Last year I took on a new site that wanted to compete for a page one spot for the phrase ‘Security Guards’. The initial keyword research made it clear this client was not going to compete for that term, and I persuaded the client to try for a lesser term and build up over time.

We developed a year long plan to achieve security guards london. But on the way to achieving it, we’d first go for the easy ‘SIA Licensed Guards’. And then build toward ‘London Security Guards’.

We’ve achieved the first goal, and will soon achieve the second. The search engine credibility required to get this far has put us in a better position to achieve the main objective (currently on page 3).

This approach is useful for the client because it allows him to see a quick win, which lends credibility to the overall plan in his mind.

It’s also useful for the optimiser, because it improves the credibility of the site to the search engines. This provides a platform from which to achieve the next goal.

In this case, we’re on track to achieve our goal in less than a year. But you never know with SEO! Sometimes you take a step forward, and then jump 2 steps back. That’s where a long term SEO plan is essential. It helps keep both the client and the optimiser on track.

An effective sales ad is harder to create than a response ad. That’s because it’s much harder to get someone to give you their money, than to merely visit your site.

The only reason someone will voluntarily give you their money is in exchange for something they want. In the case of most businesses, that means solving a problem.

A famous marketing guru once said, ‘All marketing is about solving problems’. This statement is 100% correct. Your product is designed to solve a specific problem. If you don’t know what that problem is you can’t create a powerful sales ad.

For example, a car solves the problem of getting from point A to point B. A car does this so much better than anything else (fast, inexpensive, comfortable, fun) that it has become the #1 tool used by people to solve the point A to point B problem.

The entire focus of your sales ad needs to be the problem. Specifically…

• What the problem is
• Why the problem needs to be solved
• How your product solves the problem
• How your solution is different and/or better than other solutions
• Why the prospect should trust you to solve it
• What to do to have this problem solved

Your answers to these questions form the basis of your sales ad. They even fit into the following general overview of your sales ad.

A sales ad has four different sections. Each section has a specific job to do. The sections, and their specific purpose, are…

• Gain a commitment to read the ad
• Build the prospect’s interest
• Create desire for the product
• Ask the prospect to buy

Commitment to read the ad

This section consists of the ad’s headline and its first paragraph. Your goal is to make the ad so interesting to the prospect that he or she is compelled to read it.

The headline should state the specific problem that your product solves. That is, the outcome delivered by the product. For example…

The Cost of Security is Exploding. Now you can get better Security and Save Thousands!

The example headline promises to deliver something the prospect wants very badly. The use of the word ‘now’ also suggests something has changed, improving the credibility of the statement being made.

The first paragraph must immediately follow on from the headline. If it doesn’t do that, your prospect will quickly lose interest.

The first paragraph should also lend weight to the claim made in the ad headline. But it shouldn’t be too specific. At this point you’re looking for a commitment to read the ad, not a commitment to buy. For example…

Wouldn’t you love to get better security with SIA Licensed Guards, and cut the cost of your security? Not just for a limited time, but permanently. That’s exactly what you get from Check Security. Here’s how…

The example paragraph restates the product’s key promise, and then uses a hook to encourage further reading. Nobody interested in more security for less money will stop reading at the end of paragraph one.

That’s an important point. You want people to continue reading past the end of the first paragraph. The further into your ad you can get a person, the less likely it is he/she will stop reading. This is mainly down to the fact that your reader will have forgetten whatever it was he/she was doing before, and become increasingly interested in your offer.

Build the prospect’s interest

The example paragraph above is designed to lead the reader naturally into the second part of the ad. In this next section, you must build the prospect’s interest in what you have to sell. You do that by giving more detail about the product or service you’re selling.

This section should focus on what your product actually delivers, and how it works. You need to keep this section short and to the point. You must avoid getting bogged down in the detail. You’re not out to prove anything in this section. You’re simply whetting your prospect’s appetite for more.

Create desire for the product

At this point in your ad, only one thing will stop your prospect from buying. Doubt.

Doubt is the #1 sales killer. During the desire section of your ad you increase desire for the product by eliminating doubt. The doubts that rise in your prospect’s mind fall into these broad categories…

• The product doesn’t do what you say
• The product doesn’t exist (i.e. scam)
• The product result doesn’t justify its price
• The prospect doesn’t really have this problem
• The problem isn’t more expensive than the price

Up to this point in your ad, you’ve simply made claims for your product. These are enough to get your prospect interested, and are the reason why he or she is still reading. But to get a sale, you need to create excitement. To convert interest into excitement, you must eliminate doubt. And to eliminate doubt, you must backup your claims.

You should do this with some subtlety. You can’t simply say ‘This isn’t a scam’, because all that does is raise the concern in the mind of the prospect. Here are some common ways to deal with doubt…

• Testimonial evidence from existing customers. These should be scans of the original hard copy, or video testimonial
• Scientific evidence
• A free trial period
• A money back guarantee
• A generous warranty
• A summary of your expertise (if you’re the product)

Your use of these techniques should be in conjunction with the benefit being delivered. In other words, you need to keep the prospect interested while you eliminate his or her natural doubts. The end result of reading this section of your ad should be an overwhelming desire to buy the product.

Ask the prospect to buy

It might seem obvious, yet one of the most common mistakes made by amateurs is forgetting to ask for the sale.

When asking for the sale, it’s best to order the prospect to buy. That is, to tell the prospect what to do. You should also restate your product’s main benefit in the form of a question when you do this. For example…

You’d to get more security, protect your business with SIA Licensed Guards and save thousands of dollars wouldn’t you? Click here and join now…

This example shows how to ask a question that can only be answered with ‘yes’. You get the prospect to agree that what your product delivers is something he or she wants. Then you tell the prospect what he or she must do to get it. In this case, to click a link.

Finishing off…

Many amateurs are uncomfortable with asking for the sale, especially in so blatant a manner as I have suggested. Amateurs tend to follow up with more words. It’s almost as if they’re apologizing for having had the temerity to try and sell something.

Don’t make this mistake. Ask for the sale, and be done with it. Don’t type another word.

You never really finish

At some point you have to stop writing your sales ad and post it to the web. You never really finish writing an ad. It’s more accurate to say that you abandon it.

I’ve found it worthwhile rewriting my sales ads every couple of weeks, in an attempt to improve them. My first effort is never my best. I encourage you to do the same, and let your ad evolve over time.

In theory, getting the response should be easy. After all, you’re only asking for a little of your prospect’s time. Of course, there’s often a difference between theory and practice.

In the case of a response ad, you’re up against the following…

• Getting the prospect to notice your ad
• Getting the prospect interested enough to read your ad
• Persuading the prospect that finding out more about your product is a worthwhile use of his or her time
• Overcoming the prospect’s natural skepticism

The Internet further compounds these problems as follows…

• Your ad is often only one ad among millions
• Web sites are often hard to read, especially compared to magazines and newspapers
• Most website owners are not publishing professionals, and may botch your ad, rendering it useless
• Most specialist online ad sites attract other people in business, rather than good prospects for your product
• If your ad is on a slow-loading web page, nobody will wait around long enough to see it

The paradox of the Internet is that it makes it easier for the prospect to physically respond, but much harder to bring the ad to your prospect’s attention.

The successful response ad

A response ad needs to do the following…

• Get the prospect to notice it
• Get the prospect interested in your product
• Persuade the prospect to respond

These three tasks are all a response ad has to do. You should remove anything else from a response ad. Here’s an example…

Not making money from business networking? I’ll show you how to turn business cards into cash – instantly! Discover Beyond Networking.

Getting noticed

The way to get people to notice your response ad is through its headline. The headline on a response ad has one job to do. It must attract attention to itself. It must…

• Draw the prospect’s eyes toward it
• Spark the prospect’s interest

A headline will draw attention to itself if it’s bold, startling, or shocking. It will be especially effective if the headline is written to appeal to people likely to buy your product.

When creating a new ad headline, you should start by looking at the most exciting thing that your product offers, and find a way to state it in a single sentence.

A response ad headline should also be…

• Short
• Punchy
• Exciting

Most Internet advertisers write dull ad headlines. Many simply name their product, and expect people to notice their ad sitting there among hundreds of others.

That’s not going to happen. Nobody sets out to surf the web so they can read advertising. Your response ad won’t work if it’s not the most exciting thing on the page.

Your ad will be exciting to your prospect if it promises to deliver something he or she wants. If you can find a short, punchy, and exciting way to say it, your headline will draw attention to itself.

Your prospect’s subconscious mind will see the entire webpage, and notice anything interesting. If your ad headline is interesting, your prospect’s subconscious mind will bring it to your prospect’s attention.

You’ve probably noticed this when reading a newspaper. Your eye tends to be drawn, almost subconsciously, to things you find interesting.

Developing interest

Getting the prospect to look at your ad is the first battle. The next task is to get him/her to read it. This starts with the headline, which must promise something interesting.

You must immediately follow the headline with something that reinforces the promised benefit. The headline must lead logically into the first sentence of the ad.

The first sentence must then follow logically into the second. These sentences should also be short, punchy, and exciting.

Your goal is simply to get a response. You’re not selling your product in this ad. You’re selling your sales ad.

You want the person to become interested enough to volunteer to stop what he or she was doing, and click through to your sales page instead.

Don’t mention the price of your product, no matter how inexpensive it is. The price is never a benefit in the mind of the prospect. Yes, there are exceptions to this rule. It’s not likely the exception will apply to your product.

Getting the response

The culmination of your response ad is the response. Its reason for being is to attract people to your website.

For that to happen, your prospect must become excited about what he or she is reading. You should then invite the prospect to respond. Ideally, you will tell the prospect what to do in your invitation. For example: Click here now…

This ‘invitation’ is both an instruction that tells the client what to do, and an order to do it immediately.

In part one you looked at the two types of advertising. They are the response ad, and the sales ad. You also looked at how each type of ad fits into the 2-step process.

Fortunately, most of the advertising on the Internet is written by amateurs who have no idea what they’re doing. This makes it easy for a skilled ad writer to stand out from the crowd.

This article is written for people new to advertising, and gives you an introduction to the two main types of advertising. It explains what each type is designed to do, and shows you when to use each one.

Most people don’t know what you’re about to discover, yet it’s not possible to create powerful online ads unless you know this information.

The two types of advertising

There are only 2 types of advertising that matter on the Internet. They are…

1. Response advertising
2. Sales advertising

Response advertising

A response ad is designed to get people to reply to the ad. This is the sole purpose of a response ad.

A response ad shouldn’t focus on selling a product, but on selling the response.

Sales advertising

A sales ad is designed to get people to buy a product or service. This is the sole purpose of a sales ad.

Two-step advertising

With two-step advertising, there are two distinct steps in the sales process…

1. Get people to visit your sales page
2. Ask for the sale

A response ad is used in step one, and a sales ad in step two.

Your goal in step one is to generate enough interest in your product or service that a person stops what he or she is doing, and visits your sales page instead. For example…

Wedding Reception Entertainment that will take your friends and family by surprise, and ensure they’ll talk about your wedding for years!

Your goal in step two is to generate enough desire for your product that the prospect buys it.

There are millions of suitable websites on the Internet. A suitable site is one that attracts people who are likely to have an interest in your product or service.

You need to find as many of these websites as you can, and put your response ad on as many of them as you can afford.

Your response ad then has the job of gaining the attention of the people who visit those websites, and persuading them to stop what they’re doing and visit your sales ad instead.

The Internet is especially suited to two-step advertising because every page can be linked to any another. If your prospect is interested in your ad, all he or she has to do to respond is click on it. As soon as your prospect does, he or she is taken to your sales page.

Take it from me, it’s much easier to get a person to click on an ad than it is to get him or her to send a reply coupon back through the mail. Or to dial an 800 number.

Despite the Internet’s ease of response, getting a prospect to reply to your ad is still a challenge. We’ll look at how to go about this in the next article.

When we were young, we had dreams and expectations. We imagined things. We kept thinking about what we wanted to be. What we wanted to do with our lives. And what made us happy.

We grew up, and life got in the way of our dreams. We accepted our successes or failures, and we learned to move on. The rapid changes, the need to do the some things urgently, the pressures and the failures of life, and the need for money all killed off a part of our vision.

Yes, things have changed. We are not young and carefree anymore. But life can’t take away our dreams. We still dream. We still visualize our desires, our wants, our vision for the future – even when we’re considered too old for such things.

Colonel Sanders started Kentucky Friend Chicken (KFC) when he was sixty. The main thing is not our age. It doesn’t matter whether others think us too old, or too young. What matters is our desire to dream, and the courage to realize those dreams.

Vivid visualization, taking it to sleep, thinking constantly about it, talking about it, planning it, adding spice to our dream. These things will brings us a little closer to the realization of our dream.

Entrepreneurship starts with a dream. It may be a simple wish for a small restaurant operation. It could be a huge real-estate development business. It might be a modest training center for English education. It could be anything!

The ability to dream is one of our finest qualities. So dream on. Put a deadline to your dream. Make it a giant dream, a tiny one, an old everlasting one, a newfound one, a hobby related one, a change of life one, a religious one, a stupid one, a stroke-of-genius one, or whatever. Just as long as you continue to dream. Then, just go out and do It!

I need money! Please click here…

$50 off the price! Please click here…

You save a whopping $50 – today only. But please hurry, you must click here now!

As you can see, each of the above sentences injects a little extra excitement than the one preceding it. The words and phrases you use in your ad matter. These seven words can help you liven up even the dullest of products.

1. Revolutionary
2. Secret
3. Money
4. Whopping
5. Extra
6. Hurry
7. Certified

Revolutionary

Is your product new to market? Does it offer something nobody else is currently able to offer? Then you can use this word without leaving a bad taste in the mouth of your reader.

But be warned, you should not use revolutionary to describe something hum-drum. There is no such thing as a revolutionary paper-clip. And if even you actually have such a thing, nobody will believe you.

In other words, don’t confuse revolutionary with new. Do you have breakthrough pricing? Then use the word breakthrough. Is your product new to market, but otherwise unremarkable? Then use the word new.

Secret

The word secret speaks to us on a primitive level. We all love secrets, as long as we’re the ones in the know.

You can benefit from the excitement implied by the word secret, when you invoke it in your ad. Naturally, you should only do so if you can credibly claim to know something others don’t. Your use of this word must imply special knowledge that you have, or that has come into your possession.

In other words, tell a story that lends credibility to your use of the word. Don’t make the mistake of disabling the power of this word by cheapening it. For example, the ‘best-known secrets’ doesn’t work because anything that’s ‘best-known’ can’t be a secret!

Money

It makes the world go round. It’s filthy (as in filthy lucre). And the love of it is said to be the root of all evil.

Despite all this bad press, money is something we’re all attracted to. The mere thought of it can set our heart racing. You can borrow this excitement, and inject in your ad when you talk about money.

But here’s the rub. Money is only exciting when you tell the reader how much of it he or she is going to get. It has the exact opposite effect when you start talking about how much of it the reader is going to have to pay.

In other words, when it comes to money you need to focus on what the reader gets.

Whopping

This fantastic word magnifies the thing you’re describing. Assuming that’s of benefit to the reader, it can be substituted for more mundane words like big or large.

Another corker of a word you can try is humongous.

Extra

We all love to get something extra. This word tells the reader they’re getting something for nothing. It’s a great way to imply that your offer is a bargain, without actually saying so.

This works better than saying so, because the reader comes to his/her own conclusion. In other words, he/she doesn’t have to take your word for it. The end result? Your ad is more believable.

Hurry

When you want to turn up the urgency, and give your client the impression that your offer will expire if he/she doesn’t act immediately, tell him/her to hurry.

And by tell, I mean order. For example…

But you must hurry, because this offer expires tomorrow. Quick, click here now!

The entire point of these two sentences, is to introduce a little panic to your prospect’s world. If you don’t, he/she will lumber along in his/her usual dream-like state while you continue to scratch around trying to come up with next week’s rent.

In advertising, urgency pays the bills.

Certified

No, not certifiable! Certified.

It’s one of those dependable words that reek of stability. It’s a word that helps by eliminating doubt.

The word implies that some independent body has tested your product, and given it’s stamp of approval. Here’s an example…

Our certified professionals will help you to…

This one little word immediately raises the credibility of the sentence. The implication is that ‘our professionals’ are able to help you, because they’re ‘certified’. And by implication, they’re also better than some other company’s ‘professionals’.

Certified by whom? It may occur to an especially skeptical people to ask. Most people won’t.

Naturally, if you can provide details about the certification process your people/product goes through, it will lends even more credibility to your ad.

This is one of those questions that isn’t easily answered. For example, I have a client that provides entertainers for corporate functions, private parties and wedding receptions. There are many different ways to describe their product…

• Singing Waiters
• Wedding reception entertainment
• Corporate entertainment
• Incognito artists
• Operatic entertainment
• Professional dancers

None of these terms adequately describe the awesome experience you get when they appear at your event. How on earth can a company like this adequately describe its product to somebody who happens to visit their website?

The key is to get at the heart of the emotional experience enjoyed by the people they’re performing to. In this case, the entertainers arrive at the event incognito. The performers are present during the course of the evening, disguised as waiters, security staff and so on.

At some point during the evening one of the performers will make him or herself known in a surprising way. For example, a waiter may grab the mike and claim that his mates have bet £100 that he isn’t brave enough to start singing in front of them. He will then proceed to sing very badly indeed.

Another performer taking the guise of the waiter’s boss will storm onto the stage and send the errant waiter off for punishment. He then proceeds to sing extremely well, immediately wowing the audience. Then the ‘bad’ singer returns and joins in, demonstrating his true talent. Everyone is laughing as they realise they’ve been had, and they’re now listening to a brilliant performance. But it doesn’t end there…

These entertainers are experts at involving the audience, and bringing them right into the performance. Their job is to get everyone up onto the dance-floor. I’ve watched them get every single person in the room out of their seats and dancing in less than a minute. It’s amazing to watch, and was the key to understanding what these guys offer their clients. I could see it on the faces of every guest in the room.

What Incognito Artists bring to an event is a guarantee that a client’s guests will experience the best party they’ve ever been to. What Incognito Artists do is get the party started. And make sure everybody wants to join in the fun.

This might seem obvious to a professional marketer, but it wasn’t to the company. They’re all performers, and from their perspective what they offer is a very special professional performance. This can be seen by examining their collection of videos. Every single frame is aimed at a singer or dancer, and you virtually never see the audience.

Yet the customer is going to be in the audience, and the best testimonial this company could possibly provide is the look on the faces of the people in the audiences at previous performances.

That’s one way to communicate an emotional experience without saying a word!

You don’t get paid for the hour. You get paid for the value you bring to the hour. Jim Rohn.

Some men have thousands of reasons why they cannot do what they want to, when all they need is one reason why they can. Willis Whitney.

Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. Coach Darrel Royal.

The first step is to fill your life with a positive faith that will help you through anything. The second is to begin where you are. Norman Vincent Peale.

To give yourself the best possible chance of playing to your potential, you must prepare for every eventuality. That means practice. Steve Ballesteros.

If there were no problems, most of us would be unemployed. Zig Ziglar.

The greater danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we hit it. Michelangelo.

Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great ones make you feel that you too, can become great. Mark Twain.

Self pity is an acid which eats holes in happiness. Earl Nightingale.

Tough times never last, but tough people do. Dr. Robert Schuller.

My advice is to go into something and stay with it until you like it. You can’t like it until you obtain expertise in that work. And once you are an expert, it’s a pleasure. Milton Garland.

One man with courage makes a majority. Andrew Jackson.

Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all. Dale Carnegie.

Show me someone who has done something worthwhile, and I’ll show you someone who has overcome adversity. Lou Holtz.

Nothing builds self-esteem and self-confidence like accomplishment. Thomas Carlyle.

Kites rise highest against the wind-not with it. Sir Winston Churchill.

If at first you don’t succeed, think how many people you’ve made happy. Duane Black.

Real integrity is doing the right thing, knowing that nobody’s going to know whether you did it or not. Oprah Winfrey.

Work for the fun of it, and the money will arrive some day. Ronnie Milsap.

The worst thing about being human is that we’re all cursed with a large brain. Compared to almost every other species on earth, we spend an inordinate amount of time worrying.

And for the most part, we waste our time worrying about things that never happen.

What’s stopping you?

Starting your own Internet business is a fantastic thing to do. You’ll love it! So what’s stopping you?

If you’re like me, then it will probably boil down to a fear of the unknown. Will your business fail? Will anybody want to buy your product? What don’t you know that you need to know?

Will your friends laugh at you?

The strange this is, when I really looked at what was stopping me, it came down to that last one. Will my friends laugh at me if it doesn’t work?

I remember sharing with one friend that I wanted to start an Internet business. He gave me a scornful look, and told me it was a stupid idea, because ‘nobody makes any real money off the Internet.’

That was 10 years ago. I quit my job within 6 months of starting my business, and am now working full time in business on the Internet. What’s more, I’ve traveled the world with this business. The entire operation is run out of a laptop, and I can literally pick up my business and go.

It’s a wonderful experience, and made possible only because I decided to jump in.

Looking good

Of course, it’s easy to look back now and see what a great idea it was to start my own Internet business. But back then, when I was just getting started, I was terrified.

Back in 1999, I remember sharing my fears and dreams with a more supportive friend. She suggested I take a good hard look at myself and find out what I was scared of. She hinted that I might find out it was something unexpected that was stopping me.

I took up her challenge, and yes, I really was surprised. When it came down to it, my fears about losing money and failing at business were completely overshadowed by a fear of how other people might think of me if I failed.

I realized that my fear came down to fear of how others would view me. I wanted to look good in their eyes, and was scared that I wouldn’t.

This was a fantastic discovery to make about myself, and I’ve since come to realize that I’m not the only one who is stopped by this fear.

Just do it

Maybe you’re also afraid to start your own business, in case you fall flat on your face in front of other people?

The best advice I can give you, is to stop thinking about it and jump in. One of my favorite sayings is ‘leap, and the net will appear.’

This is certainly backed up by my experiences. My first two attempts at business were miserable failures. My third was moderately successful, and allowed me to launch the fourth. It was the fourth idea that finally took off, and allowed me to quit my job.

Each of these ‘failures’ may have lead others to snicker behind my back. Frankly, I was too busy to notice. And by the time I quit my job, nobody was laughing any more.

The point is, don’t spend too much time thinking before you get started. I believe you’ll learn much more by jumping in, and learning as you go. Nothing beats experience when it comes to fine-tuning your business skills.

And you can’t get this kind of experience any other way.

There are 2 kinds of weasel words…

1. Words carefully designed to mean nothing
2. Words that leave room for doubt

Words carefully designed to mean nothing

An excellent example of the first variety of weasel words was uttered by former US President, Bill Clinton, on a tour of New Zealand in 1999. In one of his many speeches he uttered the immortal phrase…

Example 1:
We are building a bridge to the 21st Century

Let’s take a look at this sentence. A bridge is a physical entity that spans 2 points in space. It makes it possible to get from one point to the other.

How on earth do you build a bridge between 2 points in time?

The sentence in example 1 contains nothing but feel-good nonsense. It sounds good, but is designed merely to have unthinking people overlay their own interpretation and respond in agreement with rapturous applause.

Weasel words of this variety should not be used by people in business.

Your business is more important than anything a politician does. You create wealth and opportunity with your business, and it’s vital you don’t waste your time wallowing in this type of language.

Words that leave room for doubt

The second variety of weasel words are also used by politicians, but the best practitioners are product reviewers. For example…

Example 2:
This could well be the best computer game I’ve ever played

At first glance you might think this is glowing praise. And coming from a journalist, it’s probably as close as he or she will ever get to glowing praise.

The words ‘could well be’ introduce an element of doubt into the sentence. The writer is saying that he or she isn’t prepared to fully endorse the game.

It’s an idiotic thing to say, anyway. Isn’t the reviewer sure? Then why say the sentence in the first place? And please do note the doubts this type of wording raises.

It doesn’t really matter in a computer game review. It does matter when it comes to your advertising.

The following examples demonstrate the difference…

Example 3:
This is the best computer game I’ve ever played

Example 4:
This is the single best computer game I’ve ever played

Examples 3 and 4 show you how to strengthen an endorsement even further by adding a single word (the word single).

It’s vital that you eliminate both kinds of weasel words from your advertising.

Now you’ll look at specific weasel words, and see how to replace them with words that increase the power of your advertising.

Up to

The phrase ‘up to’ occurs a lot in advertising. The following example shows a typical use…

Example 5:
Up to 50% off everything in store this week only

The phrase ‘up to’ has lost its power in advertising through over-use. You and I know that ‘up to 50% off’ includes the entire range of possible discounts from 1—50%!

Most of us will automatically assume that the item we’re likely to be interested in is one of the ones with the smallest discount.

The other problem with the phrase ‘up to,’ is that it describes an abstract concept. It’s left to the reader to apply the unspecific ‘up to 50% off’ to the specific item he or she actually wants.

That’s probably not going to happen. It’s far more powerful to list the items that you’ve discounted.

Make sure you contrast the original price against the discounted price. You inject more power by mentioning the specific amount saved. For example…

Example 6:
Huge savings on these items this week only…

• 2-person UltraLite tent. Was $195. Now only $125. You save a whopping $70!
• 4-season UltraLite down sleeping bag. Was $98. Now only $76. You save $22!

Naturally it works best when you list your biggest discount first, and your next biggest last.

Might or could

The word ‘might,’ when used to mean ‘maybe,’ immediately drains a sentence of its power. As shown in these examples…

Example 7:
This experience might change your life

Example 8:
This experience will change your life

Most of us wouldn’t cross the street for something that might change our lives, because we’re too busy to waste time on something that may or may not make a difference.