Just recently, over at the Warrior Forum, somebody started a thread listing a ton of copywriting outlines. These are all different strategies for constructing a sales letter that ultimately makes sales. Well, needless to say, my head was spinning by the time I read all of these models. And even though I’ve been writing my own salescopy for years, I couldn’t help but think that all of this really boils down to a few simple principles. In this article, I’m going to share what I feel all salescopy comes down to.

At the top of the list, you have to get the person’s attention. I don’t care how good your sales letter is. You’ve essentially got just a few seconds to grab that person’s attention and hold it, otherwise they are going to be gone from your sales page. This is done, through whatever means you decide to use, in the first couple of inches above the fold. Some people do it with big fancy graphics. Others do it with carefully crafted headlines. The debates will go on forever as far as which is better, but ultimately, those first two inches are critical to getting prospects to read your sales letter.

Okay, so what’s next? You’ve gotten their attention, now you have to keep it. If you read all the different outlines you will find a ton of ways to do this. One way is with a personal story of how the product creator suffered with the same problem, in order to build empathy. Another way is by providing some cold hard facts showing statistics of the problem. Still another way is to ask the prospect questions such as, “Are you sick and tire of…” and then fill in the problem. Point is, you have to build on the initial momentum created by the headline. Everything MUST be relevant to the prospect. The primary focus should be on them and their problem.

Next on the list is to show how YOUR product is better than everything else out there. Let’s face it, unless you’re in some obscure niche where you have no competition, there ARE going to be other solutions out there. You have to show that YOURS is the best. You can do this with testimonials, case studies, a list of features along with their benefits, and so on. The transition from the previous section of sales copy to this one should be smooth.

Finally, there is the call to take action. You’ve given the prospect everything that they need in order to make an informed decision. However, many people procrastinate. So in order to get them off the pot, so to speak, you need to force their hand. This can be done through scarcity, limited time offer, limited price offer and so on. If they have no reason to buy NOW…they won’t.

In my opinion, this is what all sales copy comes down to…these four things. If you make sure you include them in your sales letter, it doesn’t matter what model you use as they are all basically derived from what I have outlined above.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim

Want to write copy just like the pros? Visit my site at http://www.bcipe.com/ and discover killer copywriting tips that have allowed me to write my own copy for years and earn myself a 6 figure a year income selling my own products.