

Surely, if your book is as good as you say it is -you are going to do yourself out of a job!

I’m not being facetious, I’m really curious - this is a genuine enquiry, and I would really be pleased to hear from you.

Should I, for example, market my chef-recruitment business in the same way?

With kind regards
Alex

and here’s my answer…

Dear Alex,

You have made a very good point in your question and on the face of it my approach may seem a bit odd to you. But, there is ‘method in my madness’

Without going into an ‘out and out’ lecture, I’ll give you a brief inside look at what I’m doing.

I have two target markets:

1) The smaller business who needs to have effective sales letters but cannot afford to pay for a good copywriter.

2) The larger business who has the same requirement but has a budget for outsourcing their copywriting requirements.

Let’s look at the first market…

These people are hungry for knowledge; anything that helps them get that sale is welcome. By teaching them copywriting techniques it gets them started, even helps them to get results - as I’m frequently told - and they come to trust my expertise, experience and knowledge. And, consequently look for more products and services from me.

As I develop and release more material I have a hungry market ready to invest in their ‘education’ in copywriting and marketing skills by buying these products.

In addition when these businesses grow to a larger size and it’s no longer practical for them to write their own material (or they just don’t want to) they already know the best person to approach to provide that professional service for them.

In the second market - these people do not do the writing themselves.

They are always on the look out for professional copywriters who know how to create direct response sales letters and can get results for them. They already understand the power of direct response copywriting.

My book clearly demonstrates my expertise in this area and has brought lucrative clients I would never have found without it. If I had published a book that didn’t help ordinary business people get the results they want, it would not make the right impression on these prospective private clients and they would not have approached me.

As regards your recruitment business, the answer is “No and Yes”.

By that I mean, No - you can’t give your services away and your prospective clients wouldn’t expect you to. In fact they would probably be extremely suspicious if you offered to find an ideal chef without asking for payment.

And Yes - you can give information that is helpful to both your clients and your applicants (in fact you’re already doing that on your website by advising your applicants how to create a good CV and how to prepare for an interview).

You could create a ‘Recruiting the Ideal Chef Guide’ for your prospective clients, describing selection guidelines to help them find the right chef. Or you could offer a report ‘10 Things You Should Ask Before Engaging a Chef Recruitment Agency’.

You are still giving information away that demonstrates your expertise and attracts clients and applicants to you.

And Alex’s response to that…

Dear Carol

Thank you for answering my questions so promptly, I appreciate that very much.

I now understand your approach and can see how well targeted your own marketing is. I also realize there’s more subtlety to the art of marketing than I knew.

Your idea for me to offer free advice guides is something I’m certainly going to consider. This sort of thing is obviously working wonders for you!

Many thanks and all the best

Alex

Gifting useful material to your customers doesn’t mean you give away the main service or product you supply… for example I don’t give away my expensive copywriting services.

And, tied in with that, rewarding your customers (and regular readers) with special offers - either before general release or at a price not generally available - creates a greater sense of trust and loyalty.

And next week I’m planning to give something I believe will prove to be a timely and valuable offer for you. But you only get the offer if you are a subscriber to this blog or are on one of my other subscriber lists.

~ Carol Bentley

I think Kenny B describes my new book rather well, so here it is in his words. . .

Hey Guys and Gals

It’s Kenny B here with some fantastic news… our copywriting friend Carol Bentley has just distilled a year of her blog posts into a new book and tell you what…it’s awesome.

All that precious info in one handy volume… got a copywriting/marketing problem, need a solution to help your business beat the recession…

Then pick up a copy right away… it’s a steal.

£19 to recession proof your business… no more hours of hunting the web for answers or weeks searching all the possible keyword combinations on Google to find (if you’re lucky) a tenth of what you need.

Save yourself the hassle, Carol has already done all the hard work for you… and bless she’s laid it out on a plate in her new book, the best part is - all for less than the cost of a good dinner.

Go figure my friends… the world economy is seriously in the stink can and us entrepreneurs need every scrap of help we can get if we want to avoid doing a “Lehman” with our businesses.

Buy it, try it, use it and if it ain’t no good Carol will refund all your dinner money… guaranteed no questions asked.

My bet is you’re more likely to be queuing up for her next volume…

For such a small price…get into this piece of action right now, order your copy before you make another move.

And if it works for you just a half of how good it did for me… remember it was your old mate Kenny B told you where to get your copy…

pass the word forward.

Thanks Kenny - couldn’t have put it better myself! If you’d like to contact me I’d be happy to pop a link from this post to your website.

BTW - when you purchase the book you get a full 100% money-back, 365-day guarantee to give you plenty of time to read, thoroughly absorb the tactics, take action AND enjoy the results. Of course it won’t take anywhere near that long for your results to start showing.

So there’s no pressure, other than making sure you beat that recession with the help of these marketing gems!

Pop over to get your copy of Beat The Recession: Proven Marketing Tactics

And when you have got it, come back here and tell me what you think.

Oh! Almost forgot to say - there’s a time sensitive offer that expires on Tuesday September 30th at 6p.m. BST - so make sure you check it out before then.

~ Carol Bentley

P.S. If you are a subscriber to this blog please use the private URL in your special notification email.

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First I want to say a huge thank you to the people who took the time to help me with the final preparation of the book - that’s you as a reader of this blog.

Well - I’m sure glad I followed the advice I always give and asked you guys what you thought because the title I originally chose for the book came bottom of the class! Just shows it doesn’t matter how experienced you are your audience can still catch you out!

Headline Choice

So it has taken a little while to change the artwork for the book cover (that’ll teach me not to rush ahead too!)

We’re finalising the web page for promoting the book and then it will be released. BUT - the people who are subscribed (i.e. get the email notification of my blog posts) will be sent a private email with a secret URL where the ebook is available at a special 47% discounted price.

The link from here will be the full price.

Unfair! Unfair!

If you follow this blog via an RSS feeder you may be shouting that at me right now! And I thought about it and I don’t want to penalise you because you decide to use the technology at our finger tips. So here’s what I decided:

If you want the offer but still don’t want the email notices then…

You can join a 1-notice only list. I will use this purely to send out the private URL for the book and I promise the whole list will be removed 48 hours after sending the notice.

Why 48 hours? Just in case there are any technical hitches with the email being sent / delivered - I don’t anticipate any, but you know what technology can be like!

I will send the notice out tomorrow mid-morning BST (Saturday 27th Sep) to give you time to see this post no matter where you are worldwide.

Pop your email address in the box below and hit the button

And look out for your notification email.

Remember - if you haven’t sent your email in by Saturday 27th at 10 a.m. BST you will miss the once-only notification email

So - if you want that 47% discount I suggest you do it now before it slips your mind.

~ Carol Bentley

Gail asked a question on Monday about writing headlines:

Question:

My biggest copywriting issue is that our products are very niche and for a specific market, so trying to write ‘in your face’ attention grabbing headlines is something I struggle with. I know the concepts and once I start writing a body of text, it flows quite well - it’s just finding those headlines for adverts and website that floors me.

Any tips for creating attention-grabbing headlines for very niche products would be most gratefully received.

Answer

Having a niche market should make writing attention-grabbing headlines easier - although sometimes it may not feel that way.

And it definitely is more difficult if you don’t have a clear idea in your mind of the person you are writing to. Notice I said ‘person’; not audience; not prospects; not market.

Always have a single person in mind when you are developing your sales letter / web copy.

Take a look at your existing customers. Select one who has purchased what you are promoting and…

Describe that person so you can picture them in your mind.
• Male or female?
• What age?
• Married or single?
• Family
• Occupation?
• Interests?
• Concerns?
Why did they buy from you? What was the real benefit you delivered? Did they want to solve a problem? Or did they want to satisfy a desire? (If they bought on price dig a bit deeper for a true reason because people rarely buy just because something is cheap. They usually decide they want it and then look for a good deal).
How do they use what you supply? Sometimes it’s not in a way you expected.

If you’re not sure about the last 2 questions I’d strongly suggest you ask your customers - preferably immediately after buying. That’s when asking them to complete a survey makes good marketing sense. Sometimes their answers can be astounding and may even give you an amazing headline you wouldn’t have thought of in a month of Sundays!

(I see you’ve got a feedback survey on your website Gail. Do you make sure people know about the survey; point them to it as soon as a sale is completed?)

Pull Headlines Out Of Your Copy

You said in your question once you start writing your text flows well (it does; I like the conversational style you’ve got on your website for the TalkSafe product). Try this.

After you’ve finished writing go through and highlight the true benefits you’ve described that answer a concern or desire your customer may have.

For example, is your prospect looking for a way of using their radio safely? If so how does the TalkSafe box reduce the likelihood of accidents.

Are they fed-up of equipment that suddenly loses the signal and starts crackling? Or maybe one that emits a massive static burst deafening them in the process? What’s the advantage of using a VXI Roadwarrior headset?

Or are they envious of the convenience mobile phone users have with the ease of wireless Bluetooth?

(I’m just guessing at what your prospects may be looking for here )

Then answer that problem or frustration in your headline… for example

At Last - Hands-Free Bluetooth Device Brings Mobile Radio Use Safely Into the 21st Century

Knowing the problems, challenges, frustrations and irritations your customers are complaining about or knowing what they desperately want to be able to do or experience makes finding those hit-the-nail-on-the-head headlines easier to discover.

Remember - take part in the internal conversation your prospect is having.

If they’re saying “I hate it when…” - offer a solution or if they’re saying “I wish…” - offer to grant that desire in your headline.

You might like to review a few previous posts on headlines as well Gail: ‘How do you do that?’ and Do your headlines grab your reader’s undivided attention

Hope that helps Gail,

~ Carol Bentley

P.S. My sincere thanks to everyone who took time to help me with the blog-book survey. Some of your answers have surprised me; I’m glad I followed my own advice to “Ask your customers!” now.

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On Monday I invited questions on copywriting. Nigel posted a question in the comments on how to come over as sincere when writing about a free report. I asked Nigel to send over the material he had written so I could give a more specific answer.

Read the advice I gave Nigel and see if you agree with his final comment “this hands-on transformation really brings it to life!”

I’ve copied in our exact conversation (with Nigel’s agreement) so you get the full benefit of this real life example.

Comment posted September 22nd, 2008 at 4:22 pm Nigel West
Says:

Hi Carol

The problem I have right now is a section in a free report I’m generating specifically for a business website (so each is tailored) that explains why I’m giving it away free. I believe the report will be valuable to the business owner, and my aim is to be engaged for further investigation and development work, and I’m really struggling to sound sincere.

Any help would be gratefully received!

Regards
Nigel

---

September 22nd, 2008 at 6:49 pm Carol Bentley Says:

Hi Nigel,

sounding - and being - sincere is one of the most difficult things to achieve in copywriting. I think it would be more helpful for you if I could see what you’ve written so far.

If you’re happy to send it over I’ll post something on the blog that would be useful to everyone without revealing your confidential info.
And, because you have been a long-time follower of my blog, I’ll see if I can give you some more specific advice you can use as well.
You can send the info through the ‘Ask A Question’ link in the right-hand panel.

~ Carol

---

—————————- Original Message —————————-
Subject: Comments from Carol Bentley Blog Form
Date:    Tue, September 23, 2008 7:32 am
————————————————————————-
Question from Carol Bentley Blog Form
Name: Nigel West
Company: Operations Support (Software) Limited
Question:
Hi Carol

Many thanks for your kind offer. Below is the text I’m struggling with. The text “goal of the website” is swapped for the recipient’s actual goal using a document property, so doesn’t make sense until this is plugged in.

Please feel free to use the before & after how you see fit.

“Why is this Report Free? I’ve met a number of disappointed website owners since 1999 when I started developing websites and web based applications for business owners. Generally they were happy with their websites, but revenue wasn’t increasing as a result. Some were problems with the website, such as graphics instead of text, but many require straightforward changes and
activities to increase the number and quality of visitors viewing the website.

Once you have an increased number of visitors you can turn your attention to improving the number that goal of the website.

Business owners, like you, may be frustrated with their website, but I was frustrated too. Websites are branded as “not working” and the fastest growing marketing medium is abandoned. I’m saddened when this happens, because the business owner is missing out and only because someone hasn’t taken a few minutes out of the business owner’s busy day to explain how to make it work
effectively.

By providing this report free I would like you to engage my services to turn your website into an efficient marketing tool that works tirelessly to generate additional income for you. I don’t want to start again and build a new website, I want to nurture your existing website, which you have invested money into, to be a valued part of a businesses marketing strategy, step by step.

But this report has no obligation to use my services. If you want to pass it to your web designers to make changes that’s fine with me, I’m pleased that it has been of value, but I do ask that the contents of this report aren’t made public (to be honest you don’t want your competitors getting wind of improvements you make in any case).”

---

Hi Nigel,

May I clarify a couple of things?

Has anyone read / reviewed your report?
Has anyone read AND used the info in your report?
Has anyone read AND used the info BUT NOT spent any money with you?

And if you’ve answered ‘Yes’ to any of these questions would the people concerned be willing to act as a ‘case-study’? It is the most powerful way to show you are sincere and really do want to help - regardless of whether or not you get business.

Kind regards,
Carol

---

Hi Carol

The answer to all of these is no as I’m still putting the report and the whole process together, but I’m trialling the whole process with a photographer this week (who has a website that seems invisible to the search engines, due to trying to cut costs by sharing hosting) and an Au Pair agency in October. If all goes as well as expected I’ll be using both of these as case studies.

Many thanks

Nigel

---

Hi Nigel,

OK - the next best thing is to have a ‘professional opinion’.  Someone who understands how web sites should work who is willing
to review your report and give their expert opinion/endorsement.

Also you could tell the story of websites you’ve looked at previously and how you’ve tweaked and developed them into a more productive marketing tool for your clients. And then explain how that acted as a catalyst for writing the report.

Say it is impossible for you to take on everyone who needs your expert help but you want everyone to realise what they could achieve - with just a few changes.  And your report helps them - and their web-masters - do that.  If they don’t have a web-master tell them you might be able to fit them in - but you can’t be certain of doing so - this creates scarcity - and
I’m sure is true; after all I’m guessing you couldn’t handle thousands of clients if they all asked at once?

Looking at what you’ve written below I think you’re explaining things well - but I suggest you make your writing more active

E.g.  instead of:

“Business owners, like you, may be frustrated with their website, but I was frustrated too.”

you could write…

“Frustrated with your website? You’re not the only one! 83% of business owners I talk to despair of ever getting any business through the web. It’s criminal - they’re missing out on the greatest marketing tool of the 21st Century! And that depresses me because….”

I’ve highlighted the active verbs… does that give you some ideas?

BTW - if you quote a percentage in your copy don’t use rounded numbers like 80% or 95% because they don’t really ring true.  Do a calculation and go for odd percentages - even something like 68.3% - it comes over as a more believable figure.

And more customer focused…

Take a look at how many times I, we and us appears in your text.  Can you re-write the sentences from your visitors’ point of
view?  E.g. instead of…

“I don’t want to start again and build a new website, I want to nurture your existing website, which you have invested money into, to be a valued part of a businesses marketing strategy, step by step. “

write…

“You’ve already invested heavily in your website so you don’t want that scrapped; thrown on the rubbish heap, do you? The good news is it can be nurtured and built into an extremely valuable element of your overall business marketing strategy - that’s a better proposition isn’t it?

And this report shows you how.

Of course, if you’d rather not do the work yourself - and for most business owners it makes more economic sense to have it done by an expert - I’d be happy to check if we have spare capacity to carry out the changes for you. “

Including the ‘do you?’ and ‘isn’t it?’ questions gets your reader nodding in agreement.

Anyway - hope that helps. 

Kind regards, 
Carol

---

Hi Carol

You are just brilliant!

[Aw, shucks! Now you’re embarrassing me ~ Carol]

I’ve read your book a couple of times, but this hands-on transformation really brings it to life.

You’ve hit the nail on the head with response, there’s no way I could handle thousands on my own, nor would I want to as I want to give 100% to the clients I do take on.

That’s really valuable information Carol, a big thank you for taking the time to review it and I’m more than happy for the conversation to be posted on your blog

I’ll let you know how I get on

Take care

Nigel

I hope that’s given you some ideas and insights you can use when writing your sales letters.

If you want to ask your copywriting question feel free to use the comment link below.

Gail - I will be answering your question too.

And thanks everyone who has sent questions / comments using the ‘Ask A Question’ link.

The New eBook Progresses

The ebook of the blog posts collection I mentioned on Monday is almost done. I hadn’t realised just how many links were in the posts that needed converting into URLs that are easier to type, ready for when the material goes to print! (yep - it will be published at some stage too).

~ Carol Bentley

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Am I off track? Why I ask is because of the reason I got from someone who decided to unsubscribe from this blog. It gave me the incentive to make 2 decisions that could help you.

You see, the reason he gave for unsubscribing was “Not enough copywriting - too much internet marketing guru b***s!” [I replaced the word he used with **s ].

I replied to say I was sorry he was disappointed and gave him some direct links to specific copywriting tips I’d posted previously that would probably be more like the material he was hoping for.

And then I thought - “Maybe he has got a point. He’s only been a subscriber since late July and my posts during August were not that regular (I’ve just checked there were only 3) so maybe he didn’t get the advice he was looking for.”

And of course, with the global economic downturn everyone is talking about, getting pertinent advice that helps a business grow in spite of any recession is crucial.

But it also highlighted what I’d long suspected… people rarely search through old articles on a blog… it takes too much time.

So, I’ve taken 2 decisions…

DECISION 1. The most obvious one; one I’ve frequently suggested you follow. I’m going to ask YOU…

“What do you need to know about copywriting - right now?”

Ask your question now using the comments link below or, if you prefer to ask your question privately, use the Contact Form. I will post the answers on this blog, but if you’ve used the private contact form then I’ll be sure to keep your confidential details out of the post.

DECISION 2. I’ll shortly make the recession-busting tips I’ve shared since starting this blog available in a downloadable e-book. It will contain:

• My copywriting, marketing and business tips blog posts which includes…
• 28 Writing Tips To Make Your Sales Letters Zing
• 27 Direct Marketing Insights To Boost Your Sales Results
• 37 Articles Save Time & Deliver Valuable Business Resources
• 11 Inspirational Pearls of Motivational Wisdom
• 13 Web Marketing Tips To Expand Your Global Reach (yes I’ve included web marketing because copywriting is a crucial element on web sites so I believe there is a connection!
• 19 Added-Value Articles From 10 Contributing Authors. These are the blog posts I’ve linked to in my posts. And some of those authors have kindly agreed to their material being included in the book
• Active links to the 12 free gifts I’ve given in the past in the private posts (you could only get these if you were subscribed at that time because you needed the password delivered in the email to open the blog post)

Because having all this material easily accessible in one file is a valuable asset - especially for businesses looking to beat the recession - there will be a charge for it. However, as a subscriber, when it is ready you get a direct link to a private web site where you can get it for a vastly reduced figure.

Of course, if you’ve been a subscriber since day 1 - or since the early days - you don’t need this recession-beating PDF reference because you’ve already noted all the crucial posts you wanted to use, haven’t you?

But if you have not been following this blog for very long or you just want an easy access reference document, then look out for the extra email that will be coming your way within the next few days.

The special offer email will only be sent to subscribers

The public-access URL for the book will be posted here for non-subscribers, so you can still get your own copy.

So - that’s it… I suspect the most valuable decision for you now is to ask your question. I look forward to sharing more insights with you.

~ Carol Bentley

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Remember yesterday I said I was away for a few days? Well I decided to do a quick email check before heading off - as you do and when I saw this I wanted to be sure you didn’t miss it just because I’m not around for a while.

So I’ve copied in the message - exactly as it arrived in my Inbox. It is a bit OTT, but don’t let that put you off, the content is valuable . .

I’m shaking my head over this one…

New Rules

See, Rich Schefren just held the teleseminar to beat all teleseminars, a star-studded 2-hour phone call that broke virtually every record in the book.

The reaction was ENORMOUS, with thousands of internet marketers listening in–and thousands more trying to.

Well, you’d think a guy would kick back and take a break after an unprecedented event like that one, right?

RIGHT? Wrong! Check this out…

New Rules

But this isn’t just any ol’ run-of-the-mill marketer we’re talking about here. This is Rich [censored] Schefren. {sorry - not my style or language! CB}

Guru to the gurus.

Mr. Manifesto.

And for a limited time, he’s not only made the call available to anyone…

He’s also added 3 in-depth case studies to go along with it.

watch New Rules

It’s true–you can hear the call in its entirety PLUS in-depth audio recordings of Rich talking with Jim Edwards, Mike Filsaime, and Hans and Dani Johnson.

These case studies go ‘behind the scenes” with each of these A-list marketers, revealing their most secret business (and personal) struggles…and how they overcame them. {applies equally to offline as well as online business people - CB}

If you said to yourself “I must be the only one going through this”, you’re wrong.

DEAD wrong.

And the case studies in this video proves it.

watch New Rules

Check ‘em out right now. I honestly don’t know how long Rich is going to make them available. They may even be gone by the time you read this.

Better check just to make sure.

New Rules

See you there…

Carol

P.S. Let’s face it–constraints are something we all experience in our business.

There’s always going to be something blocking the way between where we are…and where we want to be.

The key is to find a way to overcome those constraints and keep moving forward. And with this call and these 3 case studies, Rich points us in the right direction.

Well worth your time–I guarantee it… watch New Rules

That’s it… I’m away now, happy that I’ve let you know about it and you can make your own mind up.

And, as I said yesterday, I’ll catch up with you next week in my normal, reserved, British style

~ Carol Bentley

P.S. The links in this message are affiliate links - if you prefer to go direct then use this URL: http://www.strategicprofits.com/newrules/cs/ - your choice.

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If you have ever searched the web for useful information – whether to do with marketing, copywriting, web copy or just looking for useful tools - then you know you can spend hours trying to find that gem you are looking for.

But what if you found an array of useful, quality gifts in one place? And all you had to do was choose which is the most pertinent and useful to you and download them?

Well now you can.

Great – but there’s bound to be a catch – isn’t there?

Yes; actually in this instance there are three catches:

1: You are spoilt for choice

For example in this Hot Summer Vacation Giveaway there are over 186 gifts. Three of these gifts are from me – which I describe in more detail below.

2: You have to download your gift

And some of them are large – so it is easier if you have a fast connection to the web.

3: You have to supply your email address to get the download link

This is to prevent hackers and spamming problems – an unfortunate downside to researching and gathering information and useful tools on the net.

And on top of that – you need to look at and use the content these gifts deliver – otherwise there’s no point wasting your time looking and choosing – is there?

My Three Powerful Gifts

1. Accelerate Your Sales

Discover How to Create Massive Sales and Generate Exponential Business Growth…

A 36-page PDF file giving a great start to anyone who needs to write a sales letter or advert for their business.

If you already have a copy of my book you don’t need this – although it is a handy quick-check reference. But think of those people you know who do need this help – and perhaps have even tried to borrow my book from you. Do them a favour and point them to the giveaway at Hot Summer Giveaways

2. The PR Formula that NEVER Fails…

Discover the Secret of How To Attract a Rush of High Quality Prospects Faster than Steel Pins Flying to an Industrial Strength Magnet! This ebook is from a professional UK PR expert I know, who describes how to get quality prospects using press releases to publicise your business. A recession-buster tool that’s worth getting. It is also part of the Hot Summer Giveaways

3. 38+ Significant Insights

Reveals my insider secrets on how to create even more powerful, persuasive, compelling sales-generating letters…

This is my third gift in this giveaway event and complements the material in my book and the Accelerate Your Sales report. It is a 77-minute MP3 of a live recording of a private telephone consultation during which the MD of a successful UK company quizzed me on copywriting secrets he wanted to know. And it is jam-packed with these easy to use tips on how to enhance your sales letters and boost response to your marketing campaigns.

Mine are not the only gifts you can grab - to make this giveaway event even more exciting there are over 186 gifts - you really are spoilt for choice!

So – is it worth a visit? I’d say ‘Yes’ (I’ve already downloaded some useful tools from my fellow contributors) – check it out for yourself! Visit the Hot Summer Giveaways

By the way - this could be regarded as another Recession Proof Tip because taking part as a contributor is another way of finding prospects who are interested in what you offer - although there is the possibility that the quality of people added to your contact database may not be quite as high as those you get from other sources. I’ll let you know how it pans out.

~ Carol Bentley