I just switched the blog to my www.kevinhillcopy.com domain so I have everything on one site.

So the old site: www.kevinhill.co is no longer being used. Not sure what to do with it.

Anyway you might have noticed I made some changes to the looks of the site.

I’m using a new WordPress theme…and in the video below I share the #1 factor that pushed me past the “tipping point” toward buying this theme.

(This is NOT a pitch for the theme BTW…it just illustrated a very important concept to keep in mind when you’re writing copy).

Oh, and if you like to “tweak” things on your website…this is the perfect theme for you!

Until next time,

Kevin

Hey guys,

Been a little under the weather the past couple days, but that didn’t stop me from creating this quick video:

It’s less than 2 minutes long but contains an important tip regarding positioning your product/service in your sales letter.

Thanks, talk to you soon!

Kevin

Hi gang.

In this quick video, I describe the #1 word you should never use in copy.

It’s a word most copywriters and marketers use…yet should be absolved from your marketing vocabulary.

Here’s the video:

I hope this was helpful and talk soon!

Kevin Hill

Hi there…I’ve been copywriting for 7 years and have gotten the “inside scoop” of what works and what doesn’t in the internet marketing industry.

This quick 5-minute video reveals one of the most “ripped-off” squeeze pages on the planet.

Keep these tips in mind when creating your own squeeze page.

Thanks, and I’ll see you next time!

Kevin

I’ve been writing copy for the past 7 years and I’ve seen some nice…and some horrible…squeeze pages in my day.

Most of these squeeze pages (or lead generator pages…but in this blog post I’m going to call them squeeze pages) give away the same stuff:

A free report. A free 7-day e-course.

Bo-ring!

This blog post will give you 3 excellent ideas you can implement that’ll allow you to boost your opt-in rate on your squeeze page. All of these come down to one simple thing:

The offer you’re giving to your prospect when they enter their name and email address!

So here goes:

1) Offer A Checklist Or Cheatsheet

Checklists or cheatsheets are excellent giveaways for squeeze pages. They’re something that allows prospects to consume quickly.  And they will get immediate benefits.

This is a perfect giveaway if you’re in a niche that is information-based. You can give away an internet marketing checklist, a “cheatsheet” on investing in Forex, or a sheet of “must-have” information on how to get a date.

And if your cheatsheet or checklist is good, they will print it out and keep it on their desk.  You basically just earned “real estate” in your prospect’s home that serves as a constant reminder of you and your business. Meaning they could contact you or buy from you when they need what you’re selling.

And they won’t throw it away like  a piece of junk-mail!

2) Offer A Free Video

Videos are in.  Big time.  The key with videos is to make sure they are not long and boring.

You can either be in the video yourself…or create a simple Camtasia or Screenflow (if you’re on a Mac) of a slideshow presentation.  Videos have higher perceived value anyway and these tend to be better “bribes” for getting someone to enter their name and email address.

A good topic for your video is “7 Secrets Most People Will NEVER Know About (insert niche)”. You’ll have a specific you can place in your copy and the whole “secrets” angle always converts well.

3) Offer An Audio Interview

Get someone to interview you for 30 minutes and offer that as your squeeze page opt-in bait. People will be able to listen to you on their iPod and the interview format is easy to consume for your target audience.

This is probably the weakest of the 3 squeeze page suggestions as most people will have to download it and put it on their mp3 player (if they do not listen on the computer).  Whereas the former suggestions can usually be consumed right away.

Free Reports Stink!

I don’t think I’ve ever seen such an over-used email opt-in bribe as the free report. This is 2011 and people are reading less and less these days.

Further, most people have free reports littering their hard drive …to the point that ANOTHER free report would not give them motivation to give up their email address.

People are becoming more and more guarded with their email address. You have to be different and remarkable if you’re going to get people’s attention in today’s online market.  The above suggestions will put you head and shoulders over your competition when it comes to building your list!

Until next time,

Kevin Hill

“The Professor of High Response”

Hi there!  I posted a quick video on an excellent squeeze page and what makes it effective.

You can check out the video here:

Thanks!
Kevin

I’ve mentioned time and time again that 90% of a great sales letter has to do with research. If you get the research right, your sales letter practically writes itself.

I just finished an article for Russell Brunson’s DotComSecrets newsletter about this important topic.  However, I thought I would share the most important points from that article in this blog post.

What’s The Big Deal About Research?

Not performing the right research for your sales letter is like playing the Super Bowl without a game plan.  You just walk out on the field and hope and pray you’ll win.

This is how most marketers approach this. They forget there are a lot of factors they have to research outside their own business before they write a single word.

Here are 3 critical steps you need to take before you write a single word of copy. Use these and your chances of having a successful sales letter will go through the roof.

1) What Makes Your Product Unique?

Many marketers create “me-too” products. Just another ebook on how to make money online or affiliate marketing. Yet they do not differentiate themselves from their competition so that prospects have a reason to buy from them.

The #1 thing you need to do is determine what makes you unique.  This is what makes your product/service stand out from the crowd.

Do you have a unique guarantee. Offer better service? Do your customers get the desired benefits faster and easier than you competition? Figure this out and your sales letter literally writes itself.

2) What Ads Are Other People Using?

This is where the rubber meets the road. You need to find as many winning ads in your niche as possible to see what appeals they use in their letter.

Notice I said “Winning” ads. You do not want to just look at any ad and save it to your hard drive.  You need to seperate the winning ads from the “duds”.

The best way is to determine this is to look at ads that are run over and over again through PAID advertising.  For example, if you see the same ad over and over again via Google Adwords, you can guarantee that 9 times out of 10 that ad is converting well for them.

Further, go to the local library and look up magazines in your niche that have direct response ads. Take a look at the past 12 issues and notice the ads that are appearing over and over again.  These are ads you want to copy and save since the ads are obviously working for the company.

3) How Sophisticated Is Your Market?

This is the level at which prospects in your market have been exposed to advertising in your niche. For example, weight loss is a highly sophisiticated market since there is a lot of competition and prospects have probably seen thousands of weight loss ads in their life.

Whereas if you were selling an ebook on how to use the iPhone in 2007–the year the first iPhone was released to the public–the market would not be sophisticated since it was new at the time.

Knowing the sophistication of your market will allow you to determine how original and unique you have to be in your advertising.

For example, you would not get away with a lame headline like, “Lose 5 pounds in 3 weeks!” because people in this market have been advertised to over and over again.  They’ve seen tons of weight loss ads and this headline would not get their attention.

I highly recommend getting the book Breakthrough Advertising by Eugene Schwartz. This book is one of the best advertising books you can read and he talks about market sophistication in great detail.  But this should give you a start.

I will probably have more to say about this critical part of writing a sales letter.  But for now, you can read more about the importance of research on a sales presentation when you read my for-hire page.

Take care,

Kevin Hill

“The Professor Of High Response”

We are living in an extremely over-advertised world. Billboards and television blares advertisements at us on a daily basis.  As marketers, it’s hard to cut through all this noise to reach our prospects.

Because of this advertising burnout, prospects are becoming more and more skeptical and transparent of advertising every day.  In other words, today’s prospect doesn’t want to believe you when they receive a promotion from you!

Think about it: nobody wakes up thinking to themselves: “I want to read some ads today!” Except for copywriters, of course. 🙂

Here are 5 things you can put in your promotions to boost credibility–and conversions.  Some of these are external of your actual promotion so make sure you include them as well.

1) Include More Testimonials In Your Promotions.

I gave some specific guidelines for testimonials in this blog post.  Proof is the #1 reason why promotions fail because prospects do not believe what you’re saying, and the best way to include this is testimonials.

2) Bolster Your Case Studies.

Case studies are basically longer testimonials.  If you’ve had a lot of people get the desired benefit from your product/service, it makes sense to get their FULL story and include that in your promotion.

People love stories and reading a customer’s story of how your product solved their problem can boost readership of your promotion and boost your conversions.

3) Insert Clear Contact Information.

Don’t be like one of those businesses with no contact information! Put your address and phone number on your site.

If you’re vary of putting your home address on your site, just get a P.O. box or (better yet) find a mailing store like the UPS Store that allows you to use a real street address.

Regarding phone numbers, I have a Skype number I pay $4/month to operate and $15 every 4 months to maintain and I can make unlimited calls in the US. Very few people call me but having a phone number on your site is a huge credibility booster.

4) Put Your Face On The Promotion As Much As Possible.

If you’re the face of the company, you should put your face out there as much as possible. This is something I hesitated with for a long time, but I felt people would connect with me better if they put a face with a name.

Now you’ll see me on all my promotional materials. It simply tells people you’re a REAL person…and not a person hiding behind a computer screen with a fake name.

5) Start A Blog And Social Media Properties like Twitter and Facebook.

When people type in your name and your profession into Google, does your name show up on the first page of the search engines?  It’s extremely easy to Google anyone up these days, so now is probably time to get rid of the drunk pictures you might have posted on your Facebook profile.

What you need to do is create a blog with your name in the URL.  If www.name.com, try, www.therealyourname.com or register a .co domain…like I did.  Then start blogging 2-3 times a week.

You should also set up a Linkedin.com, Twitter, and Facebook profile.  Linkedin is huge because they get ranked high in the search engines and you could easily rank first in Google for your name.

(Unless your name is the same name as a television show that ran only 1 season…like yours truly).

I don’t know how many times I get an email promotion promoting an ebook, course, membership, etc. and Googling them up to find out who they are.  It’s so easy to do…and you better believe your prospects are checking you out online before they yank out their wallet to buy from you.

I hope you go out and implement these credibility boosters in your promotions and marketing.

Until next time,

Kevin Hill

“The Professor of High Response”

Everyone knows testimonials are critical for sales success. You need some social proof in your sales presentation to tell prospects your product/service provides the benefits that are advertised.

However, there are 3 ways testimonials can hurt you. All these have to do with the quality and appearance of the testimonial…so be on the lookout for these when your creating your promotion.

1) The Testimonial Photo Looks “Too” Perfect

This is the case when people use photos of people that look too perfect…as if they got the photos off a stock photo site.

In other words, they have a “fake” look to them.

It is best to use REAL photos. Imperfections and all.  They look more authentic and look like REAL people to the prospect.

I am sure you know where I’m coming from.  You’ve probably seen testimonial photos that look a little TOO perfect…and you probably assumed these were fake testimonials.

Well, chances are, they probably are. And that’s what potential prospects might think when they come to your site and see picture-perfect photos of your satisfied customers!

2) Testimonials from “Nancy S.” and “Steve W.”

You’ve probably seen these. Testimonials with the last name as an initial.  These look extremely fake and it’s even worse when there’s no photo.

If the person giving the testimonial does not feel comfortable using their real name, it’s best just to use a full pen name for the testimonial.

Further, it also helps to add other information, such as location and website, to the testimonial. The more information the testimonial contains, the more credible it looks!

3) Testimonials That Look Like They Were Written By A Copywriter

You’ve probably seen these too. Testimonials that use perfect grammar, contain the right words, and are written in a persuasive manner.

This can be another “red flag” that the testimonial could be fake in the mind of your prospect.

To remedy this, make sure you mix in some testimonials that are shorter and not as “perfect-sounding”.  It is a common practice for copywriters to take customer’s testimonials and reword them so they flow better.  This is ethical if the person giving the testimonial approves it.

The bottom line is you don’t want your testimonials to be TOO perfect. The more “bumps and bruises” your testimonials have, the more authentic and believable they are.

This is especially true if you’re in an ultra-competitive market where people have been pitched over and over again. Weight loss and the internet marketing niche are good examples.

These prospects know what “fake” looks like…and are inherently on-guard when they are reading an advertisement.

Keep in mind I’m not saying to NEVER  use a testimonial that has these 3 characteristics. If you have 20 testimonials and ALL of them have picture-perfect photos, then this might raise a red flag in your prospect’s mind.

Keep these tips in mind when you write your next promotion.  I will reveal more testimonial tips (along with how to get testimonials) later on.

Until next time.

Kevin Hill

“The Professor Of High Response”