To determine how long your copy, there are two key factors and I put them in a little tool that is called a Copy Length Grid.



The first factor is involvement. Do you get involved with the purchase or is it a casual impulse of purchase? If the involvement is high, you need more copy. If they're not thinking about it, you don't need a lot of copy.

The other one is emotion. There are things which are emotional purchases and there are more need based ones. Buying a Whopper is not an emotional purchase, but buying a diamond engagement ring is.

Take a diamond engagement ring, for example. It is both emotional and high in involvement. If you are to do it, that would be high involvement long copy. An example can be found in bluenile.com, which is the leading internet retailer of diamond jewelry.

Looking for a set of floppy disks is low in involvement and emotional factors. So your copy must be short as well.

What about proofs?

You basically need a preponderance of the evidence and that's why for selling an information product, we usually need long copy. We have to convince them that the product can do what we say it can do.

There are various proof elements to try. You can have testimonials and case studies. How many years have you been in business? You can also include the number of customers. Reviews and press releases are also good elements of proof.

If you get or sent press pick-ups, do a page in your side in your mailing in paper and paste these all up like a montage and the people who will be visiting your site will be overwhelmed by the amount of publicity you have.

What is positioning?

It is simply helping the reader understand who you are by comparing you to something they already know. A good example of this was Seven-up's position versus Coke and Pepsi? They claimed to be the uncola. It's positioning what you already know.

Another example is when a guide wants to sell you a photocopier for your office. Again he says, “Oh, this is the Rolls Royce of copiers.” It's not the Rolls Royce of copiers. But its positioning is immediately giving you and idea of the quality and the type of equipment it is.

What is transubstantiation?

If taken in a church setting, it means you take ordinary wafer and wine and using it to represent the body of Christ and the blood of church. This is a very popular technique in advertising and very powerful.

How do I use images and videos?

With images and videos, you can manipulate statistics to prove almost any point you want to make. Make it as visually appealing as possible and be results-oriented when picking out images for your copy.

What's in a name?

Name semantics of what you call things are very important. An example is that of Joel the Master List Builder. The word master and mastery is a powerful word.

Does negative description work?

Yes! You can sell your product not only by telling people what it is, but you can actually increase the sales by telling people what it is not. Some examples include: No sodium. No caffeine.