Copyright 2006 John Thornhill

Having a perfect title, a great auction template, a good price and a well-conceived plan regarding how to handle inquiries and effectuate sales sounds like a recipe for success for any eBay eBook seller. However, there is one component missing. In order to really make one’s sales numbers jump, there is a need for copywriting talent.

Copywriting refers to the writing of sales copy. In the case of eBay sellers, this involves all of the information provided in your auction. This is what potential customers see and read when making their decision on an eBook. In many cases, they can choose to buy that product from a variety of vendors. Why should they choose you? In some cases, they may not be sure the eBook in question is exactly what they want. Why should they buy that eBook? Often, buyers have heard about scams and raw deals in the eBook field. Why should they trust you?

Good copywriting answers those questions for the prospect. It sets them at ease, sells them the product and closes the deal. A seller with a perfect system, the greatest eBook ever and a low price will still find sales difficult without good copywriting within the auction.

How does one develop good copywriting skills? Unfortunately, the answer does not involve a quick or easy solution. Practice and training are usually the source of the best copywriting.

This does not mean that the average eBook seller is out of luck, however. Remember, most of the competition is unskilled at copywriting, making any gain in knowledge on the subject beneficial. Additionally, there are a variety of guides, hints and tips freely available online for those who are interested in improving their copywriting skills.

Don’t expect to master copywriting overnight, however. The process of writing effective ad copy involves writing skills along with an understanding of persuasion and the consumer psychology. What may appear to be simple is actually deceptively complex.

For those who are serious about the eBook selling business, hiring a freelance copywriter may be a great idea. Some successful eBook sellers employ copywriters for virtually every project. Others rely on their expert assistance only a few times in order to get a good idea of how to write sales copy that produces results.

Good sales copy can be the difference between a rousing success and a horrifying failure. Too often, we convince ourselves that our education or life experience qualify us to write our advertising copy. We frequently don’t even realize just how much room for improvement exists in our own stabs at copywriting. This oversight is one of the mistakes an eBook seller can make. As the marketplace begins to crowd, finding ways to improve the performance of an auction becomes essential. One of the best ways to help is by making sure your auction features the kind of copywriting that truly leads people to make purchases.

In today’s day and age there are a lot of people who are looking for an easy way out; a way to buck the system. And even though there are some areas in life where this is possible, when it comes to web content you do not want to take any shortcuts.

If you are in need of content for your website or blog, you have two options available to you.

1. You can visit a copywriting service website and take advantage of their ghostwriting services. Even though you may have to shell out a bit of money, you will still be getting 100% original, quality content.

2. You can rely on private label rights (plr) articles. There are several sites that offer these types of articles for a monthly fee. The way that they work is quite simple. Every month for a set membership fee you will receive a certain number of articles. This may sound like a good deal, but do you know all of the details? To join one of these sites you will have to pay a monthly fee of up to $100 for some sites; still this may not seem bad compared to hiring a copywriting service. But with plr articles, you will also be sharing them with hundreds of other people. That’s right; you will not be the only one who uses the article.

If you cannot tell by now, each service offers its own level of benefits. But for the majority of people, hiring a copywriting service is the way to go. Listed below are a few ways that a copywriting service is better than a plr service.

1. When you deal with a copywriting service you will be getting 100% original articles that you and you alone will have the sole rights to. This means that nobody else has permission to use the articles. On the other hand, with plr articles you have to share with hundreds of other people. Sure, you may get a lower price but is it worth it? If you get caught using duplicate content on your site you will be penalized and your site may even be shut down. Search engines are aware of this problem, and are cracking down on it very hard.

2. With a copywriting service you will get articles that are written to suit your needs. If you want 10 articles on home based business you can get them. In addition, you can even specify the length and keyword density. But when you work with a plr site you get what they send, and only what they send. If none of the articles suit your needs you are stuck with content that is worth next to nothing.

3. A copywriting service gives you what you want, when you want it. If you need a certain amount of articles on a specific topic within two days you can get it with a copywriting service. At a plr site, you get what they write and they send it when they want. So even though you will save money, what are the chances that you will ever get exactly what you want, when you want it? The answer is slim to none.

As you can see, a copywriting service is almost always better than a membership to a PLR site. If you are in need of original, targeted, quality content seek out a copywriting service that you can rely on.

Copyright 2006 John Navata

You wouldn’t believe how many web sites don’t ask for the sale! After all the work people put into their salescopy, describing the benefits of their product, and leading people through their sales process, they overlook one simple but VERY IMPORTANT “call to action”: “Click here now to buy.”

And that oversight could be losing them 20% of their potential sales!

If you want people to take action on your site (buy, subscribe, fill out a request for more info, etc.), you need to have a call to action that tells them exactly what you want them to do. For example, if you want them to click on a link to learn more about one of your products, you have to include a link that says something like, “Click here to see how the Gadget Widget can save you hours of work!!”

And if you want your visitors to make a purchase (and of course, you do!) you should include a link that says something like, “Click here to get your own incredible time-saving Gadget Widget!”

You might think it’s obvious that you want people to make a purchase — especially if you’ve written a great sales pitch that explains how incredible your product is. But no matter how convincing your salescopy is, if you don’t provide your potential customers with a very specific call to action, then you’re just leaving them hanging — and most of them are going to leave your site and never return, costing you big money in sales AND future leads.

Remember the “ABC” of selling: Always Be Closing. People need to be told what to do. If you want them to make a purchase, you have to ask for the sale.

And if you have a short-copy or catalog-style site, don’t make the mistake of asking for the sale just once! You have to give your visitors lots of opportunities to buy your product or service. All of your web pages should include multiple links to your order form or shopping cart, as well as urgency-building action phrases like…

“Buy today!” “Limited time offer — get yours now!” “What are you waiting for? Click this link to order your own… ” “Get started today… just click here!” “YES! I want to order now… ” (Remember, salesletters are the one exception to this rule. With these types of sales web sites, you usually want to include a single call to action at the end of your letter — once you’ve built a killer case for your product, complete with tons of benefits!)

One more thing: You’ve got to leave all references to “buying” out of the top fold of your web site. That’s the part of your web page that appears on the computer screen when someone first arrives at your site. If you mention buying there, people won’t have enough time to learn WHY they should purchase your product, and will probably think you’re just out for their money. You want your potential customers to learn about the benefits of your product before you ask for the sale.

Asking for the sale is simple, but the impact it can have on your bottom line is huge. By adding a simple call to action, you make it easy for your visitors to understand what they’re supposed to do. And once they know they’re supposed to buy something from you, they will — and your profits will go shooting through the roof!