My perfect customer or client is someone who
wants to ______________________________

The problem or goal they have is:
______________________________________
______________________________________
______________________________________
______________________________________

The way I know they have this problem is:
______________________________________
______________________________________
______________________________________
______________________________________

The solutions I offer are:
______________________________________
______________________________________
______________________________________
______________________________________

The benefits they will receive relative to their problem
or goal are (choose three):

how to increase ___________________________
how to find ______________________________
how to achieve____________________________
how to keep ______________________________
how to resolve ____________________________
how to __________________________________
how to __________________________________

They’ll know I’m an expert because (ways I have
“walked the walk” they are embarking on):
______________________________________
______________________________________
______________________________________
______________________________________

Resources I could recommend with authority are:
______________________________________
______________________________________
______________________________________
______________________________________

by guest writer Soni Pitts.

The battle between long copy - the traditional sales-letter format like this one that strikes some people as smarmy and too sales-y - and short copy is a perennial hot spot for discussion in the business world.

From a marketing perspective, long copy is something of an enigma - no one admits to liking it, but it out-sells the alternatives on almost every front, a fact that has more sensitive business owners tearing their hair out in frustration. Why is this?

Why Long Copy Works - And When It Doesn’t

A basic rule of thumb is that the less your product or service is capable of selling itself, the longer the copy required to do the job. As someone once quipped, no one has to write long copy to sell toilet paper.

But you have to consider the reader, as well. Some of your audience will buy anything at the drop of a hat, for whatever reason. Maybe they already know and love your stuff, and are just waiting for the signal to make another purchase, or maybe they’re just the type that has to try anything new no matter what. Either way, you don’t want to make them wade through The Dismal Swamp of long copy just to get to the “Buy Me” button.

On the other hand, some folks won’t buy their mother a Hallmark card without hours of researching the benefits, features and price points of the various options. And of course, most fall somewhere in between - intrigued, but not yet sold. And that’s why long copy is so successful - it’s meets the needs of all of these folks at once.

How so? The thinking behind writing long copy is akin to the thinking behind the guy who built a large cat door in the wall of his home for the big cat, into which was cut a small cat door for the small cat - it covers all the bases. It provides both the “big door” - the full, detailed “why you should buy” down to the piddliest benefits and features - for those who will not take the plunge without every last scrap of information they can get - as well as the “small door”

There are two main reasons why a small business might want to get a US mail drop address:

1) you work from home but you don't want to put your home address on your website or business cards
2) you live outside the US and you want to order something that is only available to US addresses

It's fairly easy to get a US mailing address - there are various services that will act as a mail drop and even include phone/fax facilities like a virtual office. Another advantage is that if you want something that's only available in the US you can get it sent to your "US address" then redirected to your home address - very useful.

One of the bigger ones is USAMail1.com but if you do a search for "USA mail drop" you'll find several to choose from.

I'm delighted to announce that professional copywriter and marketing consultant Katja Bartholmess has joined HomeBusinessWiz as a regular contributor. In addition to articles about copywriting, Katja will be offering a monthly Home Page Booster feature.

What's a Home Page Booster?

The Home Page Booster is a makeover of your website's homepage. It's your chance to get your website’s most important page critiqued by a web copy expert and get advice on how to improve it.

Why get a home page makeover? A good website can work for your business like an enthusiastic sales rep. What it needs to do is first attract the attention of the search engines, and then offer the viewer strong reasons to act. Sadly, most small business websites unknowingly commit one or more cardinal online sins already on their home pages. Result? An untold amount of potential customers spend their money elsewhere.

Katja and I can’t stand to see potential profits slip away from anyone. So we’ve decided to do something about it.

How does the Home Page Booster work?

It’s easy. Just send Katja a link to your website and provide her with the following information (paste the questions and answers into an e-mail):

1. How do you direct people to your website: Do you use banners? Pay per click ads? Offline methods? If you have any samples of your ads, please send them.
2. Please describe your product or service. Be sure to tell me what it is that gives your products and services an edge over your competitors.
3. Who are your clients? Please describe a typical customer.
4. Can you explain what needs and desires your clients that can be satisfied with your product or service?
5. What business goals would you like to reach with your website?
6. What frustrates you the most about your website as it is right now?

What will you get?

You will receive thorough advice from an experienced advertising and web copy writer. Katja's critique and suggestions will be frank and constructive. Of course, the final decision about what (if anything) to change rests with you.

Be aware that the criticism and advice you receive will be published on HomeBusinessWiz.com. (That means a whole host of readers will surf to your website. That’s a good thing for your business, so don’t be shy.)

What does it cost?

Not much. All we require is that you make a donation to Keep a Child Alive – a wonderful nonprofit organization in New York that provides life-saving AIDS medications to African children.

That’s it! Katja works on a first-come-first-served basis, so she’ll get to your site eventually even if she can’t critique it immediately. If you have any questions or if your website needs a boost right away and you can’t wait for your turn, please contact her for a private Home Page Booster session: Katja@kb-words.com

Interested? Here's a summary of what to do

1. copy and paste the 6 questions from above into a new email.

2. send your website url plus the answers to the questions to katja@kb-words.com

3. go to KeepAChildAlive.org
and make a donation

4. Watch your email inbox for a confirmation receipt for your donation. Forward that receipt to Katja@kb-words.com so she can see that you made a donation.

5. Katja will email you to tell you when your critique will be published.

I would like to acknowledge Roberta Rosenberg, Copywriting Maven from Copyblogger for the inspiration for this feature.

I’ve just removed the price tag from one of my most popular products and “released it into the wild” (it used to cost $49)

It’s my coaching skills workbook, audios and scoresheet.

From now until December 31, 2007 (when I will discontinue this offer), you can get a free copy of my Step 2 Coach Certification training kit simply by sending a blank email to step2@aweber.com

The kit contains audios, transcripts and scoresheets of two scripted coaching sessions with the same client and issue. One audio shows average coaching (47%), the other masterful coaching (97%) ...so you can compare and hear the difference. There’s also transcripts of the two coaching sessions, with detailed commentary about what the coach is doing effectively and not effectively.

This unique training kit is useful for people working towards coach certification, as well as anyone who wants to incorporate coaching skills into their toolkit.