Ted Nicholas Headline Challenge Exposed..

Finally, Ted Nicholas revealed the result of his Headline Challenge.

I got it wrong for one of the qeustion.

Just to recab, this are the questions:

1. (A) The Ultimate Tax Shelter
(B) Tax Shelter For All Incomes

2. (A) How To Be A Successful Consultant
(B) What Makes a Consultant Successful?

3. (A) Do You Suffer Joint Pain?
(B) Do Your Joints Feel Like They Are On
Fire?

For 1, the winner is "(A) The Ultimate Tax Shelter"

I got it right for this one.

For 2, alas, the winner is "(B) What Makes a Consultant Successful?"

I got this one wrong. After second thought, i think i know why B is the winner instead of A.

"What Makes a Consultant Successful?" are more personal and it speak right into the desire for a consultant seeking to be successful.

As for "How To Be A Successful Consultant", it sounds like that is a lot of work involved to be successful as a consultant. Even though the "How To...." headline are proven winner, this time round, it failed.

As for 3, the winner is "(B) Do Your Joints Feel Like They Are On Fire?"

This one i got it right. It is more emotional and will definately attract more attention.

You can read more about how i select the winning headlines at my last post at
--> http://copywritingbreakthrough.blogspot.com/2007/07/ted-nicholas-challenges.html

However, Ted Nicholas did not just end his email by just announching the result, he teach us a very important lesson in copywriting.

Here is what he said in the email, words for words:

"No matter how sure you are of your assumptions about copy, you must test those assumptions in a 50/50 split (an A/B split is even more scientific this is every other ad or sales letter). The best marketers in the world, including me, are not right 100% of the time.

I challenge you right now to look at your currently successful copy. I'm sure that some portion of it, especially headlines, would benefit enormously by careful testing. Let me know the result."

So remember to test your sales copy even though your inner voice tell you that it is the best ever.... not until it is tested.

Believability And Copywrting

Most of Ads that we see this days are simply not believable!

The readers are not stupid. They can sense it when a sales letter is blown out of proportion.

For example, if you read a sales letter with headline that go like this "Amazing Saving For Owning A Brand New XXX Salon Car!"

Then it goes on to say that you can save $5000 from the list price. And this offer will gonna change your life!

How can this be so?

How can a $5,000 saving change our life.

No Way!

When writing a sales letter, a copywriter must first believe in the product/service that he writes.

If it is a supplement, then as a copywriter, you should consume the supplements yourself before you put pen to paper.

This way, you can truely write from your heart, since you have experience first hand the benefit of the supplement on your own life.

Understand this....

"What comes from the heart go to the heart"

Writing a sales letter is like having a heart to heart talk with your potential buyer.

It's that simple.

What The Late Prince Of Print Say?

I have great respect for the late prince of Print, Gary Halbert.

In his life time, he coined the famous phrase "There is no problem to which a great sales letter isn't the answer".

Indeed how true it is!

Just hear what copywriting guru Dan Kennedy has to say:
"I can assure you of this: no person who can do sound "sales thinking' and write good sales copy need never misss a really good meal".
(*quote taken from one of his report*)

Hey, if Dan Kennedy said so, then it must be so.

This man charge more than $100,000 to write a single sales copy. He definately know what he is saying.

What about you?

Are you gear up to write compelling sales letter for your Internet Marketing business?

Or do you want to pay Dan or other copywriters high fees to write your sales letter? ( and pay again and again for every new product that you launch?)

Think about it....

There are some skills that you need to pick up to write compelling sales copy.

Of course you can enrol for 'live' workshop or buy home study course materials to acquire your copywriting skill. But you will spend a BOMB to do that, especially if you learn from top copywriting guru like Ted Nicholas, Dan Kennedy or even Jo Han Mok.

Now, i offer you a chance to get educated on copywriting with my "7 hardcore copywriting essential newsletters" for Free.

Just register here >>> http://tinyurl.com/3cyfmh for the free subscription.

Even though this is a free newsletter, i can assured you that the material inside contain powerful copywriting lessons that you must get your grip on, but you can take a look over there and decide for yourself.

To your copywriting success!

One Important Lesson Jo Han Mok Teaches Me On Copywriting

This is a very important lesson that i have learnt from Jo Han.

The lesson is not only applicable to copywriting but also to advertising and creation of product.

If you know it, you can almost sell your product at a higher price and people will come to your doorstep to ask for the order.

It's that powerful.

Well... it is call reframing.

If you have seen a piece of art at the marketplace, you would probably not pay attention to it.

What if the same piece of art is frame up with expensive golden frame and put up in your city popular art museum?

Will the value goes up?

Will people pay more attention to it than before?

You bet!

I have a confession to make.

In my previous post on the "two letter" headline written by Jo Han, i have an intention.

My intention is to get you see Jo Han Mok's MeetPillGates sales letter so that you can make a purchase (so that i can keep the 100% profit).

What the Heck is wrong with my intention?

Nothing. It is absolutely alright that i recommened you, my precious reader, to a high value product in MeetPillGates.

But what is wrong then?

I introduce you to the sales letter with a frame of mind on learning how to write better sales letter.

What i should have done is to introduce you to the sales letter with a different frame.

Yes, a different frame.

This is how i should frame it. The PillGates principles are highly "powered pack" with lot of money making ideas on how to profit selling offline physical product. Though PillGates criticises the profit making opportunity selling digital products on the Internet, some of these principles are also applicable to selling digital product.

Mind you, the principles have already help PillGates to make his 18 million dollars.

What if you can just profit a few percentage of what PillGates has achieve?

Won't it be nice.

Here, i strongly recommend you to get a copy of the MeetPillGates principles at

http://tinyurl.com/3x3ydz

As you read the MeetPillGates sales letter , you will discover how hard Jo Han has work to gain access to those principles, if not you can then decide for yourself. (Jo Han is a lazy ass.. he rarely work hard)

This is reframing in exhibition.

Copywriter Jo Han Mok Changes His Style

Most of the headlines that we see in direct mail are normally more than 17 words.

Rarely, did you see headline less than 10 words, not to mentioned less than 5 words.

Recently, Jo Han released a two words headline.

Thus far, i have been not know of Jo Han using a headline with less than 5 words.

Jo Han has written a headline of 8 words in his forbidden persuasion Home Study Course.

Here is the headline:

"Hypnotic Persuasion Patterns This Powerful Should Be BANNED!"

Guess what is his two words headline?

>>> Click here to find out!

It's conservatively a "Jo Han Mok" type of headline (the 'badboy' identity), but you can take a look over there and decide for yourself.

And for the first time, Jo Han makes use of silhouette carton figures in his sales copy.

It makes the whole salescopy very interesting and easier to read.

When you read his salescopy, the silhouette cartoon figures will project to you a sense of mystics.

It's seen like Jo Han Mok's have up his level of copywriting standard.

Go to his salesletter and read it.

As you read everywords of the salesletter, you will agree with me that indeed, this is a mastery piece of copywriting in exhibition.

Go see it at http://tinyurl.com/2qw9h4

You'll probably be shocked by the way he writes.

jo han mok

Who Else Swipe From John Caples Famous Headline?

I received an email from kenrick Cleveland from maxpersuasion.com.

If you are interested in using embeddded code to sell to the subconscious mind, then you must read from maxpersuasion.com.

The first thing i see when i go to his newly launch revamp site is the John Caples's famous headline "They Laughed When I Sat Down At The Piano But When I Started To Play..." being swipe.











There is a saying that go like this: "If you cannot beat them, join them"

In this context, it is: "If you unsure of how to write a headline, swipe them"

You Are Broke Because You Don't Have the Right Tools To Make You Rich!

Who am i to tell you this?

Ohh..Hold your punch...

I am using this seemingly outrageous remark to illustrate one of the important trigger used in copywriting.

We don't like it when two conflicting ideas are held in the mind.

This phenomenon can get a person to form a new beliefs or it enhances their old belief despite the evidence support the contrary.

If you are not rich yet, you may believe that you are restricted by the environment that you are in for not striking it rich.

When a contrary message "You Are Broke Because You Don't Have the Right Tools To Make You Rich!" is pickup by your sub-conscious mind, you are in a state of confusion.

Your belief system is being challenge. A conflicting message is pickup by your subconscious mind.

A internal dialogue between your unconscious and conscious mind begin.

The unconscious mind (being more intelligent than the conscious mind) says: "Watch it, this guy is trying to sell you some tools. You are poor because of your environment anyway. Nothing to do the the tool. Don't buy into this message"

As you can see from here, the unconscious mind makes the decision before consulting the conscious mind.

At this point, an image is constructed by your brain and presented to the conscious mind to understand.

You see a picture of a poor you in a tiny room ( a room so small that you can't even swing a cat in it) washing your dishes in the same sink you used for your shower. You are poor, dirt poor.

Your conscious mind shouted back: "But i am poor and i need to change my situation. I want to be rich".

A conflicting message formulated in your mind (a conflict in opinion between the conscious and unconsious mind): "I am not rich not because of the environment which i cannot control, it is because i am not using the right tools?"

This is where follow-up statements with reasons and justifications are so important.

Understand that the unconscious mind never override the decision that come from the conscious mind.

When the mind is confuse, it will do you good to fire the conscious mind with substantiate logical statements that go your way.

This way, the conscious mind will override the unconscious mind with message like "ArHaaa... see all this facts and figures? He is right that i am poor because i did not have the right tool".

This phenomenon is called cognitive dissonance.

You can use this in your salescopy.

First to challenge their belief and then to give them substantiate statements in your favour.

In this example, this is how it goes:

"You are broke because you don't have the right tools to make you rich!" then you continue "study have shown that 99% of super rich individuals make their wealth by using the right tools....."

What next?

Sell them the "right tool"

Best Quote From Hardcore Copywriter Jo Han Mok

Since i started venturing into Internet marketing business 10 months ago, my first exposure is on copywriting.

One of the copywriting guru that I have learn from is Jo Han Mok.

Through him, i truly understand the importance of mastering the skill of copywriting.

Indeed, copywriting is the heart of every successful Internet marketing campaign.

Many gurus are teaching you how to generate traffic. What is the use of traffic if your salescopy cannot convert prospect to customer?

One of the famous quote from Jo Han is this: "It is possible to be a good marketer without being a good copywriter. But it is not possible to be a good copywriter without being a good marketer."

See?

Copywriting ROCK!

Here is a exclusive interview of Jo Han taken few years ago. Though a bit old, what he said still make a lot of sense. ( I manage to dig it out from Youtube and share with you here).

Enjoy!

The Ted Nicholas Challenges

Just a moment ago, i received an ezine from Super Copywriter, Ted Nicholas.

He is one of the best copywriter that i learn from.

The email that i received from Ted today is something special.

He throw me a challenge on the subject of copywriting.

Yes, a challenge!

The subject of the email is "A Tiny Change Can Triple Response"

Ted Nicholas emphasize on the importance of how a slight change in the use of words can drastically improve your sales by 300% or more.

This really capture my attention.

I do not have to second guess that it will also draw your attention, if you are a copywriter or Internet marketer.

We are Internet marketers and as Internet marketers, we want more sales.

Before throwing the challenge, Ted Nicholas show us some examples:

The first headline read:

Put More Cash Into Your Procket

The new headline is:

Puts More Cash Into Your Proket

He said that the additional "s" to the word "Put" bring a 300% increase in sales.

This is really amazing.

For this example, it is difficult to tell why this is so. Don't you agree?

Maybe "Puts" pre-suppose the preceding word "More" with greater intensity.

Let's look at the next example:

First headline:

Learn the Secrets of Millionarie Copywriters

New headline:

Discover the Secrets of Millionaire Copywriters

Ted told me in the email that the new headline more than doubled the response.

This example is quite obvious, isn't it?

Learn implies hard work whereas Discover is "lighter" and feel easy.

Now come the Ted Nicholas's challenge:

1. (a) The Ultimate Tax Shelter
(b) Tax Shelter for all Incomes

2. (a) How to be a Successful Consultant
(b) What Makes a Consultant Successful?

3. (a) Do You Suffer Joint Pain?
(b) Do Your Joints Feel Like They Are on Fire?

For Challenge #1, i will take (a).

My reason?

Well, the first headline is more dynamics. The word "Ultimate" telegraph something spectacular, something extra-ordinary.

For Challenge #2, i will take (a).

Headlines starting with "How to..." are proven winner and i will stick to headline that are tested winner.

For Chanllenge #3, i will go for (b) simply for the extra picture words at the end of the headline "...Like They Are on Fire?"

Pschologists acknowledge that people create images in their minds with every word spoken, sound heard and feeling experienced.

This way in which people experience the image, are what make it personal to them.

"...Like They Are on Fire?" make it more personal as a picture of my joints burning with fire is inscribed in my mind when i read it.

I will keep you posted when ted Nicholas revealed the result later.

Swipe From John Caples Famous Headline

Over the weekend, i attended a workshop by Internet Marketing guru and copywriter Jo Han Mok.

Again, Jo Han never failed to deliver.

One of the greatest takeaway from the workshop is Jo Han teaching on Headline.

He told us to swipe from other established and converting headline.

This is a quick and dirty way to write a winning headline, but it is also a highly efficient way.

One of the headline that come to my mind is John Caples's famous headline "They Laugh When I Sat Down At the Piano But When I Started to Play!--"

Here is the sensational Mail Order Ads written by John Caples for U.S. School of Music that mad him famous:


Do this headline capture your attention?

People always like to hear a good story. This headline starts by telling an intriguing story... a story of someone being humiliated.

Probably, the headline promotes a sense of curiousity in you.

You want to find out how is he being humiliated or did he manage to pull himself out of the embarassing situation.

Well, do not envy John Caples for having the inspiration to work out this headline.

Why?

You can write winning headline just like John Caples.

How?

Because of the work of John Caples, you can now swipe from this headline.

You leveledge on his good work!

For example "My GirlFriend Dump Me When She Found Out That I Am Poor, But Three Years later..."

See?

Can you recognise that this headline is swipe from the famous John Caples headline?

Probably not if you have not read this post.

Now i have a winner headline! :-)

So can you!

To your copywriting success.

Telegrah The Elmer Wheeler Way

Watch this video of Elmer Wheeler on Selling. Listen to what Wheeler have to say on sales:



Who is Elmer Wheeler?

He is the author of the famous copywriting manuel "Tested Sentences That Sell".

Indeed, Elmer Wheeler is a great salesman of his time.

What then do sales have to do with copywriting?

Understand this.

Writing a salescopy is just like selling.

You need to apply all the sales principles into writing your sales copy.

Let summarized four pointers taught by Wheeler here.

Don't Sell The Steak, Sell The Sizzle!
======================================

What Wheeler means by a sizzle is the main appeal to the prospects, the hidden benefits of the product or service that get them to think about it.

If you sell toothpaste teenage girls, you sell them a shiny and awesome teeth such that when they smile, they can attract more male suitors.

Yes, you got it.

Sell them the sizzle, something that your potential prospects want.

Don't Write-Telegrah!

Wheeler is getting at this in the principle: You got only 10 seconds to caputre the potential prospects attention in the headline.

You need to telegraph a headline so compelling that it will catch the attention of your prospects and bring them to read on in our salescopy.

Say It With Flowers
===================

What Wheeler means by this principle is that you need to prove your claims. As Wheeler said, "Give a quick customer benefit, but then prove it the next second"

In Internet marketing, many marketers used factual proof like their clickbank payment account (to show you how much they actually earn) using the product or system that they are selling you.

Or they put up testimonies to show how others have benefit from your product or system.

Either way, they are showing you proofs that what they sell to you work!

Don't Ask If, Ask Which!
========================

Wheeler offers the explaination of this principle by saying this: "Offer your prospect a choice between something and SOMETHING, not something and NOTHING."

What this mean is that when you ask a question, ask it in such a way that your prospect must choose between two options, both of which you are tailored to what you want.

For example, when a waitress is asking the customers if they want some wine with their meal, never say "Sir, do you want some wine with your meal?"

Say this instead: "Sir, do you want some white wine or red wine with your meal?

See the difference?

In writing a salescopy, you can use this principle when you are simulating a internal dialogue with your reader by asking them a WHICH question.

Watch Your Bark
===============

This principles focus on the need to communicate with optimism, enthusiasm and enery with your voice.

This is also true for writing a salescopy, just as in face-to-face selling.

You need to write with optimism, enthusiam and energy so that your readers can feel what you "Bark" at them.

Apply this four principles of selling by Elmer Wheeler to your salescopy and get the copywriting result that you want.

Add "Dangerous" To Your Salescopy

In 1891, P.T. Barnum said this five days before he died.

"You must-I repeat it, must-have always a great and progressive show and also one which is clean, pure, moral and instructive........"

An unspoken truth in writing a salescopy is that the only reason people buy anything is for the feelings thay expect to get.

People queue up for hours without complain to buy lottery ticket. Why?

They buy a dream for the feeling of winning the lottery and live their dream thereof.

People pay few hundred dollars to watch two hours of performance by Michael Jackson. Why?

They buy to experience the feeling of getting high that Michael Jackson and his team of dancers can offer them.

Don't beleive me? Watch this "dangerous" performance by Michael Jackson and you will know why.



In writing sales copy, you need to add spices, excitment and entertainment to capture the interest of your prospect to read your copy and eventually to pull out their credit card to buy from you.

Your sales copy can be short or long but never be boring.

Give your readers an wonderful experience and good feeling when they read your sales copy and you will have a winner in your hand.

B.T. Barnum Way Of Writing SalesCopy

P L Barnum is probably the greatest showman in business in the whole of America history.

What then has P T Barnum got to do with copywriting?

The success of Barnum businesses are largely due to his capability to generate news and create immensely curiousity.

Barnum adopt the world's oldest advertising formula in his business.

The formula - AIDA

If you are marketing online, you should have know it.

AIDA stand for Attention, interest, desire, action.

You need to get the attention of your prospects.

Everyday, people are bombarded with thousand and thousand of advertising messages.

Why should they pay attention to your advertisement or your sales copy?

You need to do it the Barnum way.

Know what is the Fad or news that is catching everyone atttention, then link the news to your business or in this case, your sales copy.

As an example, Joe Vitale when campaigning for his home-study course, Hypnotic Selling Secrets, wrote an headline that link to a TV commercial featuring Britney Spears promoting the perfume.

He wrote a headline for his news release that go like this:
"Britney Spears Accused of Using Hypnotic Methods in New TV Commercial"

This littel headline give him tremendous boost to the sales of this home-study package.

Joe Viltale do it the P.T. Barnum way.

So in writing your sales copy, write it the P.T. Barnum way.