Do you know why magicians are so good at what they do? It’s because they have you look at their right hand while their left hand is doing something that they don’t want you to see. It’s called the art of misdirection and it is very effective. Okay, so what’s this got to do with copywriting? Well, that’s what I am going to attempt to explain in this very unusual article…even for me. But please promise me that you won’t practice this stuff at home until you are a professional.

The art of misdirection, as applied to copywriting, is simply having two completely different pieces of copy taking up relatively the same space. Now, obviously you can’t have two things in exactly the same space because no two objects…okay no physics lesson. You know what I mean. However, two things can be very close to each other. And if the one thing is close enough to the other, then the chances of your prospect being distracted by it are very great, are they not? Let me give you an example.

You have some copy that is talking about a feature and benefit of the product. As the prospect gets down to that part of the copy, on the right or left hand side of the copy is a Johnson box with a testimonial that directly talks about that same feature and benefit. The prospect can’t help but notice it so he reads it. He then goes back to the copy and realizes that the testimonial he just read has to do with the feature and benefit he just read. This reinforces that the actual feature must work and that the benefit is real because the testimonial backs this up.

That is the art of misdirection. You, as the copywriter, didn’t want the prospect to just take your word for it, so right along side the copy you put a testimonial that reinforces what you just said. Yes, it is very effective and the master copywriters use this method quite often. Just take a look at the sales pages written by the great copywriters of our time. You will find this theme throughout.

The tricky part of misdirection is you can’t use it too much because eventually the prospect will catch on and start to realize what you’re doing and won’t allow himself to be distracted anymore. So you have to use this technique sparingly and sprinkled throughout your copy.

Try it sometime. It really DOES work.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim

Discover How YOU Can Write 6 Figure Copy For Pennies…And Save Up To $15,000 In Copywriting Costs For Yourself. 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.