ComputerHunter.org |
|
|
|||
|
 |
Copywriting Makeover: Making An Emotional Connection - Part 2 of 2
In part one of this article series we began looking at the Cruise Vacation Center site: a travel site whose copy was sorely lacking in emotional appeal and visual imagry. (You can see the previous version of the copy here: http://www.copywritingcourse.com/CruiseVacationCenter-Original.pdf.) In the conclusion, youll see how all the rewrite turned out and how exciting the end results have been. The Rewrite It took me a while to get started on this copy. Before I began writing, I wanted to really be in the mood. I played around on the vacation search feature of CVCs site and read all about some of the places I have always wanted to go. I took my time and let my imagination run wild while reading about the ports-of-call, the activities, and the ships amenities. When people shop for vacations, they are typically interested in what theyll get first and they worry about the price second. They want to feel and sense the experience of a vacation while reading about it on a website or in a brochure. It sort of falls into the same category as copywriting for brides. Getting married, for most people anyway, is a limited experience. Its not something you do every day. While a bride may be working on a budget, she still loves to see the $10,000 Donna Karan gowns and imagine herself in one. The same holds true for those planning a vacation. You usually only go on one vacation/holiday a year. Thats why we dream. Its a limited experience. Something we plan for and look forward to for months on end. So, while a vacation planner may not choose to buy the king-sized, master, grand suite, all-inclusive, five-star vacation trip around the world, s/he sure has fun reading about it and imagining it. Why do you think shows like Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous are so popular? Once Id filled my mind with everything wonderful about cruise vacations, I was ready to tackle the copy. Keyphrase inclusion was simple on this page. There was just one keyphrase, cruise vacation. I used both the singular and plural forms throughout the text. My challenge with the SEO aspect of the copywriting was to keep the balance. Normally, when there is just one keyphrase, there is a very high tendency by most people to ram, shove, and squeeze the phrase into every nook and cranny of the copy. I beg you resist that urge! As youll see shortly, SEO copywriting is NOT about forcing keyphrases into every possible slot. And, of course, there was the matter of letting visitors know that they would get a better bargain and save more on their luxury cruise if they booked online. Starting at the top, I changed the headline of: Planning quality discount cruises for you since 1993! to Book Your Exotic Cruise Vacation Online and Get Rock-Bottom Prices to the Hottest Destinations Next, I immediately began to entice the visitor with visions of what s/he could expect - from their vacation and from CVC. Rather than talk about the company directly as the original copy did: Dreaming of a cruise but don't want to pay full price? Cruise Vacation Center is one of the nation's largest cruise agencies. I started the copy with this: Just imagine youre walking along the deck of a grand cruise vessel as it gently keeps rhythm with the waves. The sun is on your shoulders and a soothing breeze wafts through your hair. I continued to build the new copy with phrases like: wander your way through the medieval castles, stunning gardens of the Mediterranean, and oceanfront luau in Hawaii, while intermixing statements including: deep discounts, book securely online, and so on. All the while, I was dropping reminders to book online for the biggest savings and offering explanations about why that would benefit the visitor. The call-to-action was designed to reinforce the idea that the customer *could* get more vacation choices for their money with CVC. You can see the end results for yourself at http://www.cruisevacationcenter.com. The Results Its fun to see how these makeovers turn out. What did my client have to say? The response was astonishing and immediate. Weekend sales tripled! Usually around 10 online books over the weekend. Last weekend had 30! [Also], they re-indexed and the home page moved up [two positions] for cruise vacation. It has a great lead-in on the search page, too. Man I just love my job! Karon Thackston © 2004 About The Author Copy not getting results? Learn to write SEO copy that impresses the engines and your visitors at http://www.copywritingcourse.com. Be sure to also check out Karons latest e-report How To Increase Keyword Saturation (Without Destroying the Flow of Your Copy) at http://www.copywritingcourse.com/keyword. IF PUBLISHING ON A WEBSITE, USE THIS RESOURCE BOX: Copy not getting results? Learn to write SEO copy that impresses the engines and your visitors with The Step-by-Step Copywriting Course. Be sure to check out Karons latest e-report How To Increase Keyword Saturation (Without Destroying the Flow of Your Copy), too!
Google News - Top Stories
|
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Cleaning Up Your Copy When you are beginning to write, you gather as much data as you can. You continually add allied thoughts. . You use your right brain, the creative side. How To Personalize Your Headlines For Increased Profits! Personalizing your headlines to your target audience can significantly improve your sales response. You can do this by mentioning a person by name, their city, their career field, their job title, or group right in the headline. You will find this has become quite common in email marketing. Copywriter Rates, Getting The Facts Beforehand Have you ever had the experience of hiring a freelance copy writer only to find that the project takes longer than expected, or that the fees they offered are 'flexible' in the wrong way for you to benefit. There is no doubt that copywriter rates differ greatly from one to another. There is very little in the way of a standard rate especially when you are dealing with clients through the Internet. To ensure you don't get taken for a ride, you need to get your copywriter rates set and keep them that way. Why Your Advertising Copy is not the Most Important Part of Your Ad If you own a shop in the middle of the desert, and nobody walks past... obviously you're not going to attract many customers. Top 7 Things To Do Before You Hire A Copywriter Now that you've decided to hire a copywriter, how do you go about finding one? Here are seven things to look for to make sure the match is a good one. How to Start and Sustain a Career as a Freelance Writer Have you wondered how you can make a career writing books or articles for various publications? Or are you seeking a viable second income opportunity but do not know where to start? Well, freelance writing may be the right career for you and it can open a world of lucrative opportunities for you. Long Copy vs. Short Copy? If You?re Still Debating This, You?re Missing The Point! I've seen this ongoing debate debate jump up again recently in several Blogs and message boards and I can't help but laugh. It's not a new debate? Ever since the long copy masters of the early 1900's, people have been arguing for or against the practice. 3 Ways to Increase Conversion Rates In a previous article I talked about a few similarities between writing direct mail packages and writing web sites. In short, I concluded that as online writers we could learn a lot from direct marketers. Freelance Business Writers - How To Get The Best From Your Writer At times, it can be frustrating to find freelance business writers that are of good quality, dependable, and within your budget. The good news is that there are many people who can perform at the level you need. The question is, though, how do you find the best freelance business writers? To answer this, we need to learn what good expectations are for them first. The Lead: Sinking The Hook Into Your Prospect You only have an instant to capture your prospect's attention. No matter the medium ? a sales letter, print ad, or commercial ? she's going to make an almost instantaneous decision about whether you are worth her time or not. So you'd better start off with a bang. Killer Business Headline Templates - So How Do You Write Killer Headlines in Minutes? You Cheat! According to Branding and Advertising legend, David Ogilvy: 5 times as many people read the headline than they do the body copy in a sales message. This means that unless your headline actually helps sell what you've got to offer, you'll have wasted 90% of your time, money and energy. Help, Help, Help, Sell Here's a fundamental difference between copywriting offline and copywriting for the web... Three Tips For Magnetizing Your Copy The difference between good copy and great copy is the number of actions it generates. The more actions the copy drives, the greater the copy is. Some Important Tips On Proposals And Price Here's a critically important copywriting technique I use when writing sales letters and proposals for our own direct marketing services and for our clients. What a Ghostwriter Can Do for You Do you ever have brilliant ideas for articles, books or a website, but never get around to doing anything about them? Don't feel like the Lone Ranger. Trust and credibility are vital in creating consumer confidence. Being able to tell the world who you are, what you do and how you do it is the best kind of confidence-building free publicity?producing results rivaling those of standard advertising. But even if you could crank out passable copy yourself, most businesspeople should be spending their time doing what they do best?minding the store, not staring at blank sheets of paper! Fundraising Letters: Where To Find Creative Ideas For Your Appeals How do you make your fundraising letters creative and fresh year after year when your needs don't change all that much? I am not talking about new initiatives. I'm talking about the programs that you run year after year. The membership drive that you run year after year. The funds that you must raise to cover administrative expenses and salaries year after year. How can you request funds for these things over time without boring your donors into apathy? Learn a lesson from Jack Foster. Its Time To Start That Swipe File Just as great fiction is an art, so is great copywriting. Beneath the art, however, there's a foundation of basic knowledge and skills. The craft that goes into your writing. Website Promotion: 10 Secret Motivational Triggers That Make People Buy Unless you know the secret motivational secrets that make people buy, your efforts in website promotion may not be fruitful. Beyond Once Upon a Time: Fairy Tales arent the Only Thing Needing Catchy Openings Once a upon a recent time in a galaxy not so far away, I received an e-newsletter that provided valuable dos and don'ts for email newsletter publication. Ah, something about this newsletter didn't pull me in to read its tales nor did I take out the sword to slash my name from the e-newsletter distribution list. Happens to all who inhabit the Kingdom of the Internet; we sign up for an e-newsletter, but rarely read what we receive. These newsletters have value and appeal to me because they address an interest, help me do my job, and / or keep me on top of developments in a hobby. A Little-Known Secret To Writing Sales Copy, For Serious Copywriters Only! Have you ever wondered how your copy sounds to your prospects when they're reading it?
|
|
|
|
|
