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"To Win The Game
You Must Know The Rules"
Yes, I know you're dying to get
started straight away.
But before you start
writing those benefit-soaked web pages we need to examine how
an advertisement (ad) is structured. However, there is one extremely
important rule that must be remembered;
"The golden rule
of advertising is -
there are no golden rules!"
Most successful
advertising follows the same set of basic 'rules'. But we should
really refer to them as guidelines. Because rules are meant to be
broken otherwise we would have no room for innovation or creativity.
But breaking the fundamental guidelines can be risky. And risk in
advertising can bring great rewards - or expensive failure. So until
you have a lot of copywriting experience behind you - stick to the
tried and proven copywriting basics and you won't go far wrong.
So, why stick your neck
out? These principles have been used by successful advertisers since
time immemorial. They work. And who are we to argue?
Let's look at the
elements of a basic ad and then examine it's component parts in
detail;
-
THE
HEADLINE grabs the reader's attention.
-
THE SUBHEAD reinforces
the main heading.
-
ILLUSTRATION or
PHOTO emphasizes the headline benefit.
-
THE BODY COPY
starts with a compelling paragraph
that leads the reader in to the next section.
-
FURTHER
PARAGRAPHS support and reinforce the benefits of the offer.
-
PENULTIMATE
PARAGRAPH warns the reader of the consequences of missing out on
the offer.
-
FINAL PARAGRAPH
stimulates response. (Order now)
-
PS gives a
further reason to respond and reinforces the offer.
-
COMPANY LOGO
(almost) ALWAYS goes at the end. Except web pages.
-
TAG LINE makes
the reader feel comfortable about the company, eg AXG Computers - we
never let you down
If you're writing a
direct response sales letter, this structure should almost always be
used, (along with the many other successful marketing ploys that are
added to your sales package). Web pages require a slightly different
technique, but the overall principle is still the same;
"Oh no,
not A.I.D.A. again!"
'Fraid so. But if it
makes you feel any better I could re-phrase it. How about ...
-
Stop him in his
tracks
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Pin his ears back
-
Excite him to
fever pitch
-
Tell him that
because your offer is so fantastic only a fool would let such a
once-in-a-lifetime opportunity pass him by and he must order now
or else he'll regret it for ever so he should grab his credit
card now and enjoy the life-style of his dreams and be the envy
of his friends forever!
It means the same but
I think AIDA is easier to remember.
ATTENTION.
INTEREST. DESIRE. ACTION. Keep these four 'triggers' in the
forefront of your mind when writing your Copy, and I promise you
won't go far wrong.
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Adding Videos
We can do all the setup work for our customers at no charge but if you are interested
in
how we do it, then just read the follow instructions.
Video is an eye catcher and a very friendly way to show your guest a tour of your
Inn or the great view which they will have from their porch. You can have
as many videos as you like and youtube.com will keep all these videos for you for
absolutely free.
You can do 360 degree views of each room, show and talk about a free breakfast
or afternoon wine tasting. Your guest can really get a feel for how friendly
and great your Inn is before they ever arrive.
All you need is a digital camcorder and a free youtube.com account or other free
video hosting site.
Once you've finished editing your video, made sure it's less than 10 minutes, smaller
than 1GB in size, and in an acceptable format, then you are ready to upload it.
- Click the "Upload" button in the upper-right-hand corner of any YouTube page.
- Enter as much information about your video as possible, including Title, Description,
Tags, and Category. The more information you include, the easier it is for users
to find your video!
- Determine if you want your video set to Public or Private. Make sure it is
Public so your guests can view it.
- Click the "Upload a Video..." button.
- In the next window, click the "Browse" button to browse for the video file. Select
the file you want to upload.
- Click the "Upload Video" button.
It can take from a couple minutes to an hour for your video to upload to YouTube.
If you're receiving an error with your Upload, you might want to make sure you're
attempting to upload a file that's recognized by YouTube. YouTube accepts video
files from most digital cameras and camcorders, and cell phones in the .AVI, .MOV,
.WMV, and .MPG file formats.
You'll need to edit the HTML of your page—this should be relatively
straightforward. Find the video that you just uploaded, and look for the 'Embed' box in the "About
This Video" section. Copy the HTML code that's there into your website and it will create
an embedded player on your web page;
the video will play when a user clicks on
the 'Play' button.
You can resize the player by editing the object width="425" and height="350"
fields at both the beginning and end of the embedded player code. Make sure that
the sizes you choose have the same ratio as the default numbers, so that the video
doesn't get stretched—just multiply the width by 0.8235 to get the height.
Here is an example of a
video that we found which while recorded by a TV station would be quite easy for
you to make.
We can edit our customers videos to make then look professional at no extra cost.
If you need a URL and/or web hosting and do not wish to use our services at this
time then we suggest using Network Solutions.
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