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More Tips to Help You Market, Manage and Grow Your Virtual Consulting Bu
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Michael S. DeVries
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Jun 20, 2006 17:01 PDT
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The Virtual Consulting Discussion List [VCDL]
http://www.TheVCF.com/vcdl.phtml
Tuesday, June 20, 2006 Digest #29
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List Moderator: Michael S.DeVries DeVr-@cris.com
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TABLE OF CONTENTS ...
---> [NEW] <---
#1 IT Project Governance And Prince2 Project Management: How To Keep
Major IT Investments On The Rails
- Alan Calder
#2 WYSIWYG?
- Sharleen Standling
#3 Getting Links From Business And Trade Organizations
- Gary Mitchell
#4 Small Business Grants Are Very Attainable
-Steve Vaile
#5 Marketing On Craigslist 101
- Shanon Lewis
#6 Offsite Backup: Benefits And Threats Unveiled
- Jonathan Tunn
#7 Creating An Effective Online Presence Part One
-Kim Olver
#8 Profit Boosters Copywriting Checklist
-Mike Pavlish
---> [CONTINUED] <---
---> [RESOURCES] <---
---> [NEWS] <---
---> [INTRO] <---
---> [HELP WANTED] <---
---> [ADMIN] <---
************* [NEW] ***************
#1 IT Project Governance And Prince2 Project Management: How To Keep
Major IT Investments On The Rails
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Date: Sun, 18 Jun 2006 05:45:03 +0800
From: "Alan Calder" <submis-@isnare.net>
Reply To: Virtual-C-@topica.com
In today’s fast-changing information economy, IT project
governance (http://www.itgovernance.co.uk/page.proj_gov) has
emerged as one of the most vital corporate responsibilities.
The relentless pressure to innovate whilst simultaneously
driving down costs means that organisations are increasingly
‘betting the farm’ on the successful development and deployment
of new IT systems. However, the business environment now evolves
so quickly that the original assumptions on which projects were
based can often become fatally undermined prior to the
projects’ completion. With technology at the heart of most
businesses, the ability to maintain tight executive and board
control over such projects throughout their lifecycle has
become a deciding factor in determining which businesses thrive
and which founder. In response to this challenge, Prince2
project management has emerged as the world’s leading
methodology for ensuring that IT projects stay on track and
deliver real value.
No large scale or business critical project should ever be
managed on a standalone basis. The need to involve and secure
buy-in from functions right across the organisation means that
a project governance approach is essential. While project
management is the key discipline within this, project
governance is broader in scope and has six interlinked
objectives:
1. Ensuring real business value through project and business
alignment.
2. Controlling costs through centralisation.
3. Maximising resource allocation, particularly of high value
resources.
4. Risk management through portfolio balancing.
5. Uniform application of best practice.
6. Organisational coherence.
IT decisions expose an organisation to significant risks –
financial, operational and competitive – so it is essential
that project governance be a concern for the board as a whole,
rather than any one individual. The board must insist that
project risks are assessed within the organisation’s strategic
planning and risk management framework and ensure that the
right investment and management decisions are made, so that
competitive advantage can be enhanced and measurable business
value delivered.
The board’s project governance responsibilities can be
summarised as follows:
• To approve product initiation, manage the project portfolio
and pull the plug on any underperforming projects.
• To make one or more non-executive board members specifically
responsible for overseeing project governance. They must have
independent and informed oversight of progress on all business
IT projects – including attending program (or large project)
board meetings.
• To ensure clear accountability at all levels, with detailed,
rigorously tested project plans based on a critical path
analysis with clearly identified critical success factors,
regular milestones and ‘go/no go’ checkpoints.
• To ensure that every project proposal contains a full
business case with a fully costed estimate that can stand up to
independent audit, with clearly stated assumptions that can
withstand rigorous analysis.
• To manage all IT related projects as part of a portfolio.
• To adopt and deploy a recognised project management
methodology.
• To adopt a clearly defined risk management plan at programme
and project level that reflects corporate level risk treatment
requirements.
• To institute a monitoring framework to inform the board of
progress and provide an early alert of divergence or slippage
in any of the critical success factors.
• To commit funding only on a phased basis.
• To ensure that internal audit is capable and accountable
directly to the board for providing regular, timely and
unambiguous reports on project progress, slippage, budget,
requirements specification and quality requirements. Where
there is project divergence the board should not release
further funds until the cause of the divergence has been fully
dealt with.
In selecting a project management methodology the organisation
needs to choose an approach that is appropriate to its project
objectives and development environment. By far the most popular
methodology is Prince2, the successor to PRINCE (\'Projects in
Controlled Environments\'), which was developed by the UK
Office of Government Commerce. While PRINCE was originally
developed for IT projects, Prince2 project management has
incorporated substantial feedback and is now a generic,
best-practice approach for all types of projects. Since its
introduction in 1989, Prince2 project management has become
widely used in both the public and private sectors and is now a
de facto global standard.
Prince2 project management uses a structured methodology, which
means managing a project in a logical and organized way,
following clearly defined steps and well-understood roles and
responsibilities. It perfectly matches the requirements of a
project governance regime by delivering the following
attributes to any project:
• A controlled and organised start, middle and end
• Regular reviews of progress against plan and against the
business case • Flexible decision points
• Automatic management control of any deviations from the plan
• The involvement of management and stakeholders at the right
time and in the right place during the project
• Good communications channels between the project, project
management, and the rest of the organisation.
The effectiveness of Prince2 project management results from
its four cornerstones, which define what a successfully managed
project should be:
Planned: Prince2 has a series of processes that cover all of
the activities needed on a project from starting up to closing
down. This process-based approach provides an easily tailored
and scaleable method for the management of all types of
project. Each process is defined with its key inputs and
outputs together with the specific objectives to be achieved
and activities to be carried out.
Controlled: Prince2 project management divides a project into
manageable stages, enabling efficient control of resources and
regular progress monitoring throughout. The various roles and
responsibilities for managing a project are fully described and
are adaptable to suit the size and complexity of the project,
and the skills of the organisation.
Results-driven: Project planning using Prince2 is
product-based, which means the project plans are actually
focused on delivering results and are not simply about planning
when the various activities on the project will be done.
Measured: Any project using Prince2 is driven by the business
case, which describes the organisation’s justification,
commitment and rationale for the deliverables or outcome. The
business case is regularly reviewed during the project to
ensure the business objectives, which often change during the
lifecycle of the project, are still being met.
There are clear reasons why Prince2 project management has
become the world’s leading methodology. In addition to its best
practice approach for the management of all project types,
around 800 people per week take Prince2 project management
examinations, with all training is carried out by accredited
organisations. It is widely used and popular in both public and
private sectors, and can easily be tailored to all varieties of
projects in many different markets and businesses. For any
organization that is serious about managing its IT investment,
Prince2 project management is the natural choice.
About The Author: Alan Calder is CEO of IT Governance Limited,
which is the world’s most comprehensive publisher and
distributor of books, tools, information and advice on
governance, risk and compliance.
http://www.itgovernance.co.uk/catalog/3
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#2 WYSIWYG?
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Date: Sun, 18 Jun 2006 10:45:02 +0800
From: "Sharleen Standling" <submis-@isnare.net>
Reply To: Virtual-C-@topica.com
Many web sites seem to have graphics and moving images on their
pages, some even have music, personally I think that music Is
just wasted space on a website anyway, as a large percentage of
people don’t even have their volume on. If you want to
incorporate music it is good practice to let the visitor decide
if they want to listen to it or not and give them a play and
stop button.
The problem with this is the time it takes for the page to
load.
Many visitors to a website will not wait for the graphics to
download they will simply back out and go to the next website
in the listings and you have just lost yourself a sale.
High resolution graphics and music is fine for most people with
a high speed broadband connection, but if you have anything less
than that then waiting for graphics to download on a web page is
very frustrating.
For the web designer themselves it is wise to test the website
you have created on a 28.8 connection speed and see how fast
your site downloads, it should be viewable within about 3 – 4
seconds maximum. It is recommended also that a site be no
larger than 50k, you can still fit great graphics and content
into a site with around 30k of content.
A tip is to make your graphics smaller in size and to use fewer
colours, instead of a million, use 216 and try to keep your
images smaller than 4k.
Instead of using graphics you can try colouring the cells, or
changing the colour of borders. If you experiment a little the
effects can be fantastic and obviously the less graphics you
are using, the faster your webpage will load.
The thing to remember when developing a website is that less is
more, we live in a world where we want everything now, so give
the customer what they want!
About The Author: Sharleen Standling is a proud contributing
author find more articles at http://financeandlegalportal.info/
For more info visit http://webdesign-resource.info/sitemap.php
or http://webdesign-resource.info/web-site-design.php
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#3 Getting Links From Business And Trade Organizations
-----------------------------------------------------------
Date: Sun, 18 Jun 2006 02:45:01 +0800
From: "Gary Mitchell" <submis-@isnare.net>
Reply To: Virtual-C-@topica.com
Are you looking for a quick and easy way to get links and for
your companies website? Chances are you have link opportunities
that are already available to you that you aren't taking
advantage of. Do you belong to any local, regional, national or
international trade organization or groups? Most of these
organizations have and maintain websites. When you become a
member having your website listed is usually just a matter of
asking and submitting the proper information. Do you belong to
your local Rotary, Kiwanis or chamber of commerce? If so
chances are they have a website and you're entitled to link on
the website as part of your membership. Does your business
sponsor local youth sports teams, charity events or school
functions? If you do be sure to ask if a link is included as
part of your support. These types of links are so easy to get
it's surprising how many businesses and organizations aren't
taking advantage of them.
Another easy linking opportunity is local businesses you know
or deal with. Does you lawyer have a website where they list
names of their clients? If they do ask if they can make your
company name a link back to you. If the florist next door to
you has a website ask them about putting up a link to you on
his website. Of course you should be willing to reciprocate the
offer on your website. It's important that you only link to
reputable people run by people you know and trust, and not
anyone who asks, and not with every email that finds it's way
to your inbox. One important part of linking is understanding
the people you exchange links with help the search engines
determine what neighborhood you want to be a part of.
© Copyright www.AtlasWebGroup.com, All Rights Reserved.
About The Author: This article was written by Gary Mitchell of
http://www.atlaswebgroup.com an internet development firm that
can help you develop and promote your business online. Contact
them at http://www.atlaswebgroup.com for a no fee consultation.
-----------------------------------------------------------
#4 Small Business Grants Are Very Attainable
-----------------------------------------------------------
Date: Sun, 18 Jun 2006 01:45:02 +0800
From: "Steve Vaile" <submis-@isnare.net>
Reply To: Virtual-C-@topica.com
There was a time when the concept of free money was a very
American notion. But, as the economy has tightened and budgets
decreased, there are very few avenues towards capital to start
up a new business that do not involve loans and interest. This
makes the path towards financial independence all but
impossible for many working Americans. However, the small
business grant is still available (even in these very lean
times!) as a potential source of funding for you dream of
self-employment.
A small business grant is part of a program funded by the
federal government which provides capital for start up
businesses. Sometimes a small business grant will simply give
the money to a recipient with no requirement of repayment.
Other business grants will require you to repay them with a
minimal amount of interest over a period of years. Whether or
not a small business grant requires repayment will depend on
the nature of the grant itself.
Obtaining a small business grant is certainly no simple matter.
In truth, over a million applications are received every year
with only hundreds being awarded. However, the fact that only a
few hundred are awarded does not necessarily mean that the
others were turned down for lack of funding. Quite the
opposite, it is very common for a small business grant to be
turned down due to filing mistakes as opposed to lack of funds.
In fact, it is a common occurrence for funds to be returned at
the end of the year because not enough people qualified for the
grants available.
But, the government is not the only potential source of a small
business grant. Businesses will frequently form a “private
foundation” which is responsible for disbursing funds set aside
for grants and other useful community needs. The incentive for a
company to use a private foundation is simple: tax savings. A
company will pay less in corporate taxes when it gives away a
small business grant than if it merely reported the income.
Therefore, the private business community is an excellent grant
source and is expected to be so in the future unless the tax
code is significantly altered.
The best way to ensure that your small business grant is
approved is to be organized and very thorough in filling out
the application. A winning small business grant will generally
include a business plan that includes a detailed explanation of
what funds are needed and why. But the most important thing to
remember is to fill out the application thoroughly and exactly
as directed. Attention to detail is what will separate the
winners of a small business grant from the losers.
About The Author: Small Business Grants Hub is an information
site that contains links, a directory and other Small Business
Grant Information. It can be found at:
http://www.smallbusinessgrantshub.com
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-----------------------------------------------------------
#5 Marketing On Craigslist 101
-----------------------------------------------------------
Date: Sun, 18 Jun 2006 02:45:02 +0800
From: "Shanon Lewis" <submis-@isnare.net>
Reply To: Virtual-C-@topica.com
Since its launch in 1995 Craigslist.org has quietly become the
largest online classifieds website in the world with a regional
presence in 190 cities, across 35 countries. Each month over 10
million people log on to the seventh most popular website to
buy and sell just about everything. From real estate to
furniture, promoting services such as contracting, house
cleaning and even babysitting – Craigslist is the one spot
where anyone can connect regionally to fill a need.
As its popularity has continued to increase, so have the
possibilities for vendors large and small to market their wares
on Craigslist. What’s the big attraction? For the most part
Craigslist is 100% free to post and search. Only do job
postings in San Francisco, L.A and New York City cost a small
fee to post. Otherwise, Craigslist is an open free source for
new targeted customers, ripe for the picking, just waiting for
your business to give them what they want.
Craigslist is regionally based website that truly promotes
community involvement. However, you can post in any of the
available metros and multiple metros as well. The trick is in
designing an ad that gets people attention, getting on a
regular posting schedule, following the rules (or at least not
overtly breaking them) and searching for new customers daily.
Simplicity in ad design is paramount and it matches the vibe
that Craigslist likes to attract – peer-to-peer, real human
interaction. It lacks the commercial aspects that add fluff and
confusion in exchange for simple ads, most posted by real folks.
Design your ad to fit into that scheme is key to a successful
campaign.
Get into the habit of posting often on Craigslist and hit
multiple metros with different ads to get more reach (if you
business can support it). It’s free to post so what do you have
to lose!
Understanding Craigslist rules are fairly simple as they are
openly published. They are super picky about what you can post,
but there are exceptions like livestock and anything illegal
(drugs, guns, etc.). One of the major rules that I see as a
marketing rule more than a terms of service rule is to post in
the category that best corresponds with your product type. This
ensures your ad will reach the best target without adding to
useless clutter.
Over 8 million people post monthly on Craigslist and that
number grows every day. Don’t just sit back and post ads,
answer ads seeking your products and services as well.
Craigslist is one of the best ways for every business, large
and small to find a new voice online for little more than elbow
grease.
About The Author: Shanon Lewis is a web marketing expert and
the author of “The Unofficial Craigslist Book” the first and
only book that features detailed tips, tricks and guidance
showing every business how to succeed on http://Craigslist.org.
For more information, visit http://www.craigslist-book.com.
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#6 Offsite Backup: Benefits And Threats Unveiled
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Date: Sat, 17 Jun 2006 19:45:04 +0800
From: "Jonathan Tunn" <submis-@isnare.net>
Reply To: Virtual-C-@topica.com
Good backup habits are essential to everyone who uses a
computer with important information. It takes just a few
accidental clicks of the mouse - or worse, one isolated
hardware failure - and valuable data can be lost.
One dilemma for backup users is often where to put their
backups. Storing them on your own hard drive is obviously not
the best option. Not everyone wants to split their backups into
several parts using a CD or DVD burner, and an external hard
drive isn't a standard fixture on many users' desks.
One solution to this problem, and a solution that can save a
lot of time and effort, is offsite or remote backup. Backing up
to a computer offsite means that your data will end up on a
different drive or computer, which basically halves the chance
of catastrophic loss. This can be especially useful for office
users. If your company has several locations, backing up over a
network to a computer situated elsewhere can provide a
contingency in case of a power surge, fire, employee misuse or
plain user error.
Offsite backup over a network:
Most backup programs support network backup, and the way to use
this is simple. Local Area Networks (LAN) and Wide Area Networks
(WAN) usually feature "network drives", which appear to your
computer as an ordinary drive. They often have names like M:,
N:, O: and so on. Depending on permissions set up by the people
administrating your network, you may be able to write to certain
drives but not read from them, or you may not be able to change
or delete data once it's written. These are common situations,
but they should not affect the way you back up.
Once you have found a suitable location for your data - your
administrator will be able to help you with this - backing up
can be as easy and fast as with an external drive.
Select the appropriate drive and the data you want to save and
that's it. Even though a network connection is usually not as
fast as a local cable, this is just a matter of waiting. Most
programs allow you to set a backup timetable, which is a great
way to take the effort out of backup. If you leave your
computer on at night, then setting an incremental backup every
second day at 2am, for example, ensures the safety of your
data. A possible disadvantage here is that if your network goes
down, you might not be able to get your data back for some time.
Laptop users might not always be connected to the network at the
scheduled backup time, defeating the purpose entirely.
Offsite backup through FTP:
Another form of offsite backup uses a File Transfer Protocol
(FTP) server over the Internet. FTP is traditionally used to
move large files online and can reliably transfer any files of
any size.
To access data stored on an FTP server, you can use your backup
program, a special FTP client or just a regular web browser.
While there are two "types" of FTP server, public and private,
you will almost certainly be using a private server, which
requires a password to access your data. Advantages of this
method include that you can view the files stored on the FTP
any time you wish using any FTP client, mobile users can back
up from anywhere in the world with an Internet connection, and
FTP backup can be somewhat cheaper than a specialised remote
backup service.
The main disadvantage inherent in this method is data security.
The FTP protocol is not secure, and even a private FTP account
does not ensure the security of your files; it only protects
access to the FTP server. Anyone with access to your username
and password has access to your data. Added to this, unless you
take steps to protect it, your data will be unencrypted as it
travels to the FTP server, and could possibly be intercepted.
We recommend that you encrypt your files before sending them.
One option is to store your data in a standard
password-protected ZIP archive. This is a quick method that
allows you to extract your files on any computer using any ZIP
client. There are ZIP programs that provide tighter security by
applying stronger encryption algorithms, like AES or Blowfish.
This increases the security of your data, but to decrypt your
files you may need to use the program that encrypted and backed
them up.
To obtain access to a private FTP server, find a good hosting
company (try searching with Google) and compare based on price
and location - companies with servers based in your country
will usually be faster. Beware that your Internet Service
Provider (ISP) might charge you for the data you send, so you
may wish to make incremental backups over FTP, which only
backup what was changed since your last backup.
Specialised offsite backup:
Another form of offsite backup is the use of a special server
provided by the company that makes your backup solution. They
usually use their own protocols to encrypt and transfer your
data, and a special program on their end to store it. You may
have some issues using such services if you're behind a
firewall, as some of these services use non-standard Internet
Protocol (IP) ports.
Offsite backup services are usually paid for by the month, by
the amount of data transferred or both. They can be quite
expensive, especially if you wish to back up a lot of data, or
use the service over a long period of time. As with FTP
servers, you may also be charged by your ISP to send your data.
Still, offsite backup services represent a convenient method,
as they'll usually be built right into backup programs that
support the feature. Ensure the credentials of the company
you're dealing with, as an offsite backup service is pointless
if your backup company happens to shut up shop or "can't find"
your data - just as your hard drive fails.
About The Author: Jonathan Tunn is a staff writer for
SoftLogica (http://www.softlogica.com) covering personal
technology. He studied Journalism at RMIT University in
Melbourne, Australia, and acquired his IT background at a
transnational telecommunications company. Article Source:
http://www.backup-platinum.com/offsite-backup-article.html
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#7 Creating An Effective Online Presence Part One
-----------------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 19 Jun 2006 14:45:03 +0800
From: "Kim Olver" <submis-@isnare.net>
Reply To: Virtual-C-@topica.com
I have learned so much over the past year about creating an
online presence. There is so very much to know and most people
who start their own businesses really don’t know how to create,
maximize and leverage their online presence.
I will give you just a summary of what I’ve learned over the
past year from reading, masterminding and coaching. I know I
have only scratched the surface but if I can in any way cut
down on your learning curve by sharing the things I’ve already
learned, then that’s what I want to do.
Niche Marketing
This is the first thing you learn when creating an online
presence. It’s about narrowing your focus. It is not possible
to be all things to all people and when you try, you end up
watering down your message and in essence, being nothing to no
one. This probably was the hardest lesson I learned. I fought
the whole niche marketing idea because I believed that my niche
was choice theory and I know choice theory applied to every
possible life situation. While I still believe that this is
true, I need to focus my marketing efforts on a much more
specific and targeted niche. While I am still refining this, I
have decided to market to two basic niches. The first is small
to midsize companies who are interested in creating, inspiring
and leveraging diversity in the workforce and the second is
managers interested in learning Empowered Leadership to
increase production, improve quality and reduce employee
turnover.
What is your niche? You know you have a good one if you can
identify how to find them. You need to know what they read,
what entertainment they gravitate toward, and what groups they
belong to. It is your goal to ultimately obtain a mailing list
or email list to be able to market to your niche. If you can
obtain a list, then you have a well-narrowed niche.
Creating a List
This is perhaps the most important asset to an online
business—the email list of potential customers and prospects.
When doing business online, it is critically important to
capture prospects' email opt-in addresses so you can begin to
market to them. The best way to get people to give you their
email address is to offer them something compelling. This is
intricately tied to your niche. Find out something they are
looking for—create a giveaway product in exchange for getting
their email address. You can see how critical it is to have
correctly identified your niche market because if you offer a
list of cat owner’s information on how to train their dogs, you
can see how that might not entice them to provide you with their
email address. It must be information they are hungry for.
The opt-in part is also important. You can’t just go add
people’s email addresses to your mailing list. That is
considered spamming. They must have the opportunity to opt-in,
as well as the opportunity to remove their address from your
database. Don’t ruin your business before it gets started by
tainting your reputation unnecessarily.
Sales Letters
Sales letters are very important. If there is one thing I’d
like to outsource, it would be sales letters. They are not fun
for me to do but they may be fun for you. There are several
things to be considered in a sales letter. First of all,
research shows that the longer a sales letter is the better. It
must have a captivating title. It must be filled with
information about WIIFM—What’s In It For Me, meaning your
readers or potential customers. This is again tied to the first
point about niche marketing. Your sales letter will be most
effective when you can write as if you know the mind of the
reader. You must understand their pain or speak to a goal they
have. How can you be specific enough if you haven’t narrowed
your niche? You can’t.
The letter should be crafted with both the skimming reader and
the detail reader in mind. This means making main points
subheadings so the person who skims can get the general idea of
what you are talking about just by skimming the headings.
However, include sufficient detail to convince the person who
is interested in lots of facts and statistics. You don’t want
to write your letter with only one group in mind because then
you will lose out on the possibility of selling to the group
you omitted.
Create products and services your niche is hungry for and then
tell them why they must have your product to either solve their
problem or help them become more successful.
Sales letters must have an urgent call to action. Create some
type of advantage for those who act NOW. Research shows that
even if a person is interested in what you are offering, if
they don’t act as they are reading your letter and decide to
wait for another day, they never come back to it. Get them to
act now by making it worth their while. You can even offer an
extra incentive for the first 20 people who respond. It’s up to
you.
Articles
Writing articles is a tremendous way to get your name out there
to the general public. I write at least two articles each month.
I used to have my virtual assistant submit each one to online
article banks individually. Now, for $100, I submit my article
to I-Snare and they do the submitting for me. They will submit
100 articles for my $100 which is much more cost-effective than
having to pay my assistant to do it.
The purpose of writing is to help readers get to know you and
what you have to offer. When you write, you are not necessarily
trying to sell something—you are basically providing useful
information, just like this article does. And you get to
include a bio box at the end with a link back to your website
home page, a product page or a sales letter. This will help
increase the traffic to your website and it will be a targeted
audience, meaning those who are already interested in what you
have to say.
These are just some of the things you want to give attention to
as you develop your presence on the World Wide Web. My next
article will focus on writing press releases, generating search
engine traffic and getting listed in various online directories.
Then, we will discuss writing a blog, producing an online
newsletter, creating a sales funnel and embarking on joint
ventures.
About The Author: Kim Olver has over 20 years experience in
staff development and supervision and is an expert in
leadership skills, staff relationships and diversity. Certified
in reality therapy/choice theory/lead management/quality school
concepts, she works with counselors, schools and businesses to
apply these ideas. Visit http://www.coachingforexcellence.biz
-----------------------------------------------------------
#8 Profit Boosters Copywriting Checklist
-----------------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 19 Jun 2006 13:45:05 +0800
From: "Mike Pavlish" <submis-@isnare.net>
Reply To: Virtual-C-@topica.com
You can use this copywriting checklist when you are copywriting
- or to evaluate copywriting. It is based on what works best
from over 1,200 copywriting projects we have done since 1978.
It will lead to significantly more response from your
copywriting.
Before writing:
1. Study the company and the product/service being sold
thoroughly so you have all the information you will need.
2. Research the prospects and the market to determine what
benefits the prospect wants most, secondary benefits wanted,
objections, and what would get him to buy now. Key: Don’t
guess; research.
3. Develop the main emotions you can touch with your
copywriting for this project, and how you will do it. The
strongest emotions are love, fear, greed, acceptance, survival,
anger, and health.
4. Think like your prospect; and not like the marketer.
5. Develop the best offer(s) you can make to the prospect. Your
offer includes pricing, terms, bonuses and guarantee.
At this point, you know the company and product, what the
target prospect wants most, his objections, the main emotions
you can touch, and you have developed a terrific offer.
Headline and start of copy:
6. Write at least 20 different headlines before choosing the
best one.
Headline winners include a big, bold promise of the benefits
the prospect wants most, specific figures, a guarantee,
credibility enhancers, a special offer.
Legendary marketers John Caples and Claude Hopkins proved that
one headline can pull 10 times the response as another headline
… with no other changes in the copywriting.
7. Start of copy should re-enforce the main benefit(s) of the
headline, elaborate, and incorporate the secondary benefits the
prospect wants most.
Body of copy:
8. Develop the prospect problem and pain points. Reinforce how
these problems will remain or even get worse unless he takes
action, and how your product/service is the best solution.
9. Copywriting should be first person, one-to-one,
conversational.
10. List the prospects likely objections to buying, and
overcome those objections.
11. Sincerely flatter the prospect if you can.
12. Get the prospect to mentally “picture and enjoy” the
end-result benefits of buying.
13. Use testimonials, specifics, tests, clients, studies,
success stories and memberships to add credibility and
believability.
14. Be sure it is easy to read and “scan”. Use sub headlines
with prospect benefits, short sentences, short paragraphs.
15. If any copy is dull or boring, cut it or revise it.
16. If the flow gets slowed or stopped at any point in the
copy, fix it.
17. Copywriting must be passionate, enthusiastic.
18. Create urgency to get a response now.
19. Tell the prospect what he will lose if he does not respond
now.
20. Tell the prospect exactly what to do.
21. Close, Close, Close. Get action now.
About The Author: Mike Pavlish is the president of Profit
Boosters Copywriting. They have completed more than 1,200
copywriting projects for clients since 1978. Fees start at
$3,000.00 and up. He can be reached at
http://www.ProfitBoostersCopy.com
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