Home Business Copywriting Basics, Be Your Own Copywriter
Home business copywriting is an art form that must be practiced when your advertising budget won't permit you to farm it out (hire a professional copywriter). You can get by if you keep some basic principles in mind as you start out on your home based business copywriting and advertising adventures.
Your home business copywriting must hold your readers attention. It's been said that you have about 10 seconds to grab your readers attention once they see your advertisement before they loose interest and move on to something else.
This means you have to keep straight line targeting on your subject, make it interesting, and do not use a bunch of non-sense blah, blah, and blah in your message
Copywriting can be intimidating, even to experienced writers.
Here's a tip - The best thing to remember when writing your copy is, pretend you are talking to a friend, but make a bolder statement (put some oomph in it) and keep it interesting!
Do you know what I mean by oomph?
Do you remember the character Tim Taylor in the TV show Home Improvement? Tim was always trying to make things work better by giving them "more power".
The "more power" that Tim was always striving for to make things work better is similar to what I mean by "oomph"! Hopefully your copywriting "oomph" will be more successful than Tim's efforts!
Home Business Copywriting is about Creating a Relationship with Your Reader
Your copy (your advertisement, brochure, or sales copy as it is known in the industry) must convey to your audience, your customer, your expertise on the subject and the benefits your product or service can provide to your potential customer.
Customers will buy from you if they:
- Know you and can relate to you and your experiences.
- Like you, either by first impression or by past dealings with you.
- Feel like they can trust you.
- The benefits of your product or service emotionally appeal or fulfill a physical need to your potential customer.
- You have a rock solid guarantee.
Your Copy Needs A Strong Headline or Title and it Must Contain a Clear Benefit that is Eye Catching
Your home based business copywriting must have a good headline that will grab your readers attention. Your headline needs to grab your reader and hook your reader into reading the advertisement below it.
By stating a strong headline that contains a clear benefit about your product or service, your reader can decide if she is interested, and if it deserves more of her time and attention.
As a Home Business Copywriter, Your Copy Body Needs Product or Service Features, and Customer Benefit Statements
The body of your copy describes the features of your product or services. These features should then be converted into the benefits the customer will receive once purchasing the product or service.
Benefits that the customer can relate to emotionally or physically will drive more sales than other benefits that do not connect to the customer's emotions. You may ask, "How do I know the emotional benefits to use to connect to my customers?"
That is a good question! My answer would be "You must know your market that your home based business copywriting is relating to!" I know that sounds stupid and sarcastic as I sit here and reread what I have written to you. But, in reality, this is the truth. Sorry!
Discovering your emotional or physical benefits to your customer base is what your home business marketing research dept is for! Yep, you have to do some brainstorming here.
Tell a Interesting Story that can Help your Customer Relate to You and Your Sales Copy
People love stories. A good story will help draw your customer into your copywriting or copy .Use a story to . . .
- Get your point across to your customer.
- To lighten up your sales copy.
- Help your customer relate to your product.
- Help your customer better relate to you.
It's important to your customer to feel that you are a reliable source and are trustworthy. Stories can often ease some of the tension and create familiarly.
Reinforce Your Copywriting with Customer Testimonies
Customer testimonies make believers out of skeptical or border line customers. A good testimony, unchanged from the customers original writing or statement, is another push to get that customer to buy. Please... do yourself a favor, don't make one up. Can you guess why?
You may be called out for more information on that testimony!
Here's a tip - a customer's testimony should always include a first name, last name, web URL, or city and state of where your customer is from.
Anything other than that minimum information is not considered real, and a reason not to buy, in my opinion.
Features and Benefits Copywriting Should be Followed by a Strong Guarantee
A strong guarantee will nurture the customer, make her realize that she will get her money back if she is unsatisfied in any way with the product or service. Many guarantees are 100% money back guarantees.
The stronger the guarantee the more sales you will get. Make it your personal guarantee that she will get her money back, no questions
asked. That is a pretty strong guarantee!
In Closing Your Home Business Copywriting Venture, You Must Tell Your Customer What You Want Them To Do!
Ask for an order! Tell them how to order! If possible, give them more than one way to order. Give them options of credit cards, PayPal® or other related services, option of calling or faxing you an order, and an option of payment via mail.
Do not limit yourself to just credit cards. There are many people today afraid of giving out credit card information and identity theft. Give your customers options to make them feel comfortable.
Also, create a sense of urgency. If you look at written sales copy today, there is always a time deadline associated with written sales copy.
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