Bring Short Copy Up To Snuff

People ask me how to write good copy a lot, and often they're interested in how to make short ads better for classifieds, for GoogleAdWords, for co-registration, etc.

I usually send them back to a time before computers became such a hot business tool. Some of the greatest short copy techniques were working long before the Internet came alive for business. Marketers then, using newspaper advertising, were doing some of the very same things we do now electronically. They were just as thrilled about newspaper classified advertising as we are about AdWords, autoresponders, and co-registration.

What's changed? Not much really. Just how we deliver the ads. These people just wrote classified ads for newspapers and put tracking codes into them. They may have used different extensions for different newspapers, or a secret word like "squirrel" or whatever. Though these were manual mechanisms, they weren't really that much different from what we're using online.

The first thing I'd tell you to do is find a copy of Roy H. Williams' The Wizard of Ads. It's very cool and really, really interesting. It's an old book, but you can still get it online. What it will do is to help you to write great headlines. What are classified, anyway? Great headlines, right? There's not much room for more in a classified ad.

Only a few words go into a classified ad, right? So, if you have a killer headline... you win! Also look at some of the old stuff by Ted Nicholas or to the Robert Collier Letter Book. Focus on the headlines. And never neglect the late Gary Halbert. His website at http://thegaryhalbertletter.com has always been a go-by. All of Gary's letters are there, but they're actually from his ezine, which he wrote in a funky kind of way, and there are a whole ton of examples. Copy his writing word-for-word with a pen and pencil, not to plagiarize of course, but to get the rhythm and feel of his work. Also check out some of Jay Abraham's stuff. He has some digital products that we joint venture on.

I could go on and on, really. But what you need to realize is that headlines are all-important. Study them and study classified advertising. There are thousands of books on it, and they apply directly to everything we do--co-registration, squeeze pages, sales letters, etc.

When you're talking short ad copy, those are the directions I'd go in. You can also go and pick up a couple of the tabloid newspapers, like The Star and The Enquirer. Really! Study their headlines.

Here's a dare: Run those headlines in some kind of promotion. I don't even care if the product you're trying to sell is targeted or not. Just throw into some advertising, and see if you don't get great response. Check out Wired, too. They write kick-butt article titles that are cutting-edge for technology. That just lends itself well for our purposes.

These are all great methods. Try some and take immediate action on what you learn. Watch your response rates soar.

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