BEST Custom Essay Writing Service

It’s important to realize that headlines work best when they appeal to your reader’s interests (not yours). And not only can they *grab attention*, they can also make your message easy to read, convey your main selling points, and lead your customer to a sale.

Over the years copywriting pros have used several headline formulas that always work well. Here are my fab five:

1. The Question: “Are You Worried About Your Financial Future?”

A question headline automatically gets your readers involved in your message, because they answer it in their minds. Many people will read further into your letter, ad, or Web site copy just to find out what answer or solution you provide. Again, make sure the question focuses on the reader’s interest, not yours. A bad example would be: “Do You Know What New Product We’ve Created This Year?” (No one cares but you!)

2. The How-to: “How to Get Thinner Thighs in 30 Days.”

How-to headlines work very well, because people love information that shows them how to do something. (Thousands of book titles begin with “How to….”) Think of the benefits your product/service offers and then try creating some “how to” headlines email newsletter.

3. The Testimonial: “Jane Smith’s Consulting Is Pure Magic — Our Sales Have Increased by 30%!”

Why not let your clients do the selling for you? Their commendations can go a long way in convincing others to use your services. Tip: To appear credible, always include your clients’ full names and the cities they live in.

4. The Command: “Boost Your Business Today!”

Turn your most important benefit into a commanding headline, such as “Make More Time for Your Family,” “Look Younger Instantly!” and “Get 7 New Clients This Month.” (By the way, throwing a number into your headline is another good tactic. And readers seem to like odd numbers as opposed to even.)

5. The News: “Introducing Our New ‘Rest-Assured’ Tax Service!”

Caution: This only works if you truly have something big to announce that is of interest to the reader. (Something that will make her life or business better.) Don’t try to make news out of something that’s not.

Once your readers know you have something they’re interested in, they’ll take the time to read your entire article, brochure, letter, ad, e-zine, or Web page. So put some TLC into creating headlines that entice!

It’s important to realize that headlines work best when they appeal to your reader’s interests (not yours). And not only can they *grab attention*, they can also make your message easy to read, convey your main selling points, and lead your customer to a sale.

Over the years copywriting pros have used several headline formulas that always work well. Here are my fab five:

1. The Question: “Are You Worried About Your Financial Future?”

A question headline automatically gets your readers involved in your message, because they answer it in their minds. Many people will read further into your letter, ad, or Web site copy just to find out what answer or solution you provide. Again, make sure the question focuses on the reader’s interest, not yours. A bad example would be: “Do You Know What New Product We’ve Created This Year?” (No one cares but you!)

2. The How-to: “How to Get Thinner Thighs in 30 Days.”

How-to headlines work very well, because people love information that shows them how to do something. (Thousands of book titles begin with “How to….”) Think of the benefits your product/service offers and then try creating some “how to” headlines email newsletter.

3. The Testimonial: “Jane Smith’s Consulting Is Pure Magic — Our Sales Have Increased by 30%!”

Why not let your clients do the selling for you? Their commendations can go a long way in convincing others to use your services. Tip: To appear credible, always include your clients’ full names and the cities they live in.

4. The Command: “Boost Your Business Today!”

Turn your most important benefit into a commanding headline, such as “Make More Time for Your Family,” “Look Younger Instantly!” and “Get 7 New Clients This Month.” (By the way, throwing a number into your headline is another good tactic. And readers seem to like odd numbers as opposed to even.)

5. The News: “Introducing Our New ‘Rest-Assured’ Tax Service!”

Caution: This only works if you truly have something big to announce that is of interest to the reader. (Something that will make her life or business better.) Don’t try to make news out of something that’s not.

Once your readers know you have something they’re interested in, they’ll take the time to read your entire article, brochure, letter, ad, e-zine, or Web page. So put some TLC into creating headlines that entice!

My mom was visiting recently and during our mother-daughter shopping time I noticed something interesting. Almost all of the stores I made a purchase at asked me if I’d like to get on their mailing list. That’s very smart.

However, the WAY in which they did this made a big difference in my answer. I said NO to almost all of them because they simply did not make it enticing for me. I mean, who WANTS more junk mail? So if you simply ask me if I’d like to be on your mailing list, the answer will usually be NO.

But one store in particular got me. First of all, it was a designer clothing store I loved. Second of all, they didn’t ask me if I wanted to be on their mailing list. They invited me to become a “VIP Client”.

Say the words “VIP” to me and my ears perk up. It of course stands for “very important person”. And in general it indicates a level of advantage and prestige. Suddenly I WANTED to be on that mailing list, especially when the salesman explained to me it came with certain benefits, such as early notice on new arrivals, a personal shopping service, and private trunk shows.

And you know what? I would have even paid to be part of that - to be regarded as a VIP.

You see, people WANT to be part of something special like ezine advertising. The example above was free. But don’t underestimate how much your clients or customers will PAY to do that, either.

Example: A friend of mine recently shared he pays $15,000.00 a year to belong to the President’s Club of a local playhouse, even though he and his wife could attend each show there for just $150.00. Why would even a loyal attendee want to pay 100 times more? Special treatment like preferred seating, valet parking, invites to VIP functions, private restaurant for members only, networking with a higher level of people, etc.

Another friend of mine pays for membership at a private nightclub here in Los Angeles up on Sunset Blvd. for many of the same reasons (but more so, I believe, because it impresses his dates ; )).

My marketing mentor Dan Kennedy taught me there is a segment of virtually EVERY customer or client group or market who will happily pay FAR above standard prices for convenience, status, and special treatment.

I call it “country clubbing” your business. Why be the driving range with an hourly charge when you can be the classy six-figure membership club down the street? You can offer both of course, but look at what will skyrocket your business FASTER, with less transactions and higher quality clients.

One example of this is my private Platinum Mastermind program, which I launched in 2006 due to overwhelming demand for my personal coaching. This group of 15 serious small business owners each pay $15,000.00 a year to have greater access to me than anyone else, and in a small group setting where we meet 3 times a year at luxurious 4- and 5-star hotels and resorts.

My Platinums are, essentially, VIPs in my world! And because I maintain a bit of mystique about the group, people seem to want “in” even more. (One of my members got cornered in the ladies room at my last Online Success Blueprint Workshop by several attendees who demanded to know how they could get into Platinum!)

I share this not to impress you, but to impress upon you that in YOUR market (yes, *yours*) there IS a percentage of folks who will gladly pay MORE - much more - for a higher level of service or treatment. Remember, you’re not trying to please EVERYBODY, just the select few who can afford that level of service.

So now, take a minute or two and consider how YOU can start your own “country club” for your clients and customers. Whether it’s a VIP level of service or a private client group that meets a few times a year.

To get your wheels turning, imagine this… if you can get 10 people to commit to some type of program that is just $10,000.00 a year, that’s an extra $100,000.00 this year for YOU!

My mom was visiting recently and during our mother-daughter shopping time I noticed something interesting. Almost all of the stores I made a purchase at asked me if I’d like to get on their mailing list. That’s very smart.

However, the WAY in which they did this made a big difference in my answer. I said NO to almost all of them because they simply did not make it enticing for me. I mean, who WANTS more junk mail? So if you simply ask me if I’d like to be on your mailing list, the answer will usually be NO.

But one store in particular got me. First of all, it was a designer clothing store I loved. Second of all, they didn’t ask me if I wanted to be on their mailing list. They invited me to become a “VIP Client”.

Say the words “VIP” to me and my ears perk up. It of course stands for “very important person”. And in general it indicates a level of advantage and prestige. Suddenly I WANTED to be on that mailing list, especially when the salesman explained to me it came with certain benefits, such as early notice on new arrivals, a personal shopping service, and private trunk shows.

And you know what? I would have even paid to be part of that - to be regarded as a VIP.

You see, people WANT to be part of something special like ezine advertising. The example above was free. But don’t underestimate how much your clients or customers will PAY to do that, either.

Example: A friend of mine recently shared he pays $15,000.00 a year to belong to the President’s Club of a local playhouse, even though he and his wife could attend each show there for just $150.00. Why would even a loyal attendee want to pay 100 times more? Special treatment like preferred seating, valet parking, invites to VIP functions, private restaurant for members only, networking with a higher level of people, etc.

Another friend of mine pays for membership at a private nightclub here in Los Angeles up on Sunset Blvd. for many of the same reasons (but more so, I believe, because it impresses his dates ; )).

My marketing mentor Dan Kennedy taught me there is a segment of virtually EVERY customer or client group or market who will happily pay FAR above standard prices for convenience, status, and special treatment.

I call it “country clubbing” your business. Why be the driving range with an hourly charge when you can be the classy six-figure membership club down the street? You can offer both of course, but look at what will skyrocket your business FASTER, with less transactions and higher quality clients.

One example of this is my private Platinum Mastermind program, which I launched in 2006 due to overwhelming demand for my personal coaching. This group of 15 serious small business owners each pay $15,000.00 a year to have greater access to me than anyone else, and in a small group setting where we meet 3 times a year at luxurious 4- and 5-star hotels and resorts.

My Platinums are, essentially, VIPs in my world! And because I maintain a bit of mystique about the group, people seem to want “in” even more. (One of my members got cornered in the ladies room at my last Online Success Blueprint Workshop by several attendees who demanded to know how they could get into Platinum!)

I share this not to impress you, but to impress upon you that in YOUR market (yes, *yours*) there IS a percentage of folks who will gladly pay MORE - much more - for a higher level of service or treatment. Remember, you’re not trying to please EVERYBODY, just the select few who can afford that level of service.

So now, take a minute or two and consider how YOU can start your own “country club” for your clients and customers. Whether it’s a VIP level of service or a private client group that meets a few times a year.

To get your wheels turning, imagine this… if you can get 10 people to commit to some type of program that is just $10,000.00 a year, that’s an extra $100,000.00 this year for YOU!

One of the questions I’m asked the most by my clients is, “How can I most quickly build my e-mail list?”

My answer is, find someone who’s already reaching your target market in droves, and use THEM to build your list! How? With these three easy steps:

STEP 1: Determine exactly who your ideal client or customer is.

The more descriptive you can be here, the better. For example, don’t just think “men”. Think “men ages 18-40 who like sports and working out”. Don’t just think “small business owners”. Think “women owners of professional service businesses that do less than $1 million a year”.

Can you take on clients or customers who fall outside of this description? Of course! But you need to know who you’re going after.

Example: About three years ago, I spent a romantic summer week on Nantucket Island in Massachusetts. My beau was wonderful in letting me decide most of the activities we’d do each day. But there was one thing he definitely wanted to do at least once - go bluefishing!

Now I’m not sure if you could have guessed this, but I’m not really into fishing. ; )

But hey, I’ll try anything once, so off we went to the docks. Now, I figured we could go on any boat with any captain and do this. But no … we went with “Captain Dan the Bluefish Man” (who smelled like his specialty). Dan took us on his special boat to this special place off the island where the bluefish were, and we even used special bait that the bluefish liked. And we had great success - they just kept biting!

I realized that if you know exactly what you’re going after, you’re much more likely to get it. The same goes for reaching your target market.

STEP 2: Find other people, companies, or websites that are ALREADY reaching your target market en masse.

Sit down with a cup of coffee this weekend and do some online research regarding your target market. What sites are they already visiting? What newsletters or magazines do they already read? For example, if your target market is stay-at-home moms, find the most popular sites they visit. Find the most popular ezines they read.

Come up with a list of your top five websites and top five ezines that are already reaching your ideal client or customer.

STEP 3: Contact these websites and ezines and see if they will:

REVIEW your book, products, services, or ezine for their readers. If so, send them a review copy and follow up a week or two later. Request that when they run the review they mention your e-zine and direct people to your website to sign up.

accept guest ARTICLES. If so, then submit one of your best, with a short bio that links people back to your website to sign up for your ezine.

SWAP ads or recommendations for each other’s websites, products, or services. If you have an ezine that reaches the same target market they want to reach, this is a great win-win.

do a CO-REGISTRATION deal. If you already have a good amount of e-zine subscribers and website traffic, they may be open to adding your e-zine to their ezine signup form if you do the same on your part. (Ideally folks should just check a box to subscribe to the additional e-zine automatically.)

run a recommendation or ad in exchange for a COMMISSION on resulting sales. For example, you give them the ad to run, tagged with a link that lets you know if any sales come from it. (This is easy for you to do if you have an online affiliate program.*)

accept PAID advertising. Banner ads, text ads, and other paid placements obviously cost you money, but if it’s your only option and you really want to reach these folks, go for it. But be sure to track your results so you can see if it’s working. (You’ll need a link tracking program to do this.*)

And these are just a FEW ideas to get you started!

Remember, your #1 goal is to get people back to your site to sign up for your e-zine or other email list, because THAT is how you guarantee the chance to market to them repeatedly!

One of the questions I’m asked the most by my clients is, “How can I most quickly build my e-mail list?”

My answer is, find someone who’s already reaching your target market in droves, and use THEM to build your list! How? With these three easy steps:

STEP 1: Determine exactly who your ideal client or customer is.

The more descriptive you can be here, the better. For example, don’t just think “men”. Think “men ages 18-40 who like sports and working out”. Don’t just think “small business owners”. Think “women owners of professional service businesses that do less than $1 million a year”.

Can you take on clients or customers who fall outside of this description? Of course! But you need to know who you’re going after.

Example: About three years ago, I spent a romantic summer week on Nantucket Island in Massachusetts. My beau was wonderful in letting me decide most of the activities we’d do each day. But there was one thing he definitely wanted to do at least once - go bluefishing!

Now I’m not sure if you could have guessed this, but I’m not really into fishing. ; )

But hey, I’ll try anything once, so off we went to the docks. Now, I figured we could go on any boat with any captain and do this. But no … we went with “Captain Dan the Bluefish Man” (who smelled like his specialty). Dan took us on his special boat to this special place off the island where the bluefish were, and we even used special bait that the bluefish liked. And we had great success - they just kept biting!

I realized that if you know exactly what you’re going after, you’re much more likely to get it. The same goes for reaching your target market.

STEP 2: Find other people, companies, or websites that are ALREADY reaching your target market en masse.

Sit down with a cup of coffee this weekend and do some online research regarding your target market. What sites are they already visiting? What newsletters or magazines do they already read? For example, if your target market is stay-at-home moms, find the most popular sites they visit. Find the most popular ezines they read.

Come up with a list of your top five websites and top five ezines that are already reaching your ideal client or customer.

STEP 3: Contact these websites and ezines and see if they will:

REVIEW your book, products, services, or ezine for their readers. If so, send them a review copy and follow up a week or two later. Request that when they run the review they mention your e-zine and direct people to your website to sign up.

accept guest ARTICLES. If so, then submit one of your best, with a short bio that links people back to your website to sign up for your ezine.

SWAP ads or recommendations for each other’s websites, products, or services. If you have an ezine that reaches the same target market they want to reach, this is a great win-win.

do a CO-REGISTRATION deal. If you already have a good amount of e-zine subscribers and website traffic, they may be open to adding your e-zine to their ezine signup form if you do the same on your part. (Ideally folks should just check a box to subscribe to the additional e-zine automatically.)

run a recommendation or ad in exchange for a COMMISSION on resulting sales. For example, you give them the ad to run, tagged with a link that lets you know if any sales come from it. (This is easy for you to do if you have an online affiliate program.*)

accept PAID advertising. Banner ads, text ads, and other paid placements obviously cost you money, but if it’s your only option and you really want to reach these folks, go for it. But be sure to track your results so you can see if it’s working. (You’ll need a link tracking program to do this.*)

And these are just a FEW ideas to get you started!

Remember, your #1 goal is to get people back to your site to sign up for your e-zine or other email list, because THAT is how you guarantee the chance to market to them repeatedly!

Do you suffer from writer’s block? Is there a pending project you are putting off because you lack the inspiration to even get it started? You certainly are not alone. At various times you will go through extended periods of energetic writing as well as lengthy dry spells. Here are some tips you may want to consider to help you keep those slow times to a minimum.

Idea Mining If you do not have a specific topic in mind, start brainstorming to come up with a variety of topics. I get plenty of my ideas when I take a thirty minute brisk walk through my neighborhood. Watching rabbits eating clover, observing colorful roses, and listening to the sweet conversation of cardinals puts me at ease. When I am relaxed, I can think much more clearly. It sure beats sitting in front of my computer fretting about my work! Find something that brings out the inspiration in you.

Get Interested Writing on a topic that interests you is much easier to do than when you must write about a topic that you either: a) do not find interesting, or b) you are not particularly knowledgeable about. You can raise your interest by researching the topic. Read other online articles, go to the library and read a chapter or two in a related book, or contact someone familiar with the subject at hand [an enthusiatic expert is best]. After a certain amount of research your curiosity should be piqued which will help fuel your interest in the topic.

Make an Outline Write a topic sentence and then “bullet” three or four key points that you want to make. Expand each point into one paragraph each; collectively these points will comprise the body of your article. A brief conclusion [summation] tying all the points together at the end of the article will bring things “to a wrap.”

Sit on it No, I am not being obscene. Rather, once you have written your article put it aside for a day or two and then come back to it. A fresh perspective has a way in helping you craft a better article. More than likely you will catch grammatical errors, locate incomplete or unclear thoughts, or find errors in punctuation by stepping back for a period of time.

You can overcome writer’s block by following the above steps. If you find yourself hindered by the “paralysis of analysis” when it comes to selecting a winning topic, then you must step away, regroup, and come back only when sufficiently inspired. Writing with clear purpose and enthusiasm will happen once you put your writer’s block beyond you.

(c)2005; Matthew C. Keegan, LLC

Do you suffer from writer’s block? Is there a pending project you are putting off because you lack the inspiration to even get it started? You certainly are not alone. At various times you will go through extended periods of energetic writing as well as lengthy dry spells. Here are some tips you may want to consider to help you keep those slow times to a minimum.

Idea Mining If you do not have a specific topic in mind, start brainstorming to come up with a variety of topics. I get plenty of my ideas when I take a thirty minute brisk walk through my neighborhood. Watching rabbits eating clover, observing colorful roses, and listening to the sweet conversation of cardinals puts me at ease. When I am relaxed, I can think much more clearly. It sure beats sitting in front of my computer fretting about my work! Find something that brings out the inspiration in you.

Get Interested Writing on a topic that interests you is much easier to do than when you must write about a topic that you either: a) do not find interesting, or b) you are not particularly knowledgeable about. You can raise your interest by researching the topic. Read other online articles, go to the library and read a chapter or two in a related book, or contact someone familiar with the subject at hand [an enthusiatic expert is best]. After a certain amount of research your curiosity should be piqued which will help fuel your interest in the topic.

Make an Outline Write a topic sentence and then “bullet” three or four key points that you want to make. Expand each point into one paragraph each; collectively these points will comprise the body of your article. A brief conclusion [summation] tying all the points together at the end of the article will bring things “to a wrap.”

Sit on it No, I am not being obscene. Rather, once you have written your article put it aside for a day or two and then come back to it. A fresh perspective has a way in helping you craft a better article. More than likely you will catch grammatical errors, locate incomplete or unclear thoughts, or find errors in punctuation by stepping back for a period of time.

You can overcome writer’s block by following the above steps. If you find yourself hindered by the “paralysis of analysis” when it comes to selecting a winning topic, then you must step away, regroup, and come back only when sufficiently inspired. Writing with clear purpose and enthusiasm will happen once you put your writer’s block beyond you.

(c)2005; Matthew C. Keegan, LLC

Twice today I received invitations from article directory owners to join their new sites. In many ways I am flattered, but in other ways I almost want to mention that they have their work cut out for them. As an author of several hundred articles online [I expect to add between one and two hundred per month for the foreseeable future] I have some recommendations for article directory managers. If you are interested in learning what they are, please read on.

Benchmark Ezine Articles &ndash My primary site for submitting articles is with EzineArticles.com. Why? Volume, service, article penetration, search engine optimization, blog, forum, email updates, site navigation, cutting edge technology, to name some features. This site is one that is highly active where authors know the manager, Christopher Knight, and hear from him regularly. You get the feeling that Ezine Articles is going places…and fast!

Ask Permission First &ndash Some of my articles have appeared elsewhere, without my permission. I guess having over 400 articles online gives me extra special attention, perhaps more than someone who has 40 articles. Still, I must say that one web director who took my articles has apparently given up the practice and without notification to his authors. Let’s just say I won’t waste my time with someone who doesn’t at least care enough to respond to my emails!

Distinguish Yourself From The Pack &ndash Thanks to a new article software program that hit the market over the summer, lots of folks are snapping up this easy to use program and starting their own directories. Competition is a good thing, but a shake out will occur. If you want someone like me to take interest in your site, to direct my clients to you [I have plenty], and keep me interested, your site shouldn’t even look like any of the rest of them. I am not saying you shouldn’t use the new software, but please take it to the next level and make it work to the max.

Build Up Page Rank &ndash Heck, my own site pulls down a page rank of 6. I want you to match my site’s strength or at least come close. Some of the newer sites are not yet ranked and little or nothing has been indexed by Google. BTW, Google is it for me. MSN and Yahoo are alright, but Google rocks. After these three…nada!

Details, Details - The big picture of getting articles out there is great, but I like to see some attention paid to the fine details too. Ezine Articles has not one, but three resource boxes for authors to select from each of which contains information already keyed in by the authors. I know not of one other directory that has even one. Hmmm…

Where Are You Going? - Where is your article directory going? Do you have RSS feeds, submission agreements with other sites, unique features that are regularly being rolled out, etc. A blog where we hear from YOU, the manager, is highly useful.

There are other areas I am sure that I haven’t covered. I am not singling any directory out and I do wish you the best in your endeavor. Perhaps as your site grows I’ll sign up, but for now I am very busy writing articles and submitting to just a few select sites, like Ezine Articles. Thank you for allowing me to vent!

Twice today I received invitations from article directory owners to join their new sites. In many ways I am flattered, but in other ways I almost want to mention that they have their work cut out for them. As an author of several hundred articles online [I expect to add between one and two hundred per month for the foreseeable future] I have some recommendations for article directory managers. If you are interested in learning what they are, please read on.

Benchmark Ezine Articles &ndash My primary site for submitting articles is with EzineArticles.com. Why? Volume, service, article penetration, search engine optimization, blog, forum, email updates, site navigation, cutting edge technology, to name some features. This site is one that is highly active where authors know the manager, Christopher Knight, and hear from him regularly. You get the feeling that Ezine Articles is going places…and fast!

Ask Permission First &ndash Some of my articles have appeared elsewhere, without my permission. I guess having over 400 articles online gives me extra special attention, perhaps more than someone who has 40 articles. Still, I must say that one web director who took my articles has apparently given up the practice and without notification to his authors. Let’s just say I won’t waste my time with someone who doesn’t at least care enough to respond to my emails!

Distinguish Yourself From The Pack &ndash Thanks to a new article software program that hit the market over the summer, lots of folks are snapping up this easy to use program and starting their own directories. Competition is a good thing, but a shake out will occur. If you want someone like me to take interest in your site, to direct my clients to you [I have plenty], and keep me interested, your site shouldn’t even look like any of the rest of them. I am not saying you shouldn’t use the new software, but please take it to the next level and make it work to the max.

Build Up Page Rank &ndash Heck, my own site pulls down a page rank of 6. I want you to match my site’s strength or at least come close. Some of the newer sites are not yet ranked and little or nothing has been indexed by Google. BTW, Google is it for me. MSN and Yahoo are alright, but Google rocks. After these three…nada!

Details, Details - The big picture of getting articles out there is great, but I like to see some attention paid to the fine details too. Ezine Articles has not one, but three resource boxes for authors to select from each of which contains information already keyed in by the authors. I know not of one other directory that has even one. Hmmm…

Where Are You Going? - Where is your article directory going? Do you have RSS feeds, submission agreements with other sites, unique features that are regularly being rolled out, etc. A blog where we hear from YOU, the manager, is highly useful.

There are other areas I am sure that I haven’t covered. I am not singling any directory out and I do wish you the best in your endeavor. Perhaps as your site grows I’ll sign up, but for now I am very busy writing articles and submitting to just a few select sites, like Ezine Articles. Thank you for allowing me to vent!