Copywriting Basics...

Write these 5 questions down:

1. What is the problem?
2. Why has it not been solved?
3. What are the possibilities?
4. What is different now?
5. What should you do now?

When you are answering these 5 questions, just do it as-a-matter-of-factly. Do not try to be creative. You can get creative later.

1. What is the problem?

Firstly, identify the main problem your target audience faces, in other words, the main problem that your product or service solves. It would help for you to know your audience well in the first place. What are the 3Ps of your audience? Pain ... Problem ... Predicament ...

Do your part. Investigate and Diagnose their Problem first.

It would be a grave mistake to just shove a solution down your audience's throat before getting your audience to acknowledge that there is such a problem in the first place.

They need to know and perceive you as understanding their pain, problem and predicament. So, it is important that you know your audience and what they are facing before embarking on your copywriting.

Write down your target audience's problem in a few sentences. Do not be longwinded about this so that you will have a better focus.

2. Why has it not been solved?

Write down the reason(s) why the problem still continues, persists or lingers. What are the factors preventing a solution? A few factual sentences would do.

3. What are the possibilities?

This is known as possibility thinking. Write down whatever is possible as a solution to your audience's problem. Paint a picture of the way things would be when your audeince's problem has been solved. As usual, a few sentences would do.

4. What is different now?

How will things become for your audience with the solution(s) you have come up with? This is where you introduce yourself and explain how your product or service can help them, and show what is so different about your product or service that will eliminate their problem. This is where your Unique Selling Point/Proposition (USP) comes in. Again, just a few sentences would suffice. Do not rant and rattle on. Write the substance, not the details.

5. What should you do now?

State clearly and explicitly what you want your audience to do. This is your call to action. Simply tell them to respond in some specific way such as opt-in, request a call-back and buy the product or service.

When you are done answering the 5 questions, you will have in your hands the blueprint of your web copy! That would be the meat while the rest is just gravy. With this, you can make sales. This blueprint, consisting of the answers to those 5 simple questions, can be used to create any type of marketing materials... even your elevator speech.

Cheers!

Useful for Marketing Online...

The Authority Black Book is really suitable for bloggers who are seriously considering making a sizeable income online via blogging. It is an easy read and is quite valuable for something that is free =) Besides, there's nothing really black about this black book... LOL!

Bloggers would also love to know how to effectively use social networking from Bob to grow their business significantly. The real key is to find and be yourself... The technical stuff is broken down into digestable units and the lessons are actually easy and enjoyable! Well done, Bob!

Now, whether you're into blogging, socialising... or not... If you're serious about making it big online, then you need to know how to market in a hypnotic manner. To me, this is a MUST HAVE. Regardless of your level of experience, getting Joe Vitale's Hypnotic Marketing 2.0 will most definitely make a marked difference.

Now, there's really no end to learning. It is not how much you learn that will make the difference in any area of your life, but how much of applying what you have learned that will make the difference...

So, get down now to work towards working smart and working less! Cheers!

Who is Our Enemy?

If we're at war, we'll probably think that our enemies are the people we're fighting. If we're doing marketing online, we probably think that our enemies are our competition, and these are the people we'll try our best to outdo...

Now, the real enemy is much closer to home...

I know of people who see the people around as their enemies, and they live bitter lives because everyone's against them if you know what I mean. The truth is, when we stop perceiving others as our enemies, we usually start winning the battles in life. So, who is our real enemy?

Yes. It's ourselves =)

How then can we overcome this difficult enemy? Love, my friend, is the answer.

Foundation

Success does not seem to come easy for most people due to foundational issues.

When someone is trying very hard to build a foundation, usually the people around him who do not understand the rationale of having a good foundation would find him/her weird, and might even ridicule the person...

Think of which area in your life you'd like to see an improvement in. Check your foundation. If it's weak, work on it. Sounds like common sense? It is.

As you are building your foundation, you will attract many opportunities to test out your foundation. When you are ready, you'll know so, and you'll take the opportunities.