The greatest bluff I have ever come across in advertising is, “Copywriters are born, not made.”
To be honest, this ad-adage has no real value and had perhaps been conceptualised long ago by a herd of influential people who wanted to con and control the field within their own circle or lobby, facing no competition as such from anyone external.
Whatever it is, the fact remains as simple as that, “Copywriters are made, not born, and copywriting is not rocket science.”
Now, let me help you experience a few nuggets of copywriting, so that you can actually understand the subject on your own.
WHAT IS COPYWRITING
Copywriting is a stunning and successful occupation and, as anything successful has many fathers, this profession is also having many definitions.
The simplest being: “Copywriting is nothing but salesmanship in writing.” It’s a little customised version of John E. Kennedy’s BIG-TIME definition of advertising, “Advertising is salesmanship in print.”
Though, if you want to elaborate, you can define it as, “Copywriting is an art and science form of communications to market the image (emotional benefits/connects) or functional benefits; promo-offers or mere-mentions of a Brand (product/service) in different media, on various mediums, ensuring results such as brand-recall, sales, repeat-sales and, last but not least, evangelism*.”
*Evangelism is a phenomenon that climaxes a consumer to become and remain as a loyal Brand custodian who spreads the Brand-goodwill to others rather voluntarily.
BASICS OF COPYWRITING
Of course, copywriting is not a cakewalk; at the same time, it’s not as tough as walking on the moon.
Every copy structure follows the old yet ever-gold formula called AIDA.
Where ‘A’ = Get Attention; ‘I’ = Arouse Interest; ‘D’ = Stimulate Desire; and ‘A’ = Ask for Action.
Ideally, in an ad, Headline (and sub-headline) along with visual(s) (unless the ad is totally copy heavy) gets the attention and arouses the interest of consumers. Body copy does the rest. And Baseline (if any) communicates the line of positioning/image of a Brand.
For example: “The complete man, since 1925.” The baseline of Raymond’s clearly conveys what the Brand’s image is and how it connects with consumers, emotionally.
However, this abovementioned formula is not untouchable. And like any other laws, AIDA has its exception as well.
For instance: The ads of United Colors of Benetton. In those ads visuals say and do it all, leaving hardly any room for copy to live in.
HOW TO WRITE COPY
Before jumping onto the keyboard to construct any copy, a copywriter needs to do a set of things –
a) First and foremost, reading and analysing a creative brief properly and thoroughly. In case any doubt prevails, a copywriter should always ask for clarity on the brief and should be very clear on his mind even about what’s not written in the brief but very much present there as between the lines’ expression.
b) Ideation should be done next. Preferably sitting along with an art-partner. This ideation process should not deviate from the objective of communications – as stated in the brief. And ideas are mostly welcome visually, since visual is a universal language that cuts across every barrier, globally.
c) Once the idea is cracked, constructing of copy should be done on the blocks by getting answers to the following questions –
·What’s the objective of the piece of communications that you are going to write the copy for? I mean, what the result is to be yielded by the ad?
·Who’s your Target Audience/Group (TA/G)?
·What do you want to communicate to them?
·Where do you want to reach them? I mean, what’s your media mix?
·Why do you think they will trust your communications?
·What are the triggers are you offering them to take an action, fast or slow?
•What mechanism are you embedding in your communications to measure their actions, later on?
d) And when mind is ready with all the answers at a convincing level, copywriting should begin.
TIPS FOR COPYWRITERS
If you can memorise the following points, copywriting won’t crash on you like any meteoroid –
1) Think of simple ideas. Because it’s only consumers who can make or break your ideas BIG or small. So don’t suffer from the paranoia of thinking BIG ideas, every time.
2) Be observant and absorbent to the core. Use your all five-senses plus the sixth sense i.e. commonsense all the time. And learn from your day to day affairs. As you have to write ads for people who are always around you, unlike the aliens.
3) Read a lot. From comics to cosmic stories. From sex to spirituality. Whatever comes to your hand, flip through its pages. More you read, better you write.
4) Follow ads. Good ones as well as the bad. It helps you understand the nuances of communications.
5) Write in “easy-to-connect” language. For that matter, if you have to trouble Mr. Wren and Mr. Martin; take it easy. As a line like “Ye Dil Maange More” of Pepsi is not grammatically correct but successfully sold off and acclaimed in India. So copywriting is not writing grammatically correct things only, it’s about writing something that ignites a consumer’s passion and empathises with his/her emotion.
6) If you are just beginning your career, make sure to develop your mock portfolio. That should hold at least 5 fictitious campaigns of yours done on different brands. Your portfolio should encompass print ads, TVC storylines (if not script or storyboard), and radio spots.
7) After you write copy, read it aloud. If your copy is jerking here and there phonetically then it’s not good copy. In that case, improve your lines until they read and sound smooth.
Subsequent to your creation of an ad, if you don’t feel like seeing the ad again with the same passion and interest when you created it first, immediately tear off the ad and make your waste-paper bin glad with it. Because it’s crime to expect others will see and appreciate your ad, which you yourself are no more interested in.
And on a lighter note, you may also remember a few more points to be a successful copywriter though application of those points is entirely your risk.
I) Go for hair, (moustache), (and beard) maneuver.
II) Flirt like anything with the opposite sex in office or outside.
III) Fart in the closet of AC conference room while you don’t feel like attending a mundane job-list meeting.
IV) Have sex, safely and secretly, as SEX SELLS.
Finally, “Happy copywriting!”
I’m an Independent Creative Consultant dealing with Advertising, Direct Marketing, Viral, Digital & Interactive Communications, et al. I primarily function under the banner of MeSushovan and provide ad agencies, communication network, brand boutiques, creative shops and the like with Creative Solutions as a Creative Outsource to them. The Brands, so far I have handled, are Microsoft, Samsung, Sharp, Pepsi, The Times of India, Airtel, Aktel, Reliance India Mobile, Apollo Hospitals (Dhaka), Wild Stone Deo (for men), Anmol Biscuit, Olympic Energy Plus Biscuit, Dhaka Bank, Allahabad Bank, etc. to name a few. And the agencies, I have done my stint with, are Mudra, Wunderman (Y&R), ARC Worldwide, A Positive Euro, and others.
For more details on me and my work, feel free to shoot your mail to: rana12feb@gmail.com
In case you want to read my Blog, simply visit http://kidntramp.blogspot.com/
If you wish to write with me, anytime, anything, just take a peek into http://dowr8.blogspot.com/
And to view a selected set of interesting TVCs of mine, all you got to do is click http://www.youtube.com/user/mesushovan
Filed under Copywriting · Tagged with Adage, Advertising Advertising, Aida, Art And Science, Big Time, Cakewalk, Climaxes, Copywriting, Custodian, Customised Version, Definition Of Advertising, Emotional Benefits, Evangelism, Functional Benefits, Herd, Mediums, Nuggets, Rocket, Rocket Science, Salesmanship, Science, Time Definition, Walking On The Moon
Binge eating is a major reason why so many people fail to lose weight. The problem is, the diets we follow to lose weight, actually encourage us to binge eat even more.After over 6 years of going between periods of strict dieting and binge eating, I devised a simple 4 step formula that helped me control my binge eating problem. I managed to pinpoint why I was binge eating and came up with a few simple solutions to overcome them. I hope this helps you as much as it did me.4 Tips That Will Show You How To Stop Binge Eating1. EAT WHATEVER YOU WANTForget the notion that a certain food makes you fat, because it doesn’t. Too much food makes you fat. You will lose weight as long as you eat less food then you burn off a day. So then, wouldn’t it make sense to eat foods you enjoy?From personal experience, I would often binge eat and ruin my diet on foods that I was forbidden from eating. Depriving myself of these foods caused my cravings to get so out of control that I would eventually crack under the pressure and binge…big time.The good news is, it actually doesn’t matter what food you eat, as long as you eat less total calories then you need a day. So stop depriving yourself of foods that you enjoy, this only increase our cravings, and in turn increases our chances of bingeing.2. EAT MORELow calorie diets cause our metabolism to slow right down, so we burn less calories. At the same time, these low calorie diets seem to increase our appetite. So we end up eating more and burning off less!I know that depriving myself of feeling full and content after a meal, lead to me wanting, then needing to experience it more and more. After a while of resisting temptation, I would explode and not only eat enough to feel full and content, I would eat way too much and end up feeling sick.In actual fact, you don’t need to cut calories so far to lose weight. To safely burn off fat simply eat 12-14 calories per pound of bodyweight spread out over 4-6 meals. This should also be more than enough food to avoid ever feeling hungry or deprived.3. OVEREAT BUT DON’T BINGELet’s face it, overeating is fun. It’s enjoyable. Now is that really such a bad thing? It is our natural instinct. This goes way back to our caveman days. Do you think that when they made a kill, they portion controlled it, and put the rest in the freezer?Stupid question I know, but it shows that overeating is instilled in our DNA from thousands of years ago.What is great is that overeating actually helps us lose weight faster. You see, our body fat is stored on us for a reason, to help us survive in periods of food shortage. After a few days of reduced calorie eating our body starts to realise that there is a shortage of food coming in. It will then become more reluctant to burn it off for energy.Giving it an abundance of calories occasionally gives our metabolism a much needed kick in the pants. This convinces the body that there definitely isn’t a shortage of food. It will then realise that it is pointless to hang onto our fat stores, and continue to burn it up at a faster rate.So what I did, was every 4th or 5th day I would eat my calorie limit (see point 2) times 2-2.5. So if I was eating 2400 calories to lose weight, every 4th or 5th day I would try to keep my intake under 6000 calories. This was more than enough calories to satisfy my cravings, allowed me to enjoy myself socially and it still allowed me to burn fat.I figured that if I didn’t do this, my cravings would soon become too strong and I would binge eat well over 10,000 calories. 4. CONTROL EMOTIONAL EATINGI know many binge eaters do so when they are stressed. I don’t blame them. However, try to find other non-food ways to relieve stress. Get outside and go for a walk, play with your children or your pets, go to the park or the beach. A hard workout is great stress-buster. Put on some music, have a hot bath, do some stretching or meditation. Anything, just try to find other areas to vent your stress.No one is perfect. Next time you binge, think about how and why you do so. And think of how you can prevent it the next time. Learn from your mistakes. If your mistakes are similar to mine, then hopefully these tips can help you.Best of Luck 
Luke Johnstone recently overcame his lifelong weight loss struggle and managed to get a six pack for the first time in his life. He did this eating whatever he wanted, pigging out occasionally and training only 90 minutes a week.
For photo proof, as well as more info outlining how he did it, visit http://www.junkfooddietsite.com
Filed under Traffic · Tagged with 6 Years, Appetite, Big Time, Binge, Binge Eating, Bingeing, Bodyweight, Calories Per Pound, Cravings, Diet, Dieting, Easy, Eating, Lead, Lose Weight, Low Calorie Diets, Many People, Metabolism, Notion, Periods, Personal Experience, Resisting Temptation, Simple Solutions, Steps, Stop
To blog or not to blog? That is the question. Lately, blogs (short for Web logs, a type of Web journal) are the big buzz among marketing pros for the help www.bloggers-guide-to-profit.com. While top bloggers can make big-time money from ad revenues, the odds of striking it rich by creating an ultra-popular blog are probably on par with winning the lottery. But, don’t rule out creating a blog for your business just yet.
Blogs can be a great way to build brand loyalty and gain new customers. Even if you never make a cent from blog ad revenues — and you probably won’t — gaining even one new client would likely pay for the small investment you make in this low-cost marketing technology.
What should your blog be about? Ideally, something strongly relating to your business — this positions you as an expert in your field. A sporting goods store could blog about great hikes, local camp sites and rock climbing classes. An ad agency could discuss the latest developments in their local ad climate and the newest advertising strategies.
If you don’t have the time or skill set to write a blog — don’t worry. Freelance writers can easily be brought in to write a blog entry on a weekly, or even daily, basis. You could even hire several different writers to blog about a different subject each week. Or, have your writer ghostwrite a weekly column for your company CEO or president.
With just a little time and effort each week, a blog can be a great way to build and nurture your customer base and grow your business.
Individuals that dream of blogging for profit can do so with a minimal understanding of blogging software and the willingness to put in the time and hard work necessary. Yet, only a small percentage of individuals actually get the profits they expected from their blog. So why is that?
There are fundamentally two reasons people don’t succeed who attempt to make money through their blogs. Often, bloggers are unrealistic of how quickly their blog readership will grow and how much money they will make. When these heightened expectations are not met, often they are discouraged and just stop blogging for the help www.feed-reader-links.com. The other trap that many bloggers fall into is that they don’t plan. Generating money by writing a blog online requires development of a realistic plan and to stick to it.
In order to make money with blogging, it is critical that you have a lot of readers, ie. traffic. The more traffic you have, the more advertisers will pay to advertise on your blog. However, obtaining the regular visitors needed in order to make a profit isn’t a walk in the park. A good idea or attractive writing style is no longer enough to grab readers’ attention. You have to market your blog to generate traffic to it.
There are many ways to market your blog. One is by writing articles such as this one and putting the link to your blog in the resource or author box. Others are by adding comments to other peoples’ blogs or in related forums, always adding a link back to your own blog. Then there’s social media sites like Twitter, Squidoo, Hub pages, etc. Building quality content on these websites and linking to your blog can all generate traffic.
The problem is that some bloggers focus too much on writing and neglect advertising their blog. You have to market your blog for traffic to know where to find it. Readers of blogs will regularly return to your blog if you regularly update it with new content that has value. Regular updates allow blog search engines and directories to keep your internet rating high. Of course, regular blog posts won’t matter if no one is reading. That’s why it is so critical to spend the time to draw visitors to your blog website. Even if it means not posting quite as often so you can spend some of your time marketing, as long as you’re providing value in the posts you make, the readers will return.
Filed under Blogging Tips · Tagged with Ad Agency, Advertising Strategies, Big Time, Blog, Blog Entry, Blogging, Blogging For Profit, Brand Loyalty, Business, Business Individuals, Company Ceo, Customer Base, Daily Basis, Development, Freelance Writers, Generating, Little Time, Low Cost Marketing, Marketing Technology, Money, Online, Realistic, Realistic Plan, Requires, Sporting Goods Store, Time Money, Web Logs, Weekly Column, Winning The Lottery, Writing
Hi there,
everyone knows the massive pulling power of facebook on the web. Though till recently, it has not had any great uses for internet marketings as it lacked the search engine pulling power no great viral pulling power..
Now this has all Changed. Facebook has implemented PAGES!!
Why am I so excited about this?
1. We now have the ability to name the pages we create on facebook.com. Facebook.com is an amazingly powerful website in Google. Now we have the ability to leverage this awesome power by creating Pages, just like the one you are on now. Meaning, we can put the title of our page at the top of any page we create in Facebook. The title Is one of the main factors in determining a listing in the Google.com Search Engine.
2. Putting our great keyword rich title on the page, also creates an internal page on Facebook.com using these words in the URL of the page. 2nd massive bonus Having your niche in the name of the internal page is another strong factor into getting listed highly in the Google.com Search Engine.
These two points above are enough to be able to target nice long tailed keyword phrases, and have them ranking highly in Google
3. The Viral Aspect mentioned above.
See the little Flag icon on these facebook pages
There is the link
Become a Fan.
Your Viewers have the opportunity to become a “Fan” of your facebook Page. This is where it really gets interesting.
By becoming a fan of this page. Whenever you update this page with more SEO Tips or content based on your page. Your facebook wall will be updated. So I now have an excellent medium to distribute this SEO Tips Information.
Plus whenever you update your page, each of your fans walls will be updated with this update to your page. This is where the viral component happens big time. Not only is the update on your fans pages, but each of your fans friends will be alerted to this update on your page.
So on top of utilizing the massive power of facebook in google, you get this additional viral component, all driven via free search engine traffic.
Filed under Seo · Tagged with Big Time, Bonus, Facebook, Flag Icon, Google, Google Engine, Google Search, Keyword Phrases, Leveraging, Marketings, Massive Power, Niche, Pulling Power, Search Engine, Seo, Tips, Url
Writing articles for your blog is an important part of the entire blog process. Let your readers get to know you first and foremost. Be yourself as you write and your personality will shine through. Engage your readers with your writing and provide the type of information that will benefit your readers.
What should you write about?
Provide basic, real, useful information as well as resources to go along with the information you’re writing. What are your interests? Will it interest your readers as well?. Offer “how to tips” and how it made you successful.
What are you an expert at?
Can your readers benefit from it too? How has it worked for you? In my blog I share articles and links that have helped me and will help others too. Have you had this experience? If so, let your readers know that they too can benefit.
I can’t find anything to say!
There will be times when you are going to encounter writer’s block. It happens to the best of us. Not to worry, look for other interesting articles that are related to your blog theme. Remember to ask for permission to use an article and never alter the content of a guest article. These can help when you’re experiencing writer’s block big time!
Be creative!
Check out 5 important blogging tips and apply them to your blog.
Spice up your blog!
Below are a few great places to start:
Associated Content browse for free content and videos in many categories.
Linkworth
The name LinkWorth is quickly becoming the name people reference when text link advertising or natural listings are spoken of. Check the out today!
Blogvertise!
It’s simple. Earn cash and generate extra income from your blog!
Associate Program!
Get paid to post a banner on your website. Join our #1-Rated Affiliate Program for FREE and you’ll have all the tools you need to generate HUGE monthly commission checks of up to $375-$4,500+– just by sending visitors to our web site!
PayperPost!
Get paid to blog about the things you love! Also, become an affiliate and earn more money!
ChaCha!
Why Try ChaCha? For people who want to take full advantage of all the web has to offer, ChaCha delivers powerful search support – combining the best search engines with dedicated human intelligence – to make all your searches more successful.
Have fun!
Most of all, have fun! Find something that doesn’t feel like a task but is fun to write about. Show your personality through your writing and make your readers comfortable.
There are many other ingredients to spice up your blog and add important value to your readership. Check out my side bar for other incredible money making ideas.
Remember, start with your own writing first and everything else will fall into place!
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* Articles may be used with permission from Sonia Colon of My Fashion E-Mall Blog!
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Filed under Blogging Tips · Tagged with Affiliate Program, Articles, Associate Program, Banner, Big Time, Blog, Commission Checks, Expert, Extra Income, Guest Article, Interesting Articles, Linkworth, Payperpost, Personality, Share Articles, Spice, Text Link Advertising, What Are Your Interests, Writing, Writing Articles, Your
Everybody’s asking if they can make money online. The answer is a big yes. In fact there are people who are earning thousands of dollars monthly online. Just take note that this doesn’t happen to every one because there’s a criteria that people should meet to be successful. But you can still find some make money blogging tips that can boost your chances or making it big time.
Almost everyone starts with a blog. It is because through blogs, people have the option to include advertising programs. These programs are very easy to add though these may vary so be sure to read all the Help Topics that you can get your hands on before signing up.
The most popular of these ad programs is Google Adsense. There are other programs that you can also choose from like WidgetBucks, Tribal Fusion, TextAds, FastClick or Value Click. There will be more programs coming out like YPN or MSN Adcenter but currently these are still on testing mode and YPN is only limited to US publishers.
Aside from being familiar with popular ad programs, another make money blogging tip is the importance of being web savvy. Since blogs are a part of the internet you need to have a working knowledge of how web technologies works. Blogging is actually one aspect of Internet Technology. You don’t have to be a geek or a highly technical person but you have to at least understand what affiliate programs, feed aggregators, rss, pings or trackbacks are. If you are not familiar with any of these, you have to stop. This means you’re not yet ready for some serious online profit blogging. What you can need instead is a work around to make yourself understand the most common technologies of the Internet and after this you can always to back to profit blogging.
Filed under Blogging Tips · Tagged with Adsense, Affiliate Programs, Big Time, Blogging, Common Technologies, Fastclick, Geek, Google, Internet Business, Internet Marketer, Internet Technology, Make, Money, Msn Adcenter, Pings, Publishers, Technical Person, Thousands Of Dollars, Tim Yu, Tips, Tribal Fusion, Web Technologies, Working Knowledge, Ypn
