To add your signature to your sales letter you first need to save it as a picture, either in ‘JPEG’ or ‘GIF’ format.

You might be wary about including a real copy of your signature on your website just in case someone naughty gets their hands on it, so you can either get someone else to write it for you or use a different font for it.

If you want to write your signature and upload it to your computer, here’s a simple way to do it.

Write your new (not real) signature on a piece of paper using an attractively coloured pen, then take a photograph of it with a digital camera. (You’ve probably got a digital camera, either on your cell phone or you own one, if not then there are many camera shops that will take a photo for you.)

Next, upload it to your computer and use a photo-editing package to make the picture small enough to use (If you don’t have a photo package you can download Google’s Picassa for free, it’s a great way to get started and very easy to use).

Now all you have to do is save the ‘signature’ picture to your computer and include it in all your writings!

A simpler way to add ‘your’ signature is to download one of the many handwritten fonts to your computer go to Dafont to have a look at a selction.

First open the font then open up a photo editing package such as photoshop or the free paintshop that comes with windows.(It’s in the ‘accessories’ section under: start/programs/accessories) Click on the add text button, select the font and colour you want to use then type your name.

You’ll see your signature on the screen, adjust the size of the text, and rotate it a little to give it that ‘just added’ look. Now save it as a GIF or JPEG and you can add it to your sales letter whenever you want to.

Try it and see the difference in your results.

To your success, always.

Stuart

When you write a letter by hand you sign it don’t you?

Well, should do the same to your sales letter. Many sales letters I read online omit this crucial little credibility booster.

This simple touch could make all the difference between a sale or not, it really is that important. You see it has a powerful psychological effect upon your reader making him/her think that you have personally written the letter.

As I said, added to the end of the letter next to your photo it can sway the reader into making a purchase from you…

But what if the reader were to see it at the top of your letter, would that make a difference?

Michel Fortin passed on this tip once, I think it was he who pioneered the idea. He said that adding your signature to the top of sales letter just after your headline can have a dramatic effect on its effectiveness.

I was a little unsure how much difference something like this would make so I decided to test it. I put up two identical sales letters and added my signature to the headline of one, then ran a split test to see what would happen.

After driving approximately 5000 visitors to the two sales letters, split 50/50 I saw that there was a marked impovement in the responsiveness of the one with the signature added to the headline…

30% more of the visitors took action because of this one little change!

That is quite an amazing result from such a small change…

Now would it work in your situation? Well the only way to find out is to try it and test the results.

Tomorrow I’ll tell you how to add your signature onto your sales letter, speak to you then.

To your success, always.

Stuart.

Hi there,

The other day we were talking about adding a photo of yourself to your sales letter and the importance of ensuring you added a good looking photo. This is all well and fine but I forgot to add a quick note about what clothes you should be wearing…

And by the way do make sure to wear some clothes unless you are advertising a nudist colony or trying to make a point about working from home and not having to worry about getting dressed.

Your wife or husband may enjoy the sight of you naked but I certainly don’t want to look…

A couple of years ago when I was still working as the academic manager for a private English school in China I had a job advert running as I was looking for teachers. One of the many replies was from a gentleman in Australia who had sent his documents to me and as asked had included a photo of himself.

However the photo he sent me was of him in his birthday suit… Well I assume he was totally naked, he only sent the top part of his torso and I didn’t look much further…

I ask you what would you have done if you were in my shoes? There I was looking for a teacher for the children at my school, I innocently clicked on this photo and out popped a great big…

Beer Belly!

I tell you I was a little taken aback… I couldn’t believe that someone would give such little thought to something like that.

He was a serious applicant by the way, but his application didn’t go very far – all because of a silly little oversight.

So before you add your photo to your sales letter have a think about who you are writing this letter to and take into consideration how they would expect you to dress.

If you are addressing a business professional, baggy trousers with the top of your underpants showing would not make a good impression, by the same token if you are addressing some Break Dancers a suit and tie is also out of place.

I’m sure you get my drift – Match your appearance and writing style to suit your target.

That’s all for now, feel free to post a comment I do like to hear back from you.

To your success always.

Stuart

Target market

Know your target market. Who would benefit from your product, is it a business professional? If so write your letter in a more formal way, just as your prospect would expect to see it.

No matter what your target market is it will more often than not be in keeping with your personality or experience.

For instance if you address a business person then you will have experience in that field and know how to address your targets so that you don’t offend them.

If you really aren’t sure what your personality type is you could always take an online personality test to find out. It will be worth your time.

Write casually

You may be in business but the key here is to write an informal letter. Address your prospects with “Dear Friend” or “Dear Budding Millionaire” and not “Dear Sir”.

Think about how you can relate to your prospects.

If you are a break dance enthusiast, you can relate to your prospects by telling them how for the first six months of learning to break dance you broke every bone in your body before getting the power moves down – they’re sure to have had similar experiences and feel an empathy towards you:

“Hey this guy really knows what he’s talking about… I felt exactly the same way when I started… I’ve got to listen to this…”

You must write with the knowledge and understanding of the problems and frustrations your prospects are experiencing. Tell them you were just as frustrated until you found the solution to the problems. Tell them how you’ve learnt from this experience and are now going to help them by teaching them how to break dance. Step by Step, with simple easy to follow ‘How To Videos’

Sometimes you need to show your excitement in your sales copy, (I sometimes get so excited when writing that my fingers can’t keep up with the speed of my thoughts – damn annoying having to keep correcting all my spelling mistakes! – I really must learn to type with more than one finger) other times you need to calm down a little and talk in a more relaxed manner.

Control your delivery

Learn to control your pitch and delivery just as a good public speaker does. As I mentioned before the best way to learn is to read and study good sales letters. Then copy them out longhand so that the secrets jump off the page, flow up your arm and into your brain. There is no substitute to doing this.

Warning and tip:

Don’t fall into the trap of writing from the perspective of a group of people or company especially if you are a one-man band:

“…We know that you will be totally satisfied with our product, but if for any reason it doesn’t meet your needs please contact us and we will issue a full refund… Stuart Elliott CEO, HowToWriteKickButtCopy.com”

Who’s writing the above note? Is it the website domainname? No it’s not, it’s me – so get rid of the ‘we’ and the ‘us’ change them to ‘I’ and ‘me’ – everybody knows you are the author so don’t be pretentious and pretend you are a company, it’s so false and puts your prospects off.

Remember you are writing a personal letter to a friend, you want to connect to your prospect and speak to him one on one – how can a domain name do that?

If you write from this perspective i.e. ‘I’ instead of ‘we’ you will build trust with your prospects and this is what you want to do isn’t it?

Be Careful Here Though…

Your copy should focus on your readers problems and the solutions you can can offer him/her, if you only write about ‘you’ then you will turn your prospect away. There are times when you need to write about ‘you’ but you should try to keep an approximately 7 – 1 ratio in favour of ‘you’, ‘yours’ to ‘we’, ‘I’

Photo

Another way of generating trust is to include a photo of yourself on your sales page, either at the top or at the bottom with your signature.

NB. Do make sure it is a good-looking one. Some of the photos I’ve seen on web pages look like the person has just escaped from San Quentin – Not the sort of person I’d like to bump into on a dark night – would that make me trust him? Very, very unlikely.

This is an extremely powerful way to start off your sales letter.

Look out for more tips tomorrow

To your success, always.

Stuart

It’s important to ‘get into the mood’ before writing your sales letter, get settled and relaxed, turn off the phone and make sure that you won’t be distracted.

Now start off by reviewing a couple of sales letters from your swipe file or find one or two online. Read them through thoroughly and start to absorb the messages… What you are doing is focusing your mind on the sales letter thats been brewing inside you for the last few days and now you are ready to…

Write With Personality

Earlier on I said that you’ve got to write from the heart, with personality, but what the blazes did I mean by that? How do you write with personality?

Let me answer that with a question. How do you talk and act if you are talking to your best friend?

Yes, that’s right you act naturally, you don’t have any ‘airs and graces’, if you want to be sad – you can be, if you want to jump and shout for joy – you can do. If you are excited about something you show it in your words, the tone of your voice and your gestures.

In short you act as You!

This is what I mean by write from the heart, let all your feelings come out onto the paper, be truthful, let your words tell me exactly how you feel and be yourself. You have a unique way of expressing your thoughts and views. Don’t try to be somebody you aren’t, leave that to the Hollywood film stars.

You are a real person and I want to listen to the real you, warts and all!

When you write what do you see?

Do you see the computer screen staring back at you or do you see beyond it?

Right now as I write these words I see You, I don’t see anybody else and certainly not the computer screen. I’m talking directly to you, so I see your face and it is my pleasure to do so!

This is what you must do as you write your sales letter. It doesn’t matter how many people may see it at the same time, you can only address it to one person. Keep this firmly in your mind whenever you write – I’ve got a big ‘post it’ note that says ‘Write Articles/ads To Only One Person’ stuck to the top of my screen.

I don’t need that reminder this minute, because I know I’m talking directly to you, my friend, but sometimes I forget, I get a mental blank and sit there staring into space. Then I see my note and I’m reminded that I have to talk to you and nobody else!

Do words captivate you?

How many times have you listened to someone’s speech and been captivated by their words? What was it about that speech that captivated you? If you analyse it you will see that it wasn’t just the words, but the personality of the speaker that came through in the words, that really drew you to the speech.

How many times have you sat through a speech that seemed like it would never end no matter how hard you wished it would? What was it that made you so bored, that repelled you so much?

Was it the fact that the speaker droned on and on in some monotonous monotone that seemed like it had been going on for years and would continue to do so?

Or was it the fact that the speaker was so nervous that he stood there with his hands rigidly pressed against his sides, speaking in a robotic staccato voice, whilst all the time his face was getting redder and redder until, finally, you were cringing so much inside and you were so embarrassed that you had to turn away? You couldn’t bear to see him suffer for a moments longer!

Well don’t let your writings follow the same path, throw away the monotone, throw away the embarrassment, talk to me – your best friend. It’s Ok you can be yourself.

Do this and you will captivate me with your writings – just don’t tell me too much bad news or be upset when you talk to me, I’m upset myself and need you to cheer me up!

Remember the expression: ‘Birds of a feather flock together?’

Well it applies to your writing as well. If you are a fun and easy-going person, express yourself in such a manner. Be friendly and approachable and you will attract like-minded, happy people.

If you are a serious person, write in a more serious manner – but don’t be too serious. (It might just turn people away from your web page).

More thoughts tomorrow…

To your success, Always.

Stuart