Honing Your Copy Writing Skills

To start learning how to write good ads, carefully study:

• High-octane Copy Writers, like Marc Goldman and Alex Mandossian.

• Issues of The National Enquirer. These are some of the all-time highest paid copy writers, and with good reason.

No, I am not suggesting studying articles such as “Jennifer Williams Gets Impregnated By Alien!”. Only the ads.

Analyse each of these ads for the following:

1.  
   1. How has the writer attracted your attention
   2. What about the ads keeps your interest?
   3. Are you stimulated to want to know more about the product being advertised?
   4. What action must you take?
   5. How strongly are you “turned on” by each of these ads?

Rate these ads on a scale of one to ten, with ten being the best. Now, just for practice - without clipping the ads - do the same thing with ten different ads from a Wards or Penney’s catalog.

In fact, every ad you see form now on, quickly analyse it, and rate it somewhere on your scale.

If you’ll practice this exercise on a regular basis, you’ll soon be able to quickly recognise the “Power Points” of any ad you see, and know within your own mind whether an ad is good, bad or otherwise, and what makes it so.

This will give you the “feel” of the fundamentals and style necessary in writing successful ads.

It takes dedicated and regular practice, but you can do it!

Simply recognise and understand the Master Formula [A.I.D.A.]:

• Attention!
• Interest!
• Desire!
• Action!

Practice

Practice reading and writing the good ads - and rewriting the bad ones to make them better - and keep at it until the Formula, the Idea, and the feel of this kind of ad writing becomes second nature to you.

This is the ONLY WAY to gain expertise in writing good copy, including classified ads.

Virtually all successful copywriters rate the headline and/or the lead sentence of an ad as the most important part of the ad, and in reality, you should do the same.

After all, when your ad is surrounded by hundreds of other auction ads; what makes you think anyone is going to see your particular ad?

This brings you to…

The Naked Truth

The truth is, they’re not going to see your ad unless you can immediately reach out and grab their attention; entice them to read all of what you have to say.

Your headline has to make it more difficult for your prospect to ignore or pass over, than to stop and read your ad. If you don’t capture the attention of your reader with your headline, anything beyond is useless effort and wasted money.

Successful advertising headlines are written as promises, either implied or direct.

The former promises to show you how to save money, make money, or attain a desired goal. The latter is a warning against something undesirable.

Example of a Promise: Are You Ready To Become A Millionaire -In Just 18 Months?

Example of a Warning: Do You Make These Mistakes In English?

In both of these examples, I’ve posed a question as the headline. Headlines that ask a question seem to attract the reader’s attention almost as surely as a moth is drawn to a flame.

Once she’s seen the question, she just can’t seem to keep himself from reading into the rest of the ad to find out the answer.

Remember, however, that your first 250 words are going to make or break whether a reader chooses to read on - and usually it is a lot less than 250 words!

The best headline questions are those that challenge the reader; that involve her self-esteem, and do not allow her to dismiss your question with a simple “yes” or “no”.

“You’ll be the envy of your friends” is another kind of “reader appeal” to incorporate into your headline whenever appropriate.

The appeal has to do with basic psychology: everyone wants to be well thought of, and consequently, will read into the body of your ad to find out how she can gain the respect and accolades of her friends.

Wherever and whenever possible, use colloquialisms or words that are not usually found in advertisements. The idea is to shock or shake the reader out of his reverie and cause him to take notice of your ad.

Most of the headlines you see day in and day out, have certain sameness with just the words rearranged.

The reader may see these headlines with his eyes, but his brain fails to focus on any of them because there’s nothing different or out of the ordinary to arrest his attention.

Example of Colloquialism: Do You Experience Severe Brain Farts?

Another attention-grabber kind of headline is the comparative priced magazine headline: Three For Only $3, Regularly $3 Each!

Still another of the tried and proven kind of headlines is the specific question: Do You Suffer From These Symptoms??? And of course, if you offer a strong guarantee, you should say so in your headline: Your Money Refunded, If You Don’t Make $100,00 Your First Year.

“How To” headlines have a very strong basic appeal, but in some instances, they’re better used as book titles than advertising headlines.

“Who Else Wants In On The Finer Things” - which your product or service presumably offers - is another approach with a very strong reader appeal. The psychology here is the need of everyone to belong to a group (read herd mentality) - complete with status and prestige motivations.

Whenever, and as often as you can naturally work it in, you should use the word “you” (and its derivatives) in your headline, and throughout your copy.

After all, your ad should be directed to “one” person, and the person reading your ad wants to feel that you’re talking to her personally - not everyone who lives on her street.