The Golden Thread – The Week in Review
March 9–15, 2008

Welcome to The Golden Thread Online, your free e-letter from American Writers & Artists Inc. Every Saturday, you will receive this recap of all the strategies, insights and opportunities we send to you and your fellow AWAIers each week. Whether it’s a message from a fellow writer about how he landed a new client … a technique from a Master copywriter for writing a control … an insight into how to succeed in a new market … news of a brand new writing job or business opportunity for you … you’ll find it here in this easy-to-access and always available “Week in Review.”

In This Issue:

• Words of Copywriting Wisdom … An Easy Way to Make Your Copy More Inviting
  Master copywriter Paul Hollingshead reveals how creative use of punctuation can make your copy less intimidating to read while injecting a more conversational tone.
• Improve Your Copywriting Skills … How to Force Your Reader to Keep Reading – Let Me Explain …
  AWAI staff writer John Wood explains five ways to utilize conversational transitions in your copy to keep your reader reading.
• AWAI Insider Success Strategy … Stop Screaming! Use Simple Design to Lead Your Reader Directly to the Sale
  Learn how to create a seamless “reading path” for your reader on any web page or advertisement you create. Successful reading paths use a specific design hierarchy.
• AWAIer Keith B. Asks Rebecca … Is Nick’s New Program Suitable for Newbies?
  AWAIer Keith B. asks Rebecca McEldowney about Nick Usborne's new AWAI program.

Words of Copywriting Wisdom … An Easy Way to Make Your Copy More Inviting by Paul Hollingshead, AWAI Co-Founder

I’m sure I drive all the English teachers out there crazy.

I don’t exactly follow the traditional rules of punctuation.

That’s because I’ve found that my “creative use” of punctuation gives my letters two advantages.

First, it makes them more visually diverse and interesting by creating some white space within paragraphs. The result? Copy that’s less intimidating to read.

Second, it lets me inject the kind of natural inflections and pauses people use when they talk … making my letters read in a much more conversational way.

My favorites: dashes (–), ellipses (…), quotation marks (“ ”), and italics.

Dashes allow you to effectively separate similar ideas that might be awkward in the same sentence, while, at the same time, peppering your copy with much-needed white space.

Ellipses allow you to “trail off” a sentence, which allows your readers to make some of their own assumptions … or leads them instantly to another connected idea.

I use quotation marks and italics when I want to stress a word, as in:

Remember, these are gains that came in two months. When was the last time you “earned” $20,000 without lifting a finger?

Just remember that huge blocks of text can be overwhelming for a reader. One look at a single page with only two paragraphs and the reader thinks, oh my, do I want to commit to reading all THIS?! And in the garbage it goes … along with the sale.

Improve Your Copywriting Skills … How to Force Your Reader to Keep Reading – Let Me Explain … by John Wood, AWAI Staff Copywriter

Oprah always tells her viewers what’s coming up after the commercial break. For example, when Celine Dion was on recently, she said something like “Next, Celine Dion debuts her brand-new single ‘Taking Chances.’ First time ever on network TV.”

All talk shows do this. It’s a very effective way to keep people watching.

Many times, I’ve been about to turn off the TV, only to be tempted to stay tuned.

The same technique, of course, is used in copywriting. Here are a few examples:

• But there’s more …
• So read on …
• But I didn’t stop there …
• Let me explain …
• Now here comes the good part …

Another way to use this technique in a sales letter is to put a very short sentence at the end of a paragraph that offers a reason for the reader to read the next paragraph.

In the “Finding a Winning ‘Voice’ for Your Copy” lesson in AWAI’s Masters Program, Paul Hollingshead refers to these prompts as “conversational transitions.”

And in The Adweek Copywriting Handbook, copywriting legend Joe Sugarman calls them “Seeds of Curiosity,” because they make you to want to continue reading even if the copy is slowing down at that point.

Here are five different types of transitions to try …

Transition #1: Adding clarification or driving home a point

• Here’s the thing …
• But here’s the kicker …
• Here’s my point …
• My point is this …

Example without transition:

Example with transition:

Transition #2: Informing your reader that you’re about to add clarity/proof to what you’ve just said

• Please allow me to explain …
• Let me explain …
• I’ll explain …
• Here’s what I mean …

Example without transition:

Example with transition:

Transition #3: Asking people to take a minute and reflect on something

• Think for a moment about what that means.
• Imagine what that will mean to your life.
• Think about the value of this.
• Do you see the value here?
• Think about that for a minute.

Example without transition:

Example with transition:

Transition #4: Reminding your reader of a benefit you mentioned previously

• As I said before,
• Earlier I mentioned,
• As I mentioned before,
• Keep in mind …
• Don’t forget …
• Remember …

Example without transition:

Example with transition:

Transition #5: Alerting your reader that there’s more (and even better) news coming up

• But there’s more …
• But it’s even better than that …
• But that’s not all …
• There’s much more to tell you …
• Here’s something else …
• One more thing …
• But here’s the best news …
• Better still …

Example without transition:

Example with transition:

No question, “Conversational Transitions/Seeds of Curiosity” are a great way to make your copy flow effortlessly from one idea/benefit to another.

But don’t overdo it.

As Paul says in his “Finding a Winning Voice for Your Copy” lesson …

“They’re like manure. A little can green the grass nicely, but too much can stink up the town.”

AWAI Insider Success Strategy … Stop Screaming! Use Simple Design to Lead Your Reader Directly to the Sale by Kammy Thurman, AWAI-Trained Copywriter AND Graphic Designer

Have you ever seen a flier, a Web landing page, or some other advertisement where everything on the page is screaming at you so loudly that you didn’t know where to start reading?

You probably didn’t spend much time trying to figure out where to go before you gave up and trashed it.

You can avoid this by creating a reading “path” for your reader to follow. A well-constructed path feels so easy and natural your reader won’t even realize you’re intentionally leading him along.

Successful reading paths get their power to guide the reader by using this specific design hierarchy …

1. Big, bold headlines. The headline carries 80% of the responsibility for the sale. So you want to spend a good deal of time designing it for maximum impact. This means using big, bold letters at least 3 times larger than the body copy. Use bold colors too. Stay away from light colors – especially pastels. (They’re not good for readability.

   Break long headlines into easy-to-read chunks with line breaks. And put plenty of white space around them to tell the reader “I’m important, read me first!” Sans serif typefaces like Helvetica, Myriad, or Arial work great for headlines. They look clean and easily readable in large sizes.

2. The “neck” … I mean deck. This is the sub-headline that comes right underneath the headline and before the “Dear Reader” part of the sales letter. The deck helps readers move from the headline into the body copy. It is generally used to explain the headline further and give readers an additional push into the rest of the letter. Think of it as the neck that connects the headline to the body copy.

   The deck will be noticeably smaller than the headline, but quite a bit larger than the body copy. If you have a 36-point headline and 12-point body copy, figure 22- to 24-point type for the deck. You can either use the same font you used for the headline or the font you’ll use in the body copy. Don’t use a third font, as too many fonts will look confusing and amateurish. However, you can use a lighter weight font than you used for the headline: For example, Arial Bold instead of Arial Black.

3. Subheads. Subheads are used to break up the body copy and keep the page interesting. I use the same color in subheads that I used in the headline, as opposed to using black. Colored subheads draw attention and help hold the reader in the sales message. The headline, deck, and subheads together tell the sales story well enough that a reader could make a decision to buy if that’s all they read (which is what many people do). Folks who want more info will then go back and read the body copy.
4. Body copy. This is the main sales message – the body of your letter – and it needs to be very readable. In print copy, serif type – such as Times Roman or Georgia – is easier to read than sans serif (Arial or Verdana). But the opposite is true on the Web. Make sure the font is large enough – 11 or 12 points in most cases, and 13 or 14 points for older readers. Never go below 10 points. That’s too small for easy reading.
5. Sidebars, bursts, and pull-quotes. Place sidebars, bursts, pull-quotes, and other attention grabbers throughout the piece to pull readers’ attention to important information. These give readers a little surprise, and hold their interest much better than pages of text with a few subheads here and there.

And, finally … Help your reader turn the page. Never end a right-hand page on a complete sentence. Break the sentence so your reader is forced to turn the page to continue.

And to further encourage him to turn the page, add “Over please,” or something similar, at the bottom of every odd-numbered page. Even though this may seem unnecessary (who doesn’t know to turn the page?), testing has proven it keeps readers from using the end of the page as an excuse to bail out of the message.

This hierarchy should be used in every sales piece you write and/or design – fliers, posters, letters, buck slips, lift notes, postcards, magalogs, and even orders forms – to make reading (and making the sale) much easier.

AWAIer Keith B. Asks Rebecca … Is Nick’s New Program Suitable for Newbies? by Rebecca McEldowney, AWAI’s VP and Director of Online Marketing

While most of the emails I’ve received about Nick Usborne’s Million-Dollar Secrets to Online Copywriting have been along the lines of “Thank you! This is just what I’ve been looking for!” … I’ve received a few like the one below from Keith B. If you have any of the same concerns that Keith did, I hope my response to him helps you decide if Nick’s program is for you.

Rebecca,

Peace and greetings from STL. A few questions for you about Nick Usborne’s Million $ Secrets program –

Question #1: Is it primarily meant to be a program for those already well-grounded in basic copywriting techniques who wish to specialize in Web copy? Or is it, as the promo suggests, suitable for newbies to use to begin earning income as a copywriter?

My response: It’s totally suitable for newbies. I specifically asked Nick to write this program for anyone – not just AWAI-trained copywriters.

Question #2: Is it a standalone program? (Although I don’t suggest that it will be the extent of instruction I receive or the end of my learning. To assume so would be foolish.)

My response: It’s completely standalone. While there is always more to learn in any craft you want to be successful at, you can take this one program and become a knowledgeable working Web copywriter.

Question #3: And while it would be unfair for me to expect you to absolutely predict how quickly I can learn and apply the techniques, assuming I am diligent and consistent, can you give me some estimate of how soon I will be generating income?

My response: Of course, it’s really up to you … how much time you spend marketing your services and how fast you do the work. I personally went through the program in about a week – and love that I can use it as a reference guide whenever I’m working on a new project. What I can say, however, is that Web copywriting projects are usually short and allow for a quick turnaround. So you won’t have to wait a long time to collect your fees from your clients.