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Author: Marsha Maung

One of the things about article marketing is this – you have to write. A lot. Combine writing for yourself and writing for your clients, it’s a big challenge. Your fingers get no rest. But that’s a different story because when you are writer and you want to indulge in article marketing, it means that you end up digging your brain for articles to write for YOURSELF.

The thing is that, this means you will be writing about ‘writing’ from multiple angles. You try to find a way to write about the same thing without repeating yourself. That’s hard. There will come a point in your career when you start wondering - is there anything about ‘writing’ that I have not written about already? Like me, I have been writing for a decade….I find it hard to write about my work these days because my well is a little dry by now.

Just like magic, something popped in my head. Why do I restrict myself when I write. Why is the only topic that I get to write on is ‘writing’. When you market yourself through article marketing, it is pertinent that you appear flexible, knowledgeable and resourceful. You need to be versatile. That is because your clients are probably people who are not into writing. They could be from the clothing industry, the teddy bear making industry, the self-improvement industry, etc.

When you have to write for your clients, that is when your creativity is called upon. You challenge yourself to learn about the different topics that you are handed. That is when you learn how to enjoy writing about something new.

If you can showcase your own versatility in that way, this opens up so many windows for the types of articles that you allow yourself to write. You can write about world news, charitable events, things that you have learned through life-changing events in your life or maybe something that you have picked up while in cooking class.

This way, when your potential clients look for writers pertaining to their industry, they can find you.

So, write about something else, write from your heart, share with the world everything that your fingers can type out. Stop narrowing your mind down to just writing about ‘writing’.

“We will first evaluate the synergy between hosts, unanimously determine project aim and further pursue conclusion. This favorable course will combine instantaneous growth and achievement to gain traction to prosperity.”

This is an actual example of some copy I pulled from an online consulting company. Does anyone have any idea what they are presenting here? This could be an attempt to sell a service, product or a cup of coffee. It seems as if someone wrote a sentence and checked every word on an online thesaurus to make a fancier version of it. When taken from context, a statement should be able to stand by itself, on its own merit and remain understandable. In this article, I want to uncover the forbidden language of marketing and help bring copywriting to justice. Or in other words - I want to syngergize the synergy between the majestic biographies of other entities.

I am not an overly skilled copywriter and consider it to be one of the more difficult tasks in my line of work. When using copy to communicate a product or service, you have to first identify the reader. If you are a bank, don’t use large and complicated verbiage when attempting to coax customers into putting their money in a CD. If you are selling business coaching, professional but understandable text is acceptable. Regardless, construct your copy to be understandable and creative. Despite the popular “pictures are worth a thousand words” statement, you may not actually need a THOUSAND words when describing a product or service. Most of the time, it is the lack there of or secrecy that will generate more interest.

There are levels of information you should give a customer - consumer or business, so that you can snag their attention and get them to do something like request more information. It is very important to identify these levels before developing copy. What do you want someone to do after reading promotional material? Where are you placing the verbiage and how will it relate to your printed or web media?

I’ve found it best to always build a product, its attributes and descriptive language as if it was going to be sold or promoted online. A user website experience is a perfect example of how people read, retain and act upon the information fed to them. If you give to much information, the user is more likely to assume they already know enough and it isn’t necessary to request more information. However, if you tease them with just the right amount, they are more likely to be compelled to request additional information. That doesn’t mean one-line descriptions will elevate your success, it just means that you should tease the reader, wet their appetite and encourage them to contact you with a strong call to action.

So, now that you know how to formulate and design your copy with an idea of how much to use, let’s briefly discuss its contents. When working on descriptive text, avoid words like “synergy”. These words are what I like to call ‘default’ words and 62% more likely to be overlooked and ignored. There is a balance between enticing words and words that sound like you are the high school English teacher trying to be cool by dancing at prom - unsuccessful and very, very likely to fail.

Remember who you are attempting to communicate to and always assume ignorance. The worst thing you could do is make someone who you are trying to sell to feel inferior with big words. Try to be enticing, short and to the point. Here is an example of a distracting description of services and an example of one that may be just as effective without being obnoxious:

Bad: “Sample the soothing and immaculate taste of our natural selection of pastries and divine beverages while enjoying the tranquil reception experience complete with complementary Wi-Fi.”

Good: “Wake up and feel at home with continental breakfast served in our reception area while staying connected with fast, free Wi-Fi.”

Sometimes fancy works and sometimes it doesn’t. But, in this situation, just get to the point. The words in my first example don’t necessarily make me want to stay at that particular hotel. In fact, it makes me automatically assume that it is likely too expensive. Now more than ever, people don’t have time to appreciate the thought you put into descriptions that seem overly complicated, give them something simple, fun and memorable. Have fun with it, put something together that will catch their attention. Just remember, less is more and sometimes people just want you to get to the point.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Joshua Hays is an aggressive marketing consultant with a strong background in design and nearly ten years of broad experience involving both B2B and B2C marketing techniques including print and online campaigns. He has advanced knowledge of both the Microsoft and Adobe software suites and is cross-platform, multi-operating system (MAC & PC) trained. Joshua specializes in product and campaign development. Joshua Hays can be reached at http://www.joshuahays.com.

Lately I have been running into a lot people here on Facebook that are being lead astray from the truth. Possibly because they haven’t been on the internet very long. I thought maybe I would share a few of my thoughts on this being from the school of hard knocks.

The first thing you need to understand about the internet is that you are going to run into more exaggerated crap than you can shake a stick at. You can go ahead and sign up for everything if you want to and lose a lot of money like I did. I invite you however, to learn from my wounds instead.

I’m going to need you to go ahead and stop being enticed by companies that promise HUGE overnight success and you won’t have to do a thing. “Just sit back” they say “it’s all automated”. Although most companies have some kind of autoresponders for you to fool around with this is not the issue.

I can’t tell you how many opportunities I joined on impulse because I believed the testimonies or was told I wouldn’t have to do anything. That the magic spillover ferry would stop by and visit me . “Every one is joining this so don’t be left out” they warned. “Just get in on the ground level” I was advised.

The truth is that when you attract people that don’t want to do anything guess what happens to your magic spillover and your perfect world scenario. It disappears because your upline was told they didn’t have to do anything either. Not real hard to figure this one out but I went for it over and over. The fact is most companies don’t teach people how to mentor at all. I shouldn’t say all as there may be a few exceptions.

The question then becomes whether or not you can afford to stay in their program long enough to be in profit.

Most of my experience has been that the magic spillover ferry will be flying off into the sunset with your wallet looking back and winking at you with a smirk on his evil little face.

People need to stop thinking that they have to generate leads and be recruiters. You need to be a sponsor and a mentor. Is the system you are considering something easy to duplicate? In other words can you see your self doing it. Can you afford it? If the guy bringing you on board is full of greed and ego why is that a good thing? Chances are that’s all he can show you how to be also.

If you want a name, an email, and a phone number of somebody who filled out a business opportunity capture page then join one of the free lead opportunities I have on my blog. You can have 1250 a week for nothing if you want. You can call them or email them with your business opportunity if this sounds like fun.

If you can stand cold calling and all that face to face rejection.
Not saying it doesn’t work but most people I know would rather die than do this(my wife especially).

Load them into your autoresponder and see how many simply delete your email and block you from ever communicating with them again. You may have some success but probably it will be dismal. How do I know this? Because I did it for years. It is very ineffective and time consuming to say the least.

Eventually you will come to the conclusion “This ain’t working” or as doctor Phil would say ” how’s that working out for you”. The truth is people want to join people they know, like, and trust. They can’t know you very well if all you do is email them can they now?

Very rarely will anyone sign up to your business just because they stumbled on your link in an email or clicked on your ad in Google AdWords or a free classified ad. Ask yourself if you would do it? You probably deleted quite a few business opportunities emails today alone didn’t you? Come on now..fess up!

If however you collect their name and email and then contact them in the hope of mentoring I guess I can understand that.

I don’t know why you don’t just go to Facebook from the start where 235,000,000 leads are and start there for FREE? This has just been my experience to date and why I steer away from anything telling me I have to be positioned to get lots of clicks to my website. It is not the clicks that count but the follow up I do or rather the people skills I possess. Isn’t it? Unless of course you just want to sign up a bunch of people take the money and run. Then maybe leading with your business is good.

The more I discover about social networking the more I understand that network marketing is not a sales game but a teaching and mentoring calling. If you don’t get excited about someone else’s success because of what you taught them then you are wrong for network marketing. Maybe you should move on to something else.

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AUTHOR
Lance D.R. Brown - Home business success tips or if you need a great home business go to http://ezmakedollars.blogspot.com

By Veena Furtado

“If we study the lives of great men and women carefully and unemotionally we find that, invariably, greatness was developed, tested and revealed through the darker periods of their lives. One of the largest tributaries of the river of greatness is always the stream of adversity.”
– Cavett Robert

Are you a MOOCH?!

Strange word eh? But what is it?

In one of my earlier articles I had told you that there are a lot of scams on the internet. Mooch Marketing is the coined term given where online marketers take advantage of people trying to “get rich quick” … Mooches - people wanting to make easy money online.

Mooches look for the all elusive, easy ways to make money online

Mooches…suckers to the conmen and conwomen of the net. Mooches are ordinary people, looking to make money online easy and earn cash making money online and get rich from the comfort of their home - by trying to make easy money online.

Let me assure you here, that there is no quick route to success on the internet and you CANNOT make money online fast. But for a newbie…that concept is alien. (more…)