One of the best books I have ever read in regards to writing content that sells is “How To Write Good Advertisements (A Short Course In Copy Writing)” by Victor Schwab. The book may well be many years old, but the advice it contains is just as good as it was when the book was first published way back in 1962.
Remember all affiliates are marketers so we must generate content that sells. Many affiliates give little thought to how they structure the content they write, in reality writing content for themselves rather than writing content that sells. I’m going to just cover the basics in this article but will dedicate next week to covering each of the “golden rules” in greater detail with real examples of how good affiliates utilise the methods online.
The five golden rules to writing good advertising copy are:
- Get Attention
- Show Readers An Advantage
- Prove The Advantage
- Entice Readers To Grasp The Advantage
- Ask For Action
Of course things are a little different in the online world but the five golden rules still hold firm.
Get Attention
If any article is going to generate any sales then of course it needs readers. The more readers, then the more sales the article should generate. As online marketers, attacking search engine queries, first we have to make sure our article title will be visible in Google. We of course can make sure of this by using good long tale search phrases in our article titles. Doing so will give our article at least some traffic.
Many affiliates give little thought to article meta descriptions which is a big mistake. We can use meta descriptions to get attention and so increase our click through rate from the search engines. Experiment with your page meta descriptions. Pack a punch in meta descriptions to entice search engine readers to click your listing in SERPs rather than others. From experience I can tell you that a good targeted meta description can vastly increase your click through rate.
Remember create article titles and meta descriptions that get attention!
Show Readers An Advantage
Now let’s move on to the actual content of your article. Firstly you have to understand what the readers of your actual article want. For example if your article is targeting new poker players then your readers may be looking for:
A Good Sign Up Bonus
Rakeback
Easy Competition
High Volume At Cash Table
Quick Filling SNG Tables
Client Interface That Enable Mass Multi Tabling
The list of course could vastly be increased although you must realise that you have to hit the right buttons in regards to what your reader is looking for. If you fulfil the requirements of what your reader is looking for then of course you have more chance of a sale.
Prove The Advantage
If you take the time to read product review sites online, you will find that a very high percentage give every product they review a glowing reference. This is of course down to the fact that most reviews have an affiliate link as the writer is hoping to sell the reviewed product to the reader. Take a look at a dozen or so poker affiliate sites and make a note of how most give every poker room they promote a great review. The simple fact is that people are not daft! This is the reason that giving your readers an advantage must be followed up with proving the advantage.
For example if you are stating that a poker room is the best for mass multi tabling (giving an advantage) you could prove this by including a screenshot in your review of someone mass multi tabling. You could even take this further by including a video of a poker player in action playing 20+ tables to prove the advantage. I can guarantee this would increase conversions!
Entice Readers To Grasp The Advantage
I would say that this is an area where a lot of affiliates fail. If you have structured your article in the correct manner then you will have gained interest with your article title and meta description (get attention). You will have held your readers interest by showing them the benefits of the product you are promoting (show readers an advantage). You will have even proved the advantages of the product you are promoting (prove the advantage). Now you need to make your readers grasp the advantage.
Basically you now should motivate your reader by pushing the benefits of the product you are promoting. For example tell your readers how they will benefit from signing up to the poker room. Tell them how easy it is to sign up to the poker room plus of course the rewards they can gain by signing up now.
This should be the “clincher” of your article. The push to convert your reader to a real money player. This is most cases will just be a couple of concise sentences that hammers home the previous content. It should simply gather all the previous claims and proof to close the sale. It should reiterate, remind the readers plus of course sum up the main facts.
Ask For Action
So now you are at the final hurdle. You have done a great job with your article, convincing the reader that the product is exactly what they need. Asking for action is simply a call to action such as “sign up to Pokerstars. Simply think about what you want your readers to do once they have read your article. You could simply use a basic link to the sales page with an anchor such as “sign up to Pokerstars now” a button, or even perhaps a screenshot of the sign up page with full instructions of how to sign up and the bonus code to use.
Simply think about what you want your user to do and give them an easy way to do it!
