Writing good ad copy is a combination of art and science. Anyone that tells you it is easy is simply not telling you the whole story.

It CAN be easy... if you learn some of the basic skills involved in writing effective ad copy.

But if you are like most people, you look at this stuff and just start scratching your head wondering what in the world you should do next.

I'm not going to tell you that this little article is the answer to all of your questions. But it will get you moving in the right direction.

Why does some advertising work and some not work?

There are a few reasons. The first is that you need to be sure you are in the right market place. If you are offering some sort of business opportunity, you need to be sure you are advertising to a group of people that have an interest in such information. That is a pretty wide open market so you can find a LOT of resources that can help you there. That part should be easy. See the safelist advertising resources below.

But, if you are selling a service that would appeal to hunters and sportsman, you wouldn't want to spend much money to advertise in a gun control publication or PETA site.

If you are trying to reach a market that consists mainly of senior citizens, retirees, etc... you would definitely not get much benefit by advertising in a skateboarding site or publication.

Some of this stuff is really just common sense. Ask yourself, "Are the people visiting this site or reading this publication the kind of people that would have an interest in my offer?".

If not.. keep looking. If the answer is "Yes" then it is time to move on to the next step in the process.

This is where most advertisers miss the mark in a big way.

They try to "make sense" or appeal to logic with their ad copy.

Forget trying to "make sense". The objective of your ad is to MAKE SALES or at least generate some interest so that you can MAKE SALES.

Here's what I mean:

Many people feel like their product "just makes sense". That's great... and it may very well make sense to you and to others.

BUT.. people do NOT make purchasing decisions logically. They make them emotionally.

Think about that for a minute.

People will rarely buy what they need. They will more often buy what they WANT. How does your offer fill an emotional need or protect the prospect from some potential loss.

When you boil it all down, we are basically the same. We want the things that give us pleasure and/or help us to avoid pain.

Take a look at some of the commercials we see for acne products. They aren't really focusing on how the product can help someone cure their acne. The real focus is on helping someone to avoid the embarassment of going to the prom or on a date or to their wedding with a big zit on their forehead.

Does anyone really "need" any of the carbonated soft drinks that are available? Of course not... but we want them. And we buy them.... A LOT OF THEM.

Do we buy it because of the quality? (Give me a break)

We buy this one over that one because we want to be a part of the new generation... or we want to be like those guys that sing songs while riding their skate boards and catching soda cans that are shot from around the world at a billion miles per hour... or we want to somehow think that if it's good enough for Cindy Crawford, well....

Why did I buy my clothes from The Men's Warehouse instead of some department store?

The owner GUARANTEED I would like the way I look. (He said so in his commercials). I want to like the way I look. Don't you?

Why buy this car instead of the other one? They will both get you back and forth from one day to the next, right?

But one car makes you "look" or "feel" a certain way.

I think you get the point, here. In order to sell, we have to appeal to our reader's emotional side.

Think about your offer from their perspective and then answer the big question that is on their mind:

WHAT WILL THIS DO FOR ME?

Answer that question in your headline or subject line and you'll see a LOT more people reading your ad.

Answer that question throughout your ad copy and you will see a LOT more people responding to your ad.

Realize that advertising is a science... but not an exact science. If we could tell you which ads will pull and which will not, we would be in a totally different line of work. Big ad agencies have ad campaigns that totally flop. And, they have big winners.

The key is to write your ads from the perspective of filling an emotional need or protecting from a potential loss.

THEN... and this is probably the MOST IMPORTANT part...

TEST YOUR AD FOR RESULTS!

Every once in a while, I get an email that reads something like this:

"Your system must not be working... no one is responding to my ad".

Let's look at the first part: The system.

The system really works very well. It allows your prospect to get a free system to build any business of their choosing and gives them free websites and online marketing training. That's a benefit, don't you think? That can allow your prospect to avoid pain and suffering, right? It also allows a complete online marketing or network marketing "newbie" the edge - a pre-made system that allows them the get signups into their primary business and some other free-to-join affiliate programs along the way. More money in their pocket = more money they have to use however they like - perhaps for their advertising budget or to make a car payment.

That is the beginning middle and end of what any system like this does.

Then there's your ad... You write the ad and post it to various places online. Much like a newspaper ad, when the paper goes out, your ad goes out with it. People see it. The newspaper "works", right?

Saying the system isn't working is like saying the newspaper isn't working. What isn't working is the ad copy itself.

Here's the real problem:

"... no one is responding to my ad.".

This may shock you... but...

I HAVE HAD THE EXACT SAME PROBLEM!

Yes.... I have run ads that were total bombs.

Shocked? Surprised? Don't be... it happens every single day... to everyone.... including me.

I already know the system works and I know my ads are going out. So the variable... or the thing I need to work on is ... my ad copy.

When I am not getting results, I read my ad copy again.

Is my headline or subject line inviting? Does it create curiosity? Does it make the reader want to know more? The "trick" is to read it as if you don't have any idea of what the ad is about. Will this headline make me want to read further? If not, I start there.

I may rewrite my headline a dozen times until I get it right.

I'll write the headline until I get one that I think is good. Then, I run the ad with the new headline for a few days. That's the great thing about the internet. I can test ad copy instantly!

Click here for a great Headling Analyzer to see how well your headline will appeal to people - if the headline is appealing then they'll typically read the rest of your ad copy and if that's good and gives the reader a BENEFIT to THEM that will allow them to eliminate pain then you'll get better responses to your ads. Period.

I use the same approach when writing the rest of the ad, or the "ad copy". There is only one reason to have any line of text at all in your ad copy. That reason is:

TO MAKE THEM READ THE NEXT LINE!

If your ad copy doesn't make the reader want to read more... learn more... order more... then it is not doing the job it was designed to do.

Create curiosity... list the BENEFITS of your offer... What will it do for the reader? Tell them! And then be VERY CLEAR on what they should do in order to either place an order or learn more about your business.

Use small words. The average person has a reading comprehension level of a 6th grade student. I'm not knocking anyone or anything like that.... it's just the plain, simple truth. We are bombarded everyday by advertisments and we all tend to 'scan' emails when we read them. You can confuse and even scare people off if your words are too big or your sentences are too long. Make it simple... make it exciting... make it clear. Your goal is NOT to impress someone with a big vocabulary but to make them want to know more about your offer.

Ok... that's enough for now. This information should get you started in the right direction.

Personal experience:

I recently noticed that one of my ads was not working very well.

By "not working very well" I mean that I hadn't had a signup from that particular safelist in over a week. Something had to be wrong with my ad copy or my subject line.

I looked at my ad copy and I realized that I could do a much better job. I must have been half asleep when I wrote that ad because it really did stink - and no you cannot have a copy of that terrible ad as it has been deleted from my harddrive. ("Stink" is a technical term, by the way!)

I changed just a couple of lines in the ad and...

I had a new signup within 20 minutes!

So, believe me when I tell you: I know EXACTLY what it feels like to have an ad that doesn't work. And I know what it is like to have to rewrite the ad to make it work.

It is worth the effort. And it is precisely what separates the successful advertiser from the "wannabe" advertiser.

With a good ad, you can expect to get about 20-50 clicks per thousand recipients reached. This may not seem like a lot, but your results will add up over time.

But you shouldn't focus on short term results. You have to think of every ad you send as practice. Track your results and try to think of ways to improve your ads. Eventually you will see the maximum clicks and sales you can expect to get from these mailings, and you can simply keep re-running your winning ads over and over to basically print money. This is what all the sucessful promoters do and it's what you should do as well.

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What Is a Double Opt-in Email Safelist?

Subject Lines: Brand New Free Ingenious Prospecting System Are You Ready to Change Your Financial Future Right Now? Free Step By Step Internet Marketing System and Tutorials 3 Simple Easy Secrets To Building Any Business Online The Secret is Out 3 Simple Easy Secrets To Building Any Business Online You get the idea.... Create your own headlines to 'stand out' from the crowd - use the Headline Analyzer to tweek your headlines to get massive results!