One of the most neglected things people think about when looking to make money online, is writing effective sales copy.

This is a big mistake because convincing your audience to dip their hands in their pockets and grab the old credit card, takes a lot more than just putting stuff out there.

If you want to reap the rewards that are there for the taking, copywriting is one of the most important skills you need to either develop yourself, or pay someone to do for you.

Think about it like this…

If you have a great product or service that people are really going to benefit from…

… if you can’t get them to take up the offer, you’re doing them a massive disservice!

You could have a cure for cancer for example, but if no-one believes you when you tell them about it, EVERYONE is missing out!

Of course there’s a lot more to writing great sales copy than most people imagine but in this article I’m going to run through nine ‘rules’ I’ve used over the last 14 years or so to generate sales well in excess of £20,000,000 ($24,000,000)…

Hopefully you’ll be able to use them to get great results yourself.

But first…

What is sales copy?

In a nutshell…

It’s words that sell!

These words might simply make up a single sentence.

Or fill pages and pages that seems to go on forever (long-form copy).

Fundamentally though, sales copy is a term used for the written words that get people to take action.

Sometimes that action is designed to be carried out straight away…

… think direct marketing with an outright pitch that persuades people to buy there and then.

Or it might be designed so the action is taken another time…

… writing to build a brand maybe where the potential customer will buy the product or service at a later date.

Put simply, sales copy is written material used to promote or sell stuff… in other words, a very important form of marketing!

The difference between a copywriter and an author

Because of the awesome money-making power of decent sales copy, it’s very often written by a professional copywriter.

Funnily enough, being a copywriter is one of those strange professions that not many people really ‘get’!

I’ve been writing highly successful sales letters now for the last 14 years or so and still people ask me if what I do involves ‘copyright’, which is something very different!

No, unlike an author, who writes purely to provide information or create fiction that’s not designed to be acted on (think novels, magazine articles, newspaper columns, that sort of thing)…

… a copywriter is someone who writes persuasive words that trigger emotion and/or imagination, to get people to buy or take the desired action.

Now done well, writing decent sales material can mean the difference between a bottom line that bombs…

… or sales that can ‘blow you away’ with the amount of money they make (I’ve literally written sales letters that have pulled in over £5,000,000 from a single campaign)!

So do you need to be a copywriter to write decent sales copy?

Absolutely not!

With a little practise, writing powerful, persuasive, profitable copy can actually be quite easy and if you follow the simple guidelines I’m going to lay out in this post, you should be able to produce something half decent in no time!

You can also check out this article, which reveals a really simple secret for creating highly effective sales copy even if you’ve never done anything like it before!

Why is sales copy so important?

Before I get into it, let me just tell you why your sales copy should never be neglected.

Even today with the massive rise of social media marketing, where images and video are used to sell all kinds of stuff…

… invariably it’s written words that make you give out your credit card details in order to make a purchase.

For example, if you watch the best and most exciting ‘influencers’ talking about the latest, greatest product or service they’re promoting on YouTube, Instagram or wherever…

… when they want you to buy through their affiliate links, you’re given access to a website or they tell you to “click the link in the description”…

And what do you find there?

Words!!

Now those words might just be a one line ‘call to action’…

… or they might be a full-on page filled with sales material that really draws you in.

Bottom line though, when it comes down to it, it’s the words that sell!

The 4 keys to effective sales copy!

Ok, so you’ve got the idea of what’s involved, let’s dive in and show you how YOU can write your own killer sales copy without using the services of a professional copywriter!

A long established framework that customers usually go through before they make a decision to buy is AIDA.

It applies to pretty much anything and if you haven’t heard of AIDA, it’s a powerful sales concept which was developed well over 100 years ago and is still very much taught in marketing today.

Here’s what it stands for…

1. Attention/Awareness
2. Interest
3. Desire
4. Action

Let’s quickly run through these and then we’ll delve deeper into the main ‘ingredients’ of good copy so you can create your own highly profitable sales material.

#1 – Make them aware and grab attention

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to work out that if your potential customer isn’t aware of what you’re offering, then no matter how good your copy, they’re not going to buy anything…

That’s obvious!

So the first rule of AIDA says you have to get your reader’s attention to make them aware of what you’re going to offer.

#2 – Tweak their interest!

Ok so you’ve got your reader’s attention, but does that mean they’re going to stick around?

Of course not!

In order to get them to carry on reading to see what ‘you’re on about’, you need to tweak their interest.

A good example of this would be if I were to write something along the lines of:

How an Orange Duck Could Make You $1,068.05 in Just 10 Minutes and 33 Seconds, Twice a Week For the Next 6 Months!

Woud it make you curious?

I can assure you, the combination of something out of the ordinary like an orange duck mixed in with specific timelines and accurate sums of cash would definitely be intriguing for many people and a lot of them may well want to find out more!

By the way, I just made that headline up quickly, I don’t have a specific strategy that makes $1,068.05 in just 10 minutes and 33 seconds, twice a week for the next 6 months.

However…

Using the principle of the Orange Duck to make a killing is VERY real because it invokes curiosity.

#3 – Create desire

While grabbing attention and creating interest is absolutely essential in writing effective sales copy, the main reason for these two stages is to get your audience to read more.

However the real skill is in creating desire so the reader becomes motivated to take the action you want them to take!

In the ‘how to make money’ niche you’ll often see beautiful images of luxurious vehicles, lavish holidays or diamond necklaces etc, that sort of thing.

These are to get people to really use their imagination and truly desire these things themselves

It works equally in other niches too.

Let’s say you’re selling something much more mundane… an effective shampoo for lice for example.

While hardly an exciting subject, rest assured, all around the world there’ll be mums who truly desire their kids to be nit free, so images and words showing a happy child with a clean head can work wonders!

#4 – Get them to take action!

Ultimately this is what writing good sales copy is all about!

You’ve made them aware, you’ve got their attention, tweaked their interest and even got them fired up so they really want what you have to offer.

But if they don’t take the final step, it all means ‘Jack Sh*t!’

So for a copywriter, this is the end game, the ‘raison d’etre’, the driving force behind the words that hopefully get your reader to take the action that makes them become a punter!

Ok, here are my 9 top tips for creating killer sales copy

Assuming you’ve done your research, you’ve got the product or service you’re offering and know your target market…

… if you use the following tips as your building blocks, you can be confident you’ll have some pretty decent copy at the end of it.

#1 – Make the biggest possible promise you can that’s genuinely achievable!

One of the biggest problems new marketers have is the feeling of imposter syndrome so when they’re writing about their product or service, they’ll often ‘tone it down’ to feel comfortable that what they’re saying is generally how it is in real life.

This is all very admirable but the trouble is… it doesn’t work!

In sales there’s absolutely nothing wrong with ‘bigging it up’!

As I said earlier, if you’ve got a great product that people will truly benefit from, you’re doing them a massive disservice if you can’t get them to have it!

This is where your headline comes in and the key is to use it to grab attention, by making the biggest possible promise that’s genuinely achievable, even if it’s not by the majority of people who use it!

Now don’t get me wrong, you should NEVER lie… that’s the quickest way to lose customers forever (too many marketers lie about what they’re offering and as soon as they’re found out, their reputation is gone for good).

However, as long as what you’re claiming is actually ‘doable’ (preferably by a number of people but if not, at least one), then it’s perfectly fair to paint the biggest picture you possibly can, because EVERYONE then has the opportunity to achieve it.

Top advertising companies do this all the time.

Or variations of it.

As do many global enterprises.

Take McDonalds for example.

Whether you like or loathe them, when you go into the good old Maccy D’s and see the vibrant photos of the perfect looking burger pictured on their overhead menus, you’d think you’re in for a succulent treat of mouth watering delight.

But is that what you get?

The reality is, you end up with a bit of cow meat squashed between two pieces of cardboard and a mess of soggy lettuce overflowing into spilled mayonnaise!

Of course it is possible to produce the perfect looking burger (in other words it’s genuinely achievable), but do you think customers really mind?

What really matters is the benefit they get from it…

… in this case their hunger is satisfied and as far as I can tell, most people who frequent McDonalds love it!

#2 – Create flow, build rapport = trust!

We’ve already established the objective for writing decent sales copy is to get people to take the action we want them to take, so I’m sure it goes without saying, ideally, we’d like them to read everything we’ve got to say.

The last thing we want is for them to hit something that ‘jars’ and makes them stop in their tracks, and then abandon what you’re trying to share with them.

This is why, when writing copy, every headline, heading or paragraph is designed to keep people engaged so they carry on reading seemlessly.

Now, although a slightly unpleasant analogy, I’ve been known to describe a successful sales letter as a greasy chute that gets the reader to smoothly slide from one paragraph, to the next, to the next and so on.

The thing is, if you can create this flow you can easily build rapport.

I think of rapport almost as a ‘nodding head syndrome’.

As people read through and start to ‘get’ what you’re saying, they can find themselves inadvertently nodding along.

This means they’re subliminally agreeing with you, which is extremely powerful.

One of the ways we can make this happen is to create the feeling that we’re ‘in the same boat’!

It’s almost like we’re saying “we get it, we understand the problem, we’ve been there!“

Simply by writing in a friendly, ‘matey’ type manner, as if you were having a good old natter with a buddy can put your reader at total ease without them even realising you’re doing it!

Here are a few simple things you can use to really help create flow and build rapport.

Use apostrophes wherever possible

Shortening words with an apostrophe so they sound less formal is incredibly powerful because it makes the audience relax.

Unfortunately too many writers neglect this simple little trick but using contracted words like I’d instead of I would, or don’t instead of do not can make the reader feel like they’re just having a chat, which means they’ll much more likely stay engaged.

Eliminate the word ‘that’ wherever possible!

The word that is way over used in sales copy (and a lot of other types of writing for that matter) but getting rid of it wherever possible can make a huge difference to whether something sounds conversational or not.

Here’s what I mean…

Which of these two sentences flows more naturally in your mind when you read them?

“I think that this would be much better.”

“I think this would be much better.”

Can you see?

You could even go as far as:

“I think this’d be much better” but you get the point!

Use copy connectors

Huh?!

“Wtf’s a copy connector?” you may well ask.

Funnily enough, you probably use them all the time when you’re speaking!

Basically they’re those little words that lead nicely into a new sentence or paragraph by connecting it with the previous one.

Funnily enough is a great example…

They’re typically the sort of things we might say in conversation which really help with the flow, which encourages readers to continue reading without them even realising they’re being led.

Here are a few more examples …

• Of course…
• As you were saying …
• The point is …
• Make no mistake …
• Here’s the thing …
• Bottom line …

The list goes on and on, in fact there are literally hundreds, possibly even thousands but once you get used to using copy connectors, the results can be startling!

When it comes down to it (that’s a copy connector btw), using flow and creating friendly, smooth, easy-to-read, sales copy is incredibly important for building rapport, and once you have that, you create trust.

And customers generally buy from people they trust!

(If you want to know more about writing effectively, check out this post I wrote on how to become a better writer, which is all relevant to writing profitable sales copy).

#3 – Tap into their imagination

One of the most powerful things behind a potential customer’s decision to buy is what they imagine things will be like if they were to actually have whatever ‘it’ is.

Again, this is why you often see those wonderful images of pure luxury in material that’s designed to sell anything from wealth building programs to high end motor vehicles.

Getting potential customers to imagine the best possible scenario in their own minds from having or using what’s on offer, can massively influence them as to whether they dig their hand in their pocket to look for the credit card or not.

It works across virtually all industries.

Take weight loss programs for example.

Ever noticed how the fuller person in the ‘before’ picture is usually dressed in drab or dull clothing with no smile on their face…

But in the ‘after’ picture, they’re dressed in a wonderful feel-good outfit that shows off their newly sculptured body, while delighting us with a big beaming grin?

It’s to get the audience to imagine the best possible outcome of what it’ll be like to have the product.

Of course images are one thing.

But in sales copy you can easily paint a picture of perfection using powerful words that describe how your product or service can transform someone’s feelings from how they are now.

It’s far easier than you might think.

With clever and deliberately thought out wording you can easily get people to imagine what it would feel like if they…

• Were more beautiful
• Were richer
• Had more self esteem
• Were truly happy
• Had real love in their life
• Were content
• Were funnier
• Felt more empowered

And many more emotions that your products can make happen for them.

#4 – Ferrari, speed… one main focus!

This is really a continuation of tip #3, which makes using the imagination that much easier.

If you were to ask high end sports car fans what’s the main feature that comes to mind when you mention Ferrari, many would most likely say speed!

Even though these Italian models of engineering luxury come with beautifully crafted seats, fantastic build quality and outstanding high tech design, the most exciting thing when people think about them is performance.

Which is why, when it comes to selling ‘The Prancing Horse’ to wealthy clients, main dealers nearly always talk about ‘power’ or ‘0 to 60 in 2.9 seconds’, that kind of thing!

The thing is, obviously there are many benefits of owning a Ferrari.

But if it was your job to sell say a Ferrari F8… ‘majoring’ on the most exciting benefit it offers (in this case the thrill of the speed), can make it much easier for the customer to imagine themselves enjoying owning one (which means they’re more likely to buy)!

It’s the same when writing sales copy.

People generally buy a product or service to solve a problem.

It might be they just want it… and by simply having it solves their ‘problem’ of desire!

Or it might be that they actually need something for a specific purpose, in which case buying the solution to the problem becomes the obvious answer.

The key is to make it as easy as possible for them to imagine how it feels to have it!

Now even though there are usually multiple benefits to virtually any decent product or service, by getting your target audience to focus on a core ‘theme’, they come to the buying decision much more easily when they can really ‘picture’ in their mind the one main solution you’re offering.

The opposite can happen if you focus too much on all the benefits separately, because you end up overwhelming them with too much information, and they end up not being able to ‘see’ any of the advantages.

This even applies to distressed customers.

When things go wrong and they have no choice but to buy the solution to their problems, if you can get them to focus on the one core benefit of what you’re offering, it can turn a really worried customer into an extremely happy one.

Here’s an example…

Say you sell gas boilers.

Your customer might be really fed up because their twenty year old unit has finally given up.

They’re freezing cold and have got no hot water but the thing they’re most worried about is how much they’re going to have to spend to replace it.

Your solution might be to offer a brand new model that’s ultra modern, compact and fits in a small space in the garage.

It might be silent, with a fantastic power output and simply be more efficient.

These are all features which lead to benefits that could (and should) definitely be included in your sales material.

But the main core benefit is that it’s going to save money and by majoring on this, you can get them to almost ‘feel, taste or smell’ the advantages of having it that much more easily!

#5 – Create scarcity, rarity for urgency!

Let’s face it, whenever we want or desire something and we’re thinking of acquiring it, it’s always a bit of a worry if there’s not much of ‘it’ about.

So it stands to reason that if you come across something you’re after that’s quite rare or scarce, you’re going to jump on the chance to get hold of it at the first opportunity.

Now at first glance scarcity and rarity may appear to be the same thing but in reality, they’re subtly different.

Let me explain.

If you were in the market for a Penny Black stamp, without doubt, these are extremely rare so you’d be hard pushed to find one.

But if you wanted to buy say toilet rolls, these could hardly be described as rare, yet during the recent pandemic – at least here in the UK – people went absolutely nuts and bought way more of them than they actually needed!

Guess what happened!

All of a sudden the supermarkets shelves were empty and because panicking customers were stockpiling, toilet rolls became quite scarce.

Personally, my gut feeling is that supermarkets created this buying frenzy deliberately by limiting the number of toilet rolls they put on their shelves. They certainly made massive profits from the scarcity!

When you write sales copy, creating something similar can be incredibly effective for increasing conversions.

There are a number of ways to do it.

Let’s go with scarcity first…

If the aim of your copy is to sell a new product or service you could easily create scarcity by making an introductory offer at a reduced price.

Even though there’s nothing to say you won’t reduce the price again at a later date, for now, as far as the customer’s concerned, this price is quite scarce because what you’re offering is not going to be new forever and they may miss out if they don’t get in on it now.

Alternatively, you could sell a product a bit cheaper for ‘this week only’ which means customers know they have a limited time to benefit from the lower pice before the price goes back up.

By the way, if you do use techniques like this, make sure you do what you say you’re going to do.

If you say the price is going back up next week, make sure it does, otherwise you’ll soon get a reputation for pulling a fast one (you can always do another sale at a later date)!

Techniques like this are used all the time by major companies and corporations so there’s absolutely no reason why you shouldn’t use them as well.

So what about rarity?

Let’s say you’ve got a limited number of products to sell.

Are these rare or scarce?

Well, if potential customers can get them from anywhere else if you run out, they’re neither!

However, if you put your own brand on them or offer a USP (unique selling proposition), they can be both!!

If you were selling a limited edition of a particular brand of product that was only ever available through you and out of 100 that were ever produced, you’re down to your last 10, then this rare product is now becoming quite scarce!

Either way, when something is in short supply, it increases the urgency for people to buy, otherwise there’s a very real chance they’ll miss out.

#6 – Create intrigue with powerful bullet points

Bullet points are a great way to keep your audience engaged when writing killer sales copy for a number of reasons.

Firstly they can break up the page so it becomes easier to read, rather than just being a mass of text which can put people off.

They can also enable those individuals who scan read, to get a gist of the offer without reading the whole lot.

However, the most important reason to use bullet points is because they’re effectively ‘mini’ headlines which get people to want to find out more.

They can be intrigue based or emphasis based.

Intrigue based

A series of bullets with big promises that raise a ‘what the f**k is that’ type question in someone’s mind, can be extremely powerful.

Here we’re trying to get people to really want to know the answer, but in order to get it, they’ve got to buy the product!

That hypothetical orange duck sentence I used earlier is an example of what could be used as a bullet…

• You’ll instantly see how an orange duck could make you $1,068.05 in just 10 minutes and 33 seconds, twice a week for the next 6 months!

Or, if you were selling a weight loss product a bullet like this could be used…

• You’ll discover the one thing you’ve forgotten about that could make you lose 3 inches off your waistline by 4.30pm this time next week!

These type of bullets create the question that many people would be desperate to know the answer to but yep, they’d have to buy the product to find out.

Emphasis based

Emphasis based bullets could be something that just reiterates the benefits of what you’re offering…

• You can finally sack your boss…
• At last, you’ll be able to dig out those skinny jeans at the back of the wardrobe…
• You can say goodbye to chill blains forever…

… that sort of thing!

#7 – As Don Vito Corleone would say, “make them an offer they can’t refuse!”

Ok, that might be a bit drastic but there’s no reason you can’t make an offer that’s really difficult to refuse!

There are a number of ways to do this (free trials, heavy time-limited discounts and so on) but one of the most effective things you can offer is a really worthwhile bonus.

This is especially relevant if other people are selling the same stuff as you, because you can make your offer unique.

Imagine if you were writing sales copy to sell a can of coke.

Nothing unusual, rare or scarce about it – your reader could get it anywhere.

But what if you offered a bonus of a free holiday at a luxury apartment in Monaco for the first 100 customers who bought it from you?

Well I don’t know about you but that would be hard to turn down!

Of course this is a highly exaggerated example to emphasise a point but the principle is the same.

If an offer is so good that you’d be mad not to take it up, it can make sales go through the roof.

This is one of the reasons why highly successful marketers will add bonuses when you buy their products.

In fact, sometimes, even if people aren’t interested in the main offer, they could end up buying it just to get the freebie added extras!

#8 – Proof, proof and more proof!

Let’s face it, unless you’re shopping in the physical world, when you buy something online, or maybe even from a mailshot you receive in the post…

… you’re taking a leap of faith that you’re not going to be ripped off because you don’t know the seller personally.

Which is why, when you’re writing sales copy you should always provide as much evidence as you can that reinforces the message your product or service does exactly what it says on the tin.

You can do this by providing testimonials or social proof from previous customers.

Now when I first started out in this mad world of online marketing I remember thinking that testimonials are all too often fake and nobody reads them anyway.

And to some extent it was true…

To some extent!

In reality people do read them.

Not necessarily all of them, or even in their entirity, but they do read them.

The bottom line is, they add credibilty and can show that you’re trustworthy.

If other people have bought from you with confidence, subconsciously it shows others they won’t be wasting their money if they buy from you, and that helps them make the decision to take action that much more easily.

But what if you don’t have any previous customers or any testimonials?

I remember being asked this many times when I was speaking at some seminars on copywriting a few years ago.

The easiest way to get testimonials is to offer your product to a few initial ‘testers’ for free.

They could even be family or friends but by giving stuff away for free in return for a testimonial, well, you’ll be surprised at how ‘helpful’ they become and can’t wait to offer their thoughts!

Of course you should never make up testimonials (although I’m sure many marketers do)…

Technically that’s fraud, but not only that, if you’re offer’s any good, you shouldn’t need to (and if it’s not any good, you’re ripping people off by selling it anyway)!

#9 – Close the sales copy with a great call to action

The sign-off, the end game, the close.

Whatever you call it, the goal is to get your customer to come to a decision to buy and the end part of your sales copy has an extremely important roll to play…

But not necessarily in the way you think!

If someone is interested in your offer, they won’t necessarily read through the sales copy in the order it’s written.

They might scan it, read it in chunks or even flip straight to the end, if nothing else, very often to find the price.

This is why the closing part of the copy is still mega important and the sign off should never be neglected.

It goes without saying that you should always include a means for your customer to buy towards the end of your sales copy (an attractive order form, buy buttons etc)…

… but this is also a place where you can really add an upbeat feel and drive home the benefits of your offer.

For example, in long form copy you may have seen a series of P.S. statements (P.S… P.P.S… P.P.P.S…).

These might look a bit tacky but done well these ‘mini’ headlines serve a number of purposes one of which is to get people who might not yet be committed to the offer, to go back and find out more!

Bottom line (no pun intended), the end of your sales letter is equally as important as the main body, so don’t rush it.

Think of it like a piece of prime high value ‘real estate’!

Conclusion

So there we have it.

Obviously there’s more to creating mega-successful sales copy than what’s included in this post alone, but if you use at least some elements of each of the rules I’ve posted here, there’s a really good chance you’ll end up with something that can ‘blow your mind’ when you see the results!

Don’t forget, I’ve used these techniques to write sales copy that’s generated well over £20,000,000 ($24,000,000) over the last 14 years or so, so you can be assured they work.

There’s nothing difficult about it and with just a little practise you’ll be surprised at what you can achieve.

One thing’s for sure…

When you begin to see the power of knowing what makes people tick and how your words can influence them to reach a buying decision, it’s incredibly exciting!

You never know, once you’ve written your first killer sales copy, you may even find you have the flare for it and be able to start a new career, just as I did!