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August 22, 2015

5 Must-Have Techniques For Creating Unbelievably Great Copy

 

1. Get Specific
Nothing can spell out BORING quicker than bland claims that really say nothing. “My clients make more money!” is a perfect example of poor copy that could use a little life. What happens when you change it to, “My clients increased their sales by 23.5% in the first 30 days!” Now that is kicking! It’s specific and exciting.

Be sure that your claims sound believable, no matter how unbelievable they are. People are skeptical of “too good to be true” claims. It’s better to tone it down, and let them be surprised when it exceeds their expectation.

2. Keep It Short and Sweet
Long paragraphs and complex sentences look too much like work to read. Yeah, readers get bored quickly and easily. Chop it up, and break it up. Don’t use paragraphs of more than 7 lines or sentences longer that 18 words. Find ways to shorten it up, and you’ll keep the readers attention.

How many long words are in your copy? Replace them with short common words to create a reader-friendly appeal. Let your copy speak to them in the language they are used to hearing. Well, if your readers don’t like to spend a lot of time reading… it pays to choose your words carefully.

3. Keep it Active
Eliminate dull passive phrases. They do little, except bore the heck out of your readers. Dig them out and replace them highly active words that will motivate the reader to get up out of his easy chair and DO something.

The call to action is the most important part of any advertisment. Call, subscribe, join, order, buy… make them hear the call loud enough that they do something – NOW.

4. Skip the Humor
In the right place, and at the right time, humor is an effective tool. Written sales copy just isn’t it. Ads are short, concise and to the point. Humor tends to get in the way and distract.

Real life stories captivate readers. They relate to them. The human interest of these stories draws the reader into the message, whereas humor distracts them for the point.

5. Use a Powerful P.S.
A P.S. can be a powerful way to emphasize your product, highlight the points of benefit, or dramatize effects of the purchase. It’s the perfect way to summarize your page.

The P.S. is most powerful on Web pages. Surfers often read the headlines and skim to the P.S. where they look to get an idea of what’s on the page, and if it’s worth their time to read it. Put some effort into making your P.S. captivating.

August 2, 2015

Demand for magazine media on mobile web up hugely with 67.4% increase in audience

The Association of Magazine Media has released The Magazine Media 360° Brand Audience Report, showing that magazine media brands continue to deliver meaningful growth across platforms and formats. In the aggregate, magazine media audiences were up 9.8% in the first half of 2015 versus the first half of 2014.

As reported in The Magazine Media 360° Brand Audience Report, which uses data from leading third‐party providers, the audience for magazine brands grew to almost 1.7 billion for first half 2015 versus 1.5 billion for first half 2014.

Consumer demand for magazine media on mobile web continues to turbocharge growth with an impressive 67.4% increase in audience over the same period last year while video audiences turned in the second biggest increase at 10%. Print, including digital editions, which makes up 58% of the total audience, experienced a slight decline of 1.5% and web (desktop/laptop) audiences were essentially flat, up 0.4% for the first half. By editorial category, Business and Finance, Pop Culture, and Epicurean showed the most overall audience growth, up 27.3%, 19.3%, and 17.7% year-over-year respectively. The complete report, which currently covers 141 magazine media brands from 32 companies representing 95% of the reader universe, can be found at www.magazine.org.