Ezine Advertising

Ezine Advertising is the best value for your advertisement dollar because it reaches people interested in a specific product. These people are called a target market.

Why is ezine advertising so effective?

Say for instance a person loves afffiliate marketing. This person has done research about affiliate marketing and sees the long term potential to earn big money.

This person decides to do ezine advertising knowing an ezine about affiliate marketing will be delivered by email to subscribers of the affiliate marketing ezine. This solves how to find the market of persons who want to become involved with affiliate marketing.

There are generally three styles of ads, the solo ad, the sponsor ad and the classified ad.

Let's start with classifieds. A paid classified costs the least of the three and is the smallest of the three ads types. People run classified ads for whatever they want to sell.

As in a regular newspaper, the ads are placed under a specified topic. (used cars, pets, ect.) Thus an ad is targeted to people looking for that 1958 Edsel parked in grandpa's barn ro 50 years.

A classified in an ezine about affiliate marketing reaches a target market also. These ads will be found in a block in the ezine, usually toward the end of the article copy.

A good ezine, one with interesting information, helps the advertisers.

Next ad is the sponsor ad. Sponsor advertisements may be in three places in an ezine. Some may have only one. Although they may not be labeled, the top sponsor is at the beginning of the ezine. The cost of this ad is much higher than the bottom sponsor ad. The middle sponsor cost is about half of the top sponsor ad. This makes sense as the bottom ad will not be read as fast as the top ad.

People read through articles rapidly to determine if the article interests them. A well written sponsor ad!

The sponsor ads will have from 10 to 16 lines of good ad copy.

The most effective ad is the solo ad. Solo ads are emailed to all the subscribers all by themselves Most effective and priced higher because there is no other copy sent with the solo ad. Only the advertisers advertisement emailed to anywhere from 10,000 to 250,000 targeted people. That is why ezine advertising is so effective in reaching the market for selling the affiliate marketing opportunity.

A solo ad will have from 400 to 675 words, best keep it at 500 words. An advertiser can really pitch what they are selling with that many words.

How about the costs to run these ads?

An example of costs: An ezine with a subscriber base of 25,000, charges $25.00 for a solo ad. That comes out to $1.00 to reach one thousand subscribers.

Keeping costs within a ad budget, paying up tp $3.50 is plenty. Don't go broke in the first month. A ezine with a subscriber base of 70,000 charges $40.00 for a solo ad. To get the cost per thousand, divide 50 by 40. That comes out to 80 cents per thousand.

That makes the ezine solo ad affordable and doable. Go for it.

Running one ad and sitting back to watch the sales roll in, is not likely to happen. An advertisement must be seen 5 to 7 times by the same subscriber base before they start to believe the advertiser is for real and will be around for a while.

This is an example of someone in the town I live in . 25 or so years ago he moved to our city and opened a furniture store. This city did not need another furniture store. This businessman had very little money. He thought "it is sink or swim time". He created his own ad campaign. He appeared in everyone of his ads, on tv and radio. At the end of every ad he closed with the same line. It has not changed in 25 years. He is now a multi-millionaire.

Why? As the public heard the same line and watched his ads, they started believing he was real and was not going away. The public bought and bought.

The point here is repetition. Giving the target audience the same message over and over until they believe and buy. And the great part, they keep on buying from someone who delivers on the goods, forever!

Always include the affiliate url for buyers to click on to in an advertisement. Keep it simple with short call to action such as, "availible at: or Click here: and URL" An ad is designed to drive buyers to the affiliate website, no more. The website does the selling and collects the money. Then they pay the affiliate a % of the sale.

Is that not the most effective way to earn money? Add a business email in the ad. Response rate will go up.

A word of advice. Have the courtesy to subscribe to the ezine the ad is placed in. Thank the publisher for allowing them to place an ad in their ezine. Everyone wins when everyone helps each other.

Ezine advertising is the best thing around when done correctly. Have fun with it! Alan

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Alan Grundemeier helps people succeed with their online business by guiding them to successful online programs and the experts who run them. Learn more about how to advertise with Ezines, available at=> http://www.classicaffiliatemarketing.com

Why You Should Use Articles Directory - The Benefits

There are many different reasons why you should submit your articles to an articles directory. Articles directories are the hottest form of advertising, promotion and the best way to promote your website. With so many people logging onto the internet and the freelance writing booming, it is no wonder that articles directory sites are so very much in demand. Not only are articles directory sites simply the best way to drive more traffic to your website, but if you are a brand new writer looking for an outlet, there is no better way to let other people get to know you than by submitting your writing to an articles directory.

There are a few things that you need to know when you are looking for a good articles directory to submit your articles. First, you need to look and see how long the articles directory website has been around. This can be an important aspect when it comes to choosing this directory. If the articles directory website has been around for a long period of time, such as five years, you know that it is a credible website. When you are submitting advertising articles, you are going to get some feedback. If the articles directory website has only been around for six or seven months, you should look for another site. The entire point of submitting articles to an articles directory especially when you are a webmaster is to drive traffic to your website. This is best done with an experienced directory.

Next, you always want to make sure that on the contact information is listed on the article directory website.

This is to insure that if you have any problems with your submission, you can contact the directory representative. Most articles directories are effective, but every once in a while you may run across one that is less than stellar. Be sure to have contact information in case you have questions about your submission so that they can be answered promptly.

Finally, you always want to make sure that you read the articles directory website guidelines. This is a good idea to do even before you start to write your articles so you can comply. Some articles directory websites have a lot of rules and regulations. It is best to know what is expected from your writing before you begin to write articles for certain article directory websites, so that you do not end up wasting time.

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Abhinav Srivastava owner of Articles Directory http://www.articleslide.com

Articles marketing Tips

Top 15 Article Marketing Tips

Article marketing involves writing free reprint articles and submitting the articles to online publishers. Each time your article gets picked up for publication, the resource box (which is an author bio that includes a backlink to your website) is published with it.

So, each time your article is republished, your website receives another backlink. An increase in backlinks can increase your search engine rankings for your keywords and also drive traffic to your site whenever someone reads your article and clicks the link in your resource box.

An added perk of article marketing is that it's a great way to establish yourself as an expert in your niche, as your articles demonstrate your depth of knowledge on your topic and serve as effective teaching tools for your readers.

As you're just getting started using this tried and true marketing tool, you might feel overwhelmed at the thought of embarking on a new skill. Relax!

Yes, there are many ways to tweak and improve your article marketing results as you get more experience, but at the beginning, if you'll just keep the following 15 tips in mind you'll make a strong start:

1) Consistency is key.

Article marketing is a long term marketing tool, so don't submit one or two articles and then expect to see major results. For best results, you will submit at least 1 article a month for an extended period of time (preferably for the lifetime of your website). It usually takes anywhere from 3-4 months to see a change in search engine ranking, so be patient!

2) Curious about where your article is being re-published?

Do a Google search for your article title (putting quotes around it), and you'll see a list of sites that have picked up your article for publication. Directories can take 2-3 days to publish an article after it's been submitted, so you might want to wait a few days before doing this search.

3) Capitalize The First Letter Of Each Word in your titles (and don't make the title ALL caps!)

4) Write for your target audience, rather than just search engines.

First and foremost, your articles should be effective teaching tools for your human readers, so focus on writing articles that will educate them. Keywords are important, but don't get over focussed on them. If you will simply write on the topic of your website, your keywords should naturally pop up in your articles.

5) Write on the topic of your website.

In order to get targeted traffic to your website you should always write on the topic of your website. If your website is about ballroom dancing, then you will write articles about ballroom dancing.

6) Don't write about your own products, website or business.

Do write articles on the topic of your website, but don't write articles that are specifically about your website or the products you sell there. That would make the article self-serving/promotional, and "promotional article" is the most common reason articles are declined by publishers.The proper place to talk about yourself is in your resource box.

7) Be sure your articles are 100% original.

Publishers want quality content, so don't be tempted to submit PLR articles or articles that are sold to innumerable people with the right to claim 'authorship'. If you write your own articles based on your expertise you can't go wrong.

8) Word counts count.

Aim for a word count of 700-800, as that length of article is most attractive to ezine editors and other publishers.

9) 'HowTo' articles are an article marketer's bread and butter.

10) Space out your submissions -- don't submit bunches of articles at a time.

11) Some publishers will send you a confirmation email when they publish your article, but don't expect that every publisher will.

12) Wondering how many backlinks your website has?

Just type this into the Google search box:

link:www.yourwebsite.com

(Just substitute your own URL for the 'your website' part)

13) Sleep on your article for 24 hours, then go back and re-read it.

When you look at your article with fresh eyes you'll see mistakes you totally missed before.

14) Proofread, proofread, proofread!

Once your article is submitted to a directory publishers will start republishing it on their websites. These are websites over which you have no control, so be sure that your article appears exactly as you'd like it (with no typos!) before submitting it.

15) The resource box is extremely important!

Make sure your resource box has a little bio info, your name, a reason to click through to your site, and your URL. For best results, link to a single website.

These are your basic, need-to-know tips--now you have more than enough knowledge to get started submitting articles and driving targeted traffic back to your website!

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Bonus Tip: Use an article distribution service like SubmitYOURArticle.com to magnify the impact of each article - distribute your articles to hundreds of targeted publishers with the click of a button. For more information go to=> http://www.SubmitYOURArticle.com

5 Steps To Writing A Killer 'How To' Article

Educational articles should be your bread and butter when you're doing article marketing, so why not write a 'how to' article?

'How to' articles provide your readers with information they find valuable, help inspire customer confidence (if you're able to teach them something, obviously you know what you're talking about), and make for reader friendly content.

On top of all those perks, 'how to' articles are some of the easiest articles to write, but to get the most bang for your buck you need to keep a few guidelines in mind.

In order to write a 'how to' article that delivers on all of these perks, just follow these 5 simple steps:

1) What will you instruct readers how to do?

Whether you're a banker, a physical trainer, a landscape designer, or whatever, you have specialized knowledge that readers would like to learn.

When trying to decide what to write, think about questions that your customers routinely ask you--if customers are asking those questions, then it's a good sign that a topic will be useful to your target market.

2) What are the steps involved?

Write your steps down and then explain them.

Every 'how to' can be broken down into a series of steps. Before trying to write your article, it's often helpful to first jot down your steps in order.

I would encourage you, if at all possible, to write 'how to' articles that have 3, 5, 7, 9, or 10 steps. (This is for use later on in your title)

Why?

Well, a 'how to' article is a list article, meaning that the items in the article are numbered. For some reason, list articles that contain certain numbers are more popular than others. For example, a title like "How To Paint Your Kitchen Cabinets in 5 Easy Steps" sounds better than 4 steps.

3) Write a paragraph that introduces your 'how to' and also a paragraph that wraps up your article.

Once you have your steps in place, it may be tempting just to leave the article as it is, but you really need an introductory and concluding paragraph. In fact, some publishers will outright refuse an article that does not have an introductory paragraph. It doesn't have to be long--it could even be just a sentence or two that tells the reader what your topic is and gently leads them into the instructional part of your article.

The concluding paragraph is a wrap-up of the article and can be just a sentence or two as well. The concluding paragraph can also help transition into the resource box--it's nice to leave the reader with a final tho ght rather than just abruptly cutting off and then launching into your resource box (the author bio that sits below your article).

4) Put your steps in sequential order and number them.

To take full advantage of the perks of 'how to' articles, I encourage you to actually number all of your steps, putting 1, 2, 3, etc in front of each step. It is possible to have an instructional article without number each step, but numbering makes for easier reading and helps lead your audience through your article.

Spacing is also important--be sure that you have ample spacing in between your steps and in between paragraphs to make your article as reader friendly as possible. Break big paragraphs into several smaller ones, and your readers will appreciate it!

5) Create a title that reflects what you're teaching (and include the number of steps in the title if you like)

As always, your title should tell the reader what your article is about, and with a 'how to' article you have the opportunity to also capture a reader's eye by revealing in the title how many steps are in your tutorial.

For example, at title like "How to Groom Your Poodle Like a Pro in 7 Easy Steps" will convey to the reader:

*What you're teaching

*How involved the instructions are (7 steps)

*That the process is easy and you shouldn't be daunted ("easy steps")

Your title is the first thing that a reader will see. Your title will appear in search engine results and on article directory summary pages, and your title is what catches a reader's eye and makes them want to read your full article. You've taken a good bit of time to craft your article--take the final step and craft a thoughtful title.

And that's it!

'How to' articles are ideal for article marketing, especially when you optimize them by following the steps above. Now you're ready to start teaching your target market, giving them the valuable educational information that they're looking for.

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After you've written your 'How To' article you need to get your article to as many publishers as possible. Best bet is to use an article submission service - for more information on how to do this go to=> http://www.SubmitYOURArticle.com

How You Can Market Your Articles!

Article Marketing 101: How You Can Market Your Articles!

When it comes to article marketing, there are a lot of things that you need to know. Firstly, it is not just about writing a high-quality article, you need to make sure that you understand that point before anything. There are millions of articles that are high-quality but the public will never read because they simply can not be found on the internet! This is one of the main reasons that awesome article directories were created and while article directories are becoming increasingly popular with every single passing year, they can only do so much; the rest lays on the writer.

First, before you start trying article marketing, you might want to research article marketing. This is one great way to ensure that you understand everything that needs to be done and the goals that you are trying to set with your articles. After you have done your research, you probably still will not understand fully article marketing but that is what this article is for! Article marketing is simple but complex all at the same time.

If you are trying to promote a website or a company via article directories, it can be very difficult if your articles are not in the right format. Oh yes folks, there is a format that should be followed when you are article marketing and that is to make your article come up through search engines. Now there are many different ways to accomplish this and none of them involve having to spend any money! All you need to do is base your articles on keywords that will come up in search engines.

For example, let's say that you are trying article marketing for a wedding cake company. You have submitted quite a few articles for article marketing via an article directory and the wedding cake website is still not getting many hits. Well, that is probably because your article is not targeted for search engines! Search engines honestly only pick up on a few select words in articles and if your article does not include those words, it will not pop up.

Let's say that 'wedding cake' 'cake' and 'weddings' are all keywords that should be repeated in your article for article marketing. As soon as someone types those words into a search engine, your article should pop up! As you can see, article marketing is not hard but it definitely is a skill and you should do your research before you start!

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Abhinav Srivastava owner of Article Directory. http://www.articleslide.com

Market Your Business Via Free Articles Publishing!

When it comes to marketing your company, it can be a very difficult thing, especially now-a-days with budgets being cut and everyone tightening up those purse strings. Want to know a great way to market your business that won't cost your company a dime! Article submission is honestly one of the hottest ways to market and advertise all sorts of businesses, all the way from simple websites to actually stores!

Free articles publishing is a fantastic way to get the word out there that your company exists and one of the best ways to get your free articles published is via an article directory. Now, you might be new at the whole article directory, free articles publishing thing but there is a method to the madness and it is: people are always looking for something. Honestly, do you remember the last time that you looked up and researched a product before you bought it? Well, you were probably reading up on that product via a free articles submission website!

This is one of the main reasons why free articles publishing are great to promote any business or website. Heck, you can even promote your blog via free articles submission websites. One of the coolest things about publishing free articles is not only the fact that they are absolutely free to publish but the traffic that you will generate to your blog or website is incredible!

If you are first getting into the free articles submission website world, there are a few things that you will need to know. Firstly, you need to make sure that you are following the guidelines of the website itself, after all, they are allowing you to publish your content for free and they do have to approve it before it goes on the website, so following the guidelines is very important.

Next, you want to make sure that you find yourself a good writer or if you are a good writer yourself that you make your message clear. So many writers are very cloudy in the way that they portray things and when a reader is educating themselves on your company or website, you want to make sure that you are promoting your website and staying on the topic itself, after all, gaining traffic is the entire reason you are publishing free articles! That's it folks! If you follow all of these steps you should definitely see an increase in the traffic to your company, website or blog!

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Get Free Articles from http://www.articleslide.com

Turn Your Articles Into An E-Book

5 Reasons Why You Should Turn Your Articles Into An E-Book

There's no way to get around it--marketing a website means creating content on a continual basis.

It can be content for articles in article marketing, blog content, a Squidoo lens you're creating, ezine content, or any of the other limitless types of marketing content designed to drive traffic to your website.

The options are endless, but where in the world do you find the time to do all this writing? On top of marketing your website, you have a business to run, right?

The bright side is that if you're clever you can train your marketing content (namely, the articles you create in article marketing) to do double, triple, and quadruple (or more) duty by re-purposing the content to suit different marketing tools.

One of the most effective ways to multi task marketing content is to use your article marketing articles as the basis for an e-book.

Here are 5 reasons why you should create an e-book from your articles:

1) It's easier than you think.

I know what you're thinking-- "Write a book? That sounds a bit over my head."

I hear you, but please be assured that writing an e-book is much easier than writing a novel or a book that's sold in the bookstore.

Really, if you can write an article, you can write an e-book. An e-book is just a collection of articles (or chapters) on a central topic.

You can make your e-book as long or as short as you like--there's no need to go to a cabin in the woods and hunker down as you spend years crafting an epic novel.

The more information you provide, the more valuable your book will be, but even if you provide only a dozen pages of useful information on a topic of interest to your target market, your audience will appreciate it!

2) You can morph your book into an marketing resource for your affiliates.

Imagine that you've created a 40 page book that is chocked full of valuable information. You give it to your customers and potential customers, and they love it, but then your affiliates (if you have an affiliate program) start contacting asking you if they can use the e-book as a marketing tool for your product.

This scenario has actually happened to me before, and I ended up taking that original e-book and creating another book for the use of the affiliates where they could re-brand the content and offer it on their websites.

3) If you offer the e-book in your resource box, it gives the reader a great reason to click through to your site.

This is HUGE--whenever you're writing a resource box, you want to be sure to offer the reader a reason to click through to your site. If the reader has found your article useful, what better gift to them than to offer a book on the same topic that gives much more information.

Your resource box could say something like, "For more tips on this topic, please pick up your free e-book at [your URL]."

And then at your website you could capture their email address and then deliver the book to them.

This actually accomplished two goals--

*Luring the reader back to your website

*Building your list

4) An e-book demonstrating your knowledge can build customer confidence (which makes sales more likely)

Article marketing entails writing articles on your topic of expertise (the topic of your website). People find your articles when they're looking for information about your topic.

Rather than hoping that your readers will somehow find each and every one of your helpful articles, why not collect all that valuable information and put it all in one spot (an e-book)?

5) You get more mileage out of your marketing efforts.

Obviously, right?

This is why morphing your articles into an e-book is so advantageous--you can kill two birds (or more!) with one stone. You can get multiple uses out of one piece of marketing content, which saves you time and increases the exposure and reach of your marketing efforts.

Are you convinced yet?

First, start writing articles for article marketing, then when you have 10 or more articles written on a topic that will appeal to your target readers, start assembling your e-book.

Before you know it you will have an arsenal of marketing resources that will be steadily working to draw targeted traffic to your website.

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It pays to get double duty out of your articles, and then you can save even more time by using an article submitter, getting maximum exposure for minimal effort. For more information on how to do this, go to http://www.SubmitYOURArticle.com

Article Marketing: Turn Your Articles Into An E-Book In 7 Easy Steps

Writing an e-book is more simple than you might imagine, especially when you're doing article marketing.

Each article that you write can serve more than one purpose--it can be a free reprint article that drives traffic to your website, but it can also be used in the creation of an e-book.

If you're an article marketing veteran, then you probably already have enough content for an e-book. If you're just starting out, then you can follow the steps below and use them as a guideline for creating articles that are suitable to put in an e-book.

Either way, you're just a few steps away from morphing your articles into an e-book:

1) What will your e-book be about?

When you're creating an e-book, you need to have a topic that correlates to your website (just as your articles are always on the topic of your website), but you need to pin down a specific topic.

If you're a financial adviser, perhaps your e-book would be about how to get out of debt.

If you're a dietitian, perhaps your book would be about transitioning to eating a heart healthy diet.

You get the idea--pick a theme that is broad enough that it's worthy of being the topic of a book, but narrow enough that you can cover all your points without writing hundreds of pages (unless that's the type of e-book you'd like to create!).

Sometimes it helps to think in terms of titles--come up with a working title for your book to help you decide what the topic will be.

2) Create an outline.

Before writing a single word, create an outline and use it as your guide.

Professional writers use outlines as a means of organizing their work. An outline is basically a road map you can follow as you're assembling your book, and it can save you major time in the long run.

3) Organize your articles to fill in your outline.

You probably already have articles you can include use in your book, but if you don't that's okay. Just write an article for any topic that you haven't already covered in your article marketing and include it in your book.

(And of course you can get double duty out of that article by submitting it as a free reprint article too.)

You may have to tweak some of your articles and flesh them out for your e-book. You will also need to add some transitional sentences so that each chapter flows into the next one smoothly.

4) Tell readers about your own business.

Now, talking about your business is not something you'd normally do in an article, but you are welcome to do so (and should!) in your own e-book.

I would advise you to make it subtle and remember that the point of the book is to convey educational information to your reader, rather than to make a sale (although sales are a natural by-product of the e-book).

5) Write an introduction.

In your introduction to your book, you will tell the reader what they can expect from the book and what is to be gained. I usually advise the reader to print the book out so that they can read it like a real book (it's easier on the eyes and also makes it so the book is an easily accessible resource later on).

6) Write a conclusion.

In your conclusion you would invite readers to ask you questions, give contact info for yourself, and give a link to your website. If you're selling anything related to the topic of the e-book, then give a link to that product.

7) Then, all you need to do is put the book into PDF form, and decide how you'll use it!

There are many uses for an e-book:

*You can offer it in your resource box as a reason to click through to your website. For example: "Claim your free e-book on this topic at [your URL]"

*Offer it as a free download on your website. That way, you have a gift waiting for any visitors. This is also a great way to build your list--before delivering the e-book you could capture the visitor's email address and send the e-book to their inbox.

*Send the e-book to people already on your list--I'm sure they would appreciate it!

*Possibly sell your e-book (if it's really good, why not?).

It makes sense to get double duty out of your marketing efforts--if you've already taken the time to create the article, why not take it to the next level and create your own e-book?

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It pays to get double duty out of your articles, and then to save even more time, you can automatically submit your articles to suitable publishers, and get maximum exposure for minimal effort. For more information about how to do this, go to http://www.SubmitYOURArticle.com

Article Marketing---Software Or Service?

Regularly adding fresh, new content to one's web site is a key search engine optimization function and will eventually result in increased visitor traffic. Such content will come from two primary sources---readily available free content that someone else has written or the site owner's own personal contributions.

While its value has been proven, writing articles---quality articles---takes some time, and submitting them, once they are finished, takes a considerable amount of time.

A number of software programs have been introduced over the years designed to automate certain tasks involved in the writing and submission of articles, but are they worth it?

There are software programs that will take various parts of your article and spin it---rewrite it in numerous variations. I have never used any of these, so I do not know how reliable they are, but it would be wise to make certain that they are not trying to intentionally shorcut the search engines with poor quality makeovers. There are services, however, that will do this on a legitimate level and in a professional manner.

There are other software products that attempt to automate, at least to some extent, the article submission process. Some of these, I have used, and while they do cut out some of the repetition, you're still doing a lot of manual work. Ideally, you want to use the same login and password for all the article directories you submit to simply to expedite the process, but there are directories that throw a wrench in this by wanting to issue their own login and password for you---some software applications will not accommodate multiple logins.

You still have to manually go into each directory separately, select the appropriate category for your article, and make sure your article formatted correctly onto their site. Doing this for hundreds of directories, especially if you are writing one-to-two articles per week as is recommended, can take an enormous amount of time. If you are still working a traditional job while you are getting your online business up and running, you will find yourself pushed to the wall pretty fast.

Article Post Robot is the one exception that I know of, where you enter all of your login information initially and then, when you submit your articles, you just click a Submit button only once---but there is still the time factor even for having to enter all of your login info upon setup.

On the service side, there are a couple of very good ones---Article Marketer and Submit Your Article (which I use). With these, you pay a monthly fee and you have access to their article writing software and they will submit the article for you---to a lot more places than you would ever be able to do manually or with any of the previously mentioned software products.

It had gotten to the point where it was taking me two weeks or more to submit an article after I had written it and I just had to find a better way. I chose the Submit Your Article service and I am very pleased and it is such a time-saver.

I know when you're starting out, you have to go with what you can afford at the time and work your way up---I had to do that, too. Given the importance of article marketing and the benefits you will reap from it, when you get to the place where you can afford the monthly service, by all means go for it because it will give you a lot more time to do all the other things that you need to do.

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Michael W Crank is the owner of Marketing Concepts Plus. If you found this article to be helpful and you would like to learn more about marketing your online business, then subscribe to our free newsletters at http://www.marketingconceptsplus.net

Persuasive Copywriting Tips: How To Write An Attention-Getting Headline, Part 4

Headline Tip #7: Embrace Emotion

The final element of a good headline is emotion. People buy based on emotion. (They also need logical reasons to back up their emotional decision, which are generally provided in the body copy.)

You've got to be careful with emotion, especially in this day and age. If you go overboard, your prospect's "B.S. Detector" will go into full alert. Understand that emotion cannot be manufactured using exclamation marks--much to the disappointment of network marketers, business opportunity promoters, and weight loss product manufacturers everywhere.

It's much more powerful to understate the emotional impact (by leaving out exclamation points) in order for it to hit the prospect with his "B.S." guard down. For example, consider this headline, which is a variation of one I wrote recently...

"13 Year SEO Veteran Reveals In-The-Trenches Insights, Tips, & Techniques On How To Dominate The Search Engines And Unleash A Flood Of FREE Targeted Traffic To Your Website."

To the website owner struggling to get traffic, this headline is quite emotional. It stirs up hope mixed with a little greed. But had I added several exclamation points at the end of it, it would lose its impact and come across as mere hype.

Putting It All Together

In this article series, we've covered what I consider to be the 7 critical elements of a strong, powerful headline. You'll find that every effective headline uses all of these elements to one extent or another.

Let's take a classic headline example, widely considered to be one of the greatest headlines ever written, and evaluate it using the 7 elements discussed in this article series:

"How A 'Fool Stunt' Made Me A Star Salesman"

Does it flag the target audience? Yes. The implication is this is for sales professionals who want to improve their results.

Is it unique? Definitely.

Does it communicate a benefit or implied benefit? Yes. The benefit is implied on two levels: 1, that there is a good story to follow (which is a benefit in itself)... and 2, the implication that you too can become a star salesman.

Does it have a sense of urgency? The urgency comes from the prospect on two levels: 1, the need to hear the full story... and 2, the desperate need to increase sales.

Is it specific? In the sense that it identifies the audience, the benefit, and the "key fact" left out of the equation, yes. (But probably not as much as it would need to be for today's internet audience. Remember, this headline is decades old, and was intended for print advertising—not for an internet sales letter. For a sales letter, I would want to specify what "Star Salesman" meant with some hard numbers.)

Does it pique curiosity? Definitely. The words "Fool Stunt" point to a key fact left out of the equation. It also promises a good story.

Is it emotional? Yes. No exclamation point needed.

Bottom line: this is a great headline that could still work today with a bit more specificity and updated language. ("Fool Stunt" is a bit archaic.)

See how it works? Use this list as a tool for evaluating headlines and improving them. I guarantee you'll see better results and it will have a positive impact on your sales.

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Joshua Aaron Stanley is an online sales copywriter, or "Salesman in Print", who turns words into wealth using the power of persuasive sales copy. For more persuasive copywriting tips, visit http://www.CovertWrittenPersuasion.com

Persuasive Copywriting Tips: How To Write An Attention-Getting Headline, Part 3

Headline Tip #5: Be Specific And Avoid Vague Language

Vague language is the bane of marketing. It will put your prospect to sleep faster than watching C-SPAN after a big lunch. Consider common marketing phrases like "best customer service" or "highest quality products" or "state-of-the-art." They say absolutely nothing because there is no specificity.

If you want your headlines (not to mention your body copy) to be more interesting and have much more impact, then be specific with everything you say.

There are three small but powerful words that will help you avoid all forms of vague language in the future. The way they work is after every statement or claim, ask yourself this 3-word question: "Oh? How So?"

Let's practice. "We offer the best quality products money can buy."

"Oh? How So?"

See how it works?

Then, when you answer that question, ask one more follow up question: "Can you be more specific?"

For example, let's say you're selling a money-making opportunity. You may start out with a dry, boring headline like "Make More Money Now!" Simply apply the two questions, and you'll start digging up some rich fodder for creating a unique compelling headline. Something more along the lines of this:

"How To Make $29,438.26 Within The Next 30 Days Using A Little-Known Google Loophole That Shows You Instantly Where The Money Is Being Made Online."

Headline Tip #6: Pique Curiosity

The need to satisfy curiosity is a powerful motivator, which makes it an essential element for provoking your prospects into reading your message. There are two primary ways to pique your reader's curiosity...

One way is to leave out a key fact (or facts) in your headline the reader needs to know in order to complete the thought. Think of it as a "fill in the blank."

For example, "Do You Make These Mistakes In English?" This headline by Maxwell Sackheim was so effective it ran for some 40 years. Without the curiosity-provoking word "these", it would have been a flat, boring headline. As it is, the reader must continue in order to answer the question.

"How To" headlines arouse curiosity in the same way because the reader must continue on to discover the answer. Any headline can benefit from this technique, and the most powerful ones use it at least to some extent. (Read the previous headline examples in this article series to see how leaving out a key fact builds curiosity.)

The other way to pique curiosity is to promise a good story. Gary Halbert was a master at this. One of his most famous headlines was for a weight-loss product: "Atlanta Housewife Investigated And Almost Arrested For Losing 73 Pounds." Who wouldn't be tempted to read further?

One word of caution, however: confusion is not the same thing as curiosity. In order for curiosity to work, the headline must be specific or set up a specific scenario. If it's vague, and the reader isn't quite sure what you're talking about, he's not going to take the bait.

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Joshua Aaron Stanley is an online sales copywriter, or "Salesman in Print", who turns words into wealth using the power of persuasive sales copy. For more persuasive copywriting tips, visit http://www.CovertWrittenPersuasion.com

Writing Tips

Essential Cover Letter Writing Tips

One of the most common mistakes which many people make when writing cover letters is to neglect the entire purpose of a cover letter. While some may go overboard with the amount and details of information they include in the letter, others, in an attempt to be informal, take an entirely-too-casual approach. It cannot be too strongly stressed that writing a cover letter is not the same as writing to a friend or a family member. Please resist the urge to be chatty, humorous, or overly personal.

The purpose of a cover letter is to provide your prospective employer with a brief view of the person who is seeking the job and the benefits and value you would bring to the company as an employee. It is meant to spark his interest in reviewing your resume and requesting an interview. The cover letter is your way of introducing yourself, making a good first impression, and outlining how you are the perfect "solution" to the employer's needs.

A good cover letter will help the prospective employer decide that he wants to know more about you, and what you can offer to his company. If you keep this in mind, you will be well on your way to writing a cover letter that does its job.

As your cover letter is the employer's first introduction to you, preparing it correctly is essential. It is a good idea to write an initial draft of the letter then "sleep on it" and review it the next day. In addition to taking care that the letter is written in the proper form for a business letter, you want to pay special attention to your spelling and grammar. One misspelled word can make the difference between capturing the employer's interest and landing your letter and resume in the "toss" pile rather than the "to interview" pile.

The information you provide in your cover letter should be clear, brief, direct, and to the point. As it is meant to be an overview of what you can bring to the company, you should focus on the most relevant facts while leaving the details for your resume. For example, if you have earned a college degree or have had prior experience that is relevant to the job, you can state these qualifications in your cover letter, but reserve dates and other specifics for your resume.

Your cover letter should inform the employer that you are interested in the job, and that you will be an asset to his company. It should let him know that you have the qualifications or experience that he is looking for in a new employee. It is your chance to make a positive impression, and to convince him that he wants to know more about you.

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As one of the leading authorities on resume writing, cover letter writing, and job searching, Michelle Dumas is the founder of Distinctive Career Services LLC. Since 1996, Michelle and her team have empowered thousands of professionals worldwide with results-generating resumes, cover letters, and job search strategies. Visit http://www.distinctiveweb.com to get your free "Revive Your Resume" audio mini-seminar.

How to Write a Good Resume

Over three million sites on Google offer information on how to write a resume. According to one of the best free keyword suggestion tools on the planet, almost 1,000 people a day search for information on résumé writing.

Regarding the proper spelling, the word is French and if the ‘acute' is to be used, it should correctly be used twice. Hence, résumé and not resumé. You can also use the word without any accents. The correct word is the French résumé and not the English resume which has a totally different meaning, though it seems to be internet practice to use resume and this what will be used here.

A resume and a CV, or curriculum vitae, are much the same thing, though the term CV is more relevant to professional applicants, providing information on academic distinctions, posts held and theses that have been published. A CV is more of an informational document than a sales pitch, and used by doctors, scientists, solicitors, etc.

Here are the salient points to keep in mind when writing your resume:

* A resume is a sales pitch: you are the product and the employee reading it is the target.

* Your objective when you write a resume is to secure an interview – nothing else! It is a sales tool that you can use to your advantage, and give you a head start over your competitors.

* Sell yourself in writing, get the interview, and thensell yourself in person. Learn what you can about the company and sell yourself as filling the exact position being advertised.

* Stress how you can fill the job. Stress any previous experience IN THAT POSITION.

* Highlight your strengths when writing your resume and include numbers and figures. Include cash benefits you brought your last company.

* If you lost your last job, rather than leaving voluntarily, leave it for the interview. That's a different skill. If you must mention it, state something to the effect that you were a victim of your own cost cutting recommendations that the company took up too vigorously.

* Action words are always good – such as managed, developed, gained and presented. Do not use weasel words such as best, most, terrific. Don't bum yourself up. Be accurate and informative when writing. You're selling yourself, not an insurance policy.

* Use bullet points such as I am doing here, to the extent that the article directory allows. Use your strongest points, which are relevant for the job being offered, at the beginning. When writing a resume, you should always present information about your achievements in a positive manner. Don't state that "I was responsible for 10 other salesmen." Write "I was responsible for a sales department that secured $500,000 sales every month." Put yourself in the place of the reader and consider what would stand out to you.

Unless you are requested to do so don't include information irrelevant to the position such as your age, religion, hobbies or interests. Stick to RELEVANT employment history. If you don't think you have a lot of that, then perhaps you should find a job that is more relevant to your experience. An employer is not interested on your opinion on your abilities. Proven ability and experience are what are required.

Writing "I have done this job well and can demonstrate it" is meaningful. "I know I can do this job because it fits in with my abilities", is not.

You must be honest. If you try to make false claims you have a very good chance of being found out. This applies whatever country you live in. In the current litigious climate most companies will do what they can to avoid negligent hiring, and employment background checks and pre-employment screening are commonplace. Tell the truth, and if the truth is not good either do not write it, or add it to the bottom of your resume. The reader will probably not get that far and you can discuss your last position during your interview.

Keep in mind that a resume has 10 – 20 seconds to make it. Nobody is going to read all the way in that time. Sell yourself, and if you don't think you have the literary ability to do so, then hire a writer to do it for you. A professional freelance writer will be able to give you advice on how to write a resume, and even do it for you.

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As a former manager of two multinational companies Peter has much experience in reading resumes and knows what is required in writing them. More information is available on his web site http://www.article-services.com from which he provides freelance writing and ghostwriting services.

Persuasive Copywriting Tips: How To Write An Attention-Getting Headline, Part 2

Headline Tip #3: Communicate A Benefit or Implied Benefit

People ultimately buy benefits. So it's important to communicate a strong benefit in your headline.

I once critiqued a brochure with nothing on the outer flap except the words "Going Beyond The Paycheck." It was for a company offering wellness programs for corporate HR departments. Once I understood this, my response was, "Oh... now I get it."

But unless you happened to know what the company did, it would be impossible to derive any meaning or benefit whatsoever from the headline. Consequently, their brochure wasn't nearly as effective as it could have been.

On the other hand, it's important to communicate MORE than just a benefit. To use an earlier example, "Lose Weight Now" is a great benefit. But because it's so over-used it's just not very effective on its own.

The key thing to remember is that while the benefit (or implied benefit) is important, a headline almost always needs other elements to make it stand out and get attention. Take my earlier example:

"How To Melt Your Fat Away And Keep It Off For Good Using This Little-Known Detox Secret The Diet Industry Doesn't Want You To Know About..."

Notice how the benefit—communicated using different language than the overused "lose weight"—is woven in with other elements to give this headline much more impact.

Headline Tip #4: Have A Sense Of Urgency

If there is a deadline to respond, or a limited number being sold, then you have a great opportunity to communicate some urgency in the headline. For example, here is a headline I wrote for Eric Lofholm. It was for a limited promotion, and was to be mailed to his database of buyers (who already knew who he was)...

"A LIFETIME OF SALES TRAINING With Eric Lofholm; Expires June 29... And There's Only Room For 200."

This is an example of what I call "external urgency". It is manufactured in order to spur people into action. It can be very effective—but not without what I call "internal urgency"...

You tap into your prospects own "internal" sense of urgency by being very relevant to your target audience. The headline must be newsworthy, and it must promise a solution to a problem your prospect is having and thinking about right now.

Take the following pre-head from a recent sales letter I wrote:

"SPECIAL INVITATION To L.A. Area Business Owners & Entrepreneurs Worried About The Recession..."

Notice how it not only flags the target audience. It addresses a serious concern. This was written in January 2009, when the recession is the big worry on everyone's mind. The headline continues by promising a solution to the "recession problem" in the form of a "Recession-Busting" marketing seminar.

This approach is much more powerful than leading with a scarcity tactic because it builds value FIRST. Once the value has been established, then scarcity can definitely help light a fire under your prospect's hindquarters and spur him into action!

Both kinds of urgency are critical to the success of your sales letters.

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Joshua Aaron Stanley is an online sales copywriter, or "Salesman in Print", who turns words into wealth using the power of persuasive sales copy. For more persuasive copywriting tips, visit http://www.CovertWrittenPersuasion.com

Persuasive Copywriting Tips: How To Write An Attention-Getting Headline, Part 1

The headline is one of the two most critical leverage points in any sales letter or ad. (The other is the offer.) A strong headline can make a huge difference in influencing your prospect to continue reading. For that reason, it's absolutely critical to have a strong, powerful headline.

This article series covers 7 key tips for writing powerful, attention-getting headlines that pull your reader into your body copy. Use these tips as a guide for creating a headline... and as a test to determine the strength it.

Headline Tip #1: Flag Your Target Audience

I make a distinction between your target market and your target audience. Your target market represents the total number of potential prospects for your product or service. It is defined by certain shared characteristics with your existing buyers.

Your target audience, on the other hand, is the subset of that group who are most likely to buy from you. This represents your "starving crowd", and is the target you're aiming for. For example, if you sell a product to help people quit smoking, your target market may be smokers who want to quit... but your target audience will most likely be smokers who so desperately want to quit they are willing to try your solution, even though nothing else has worked for them. There's a subtle but important distinction here that can make all the difference in your results.

You can flag your audience either explicitly or implicitly. For example, if you were to explicitly flag your audience, you might come out and say, "Attention: Smokers Who Desperately Want To Quit..."

Alternatively, you can be a little more "smooth" by implicitly flagging your audience like this: "Introducing A Scientifically-Proven Method To Help Smokers Quit Cold-Turkey WITHOUT The Intense Cravings. Guaranteed To Get You Over The 'Hump' Or Your Money Back."

When flagging your audience, it's critical to have an understanding of who they are, what most resonates with them, and what problems they're really concerned about.

The best way to find out is to talk with your buyers in person. Interview them to find out what they were going through when they bought your product. You'll be surprised at what you uncover! I guarantee what you learn will help make not just your headline, but all of your copy much more powerful and focused on your target audience.

Headline Tip #2: Be Unique

One hallmark of a weak headline is it could be used by anyone selling a similar solution. Take the weight loss market, for example. "Lose Weight Now" is not a very powerful headline because there is nothing unique about it. Anyone selling any type of weight-loss product could use it.

On the other hand, the following headline is much more powerful...

"How To Melt Your Fat Away And Keep It Off For Good Using This Little-Known Detox Secret The Diet Industry Doesn't Want You To Know About..."

Notice how this headline is suddenly much more interesting as a result of communicating a unique idea. It's also more specific (Tip #5) and has an element of intrigue (Tip #6).

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Joshua Aaron Stanley is an online sales copywriter, or "Salesman in Print", who turns words into wealth using the power of persuasive sales copy. For more persuasive copywriting tips, visit http://www.CovertWrittenPersuasion.com

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