Persuasive Online Copywriting: How to Take Your Words to the Bank

The short, focused chapters make for a quick and easy read. Having read just about every book written so far on the subject online copywriting, I must say, that while "Persuasive Online Copywriting" is not the longest book on the subject, but it may be the most useful. One topic in particular that Bryan and Jeffrey address that I have not seen covered in other books is the concept of writing for specific personalities and visitor types. This is an area in which I have conducted extensive split-testing, and when done properly, tailoring your copy and navigational paths to specific visitor personas, can greatly improve your conversion rates. Another reviewer of this book mentioned that it was a bit too in depth for someone with no background in copywriting and that she became lost with subjects such as "Franking" and "Poetic Meter". This may be a valid concern for some readers. It is my understanding that Bryan and Jeff are students of Roy Williams, author of the "Wizard of Ads" line of books. They even teach a workshop for Roy's students called "Wizards of Web". For those who find some of the concepts mentioned in this book difficult to understand, I recommend first reading a couple of Roy's books. They will give you a good foundation to transition into a deeper understanding of "Persuasive Online Copywriting". While the copywriting portion of the book is great, I feel that the most important area is the last section of the book, "Understanding Online Conversion". Effective and persuasive copywriting is only one segment of improving your website's conversion rates. And this section of the book gives a good foundation and overview of the overall conversion process. In my opinion "Persuasive Online Copywriting" should be on the bookshelf of every serious online copywriter, business owner and marketer.

After a few years writing and managing copy and content for the web, I've run into a few good references. In terms of the copy basics you need to dominate to increase conversion rates for your web site, this book is it. "Persuasive Online Copywriting" takes you gradually from copy writing techniques and general do's/don'ts (for example, focusing on benefits, not features, when writing copy) into the specifics of writing successful copy for the Web to convert visitors into buyers and have them come back. There is no magic trick here. At the end of the day, some of the very concepts that would apply offline are still valid online. But Eisenberg and company are very effective at packaging them in a way that comes in very handy for online copywriters. An absolute must for people specializing in copy, as well as SEO, producers and content managers at large.

This gem of a book offers the most comprehensive (and immediately useable) information on "how to make your website profitable" in the fewest amount of pages that I have yet seen.As a bonus, it is priced a fraction of most of the available information on this subject. I've paid hundreds of dollars for information that was not nearly as useable as this. (OK I admit I'm a marketing information junkie)I have purchased dozens of products (printed and ebooks) within the last year alone on this subject. Most of the others talk about search engine tricks, pop-ups, hard sell copy, and basically manipulating your site visitor into doing what you want. Manipulation may work a little in the short run, but is self defeating in the long run.This book is much smarter than that. It is in a whole different league. This book teaches what is really important to long term profits. That is, engaging your visitors and making sure your site is offering them exactly what THEY want. It shows you how to write extremely effective copy. It also tells you how to discover exactly what your customers are asking you to provide them by watching your stats and web logs.The basic premise of this book is that without a high conversion ratio, there is no point in buying more traffic. It is much more cost effective to use the techniques contained in this book to increase your conversions than to chase traffic. That comes later. They make a valid point that most folks are doing this backwards.This book is about way more than just copywriting, by the way. It does an excellent job of enlightening you to many useability factors that may be hurting your sales.I can't imagine anyone who manages a website and uses even a small percentage of the wisdom contained within not getting a hundred times their investment back.In conclusion, just buy it and read it. You can not go wrong with this book.

You want to or are being pressured to get "more" out of your website. You've got the latest technology, super smooth graphics and Flash that make the CEO giddy with glee, maybe even a CRM system to handle all the customer inquiries.Does it seem that no matter what technology or feature is incorporated into the site it, doesn't make much difference? If you represent a small company, you may be buying lots of traffic from Overture and Google but not ringing up many sales. Technology and marketing budgets don't close sales. Words close sales.What does this have to do with "Persuasive Online Copywriting"? Everything. Website copy provides the facts your customers are looking for (often in the form of search engine queries). It also touches their emotions, makes them feel safe, secure, and confident the right decision has been made to do business with you. That is, if you take the time and effort to do it right."Persuasive Online Copywriting" is your guide to improving the copy on your site. It provides expert advice on:* Specific Web Writing Techniques* Writing For Search Engines (Tackling that mysterious SEO thing)* Improving Conversion Rates* Putting Offline Ad Copy On Your Website* The Length of Copy On Your Pages* The Way People Will Scan and Skim Your Copy and How You Can Take Advantage of ItIt takes effort, a customer centric view, and may entail some internal political battles to get it right, but with this book as your guide, you'll be able to step ahead of the competition in stealth mode. Most any competitive move you make on the web can be immediately detected and copied by your competitors. You buy something; your competitor buys the same thing. Winner: The vendor that sold you both on it. Improving your copy may even enable you to cut your marketing expenses and customer service inquiries. When you make the shopping and buying experience safe, secure, and easy it's amazing how much more people will buy. Isn't it about time you learned how to put words to work for you?If you are making a serious push to enhance copy and its presentation on your website you might also consider picking up a copy of Net Words by Nick Usborne and Designing CSS Web Pages by Christopher Schmitt.

This book is a must have for any web site manager, content coordinator, or copy writer. It contains a proven methodology with solid examples on how the most important part of any web site are its copy and content(which by the way are two seperate things...) It also pushes you to realize that "conversion is king!" in the online world. The second half of the book features web site "conversion" principles that you will find no where else other than the author's twice monthly newsleter, The Grokdotcom. After years of building sites with form, but no function it is great to finally see someone address this issue. I don't know anyone else who takes it to this level. Perfect for both the seasoned web professional and beginner alike - A very easy read!