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     Everyone knows the importance of good sales copy, but not many people realize that other things like newsletter subscription offers, links, or even navigation menus are as important as sales copy. You should also give the copy for these serious attention.

Short But Big Effect
     For instance, newsletter subscription copy is only a few sentences long, but the quality of the copy makes a big difference. I have tried 62 different versions of copy myself, so far. Visitors-to-subscribers rates range from 0.22% to 16.85%. Don't think those sentences have no effect just because they are short.

What You Should Say
     Short or long, the basics of writing effective copy are the same. But when you are writing short copy, you'll have extra challenges; it is hard to get your message across with fewer words. You might not be able to say everything you want, but at least tell people what you want them to do, such as order, click, or contact us. If you don't tell visitors what to do, most likely, they won't do anything but leave your site. Then, tell readers why they should do it, if you can use more words. It is better if the reason tells the benefits people will get by doing what you are asking. But, any reason would work. (Read this article

for more details.) If you can still use more words, tell the uniqueness of your products. Unique things will give readers freshness and hook their curiosity.

Don't Waste a Word
You can use only a limited number of words, so do not waste any words by duplicating what you are saying. For example, "Click here to order My Firewall" tells visitors what to do twice, "click" and "order." Even though the copy is telling action twice, it doesn't contain any reason to act. You can easily improve the copy by changing it to "Order My Firewall to protect your PC." This copy tells an action, "order," and a reason, "to protect." If you choose the right words, you can write better copy without lengthening it. It's not how many words you use, but what words you use.

© July, 2003

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Akinori Furukoshi
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