Now, as I’m sure you’re all well aware, people aren’t going to buy just because you tell them your product is great. If they did, it would make life a whole lot easier and also put me out of a job – but it’s never going to happen.

If you want someone to buy from you, you have to persuade them your product is the best thing since sliced bread and will make their lives simpler, more fulfilling and, quite possibly, richer.

So how to you go about persuading them? Well, there are several techniques you can use that will help them come to the ‘right’ decision.

People want a lot of things, your job is to work out what they are and give them to them. Now, I’m not talking about wanting a physical thing, what I mean here is that people want things that will make them feel better about themselves.

Not sure what I mean? Well, below are 10 things people might want along with a way you could sell your product to meet their needs.

1. To win the approval of others – tell them how their friends will admire them if they buy your product.
2. To associate with like-minded people – give free membership to a membership site if they buy.
3. They are environmentally conscious – tell them you will donate a percentage of your profits to green causes.
4. They enjoy delicious food – give away vouchers for restaurant meals if they buy your product.
5. They want information – give away a free eBook when they buy.
6. They want to get rid of pain – guess what? Your product will take away their pain.
7. People want pleasure – your product will provide them with it.
8. They won’t want to miss a great opportunity – tell them the price is time limited and will soon be rising.
9. People want good health – provide free taster sessions at a local gym or health club if they buy your product.
10. People like to be part of a select group – give away free membership to your associated club when they buy your product.

Obviously you won’t be able to use all of these for your products but hopefully it has given you a few ideas about how you could add the art of persuasion into your sales copy.

Just think – what is it that my customers are looking for? What is the need they want satisfying? If you can identify that and tailor your copy accordingly – how can they refuse to buy?

Sally Ormond is a professional freelance copywriter. Her extensive range of copywriting services has helped numerous UK and International businesses save time and money whilst increasing their sales and market visibility.

I love Twitter. It is a brilliant tool for networking, business promotion, meeting amazing people and a superb resource for information. I feed all my blogs and Squidoo pages through it helping others by spreading my copywriting tips to a wider audience (you can follow me by clicking here).

But unless you use it, you don’t always get it.

Well, prepare yourself for a mini Twitter master class. I found this fab video by Mark Shaw (follow him on Twitter here)

If you are unsure whether it is for you, watch this video – Twitter Show: Why I left Twitter after a week and then you’ll understand the power of Twitter.

NB – since making this post, the above link for Mark’s video is no longer valid. However, if you want to learn about Twitter and how to use it effectively, why not take a look at Mark’s series of videos on Twitter.

Content is everywhere. Some of it is great – informative, funny, attention-grabbing, persuasive, powerful…some of it is, well, pants quite frankly.

You would probably be hard pushed to recall a great ad or piece of copy, but I bet you can remember the bad ones.

To avoid falling into the trap of producing bad copy, I have compiled a list of 20 sins that you should avoid.

1.  No attention-grabbing headline

2.  No sub headings

3.  No benefits

4.  No guarantees

5.  Spelling and grammar mistakes

6.  No testimonials (believable ones, anyway)

7.  No features

8.  No conversational writing or questions

9.  Over complex and long sentences

10.  No deadlines

11.  No strong call to action

12.  No free trials

13.  ALL IN CAPITALS

14.  Very few ordering options

15.  No visuals (all text is a bad idea)

16.  No comparison against competitors

17.  No emotional appeal

18.  Way too much jargon

19.  Text is either too small or too big

20.  Not enough white space

I’m sure you can provide further examples, if so I’d love to hear about them.

Sally Ormond is a freelance copywriter helping businesses become more visible in their market place, increasing their targeted web traffic and sales.

Her UK copywriting services help numerous companies in the UK and abroad.

I have written numerous posts on here about webcopy and how you should write it. Its all about writing clearly for your reader. Forgetting jargon and long sentences. Creating headings that make navigation easy. Basically making it easy to understand.

This post from Coppyblogger by Demian Farnworth sums its all up rather nicely. Read on and discover how easy it can be to write webcopy.

Everything You Need to Know About Creating Killer Content in 3 Simple Words

Creating great content is not hard. In fact, it’s quite easy. That is, if you understand three simple words.

If you summarized every single book and article written on writing for the web, you’d get these three words. Yet, no one–not even the experts, authors, or pundits–have ever consolidated all this knowledge into one simple, sticky formula.

Until now.

Write with these three words in mind, and anything you publish on the web will rivet attention, stoke desire, and get action.

Don’t believe me? Well, after you’ve read the rest of this article, give it a shot. And let me know what you think.

1. Clear

In less than four seconds visitors need to be able to comprehend what you wrote on your web page. I didn’t say “read.” I said “comprehend.”

Even before Steve Krug wrote it, the unbreakable law of the web has always been this: don’t make me think.

Your headlines, subheadlines, links, labels and navigation should all communicate clearly what lies in, under or behind them.

This is part of giving readers control. No tricks. Nothing clever or cute. Never lie. Just straight, uncensored, easy-to-digest truth.

Do it any other way and you’ll repel people. Bore readers. Lose money.

2. Concise

Writing for the web is a minimalist affair. Your words, sentences and paragraphs are short. Precise. Lean. Tight. Web writing trades in sheering off useless words. Cutting flabby paragraphs…

Even shedding entire pages.

Think that’s harsh? Jakob Nielson recommends you cut up to half of the words for every print page you plan to put on the web.

There’s a great benefit for you behind all this editing: You’ll become a ruthlessly good writer. You’ll get much better, in fact.

Best of all, writing clear and concise won’t make you boring or dull. Far from it.

3. Compelling

The Rich Jerk is irritating, annoying and loathsome. But he’s compelling. Interesting. Persuasive. That’s why he won’t go away.

Why? Because he’s tapped into human emotions—greed and pride—that pull people into his copy… whether they like it or loathe it.

You have to do the same. You have to uncover what makes your reader tick. What strokes his ego. What plucks his gut strings. What keeps him up at night. And when you uncover that hot spot, punch it.

If he’s a political junkie, wave breaking news in front of him. An Apple addict? Share the latest hacks and apps for the iPhone. A wine lover? Hustle the best bottles his way.

Whatever it is, give your reader what he wants. Or he’ll go away. It’s the law.

What About SEO Copywriting?

Forget about it. Seriously.

If you focus on writing clear, concise and compelling copy, you will naturally write keyword-dense copy. You’ll naturally write for the search engines.

In fact, that’s why I think the label SEO copywriter is redundant. Every web writer worth his salt is a SEO writer. At least they are if they write clear, concise and compelling copy.

The question is, content creator, are you?

What Do You Think?

Did I miss it? Are there more than three words that describe successful online content creation? Let me know and we’ll debate it.

About the Author: Demian Farnworth is Senior Web Writer for an international humanitarian aid organization and blogger for Fallen and Flawed.

Have you noticed that your website copy, brochures or adverts don’t seem to be working for you any more?

Well, it is probably because your message has become stale. Your readers are fed up with the same old thing time and time again. They’re ready for something fresh that will make them sit up and take notice.

Before you roll your eyes and think “…and just when am I supposed to find the time to re-write all my sales materials?” remember that simple changes can make a huge impact.

Listed below are 10 simple but effective ways to breathe live back into your tired sales copy.

1. Change the length of your copy – if long copy hasn’t worked, try short.
2. Break up your copy with sub headings. This will make your text easier to read and will help keep your readers’ interest.
3. Pose questions that will persuade your reader to buy.
4. Highlight your keywords.
5. Put your main benefits in a bulleted list to make them standout.
6. Play with the font size – make the salient points larger.
7. Increase or decrease your advertised price.
8. Include testimonials and statistics, but make sure they are real and relevant.
9. Take out any jargon – there is no bigger turn-off than copy riddled with complex terms.
10. Add special offers, free trials, discounts etc.

You can use as many or as few of these as you like. Try different combinations for different audiences and products.

Keeping your content fresh is vital to keep your readers’ interest.

Sally Ormond is a freelance copywriter based in Suffolk. She works with companies all over the country and internationally providing expert copywriting services to help them increase their market visibility, targeted web traffic and sales.