I'm sorry, I feel like I've abandoned everyone... but there's a reason.

My wonderful "high speed" Huges Net connection is so slow lately that getting here takes about 15 minutes... and sometimes the connection times out in the meantime. 

So I've been communicating on my other blog: http://copybymarte.blogspot.com/

I think I have to let this one go, so please follow me. As much as I love the GoDaddy support team, I just can't take trying 4 or 5 times and spending a couple of hours trying to get here to talk to you.

By the way, when you hear those ads about the Hughes Net speed - don't believe it. Yes, it's faster than my old dial up on 30 year old phone lines. But not much!

Please join me at http://copybymarte.blogspot.com/ and when you get there, leave a comment - or several comments!

Talk to you soon,
Marte

Here in the North - where winter doesn't seem to have any intention of being over - marketers are faced with a strange problem.

I hadn't thought about it until I saw a photo in this morning's newspaper. There was a man walking down the street, head bent against the wind and snow, and behind him a store window proclaiming a big "Spring Sale."

Through the window we could see those lovely Spring and Summer clothes. Skinny tank tops, bright summer colors, and light T-shirts - all the trappings of fun on a warm and lovely day.

What we could NOT see through the window were any shoppers scooping up those sale items.

What will happen to all those clothes? Will spring and summer weather arrive one day and people begin flocking to the stores for new wardrobes? Or will they still be sitting there taking up rack space when the fall and winter lines begin to arrive?

As a copywriter I enjoy a good challenge. But when I saw that picture today and thought about it, I felt gratitude that I was not the one who had to come up with some kind of marketing plan to move that merchandise.

We got another 8" of new snow last night and the weather report warned that we may see more by morning.
Yes, I'm really glad that I'm not trying to sell tank tops.

Have you considered using Craig's List to market your goods and services?

It's a great place to be found by people who are searching for what you offer - and a great place to poke around looking for people who are asking for what you offer.

It's also a boost for your search engine rankings if you include a link to your website. So consider it.

But one note of caution. When you do use it, use good copywriting techniques. The folks searching Craig's List are no different from any other prospects. If they click on your post and see what they're looking for instantly, they'll stay and see what you have to say.

If they see something completely different, or if your words are not compelling, they'll click away in a nano-second.
Go over your Craig's List posting just as carefully as you would a letter in the mail or a message to your email contacts. Construct your headline to gather interest and show the value of  clicking to learn more. And then, once you've got the click, hurry up and say something that will hold that interest.

And don't forget - include a call to action. Ask people to visit your site or send you a note.

If you aren't a writer, enlist the help of a writer in your family or on your staff - or get in touch with me and I'll help. Your words do make the difference!

Best success,
Marte
writer@marte-cliff.com
www.marte-cliff.com

Trying to save time and money might be costing you time and money.

I'm talking about the tendency to try to say everything in one letter, one ad, or one  e-mail.  You know you have a lot to offer your prospects, and don't want them to forget about any of it - so you try to remind them of everything at once.

Seems like it will save time and money because you'll send one message instead of 3 or 4 - right? 

Well, that turns out to be a bad idea.

When you go on about several different things at once, your readers get confused, frustrated, and even annoyed. So guess what they do with your message?  That's right. They use the round file there by their desks - or the delete button there on their keyboards.

Before you send your next promotion, think about the one most important thing you want to convey to your prospects. Then write about that. When you're finished, choose the next most important thing and make it the subject of your next message. Keep going until you've covered everything.

Make your message clear and easy to understand. Show your readers why it is in their best interests to buy your product or use your services. Offer some proof, and then ask them to take action on that one thing.

Psychology is a big part of copywriting, so work to understand it and use it to make buying from you or using your services an easy decision for your prospects.

And if you need help, drop me a note at writer@marte-cliff.com.

Yours for prosperity,
Marte

When I first started advertising my copywriting services I was way too shy - I knew that using good copy methods would make a difference to people's success, and I knew I knew how, but I was really afraid to say so. I found that advertising myself was about 240 times harder than advertising anyone or anything else.

So I went looking to see how other copywriters advertised. I found a huge variety - and some with promises so big that that they sounded as if they must sprinkle magic fairy dust on all their work to cause every reader to buy, buy, and buy some more.

What a contrast between my quiet pages and their shouting ones!

Either way is not so hot. Over-hype sets up red flags in the minds of most consumers, but if you don't speak up and say what you can do for people, they have no way to know.

The difference, I think, is in the proof you offer.

For instance, I got a promotion today from a company that is, so far, well respected. It promised huge money to be made by anyone with access to a computer - even if they go use one at the library. In other words, in only a few hours a week you can be making thousands a month with no effort. OK sure.

But since this company has a lot to lose by losing its credibility, I read on to see if they said anything that made good sense. Nope. They had testimonials, but as we all know, those don't necessarily have to be true. There wasn't one clue about how you would go about making these riches - just that you'd find out as soon as you sent the $77.

Oh, and that was another thing. The first page said that you could be on your way to making all this money within minutes from now. Then later it said you had to send for a CD. Huh? It takes longer than minutes for someone to mail a CD cross-country. As in a week - or more. What a way to kill your reader's enthusiasm!

Why am I telling you this? To get you to go look at your own promotions. Are you being too shy? Or are you promising so much that you're chasing prospects away? If you make promises, do you back them up with some solid information? If you tell someone what you'll do for them do you tell them why you have the expertise to do it, or give a clue about how you'll do it?

Go check. If you aren't getting the sales you want, you might need to adjust your balance. I can tell you from experience that it does make a difference. Once I overcame my natural shyness and started telling people what I would do to improve their marketing materials, more people wanted me to get busy doing it. Check it out on my copywriting website.

Yours for success,
Marte

Learning something new every day is a good thing, right? What I learned today might be even more than a good thing! It might be a great thing.

Several people lately have asked me about putting Flash on their website - to make it look cool and more interesting. I always discourage things like that and remind people that anything moving on the site will slow down loading - and that over half of the people using the internet are NOT on high speed - so they click away as soon as they realize it's going to be a long wait.

Well, today I learned that flash makes your site invisible to the search engine crawlers. It's akin to putting up a blank page. My friend Kevin of topsellersites.com says to run from flash websites and flash intro pages just as fast as your mouse can go.

I learned that when I downloaded his report on SEO Killers - it's #1 of 7 items. I'll be mentioning some others as we go along, but I think if you visit his site you can download the report - or you can write and ask him for it: kevin@topsellersites.com is the address.

Bottom line - just because a new toy looks shiny and fun doesn't mean you should buy it!

Are you working on your taxes yet? I started this week-end, and while the "easy stuff" is all there, I'm frustrated at the parts and pieces that I have to pull from other places because I didn't figure out how to put certain transactions into the computer properly.

Sometimes I wish my accountant friend and I could trade places for maybe 4 hours every week. Then I could enter all my data correctly and she could write the letters she wants to write. Instead, we lean on each other. I write her important letters, and she straightens me out when I make a big confusion out of debits and credits.

Anyway, since I was thinking about it, I decided to remind you to keep track of ALL your deductible expenses. Little things do add up, so don't pay cash for stamps and then toss the receipt.

Since it's still early in the year, you have time to go back and start over if you haven't been keeping track of all you should. One of the toughest things for my family is mileage. I do it, but I have to continually nag at my husband and my son.

You don't have to have anything fancy. Just get an inexpensive pocket calendar and write your mileage down when you leave each day - with a note about where you were going or why. If you're really organized, you can set up a spreadsheet and enter your miles in every day, week, or month.

If you aren't sure what is or isn't deductible, go to the IRS website and download the instructions for Schedule C. The hour or two you spend studying them will be well worth the savings when you get ready for next year's taxes!

That said, I'd better get back to the taxes...

Marte

Early this week I had an inquiry from a lady who said she needed her web copy re-written, and was I interested. I checked her site and yes, she does need new copy.

The subject matter looked interesting and wasn't on my short list of things I won't write about, so I wrote back and said yes, and that we should talk on the phone so I could learn more about her goals, more about her product, etc.

Then last night I got an email from her. She said that "due to overwhelming response" she wanted everyone to send her a re-write of her home page - "as a sample." Oh, and she wanted it by today.

Needless to say, I didn't take her up on that. I wonder if anyone did, but I expect there were some hungry writers who tried. (I dislike remembering it, but when I first started, I might have been one of them. )

Even if I was willing to re-write an entire page as a "sample" I sure wouldn't be willing to do it overnight. That would hardly be an example of a copywriter's best work. And to do it without even talking with the site owner - not a chance. I've written for people when our only communication had to be by e-mail, but it sure did take a lot of letters back and forth.

To be fair to this woman, it's possible that she just doesn't understand what goes into copy that sells. She may be one of those people doesn't realize that a good page of copy takes many hours and much preparation. After all, once it's finished it looks so easy! 

On the other hand, she may be thinking that if she gets enough "samples" that she'll have the copy she needs and won't need to hire anyone.

I guess I'll never know...

Wishing you a wonderful week-end,

Marte

Today is Sunday, so instead of working, I painted the kitchen, with some help from Robert Ringer.

No, Robert Ringer didn't come and help me paint, but he kept me company via a CD of his book "Nothing Happens Until Something Moves." The book is, of course, about getting moving - taking action if you want good things to happen in your life.

At one point he was talking about marketing and how we're all so bombarded with messages, as well as so busy with things to do, that advertisers can't waste any time beating around the bush. While it is more true today than ever before, I think this problem has been around for a long time.

I didn't catch the age of the line he quoted, but he did refer to it as an old saying: "Tell me quick and tell me true, otherwise sir, to hell with you."

That's a good line - in just 13 words it sums up two basic principles of advertising: Get to the point and tell the truth.

Telling the truth is a given, although we all know plenty of marketers who think it's unnecessary. Those are the guys who won't be around for the long haul, so all we have to do is be wary so we don't get sucked into their untruths.

Learning to be concise is the tough one for most copywriters - we have a lot to say, after all. And sometimes it takes a bit of a warm up to get to the point.

That's why it's good to just go ahead and write, and then delete the first 2 or 3 paragraphs. Once you get those out of the way you'll be into the meat of what you need to convey, and you won't risk boring your readers into leaving before they get there.

I know - tough to do. Sometimes you think you've written something utterly brilliant. It isn't easy to delete when you think that, so instead, cut and paste it somewhere to save until you're finished. You can go back and look at it later and see if you really do need it. Usually you'll find that you don't.

Best success - and call me if you get stuck,

Marte

For the last couple of weeks I've been thinking about gratitude.

I'm thankful for my warm house - when all those stricken by the tornadoes are displaced, devastated by their loss.

I'm thankful for my friends and family and their health and safety - when all those families are mourning loved ones lost to deranged killers.

I'm thankful for all my copywriting clients, and for the fact that I can do what I love most - when some people are dragging themselves out of bed each morning to go off to jobs they don't enjoy at all.

And then Clayton Makepeace's letter arrived, and my gratitude rose many more notches. He quoted a couple of letters he'd gotten from people in countries unnamed. They wrote to thank him for giving them hope - and told him that they would be shot if their governments knew they were reading his ezines.

It seems that in some countries, it is against the law to try to better your station in life.

Clayton went on to say something along the lines of "Quit your whining - you're here in America where you can strive for any darned thing you want." And of course, he's right. Some of us have obstacles to overcome, but those who persist, do succeed.

But there's one more ingredient that successful people have added to their persistence - gratitude.

Many of our great teachers were saying it before "The Secret" came on the scene and got people talking about it - what you think about does draw more of the same to yourself. So when you're thinking about the good things in your life - the things you have gratitude for - you naturally draw more of those good things. Opportunities present themselves.

I don't know why. Maybe because your positive attitude makes others want to assist you. Maybe it's magic. Maybe it's because when you're thinking positively you take more positive action because you expect good things. Some say our thoughts and words are like magnets because they set up a vibration within us.

What I do know is that I don't care why it works. I just know it does, so I'm darned if I'll risk my happiness by dwelling on the things I don't want.

I wish you hundreds of things to be grateful for today,
Marte