A lot of free gifts don’t feel like “gifts” at all.

Don’t let this happen to you.

Because that free gift is the one thing that separates the website visitors who click away from the people who you have a shot of building a relationship with over time.

So, here are 8 simple ways to make your free gift better:

#1 – Give it a hot title. Something that people WANT. Something CLEAR. Make it sound like a “thing” – call it a guide, report, blueprint or kit. Remember: the title is what will make people decide to give you … Read the rest >

News flash! The writing skills you learned in school don’t prepare you to write copy (copy = “words that sell”).

Before we go any further, there are two important distinctions you need to know:

1) Copywriting is different than regular writing.

2) Copywriting is different from content.

Let’s look at the second one first. Content writing is more like regular writing – think editorial or magazine article. The goal is to inform your reader of something that’s useful, say, how to make better food choices when their blood sugar is low or 3 places to meet quality clients without going … Read the rest >

Happy holidays, superstars!

As a special tribute to the end of the year, this article is about zombies.

Copywriting zombies.

You know who they are.

You get their emails.

You go to their sales pages.

You may actually even LIKE the person, and trust that they are doing good work.

But the way they write about that work sounds like the zombies wrote it.

When zombies write copy, they use a rigid formula.

They don’t express real emotion.

They just hunt for brains to manipulate.

Examples of copywriting zombies at work:

“Are you OVERWHELMED by getting your kids out the … Read the rest >

One of the things you always hear about writing copy (copy = “words that sell”) is that you need to “touch their pain.”

That is, you need to stir up whatever pain your potential clients are in, so that they FEEL it, and recognize that they are in the market for a solution.

Typically, it’s the solution you offer.

Now, when I am writing with a client and he says “I know I need to touch their pain,” I smile ever so faintly, and step on to my soapbox.

After I take a deep breath, here is what I say:… Read the rest >

I don’t care that much about celebrities.

But I totally 110% freaked out when I met my childhood idol, Weird Al Yankovic.

It was 5 years ago, in the livestock barn at the fairgrounds in Bozeman, Montana.

I’d been working for 8 hours as a “runner” for the band. I drove Weird Al’s drummer, guitarist, and bass guitarist around town. I picked up organic treats for Al (can I call him Al?) at the local co-op. I took tickets and checked people’s pockets for beer bottles.

And I did all that to get a free ticket to see a guy … Read the rest >