Copywriting and blogging? How can they really go together?

If you want more traffic on your blog then read this carefully. If you want to be a maven, read this carefully. If you want more influence in your field, read every word on this hubpage, watch the video below all the way through.

Copywriting is about generating an action in the reader.

Even more than that, it's about evoking in the reader the emotion set so she WANTS to take that action.

She WANTS to post a comment. She WANTS to give me a link. She WANTS to buy my product, my service. She WANTS to sign up for your newsletter, give you call, send you an email... She WANTS to communicate with you, with me.

Why? Because her emotions have made the decision. Your writing is so compelling, so... something outstanding that evokes an "action emotion" in her. But you're not quite there. She has to justify taking the action. Give me a minute to catch you up...

There is actually a copywriting process you can use.

Have you ever read an incredible post online? If you read blogs, you probably have. Have you ever commented on one? Have you ever linked to one? Why?

Because you were targeted by the writer. Either knowingly or accidentally, that writer pegged it. You were the victim of effective copywriting.

Look, we could all use more traffic to our blog. Who couldn't, right? The real secret is revealed here: Learn Copywriting. At least enough to be able to start writing in the "format". (Oh, rules! Learn 'em so you can break 'em.)

Who is Your Audience? Who Do You Want to Read Your Blog?

The first step of copywriting is to research your market. Look, you've got a product - your blog, your hub, your lens, whatever. You got a product, you want readers to take some kind of action.

More coming down below...

Yeah, right. You with me here? Good job!

So you've learned quite a bit by now, if you watched that video above. Ted Nicholas is The Man. I hope you made it to the end of the video, because that's the part I want you to REALLY understand.

If you can't sell it, you can't give it away!

In other words, if your blog post can't be sold for money, if you're not sharing awesome information, really funny lessons, something outstanding, then it just doesn't matter! Your blog is crap if you're not giving away useful information all the time. If you're posting anything less than somehow useful information - remember, it depends on your market and what THEY consider useful - then you will NEVER be a successful blogger, hubber, "lenser" (is that even a word?).

Look at some of the most visited blogs on the Internet. Dave Taylor at askdavetaylor.com just rakes in the traffic because his blog is extremely valuable! I got a bit miffed at my telephone company about not delivering local tv (I can't get cable), commented on a question, and I now have the number one spot on Google for that issue. I even beat out the phone company!

Oh yeah, did I mention that posting on high profile blogs also tends to increase your own visibility? IF you post useful, informative, awesome content and contribute to that content yourself.

See, it's not just that "content is king" because it's not. Fantastic, unique, useful, specific information is king. It's not just "unique" information, either, man, woman, YOU!

STOP! NOW! Re-Read That Once ^

Look, Rich Schefren calls this The Attention Age. If you can get someone's attention, all of it, undivided for just a moment, you're doing pretty well. But what if you could command the attention of your audience almost at will?

With fantastic, unique, useful, specific (detailed) information, you can. Even if your copywriting skills suck, like mine do at the moment. (I'm really excited to be posting my first hub page here and just typing, stream of thought, you know?)

Listen, you're probably smart enough to realize that there's more that you could be doing to get more traffic, to get more incoming links, to get better search engine rankings and so on. You want people to bookmark your page, to socially bookmark it, to comment and so on.

Those are all actions. You want your readers to take some specific action, right? I started this hub page with no intention other than to give some really good information that you can use right away to start blogging a little better immediately. So I'll continue with the process...

But first a word from our sponsors... Hold on, I don't have any! AHHH! How about from Amazon instead. The books below are probably pretty darn good and you can probably learn something valuable from them, but I really don't know because I'm just inserting the Amazon section there. They'll pick out what's shown.

So the whole process starts with knowing your market.

Then you Target your market. Who is she? He? You're going to talk to one person who IS your market. You're going to communicate to that ONE person - effectively. Just get into that frame of mind where you are your market. BE your market average and talk to that average. Aim a hair high.

What does she want to hear? What would capture her attention? Well, what is she searching for?

That's where your post title comes in. Your Headline. Your "ad" for the post to get people coming to your site. Copyblogger once told people to read the headlines in Cosmo, then mimic just one of those headlines as the title for one of their posts. Just SEE what happens to their traffic.

Well, a lot of people had a LOT of success with that. It's a great first step. Cosmo has done so much research on how to get the attention of their audience that you can take advantage of their mega-millions in research.

(Just because it's the first thing people see doesn't mean it has to be the first thing you write, though. Clayton Makepeace writes his headlines last, or so I've read.)

Next, you have what's called the "lead". This is where you want to create a picture, challenge the reader, prove a common myth wrong, start your story - anything to create me interest in your reader to keep on reading. Whatever your market wants, give it to them.

After your lead is the the "body" of your blog post. Here's where you make and prove statements (or claims if you're selling something). You also re-state the promise made in the headline.

PROVE that what you're saying is true. Why on this earth should I believe you? (Or why should you even believe me, for that matter? I could be some scam-boy out for your money or something, you know?)

What are the direct benefits of listening to what I have to say? Well, here it's more readership if you follow the info on this hub page! With more readership, you will influence more people. When you influence more people, well, look at Paris Hilton! She gets PAID to go to clubs and drink and dance! A LOT of money, too. Why? She's got a lot of influence. She has people's attention. Plus, she's kinda cute. Britney's hotter, though.

What makes you so special? So Unique? Huh? Tell your readers. What makes me so special? Well, nothing, except that after having brief email talk with Yanik Silver back in 2000 before he made his first million online (and became the legend he is today) and him getting my course...

...having Stephen Pierce buy my course and email me about selling it, and then me being a dumbpoop and THINKING that just because the course sold out I couldn't ethically release a new version of it so I dropped the whole thing and went to trading the markets (which Stephen went there, too, but neither of us knew of the other in that realm until in 2003 I found his old Fibonacci Secrets course - and bought it and a lot more from him...) and teaching people how to do so...

David Garfinkle got a copy of the first edition of my course and then didn't finish the cycle with me. (So maybe even Mark Joyner got a copy? I doubt it, but maybe... It is kind of coincidental that my course had a section on testing - and there was almost NOTHING online about testing and he later came out with a superior product CIIM, Confidential Internet Marketing Manuscript... hmmm. Heh, wishful thinking on my part, delusions of grandeur...)

(And there's even more, but I'm not getting into it now.)

Basically what makes me so darn special is that I'm probably the biggest dumbass that ever walked into the Internet! I had so many opportunities at mega-success in online marketing and copywriting, and I walked another direction. I just let it all go by. Frankly, I don't know what I was thinking, but I'm here and typing this now... Back to YOU...

The next part is where you start to lead people toward the action that you want them to take. You know, "Hey, I really want you to leave a comment on this hub page, then link to it..." statement. But then you back off. You give them reasons to do it. Tell your readers what your exact offer is! "Hey, leave a comment, give this hub page a link, let me know, and I'll give you my free Learn Copywriting Quickly

You bring up the promise of your post again (more traffic to your blog if you follow my "advice" here). You say that your product IS THE SAME THING AS whatever benefit your readers want.

"Look, this blog post is worth more than gold to your future as a blogger. Imagine following this advice and in a few weeks you can have more influence over your readers. Keep it up, and you can write your own ticket to your next vacation in [fill in the blank - wherever you want to go]."

More than that, you tell them - again - what the benefits are of taking the action you want them to take. Hey, really, if you leave a comment and link to this page, I'll give you my killer FREE 75-page mini-manual on writing copy with more detail than this page. But you'll have to let me know so I can check it out.

Remember, you have to summarize - AGAIN - the key benefits of having people take that action. More traffic, more attention, command more people, become a maven in your field... yada, yada, yada...

Tell them what great value there is in taking the action you want them to take, what they'll get for it. Really? When you leave a comment, and link to this page, I have a link above to my copywriting tutorials online with adsense on them. Well, I'll get better rankings, so that's my benefits, you know?

Hold on, I meant to say, When you take the actions above, comment, give me a link to this page, YOU will directly benefit by, well, what I said two paragraphs above. You Maven, You!

Here's is where you give an additional benefit that is totally unexpected, but I frankly can't think of one right now to offer you. So you'll have to fill in the blanks here for yourself... Ah, here's one:

You might just get rich by being so influential in your writing by following this strange "Learn Copywriting for Better Blog Marketing" that you'll have to pin your success, ultimately, to this hub page here on HubPages. You'll be on stage one day, comfortable talking to hundreds - no, THOUSANDS - of your raving fans. You'll be in total abundance thinking mode.

Yeah, that sounds good, but if this hubpage IS your turning point, then you'll have to thank, also, Andy Jenkins and Eben Pagan. They had a conference call last night that was so mind-blowingly awesome, it literally exploded my thinking.

Andy was talking about expanding his market and all that stuff, and I got here and asked myself "How can I expand my copywriting market?" Who are the biggest bunch of writers online? Bloggers. Lensers. Hubbers. So, really, it's all Andy's fault. And Eben's for having him on that conference call. Eben is such a marketing genius! (Don't worry, I'll have some more links below so you can find these people I keep talking about...)

But even THAT goes back to John Reese. He's the one who first told me about StomperNet! (I'm on his email list) So...

If a lot of people read this, start giving away outstanding info that is specific, unique, useful and can get a wanted result, then we can all blame John Reese for making the Internet a much better place. Hm.

NOW, I'm supposed to give a guarantee of some sort, but I really can't because you're not buying anything! But if you take the actions I recommend in this post, if you comment below, give this page a link, and let me know, you WILL get that $37 value, 75-page Learn Copywriting mini-manual from The Ass-Kickin', Name-Takin', Money-Makin' Internet Success Home Study Course that I wrote in late '99, early 2000 and sold online for a year before it sold out. Yeeee Hawwww! :)

But even that's not enough. You have to do more here than just say that you'll give your dear reader something valuable. You have to create a sense of URGENCY that they have to do so NOW! Why should the reader, you, leave a comment? Link to this page? NOW?

Because, uh, well...Because if you're first, you're first, and I'm strictly limiting this free offer to the first billion people! I won't budge off that. I won't give away one more copy than that. So if you're the billion and first - you won't get it. So you'd better act in the next hundred years!

Create truly unique, valuable, useful, content that shows off your stuff. Follow the bizarre semi-formula up above and YOU WILL be a much better blogger. YOU WILL get more traffic. YOU WILL get more comments, links and YOU WILL have more influence in your market.

Share your value on other high-profile sites, too, so you can be sure to be noticed. But keep reminding people that the info you're sharing is only a teeny-tiny bit of what you have to offer.

YES! I'd LOVE to Leave a comment, link to this page, let you know, then get MY very own FREE copy of whatever you said above!