Keywords To Use And Lose
This is one of the things that I learned from my study of copywriting that I have to honestly admit surprised me. I had no idea that there were some words that, if you used them in your sales copy, you pretty much assured yourself of a sales page that was going to die a very horrible death. When I studied the psychology of why this is true, it fascinated me. I also began to understand why the sales pages that I dissected all followed these rules to the letter…at least the ones that converted well. In this chapter, I’m going to share with you what keywords to chuck in the trash and what you should replace them with. This alone will greatly increase the effectiveness of your sales copy.
Buy
– This is one of the dirtiest words in all of marketing and sales. The reason is simple. When you tell somebody that they can buy your product at the link below or something similar, they immediately have the flash of dollar signs in their eyeballs. These are flashes of those dollar signs leaving their wallet or pocketbook. In other words, you’re reminding them that they are spending money. People don’t like to spend money. It’s an unpleasant activity.
So, how do you get around this? Remember, you want a strong call to action. You need to tell the prospect exactly what you want him or her to do. If you can’t say something like, “Buy your copy today at the link below” then what do you say?
The answer is simple. You replace the word buy with words like, claim or download. These words take away the vision of spending money. For example, saying something like, “Download your copy at the link below” makes the customer think that they are getting immediate access without having to spend anything, even though earlier in your copy you told them the price of the product. It’s a psychological thing…but it works.
In simple English:
Buy – replace with – Claim, Download, Get
Moving onward…
Learn
– Oh brother! People do NOT want to learn things. Learning is hard. Learning brings back images of these people in school trying to learn their math or grammar rules. Learning is not something people want to do. So if you have sales copy that says something like, “Learn how to market like the pros” this is going to turn people off. So how do we get across to them that they’re going to learn this great information if we can’t use the word learn?
The answer again is very simple. We replace the word learn with the word discover. When we say something like, “Discover the secrets of the pros” we make it sound like they can just open a magic box and the information is going to pop into their heads. It takes away the fear of having to learn something difficult. Trust me, it works.
In simple English:
Learn – replace with – Discover
Continuing…
Tell
– This is another bad word to use. Why is tell bad? Think about when you were a kid and your mother said things to you like, “I’m telling you for your own good.” People do not like to be told things. It’s like they’re either being scolded or lectured to. So you don’t want to say things in your sales copy like, “In this book I’ll tell you how to use Adwords effectively.” They don’t want to be told. So what do you do when you want to tell somebody something but can’t use the word?
The simple solution is to use the word reveal. This is very similar to the word discover. By revealing, it’s like we’re pulling the curtains open on some deep dark secret. It makes it more appealing to the prospect. People love to have things revealed, especially since we live in such a voyeuristic society. If you think I’m kidding, just open up the National Enquirer and look at all the photos of Hollywood stars sunbathing in their backyards caught by some kid with a cheap Kodak. So you want to say something like, “In this book I reveal how I made $10,000 my first month online.” Now THAT is can’t wait reading.
In simple English:
Tell – replace with – Reveal
Onward we go…
Things
– Sometimes we just get stuck for a word and when we don’t know what to call something we do just that…we call it things. This is not going to cut it. There are actually words we can use in place of things. What are they?
Three of the best words are tips, tricks and techniques. People love tips. A tip tells them (oops) reveals to them, something that they are going to be able to use that will help them. A trick suggests that they’ll be able to use something that is maybe a bit sneaky. A technique makes them think that it’s something that is going to bring about instant results just by using it. These are three of
the most powerful words in copywriting. So you might want to say something like, “Discover 10 techniques for driving massive traffic to your site.” As you can see, we combined discover with techniques in one statement. We didn’t use the word learn. Don’t EVER use the word learn! The above line is a perfect example of a solid copywriting line.
In simple English:
Things – replace with – Tips, Tricks, Techniques
And finally we have…
Stuff
– This was always a funny word for me. Ever see George Carlin’s comic routine on how people accumulate stuff? They have to get a bigger apartment or home so that they can get…more stuff. It’s a laugh riot. Well, there is nothing funny about stuff in copywriting. Well, actually it is very funny, which is why people won’t take it seriously. So you never want to say something in your copy like, “You’ll learn this great stuff on how to run your business.” We actually have two no-no’s in the above statement, learn and stuff. Instead you want to use the phrase “insider secrets.” Okay, this is making the prospect think that they are going to discover something that nobody else is going to know except the top marketers online. So you would replace the above statement with something like this…
“You’ll discover powerful insider secrets on how to turn your new business into a 6 figure yearly income.”
That works…and very well too. In simple English:
Stuff – replace with – Insider Secrets
In our next chapter, we’re going to move into power words. This may be one of the most important parts of your copywriting discovery.
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