One skill that you really must pay attention to in online business and marketing is copywriting. Either you develop some skill with this yourself, or you need to outsource it to someone else who can do an effective job, but this will get very expensive over time.
The good news is that the art of copywriting is something most people can learn to do competently.
An acronym commonly used in the copywriting trade, which can be very helpful as a guide while learning the craft yourself, is the word AIDA.
AIDA (Attention, Interest, Desire, Action)
Let’s take a look at this proven formula:
A is for Attention
It would help if you grabbed your audience’s attention, and a compelling headline accomplishes this. Graphics can also create curiosity, but they are usually employed to draw people’s eyes to that all-important headline.
It would help if you became a student of what goes into a strong headline. This isn’t hard because they are everywhere. Just check out the magazines on your way through the supermarket checkout, which headlines pique your interest? When you’re surfing the internet, take note of the sales pages that you spent time reading. Did the headlines draw you in? Why? You probably get lots of emails each day – which subject lines motivate you to open the email? Why?
I is for Interest
Now that you have their attention, you need to continue to hold your reader’s interest. You can make grammatical mistakes in your copywriting, even the odd spelling mistake will not kill you, but the one thing you must never be is boring! This is unforgivable. Be funny, be surprising, be educational, even be controversial, but do not be dull. Give your reader no reason to wander from what you’re saying or tempted to click that little “X” at the top of your web page.
D is for Desire
Build a desire for your product or service. We make purchases based on our emotions. That doesn’t mean we don’t use logic to justify our purchases; however, the impulse to make a purchase
is almost always triggered by emotion.
To tap into your prospect’s emotions, focus on benefits to the user rather than merely your product’s features. Speak to what motivates them, what their problems are, and how you can solve them.
A is for Action
Give a strong call to action. What do you want them to do? Buy? Subscribe? Enroll? Request more information? Make them a clear offer and then tell them exactly what to do next.
Hence, following the rules listed above, you will surely have a killer sale copy for your products or services.
About the Author: Carol James is an EssayLab psychology department writer and senior editor. She has an MA degree in social sciences and is an excellent specialist in this field. Carol works with numerous materials on the subject and is eager to share her knowledge with our readers.
