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-------------------------------------------- Bob Bly's Direct Response Letter: Resources, ideas, and tips for improving response to business-to-business, high-tech, industrial, Internet, and direct marketing. April 2, 2003 -------------------------------------------- You are getting this e-mail because you subscribed to it on http://www.bly.com or because you are one of Bob's clients, prospects, seminar attendees, or book buyers. If you would prefer not to receive further e-mails of this type, go to http://www.bly.com, enter your e-mail address, and hit Unsubscribe. -------------------------------------------- LIFT YOUR DIRECT MAIL RESPONSE WITH "LIFT LETTERS" The lift letter, also known as a lift note, is the second, small letter that is sometimes inserted into a direct mail package along with the main multi-page sales letter. It often has a headline that reads something like, "Read this only if you are NOT interested in buying [name of product]." The purpose, as its name implies, is to lift response. But what do you put in a lift note to achieve that goal? John Forde suggests 10 possible topics and goals for lift letters: 1. To counter a key objection. 2. As a place to test your second-best or alternative headlines. 3. To give readers an extra testimonial. 4. As an endorsement (approved, of course) from an authority or a celebrity. 5. To emphasize a time deadline on the purchase. 6. To focus on the best aspect of the offer (premiums, guarantees, discounts). 7. To emphasize long-standing credibility (a formal letterhead might work well here). 8. To keep the message newsworthy. Let the lift note cover events that have happened since the initial mailing was written. 9. To underscore the ONE THING that really gives your product an edge over everyone else. 10. To emphasize track record, unusual and impressive credentials, or to make the benefits of the most important package feature especially clear. Source: The Copywriter's Roundtable. For a free subscription to this valuable e-zine, click on the link below: http://www.agoramail.net/add.cfm?list=crtable -------------------------------------------- WRITE COPY THAT BOOSTS YOUR SEARCH ENGINE RANKINGS Copywriter Heather Lloyd-Martin specializes in writing copy for search engine optimization. She disagreed with a few of the tips I reprinted from http://btobonline.com in my last issue. The tips - and her responses -- are as follows: 1. Direct Response Letter (DRL): "Purchase the most effective domain name (e.g., http://www.divorceonline.com if you are a divorce lawyer)." Heather Lloyd-Martin (HML): "This doesn't really work. Plus, it encourages people to come up with those terrible domains like www.make-money-online-with-internet-marketing.com, which are spammy and are usually downgraded in the engines." 2. DRL: "Make sure your site uses tags for its title and description. Search engines use these tags to classify your site." HLM: "This is terribly incorrect. The search engines key on the content - so that's what's important. The title is also important for positioning and conversion off the search engine results page." 3. DRL: "Search engines cannot find flash or frame pages. Use HTML." HLM: "They can, but it's harder for them. Fast has indexed Flash for a long time now, but it can be horrid for usability (and it won't gain the best rankings). However, HTML is truly the best bet." For more information click on: http://www.SearchEngineWriting.com -------------------------------------------- IN OUR CYBERSPACE SOCIETY, IS READING DEAD? "For every reader who dies today, a viewer is born, and we seem to be witnessing the final tipping of a balance. For critics inclined to alarmism, the shift from a culture based on the printed word to a culture based on virtual images - a shift that began with television and is now being completed with computers - feels apocalyptic. I rue the onset of an age so anxious that the pleasure of a text becomes difficult to sustain." --Jonathan Franzen, "How to Be Alone" (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2002) -------------------------------------------- "SELLING YOUR SOFTWARE WITH DIRECT MAIL" - YOURS FREE! Direct mail is an incredibly effective method of generating leads and orders for software products. Recently, I gave a well-received talk for the Software and Information Industry Association (SIIA) outlining the steps required to plan and implement a successful software direct marketing promotion. For your FREE copy of "Selling Your Software with Direct Mail" on audiocassette, call Fern Dickey at (201) 797-8105 or e-mail dickeybf@aol.com and ask for tape #833. -------------------------------------------- RADIO INTERVIEW: "BECOME AN INSTANT GURU" Last month I was the featured guest on "The Inside Success Show." The show is hosted by Randy Gilbert, a coach and speaker on the topic of "proactive success." Smart guy. Nice, too. A skilled interviewer, Randy got me to reveal my inside success secrets for becoming a guru in your field quickly and easily. You can hear the interview by going to: http://TheInsideSuccessShow.com/Guests/Bob_Bly.htm
Make sure you bookmark their Web site and sign up for their newsletter so you can hear the rest of their shows. -------------------------------------------- NEW AUDIO CONFERENCE: "GENERATING MORE LEADS IN A TIGHT ECONOMY" If business is slow, and the weak economy has you worried, sign up for my April 8 teleseminar, "Generating More Leads in a Tight Economy." You'll get practical, easy-to-implement strategies that can help you generate more leads and close more sales, even in today's marketplace. To register for this live, hour-long session, click on the link below: https://www.pbconferences.com/service3?ID=-1989440792 -------------------------------------------- MAKE $100,000 A YEAR AS A FREELANCE COPYWRITER For years now, freelance copywriters have been asking me -- at writer's conferences, over the phone, and via e-mail -- questions about how (and whether) they can make a good living as a full-time freelancer. And you can get the answers in a new program I'm offering. In it, I teach you what it takes to succeed as a freelance copywriter in today's market. This goes WAY beyond my book "Secrets of a Freelance Writer." This is stuff I've never taught or written about before! For more information, call the American Writers and Artists Institute (AWAI) at 561-278-5557 or click on http://www.awaionline.com/jumpstartbb -------------------------------------------- 60-SECOND COMMERCIAL FROM FERN DICKEY, OFFICE MANAGER: Bob is available on a limited basis for copywriting of direct mail packages, sales letters, brochures, ads, e-mail marketing campaigns, PR materials, and Web pages. We recommend you call for a FREE copy of our updated Copywriting Information Kit. Just let us know your industry and the type of copy you're interested in seeing (ads, mailings, etc.), and if Bob is available to take your assignment, we'll tailor a package of recent samples to fit your requirements. Call Fern Dickey at 201-797-8105 or e-mail dickeybf@aol.com. -------------------------------------------- Bob Bly Copywriter/Consultant 22 E. Quackenbush Ave. Dumont, NJ 07628 phone 201-385-1220 fax 201-385-1138 rwbly@bly.com www.bly.com
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