• Contractions.  When’s the last time you said "I had" instead of "I’d"?  1957?
• Dangling prepositions. "You’re going to feel like a pro when you put this on."
• Slang words (if appropriate to your audience). Sheesh, what would my English prof say?
• Sentence fragments. "Got milk?" *Don’t forget, web readers SKIM.  Short sentences are good.
• One-sentence paragraphs.  "See above"

Here goes…

Today may be the day to:

* Put your entire collection of copywriting books up for sale
  on eBay
* Cancel your plans to attend that annual copywriting seminar
* Turn your stack of copywiting DVDs into drink coasters
* Clean your browser of every last copywriting blog, article,
  and site you’ve bookmarked over the years

Have I lost my mind, you ask?

Not at all.

It’s not what I’ve lost that makes me say these things, it’s what I’ve found.

It’s something I can only describe as the closest thing to a treasure map for copywriters I’ve ever seen.

Here’s the brief story behind what I’m talking about…

Derek  recently set out on a mission to learn everything about copywriting he possibly could.

He bought gobs of books, expensive training courses, DVDs, and even tore through the Web looking for anything he could find related to the art of copywriting.

In the process of his journey, he:

* Collected all the best copywriting tips, techniques and
  concepts
* Eliminated all the fluff
* Eliminated all the redundant stuff (there was a lot)

And, here’s the BIGGIE…

* Organized all he had learned and collected into one of
  the most unique and useful documents for learning
  the art of copywriting that you’ll likely see for a
  long time

I can say without a doubt that it’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen!

Derek calls it (appropriately), The Copywriter’s Brain.

It would be virtually impossible for me to try and describe here what it is and how it’s used.

Fortunately, Derek’s put together a short video tour inside The Copywriter’s Brain.

If copywriting is part of your business or livelihood, then you’ve GOT to check it out by clicking this link to view the video now.

I purchased The Copywriter’s Brain today – - and will write a full review in the next couple of days. I believe I own every piece of software Derek has ever written, and have never been disappointed.  More later.
 

1. Best Practices
Wikipedia states that best practices are the most efficient and effective way of accomplishing a task, based on procedures that have proven themselves over time for large numbers of people. In medicine, if you go into the Emergency Room with chest pain, best practices dictate you’ll receive an electrocardiogram (EKG).

On the web, best practices include adding meta data to your web pages, chunking your information into easy-to-read bites, and adding ALT tags to your images. Are you using unique meta data on each page or are you using the same title on every page throughout the site? Time to go back and start honing that meta data.

SCORING: Give yourself 1 point if your pages have unique meta data, 1 point for ALT tags, and 1 point for info chunking.

2. Clear Value Proposition
Why should I buy from you instead of the guy on the next website? What do you have that compels me to choose you from all others? A clearly-stated value proposition.

Your value proposition differentiates you from your competition, and clearly states how your offering is better than anyone else in the world. You offer three books and a 15 minute consultation. Your competitor offers two books and a 30 minute consultation. It’s up to you to clearly tell me why I should pick you.

SCORING: Give yourself 1 point if you have clearly differentiated yourself from your competition.

3. What’s In It For Me?
The WIIFM mantra never changes. Your website isn’t about you (unless you’re Barack Obama or Michael Phelps!) – - it’s about how the customer will benefit from buying your product or hiring your services.

For example, if you’re selling a new computer system with the fastest processor ever made, what’s in it for me is the ability to run multiple applications at the same time, or play computer games at a faster speed. Does your site focus on client benefits, or you?

SCORING: Give yourself 1 point if site visitors instantly know how it will benefit them to do business with you. Give yourself an extra point if you’re WIIFM is extra clever!

4. Call to Action
I analyzed an author’s website to improve their non-existent book sales. Guess what? There wasn’t any BUY button on the site. Even if you wanted to buy the book, you couldn’t!

Don’t be shy about asking your site visitor to do what you want by stating a clear call to action. Ask them to call you now, e-mail you within the next 24 hours, click to buy, or purchase at today’s discount. Use action verbs, and even if the call to action is obvious to YOU, make sure it’s obvious to your site visitor.

SCORING: Give yourself 1 point for a clear call to action.  Give yourself a bonus point if you put your call to action above the fold.

5. Usability
One of the best books written on usability is titled “Don’t Make Me Think”. That says it all. If your website visitor has to click through five levels of navigation before finding important information, you’ve got usability issues.

Keep your most important items no more than one click down in navigation, and remember – it’s more important to have clear and easy navigation than almost any other factor – - a site visitor who can’t find what they’re looking for because your navigation is fuzzy will never return.

SCORING: Give yourself 1 point if your most important info is at the top level of navigation or one click away.  Take away 3 points if your visitor has to click more than 3 times to find your most important info.

RESULTS:

7-9 Points: Tighten your seatbelt – you’re obviously driving the Ferrari

4-6 Points: Congratulate yourself on the things you’ve done well. Get help to fix the components that are iffy.

2-5 Points: You’re doing something right, but there’s a lot of room for improvement.  Talk to me – let’s see how we can fix you up!

1 or less Points:  Can you say Studebaker?  Please—Call.