Writing Sales Letters: Checklist – 9 cosmetic do's and don'ts

Digital sales of my book are now almost as high as actual hard copies on amazon.  It’s amazing how many people read digitally.  (41, 5-star book ratings doesn’t hurt, either!) 

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Here’s a little checklist to go through, after you’ve written a sales letter or ad, and before you take it “live.”

The purpose of this is to provide good ‘eye relief’ for your readers.  You don’t want anyone to feel like it’s “work” to listen to whatever you’re saying.  Of course, if your copy isn’t interesting, all the eye relief in the world isn’t going to make it any easier to get through your message…

But that’s another problem for another day.  So without any further ado, here goes:

You want to format your message so your reader doesn’t feel like it’s challenging:

1.  Use short sentences – sometimes even a word or two.

If it’s too long to say it, out loud… then it’s DEFINITELY too long to say in print.

Got it?

2.  Use short paragraphs – usually no more than two or three sentences long.

3.  Use the largest font you can, for the amount of space you have.

Of course, always let your copy dictate how much you have to say — not the size of your font.

4.  Whenever you can, use bullets to summarize your ideas.

5.  If you have a LOT of bullets, and they are unrelated, number them.

This positions you as an authority, and it gives you the flexibility to discuss different things.  Bullets, on the other hand, should all be about a relevant topic.

Bullets and numbered lists, also give people who skim through your material, a reason to read.

6.  Use sub-headlines.

A good rule of thumb is, at least one per standard sized letter page, or 1-3 per column, depending on how big your ad is.

7.  Make your sub-headlines centered and in bold.

8.  When you center anything, if it spills over into another line, make sure the two (or three) lines have some sort of balance to them.

If you say something
like this… it’s O.K.

But believe it or not, many people do it like
this.

Which is not O.K. — it looks and feels “off.”

9.  Lastly, if you’re not using a newspaper advertorial, you should make your sub-headlines in a different font – a different color even, if you’re online.

If you want to see how to use each one of these rules in practice… check out any of my products or services listed on the products page and you’ll see how it’s done.

O.K., that’s it — I have a TON of work to do today before the weekend, so it’s time to get moving.

Have fun 🙂

Now go sell something,  Craig Garber

P.S.  Little Mistakes That Keep Men Poor – now save $52

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