Popularity: 4% [?]

I have read thousands of ad copies online and offline over my lifetime. I have read excellent ad copies that made me buy right away and some that may have had a decent product, but had a poor ad copy that turned me away.

Now that I am in business, I have written some of my own ad copies. Some of them have worked, some of them have bombed. The key is to keep changing and testing your ad copy, don’t just write one and then stop. I don’t have a college degree in copywriting, but I know to learn from the mistakes and never give up.

Below I’ve made a list of 42 deadly ad copy sins that I’ve made over the years and that you can learn from:

-no compelling headline
-no believable testimonials
-no sub headlines
-no attractive benefits
-no features
-no strong guarantees
-no asking or answering questions
-no proof of benefits offered
-no contact information for questions
-no endorsements
-no conversational writing
-too long of sentences
-no deadline to order
-no free trials
-spelling mistakes
-grammar mistakes
-too light of text
-too dark of background
-ad copy doesn’t blend together
-no breaks in ad copy
-no bullets
-ad copy in all CAPS
-few ordering options
-no visual aids
-no comparison to competition
-no reminding of benefits or deadlines
-no information about your business
-no appealing adjectives
-no appealing phrases
-too large of text
-too small of text
-no emotional appeal
-too large of paragraphs
-no story telling
-no underlining or bolding of keywords
-too short of ad copy
-too long of ad copy
-no facts or case studies
-hard to understand jargon
-no free bonuses
-too low of price
-too high of price

Don’t get me wrong, not all 42 of my ad copy sins will apply to each and every ad you write. It is just a list you can use in the future. If you currently have an ad copy, compare it to the list right now. Your ad copy could make or break your sales.

Popularity: 3% [?]

– QUOTED –

BEIJING (Reuters) – Some Chinese tourists have been warned that while spitting, slurping food and jumping queues may merely disgust people at home, they are sometimes not tolerated abroad, Xinhua news agency said on Friday.

The increasing number of Chinese tourists travelling abroad may be a huge new source of income to destination countries, but that won’t prevent complaints against individuals from reflecting badly on all of China, Xinhua said.

“The media in Singapore reports that hotel staff are upset with Chinese tourists spitting in their rooms and smoking in bed,” it said.

“…Singapore airline companies also criticised Chinese tourists for talking loudly and being very rude. Even Hong Kong newspapers have pointed out that some mainlanders lack manners and social graces.”

Beijing residents said last year spitting in public was what they could not stand most about living in the Chinese capital, followed close behind by dog owners who fail to clean up after their pets.

Beijing has launched a campaign to make its citizens more “civil” in the run-up to hosting the 2008 Olympics. Games organisers have repeatedly said the city needs to teach its people to stand in line, stop spitting and littering and generally be better mannered.

Past efforts to stamp out the spitting habit, like a 2003 campaign to help curb the spread of SARS, have not been very effective, partly because many people believe clearing the lungs and firing away is good for your health.

– –

Popularity: 14% [?]

Anji, known as “China’s Home of Bamboo”, is one of most famous bamboo counties in Zhejiang province. It takes about 3 hours drive from Shanghai. Before the year 2002, Anji was isolated from the outside world because of the poor transportation, and for many years its economy remained undeveloped. Since then, Anji build highways connecting the neighbouring cities like HangZhou and HuZhou.

AnJi has China’s largest bamboo nursery acknowledge by foreign experts as containing the widest and most complete variety of bamboo to be found.

The local people, mostly farmers, produce non-polluted products like bamboo shoots, alpine vegetables, flowers, and white tea which grown nowhere else in the country and are more expensive than the Dragon Well tea! For those who lives in town, sells bamboo handicrafts, bamboo floor mat, bamboo building materials and bamboo furniture. Things are very very cheap in AnJi… look at the photos, the mountains are form by bamboos! It’s gorgeous…~

Travelling Date: April 2006

This was the hotel that I’m staying in.

Popularity: 11% [?]

You can increase sales and profits by offering freebies to people who buy your main product or service. They increase the over all value of your main offer and in return
people feel they’re getting more for less.

It’s important that you have a high enough profit margin so you can afford to give them away. Some freebies can be created without a lot of expense; like electronic information products. With these type of freebies there’s no shipping or physical material costs.

Below are some popular types of freebies. In the examples are some other benefits and a tips for offering freebies to your buyers.

FREE COUPON/GIFT CERTIFICATE

Offer potential customers a free coupon or gift c.ertificate for a back end product or service you’re selling. This will increase your chances for repeat purchases.

FREE BOOKLET/E-BOOK

Offer a free booklet or e-book related to your main product or service. Inform potential customers that it is a limited time offer and it will only be available before a specific date.

FREE MEMBERS ONLY WEB SITE

Offer a free membership into your members only web site. Tell them what it normally costs for people who don’t purchase.

FREE AUDIO CASSETTE/VIDEO

Offer a free audio cassette or video to people who buy. Let them know this audio cassette or video can’t be found anywhere else, only through this special offer.

FREE E-MAIL COURSE

Offer a free e-mail course on a topic related to your product or service. Add your back end product ads to each e-mail course lesson.

FREE CHAT ROOM SEMINAR/CONSULTING

Offer a free chat room seminar or consulting to give away as a freebie. You will become know as an expert on the topic by electing to do the seminar or consulting yourself.

FREE GIFT

Offer a free gift if they buy your product or service. Giving the value of the free give will attract them to purchase your main product or service.

Quote of the Day:

“Kites rise against, not with the wind. No man has ever worked his passage anywhere in a dead calm.” — John Neal

Popularity: 5% [?]

Success is a choice and we must choose to eliminate the excuses and take action today! So many times we make excuses because we feel we must study to perfection or make sure all our “ducks are in a row.” The result then becomes a habit of procrastination. Ultimately frustration and blame sets in and we quit before we ever begin.

Don’t let excuses stand between you and success. Know that no matter who you are or where you come from, you can succeed. Success takes discipline and consistent action. No one can build your network marketing business for you.

One very important piece to the network marketing puzzle for me was to make a commitment to myself and for me to understand that failure and challenges are all a part of becoming a success. Every great leader has been through multiple challenges and has fallen down many times on the road to success in network marketing. I realized this and conditioned myself to have a sustainable motivation… which has been a powerful driving force. I still have challenges and failures but I don’t make excuses, I take consistent action.

I want you to know you are no different than me. Eliminate your excuses by taking action every day. It will be very important to get weekly coaching with your upline to help you stay on track. Always work from a plan and realize you don’t have to get it right, you just have to get it going.

TIP – You can’t make money and excuses at the same time.

NOTE: Success requires a sustainable motivation. A sustainable motivation is like the Energizer battery… “it keeps you going, and going, and going!” Having a sustainable motivation will allow you to overcome the ups and downs of building your own business without getting derailed from moving toward your main objective. Begin developing your sustainable motivation today by reading at least ten minutes a day. Read something uplifting and positive!

“The only thing standing between you and success is excuses!” – Gregory Lousig-Nont, PhD.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Often we can spend hours after hours after hours with very little result in terms of business growth. We have heard tens of thousands of claims from struggling network marketers who claim they put tons of hours and a boatload of money into their business. yet these same networkers claim they have little or no downline. They claim they have made no money. Plus they claim they are doing everything they are taught.

As Henry David Thereau says, “It is not enough to be busy. The question is, what are we busy about?” Are you keeping busy or are you taking real action to build your business? The facts prove that most of us just keep busy. You know, the paper push which includes answering emails non related to prospects, reading articles, surfing the net for the “next best tool”, and the list goes on.

What truly will build your business is taking real ACTION! What is real action? Real action is the action that puts you in front of your prospect (i.e. prospecting phone calls, follow-up calls, etc). The bottom line is that unless you are in front of your prospect, your prospect can’t buy from you. If your prospect can’t buy from you, nothing is sold. If nothing is sold, no money is made. This means your business will never grow an you will always be broke hoping for your business to grow.

We can hope and dream day in and day out. Yet unless you take action (real action), your hopes and dreams will never become a reality. So how do you take the real action? The first step is to set minimum benchmarks (i.e. 2+ a day strategy, power of 45, etc.). The next step is to track your progress over the next 6 weeks. Track everything you do, meaning everything you spend time on. By tracking, you will learn the real truth – whether or not you are keeping busy or taking real action. If you are not reaching your benchmarks, it is critical you make changes in your schedule to make certain you are at least achieving your minimum benchmarks (your minimum standard of performance). If you are not achieving your benchmarks, you should be fired!

Yes, that is right – FIRED! You see, the minimum standards of performance on benchmarks (i.e. 2+ a day strategy, power of 45, etc.) are designed for the part time marketer. The benchmarks require 8 to 10 hours of “action” time – time in front of your prospect. Anything less and you can never expect your business to grow.

The reason your business will not grow is that any actions less than the minimum standard will not allow you to keep ahead of the attrition rates. This is why so many people never seem to get their business into profit. If you personally sponsor above the threshold of attrition, you will continue to have growth. To accomplish such a task you must set and achieve your personal benchmarks as well as teach benchmarking to your team.

So the big question we must ask, “Are you keeping busy or are you taking real action?”

“It is not enough to be busy. The question is, what are we busy about?” – Henry David Thereau

Popularity: 7% [?]

The formula for success for any business is to get your customers to make repeat purchases. There are a number of factors involved for getting repeat customers: pricing, quality of products and services, excellent customer service etc. One of the best ways is to reward your customers for their repeat purchases. Here are three
effective customer reward programs you could implement:

Number Of Purchases

This program is based on the number of purchases made by any customer. You could give away a f.ree product or service to any customer that makes ten or more purchases. To make the program more effective you could require a set time period that all ten purchases must be made by.

Dollar Amount

You can require a certain dollar amount be spent before the customer receives a reward. Tell customers if they spend over $50 in one month at your web site they get a 50% discount on their next purchase. You could also just reward one customer who spends the most every month with a bigger reward like a v.acation.

Points System

Reward customers a point for every one-dollar they spend. Lets say customers can get a f.ree computer for 300 points. That means customers will spend $300 dollars on your products and services to get enough points to get the f.ree computer. To push slower selling products or services just o.ffer more points per dollar spent for those particular items.

The kind of rewards you give should depend on what your business can afford. Cheaper rewards could be gift certificates, coupons, clothes, or movie passes. Expensive rewards could be jewelry, vacations, bed and breakfast gift certificates, electronics or computer equipment.

You may want to invest in a good database program to keep track of your rewards program. I also recommend contacting a legal professional for advice, set-up and the
structure of your rewards program. I hope these ideas I’ve given you help make your business more successful.

Quote of the Day:

“All adverse and depressing influences can be overcome, not by fighting, by by rising above them.” — Charles Caleb Colton

Popularity: 4% [?]