Don't Let The Competition Get An Edge On You

We've all seen [and maybe bought] the Ebooks that promised to teach you the "magic words" or "hypnotic phrases" that will guarantee the sale of your product.

Do they work? Possibly. These magical words are usually nothing more than words like Free, Amazing, New, Breakthrough, Secrets and so on. It is true that these particular words will work better than others in your copywriting and they will help you make money online if you use them properly.

But what I will tell you is that they are unlikely to work for someone who has no understanding of basic copywriting technique. How can you use these "magic words" if you have no understanding of headlines and the techniques of writing them? If you have no understanding of where and how to use a subheading, how can you possibly make use of these magic words? Where do they fit it? How can you know when you have no idea of the basic structure of copywriting? It would be very much like taking up ice skating and trying to learn the triple loop, the Lutz or the Salchowl if you can't skate! Someone, of course, will say that we all understand that and yet, over and over again, people attempt to write their own copy without understanding the basics.

Don't get me wrong. There is nothing wrong with the writing your own copy. In fact, I recommend it. But once you know the basics and you ever do decide to hire someone to write your copy, you can evaluate their abilities and what they can do for you by the very fact you have educated yourself. But, of course, we all don't have that kind of money to be able to hire someone anyway. So, I recommend instead to take a little of your money and pick up some good Ebooks on the basics of copywriting. You won't be sorry you did.

And once you do learn the basics of copywriting you can now apply yourself to learning more about SEO copywriting. SEO copywriting [search engine optimization copywriting] is the technique of writing the text on a web page in such a way that it reads well for the surfer or visitor but it also targets specific search terms and keywords. The purpose of SEO copywriting is to rank highly in the search engines for the targeted search terms so that people can find your web site. Unlike televison or radio copywriters you need to build your own audience.

But make no mistake. The basics of copywriting techniques are still important because once you get people to your page you still need to convince them to do what you want! That will never change. Copywriting and advertisements are everywhere around us, including the Internet. So do yourself a favor and learn the principles of AIDA. Learn how to avoid "white space" on your web pages. Learn whether to concentrate on your features or your benefits and how to convince your reader.

If you're not sure of any of those things then you need to learn the basics of copywriting if you really want to make money online.

Lee MacRae runs a website that focuses on helping people work at home and make money online. Go to http://www.sassyenterprises.com/Writing_ad_copy_to_make_money_online.html