Copywriting: Writing Sales Letters That Rake In More Leads

Hey there, ever wonder how fancy-pants marketers weave words together to rake in leads? Well, it’s called copywriting, the art of persuasive word-smithing. It’s the same skill that magnetic Mike Dillard used to build his fortune and it’s a skill you can learn too with enough time and practice too.

But let’s say you don’t have hundreds of hours to learn this skill.

How can you write a sales letter fast? How can you write web copy that will help you generate leads or convert prospects into cold hard cash by next week instead of next year? Well, you could use this handy checklist. It’s as good a start as any.

9-Part Sales Letter Checklist By Jason Better:

#1 What You Really Need To Know About Headlines: I’ll assume you know how important headlines really are. If you don’t then there’s a few articles on this blog withing easy reach. But what a lot of people don’t know is that your headline doesn’t have to “sell”. All it really has to do is wave down your readers and get them to read a little more.

Examples…
• Why Some Foods “Explode” In Your Stomach
• The Amazing Marketing Secrets Of A Genius Who Is Afraid To Fly
• They Laughed When I Sat Down At The Piano – But When I Started To Play
• What Never To Eat On A Plane…


#2 Tie-In Your Lead: You need to link your headline to your presentation with a powerful promise, story, or problem and that’s what a powerful lead does. There’s thousands of ways to write a lead but it’s always best to meet your reader where they already are. Find out what they’re thinking about and talk about that. It’s probably the most expensive real-estate on your page. So some writers will spend days on it.

Lead ideas…
• The promise…
• The problem…
• The story…


#3 Present Your Product. Often this is a story that presents the benefits of owning your product or joining your business. Personally, I think the easiest way to write a compelling sales letter is to tell your own personal story, but there’s more than one way to do it. Sometimes a simple presentation of benefits is best. Or a verbal demonstration of what your product or opportunity really does for your reader.

Ideas…
• Tell the story
• Intensify the pain
• Paint the dream
• Push the passion
• Present the facts
• Talk Benefits

#4 Load The Bullets: Bullets are also called fascinations by some writers. They tweak curiosity, build desire, and agitate your reader until they HAVE TO buy your product or contact you to get rid of the discomfort you’ve built in their brain.

It’s the same reason a good thriller or TV show will hold you till the end even through commercials. They build up tension with loose ends and then refuse to tie them up till the end.

Here’s a quick example…

• The easiest way to get more leads on BetterNetworker.com If you have 2 minutes I’ll show you how pushing one button on your profile makes all the difference. It has nothing to do with pictures, content, or even links. It’s something I learned it from Jim Yaghi – Page 37

Not a gem… but you get the idea right? I collect copywriting bullets. It’s kinda a hobby of mine and I do the same with headlines too.


#5 Punch The Proof: If there’s one thing every major copywriter will ram into your brain it’s this. Prove your case. Collect evidence, case studies, testimonials, scientific research, expert quotes, and anything else that will support each and every word you type. This is one of the hardest things for a copywriter to do… but it has to be done.

Fictional example…

In 2007, the Campbells Institute of Science And Technology (CIST) found that Bugaboo Juice taken twice daily will reduce the risk of cancer in women by up to 33.2%

Powerful, specific proof will almost always out-pull a hyped-up promise.


#6 Build An Awesome Offer: Your offer is more important than your sales letter. So tack on relevant bonuses, free gifts, videos, or anything else your market would love to have. This helps justify your price and in the end, it doesn’t really matter if they buy your product for the bonuses or the product does it? A sale is a sale.

Example…

One offer I studied a while back offered five free reports, a 24 hour toll free help line, personal coaching, a gold coin, and another free report if you signed up for their newsletter for something $197 a year. Geeze, I wanted to buy before I even read the letter.

What are you giving away?


#7 A Gruesome Guarantee: Your guarantee should be so string it makes you wince. A strong guarantee is proof that you believe in your product or business. It’s almost a give-in online that you should offer your buyers a lengthy guarantee but there’s a lot of ways to do this too.

Ideas…

You could offer a conditional guarantee, a double-your money back guarantee, or even a life-time guarantee if you’re confident you’ll make a profit. Most people are too chicken to test this out, so you’ll really stand out from your competitors.


#8 Write A Cordial Close. At some point, you’re gonna have to wrap up your sales pitch and present it in condensed form. I like to wrap things up and then lead into my “call to action”. You present your offer and benefits one last time and then ask for the order. You have to keep up the intensity or you’ll lose sales… so be sure to invoke urgency too…

Suggestions…

Try using short bullet points to summarize your offer. Keep the pace up and make it easy to read. Sometimes this is the only thing your buyers will read. But always remember to test your results. Every market is different.

#9 Make It Urgent! You need to give a compelling reason for your readers to act RIGHT NOW. It counters the last objection: “Why should I buy this now.” This could be a “fast action bonus” a “limited time offer” or “limited seats” deal. It’s up to you. But it has to be honest. Above all, tell them why they MUST act now if they want what you’re offering.

Inject some scarcity…
• Limited supply
• Limited seats
• Action bonus
• Live events
• And so on

A few more “secrets”

• Disguise your sales letter because almost nobody wants to read it.
• Write in the conversational style of your prospects.
• Stay away from hype.
• Write fast.

The formula in short…

• #1 Headline
• #2 Lead
• #3 Presentation
• #4 Bullets
• #5 Proof
• #6 Offer
• #7 Guarantee
• #8 Close
• #9 Urgency

Some of these overlap, it really depends. And every sales letter is different. In fact, using any “formula” will set you back… but it’s the only way to start off on the right foot unless you happen to have loads of writing experience.

Copywriting isn’t easy, but it is one of the most powerful skills you will ever learn. It affects everything from your lead generation to converting those leads into sales. It affects almost every aspect of marketing… from ads, articles, to video. Wherever words are used they can be used more effectively… and that’s what copywriting is.

What’s Your Favorite Copywriting Course Or Book?

You wouldn’t believe me if I told you how many years I struggled to learn these simple ideas. But I hope you’ll share your own too. Maybe you could even tell me what your favorite copywriting books or courses are… I’m sure loads of people would like to hear that too.

I know I would.

Talk soon,


Jason The “Better Networker”

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