Finding A Balance Between Sales Writing and Content Writing

Jan 15
12:28

2011

Terry Green

Terry Green

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Two very different disciplines are often confused among online marketers: content writing and sales writing. More than likely it's just a simple misunderstanding, but the two styles are often something that gets mixed up on the page too. Article marketers are especially guilty of confusing the two and introducing unnecessary sales copy into their content. At the same time, boring content writing is often mistakenly put into sales copy, robbing it of its effectiveness.

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Two very different disciplines are often confused among online marketers:  content writing and sales writing. More than likely it's just a simple misunderstanding,Finding A Balance Between Sales Writing and Content Writing Articles but the two styles are often something that gets mixed up on the page too. Article marketers are especially guilty of confusing the two and introducing unnecessary sales copy into their content. At the same time, boring content writing is often mistakenly put into sales copy, robbing it of its effectiveness.

Distinguishing between the two different types of writing is absolutely essential for online success. There is a time and place for both sales and content writing, and rarely is it at the same time – in the same piece. It is especially erroneous to mix them up in a promotional article. This simple guide explains how to balance sales copy and promotional content, and where to use each of type of content in your article marketing efforts.

A) Incorporating sales content into articles:

It is best to keep sales, or even pre-sales talk at a minimum throughout a promotional article. While the purpose of a promotional article is not necessarily to inform the reader, it is certainly not to sell them right away. Think about it this way -- if the reader is being sold within the article itself, where will they click to buy the product?

Save the sales copy for your landing page on your website. By all means incorporate pre-sales copy into a promotional article, but even then it shouldn't be a major factor. The purpose of a promotional article is to achieve one thing -- convince the reader to click through to your website with a peaked interest in a possible purchase. If your articles are not achieving that, you need to work on flow and readability, not sales copy.

B) Where to start the pre-selling:

The basic structure of any article, or really any written text, is introduction then discussion then conclusion. The first section of your promotional article should introduce a problem, a situation, or an opportunity. Once you have established the situation, move on to the body text. What is going on in this situation? How could this opportunity affect the reader? Where are the best places to find these opportunities?

Finally, once you have established and discussed all that you can, introduce a potential solution for the reader. Do not sell the idea straight out.  That is the job of the sales copy you'll put on your landing page.  Instead, push the reader slightly so they feel motivated to click on your link and learn more. 

C) The transition from pre-sell to actual selling:

While the content itself should not sell, it should work in tandem with your sales copy to achieve a sale. Before you start on an article marketing campaign for any product, familiarize yourself with the sales and landing pages to the point where you can naturally incorporate elements of them into your writing.

Customers love familiarity and trust, not unknown situations. When you can design an article to prime a potential customer into moving to your sales page, and have them arrive full of confidence and intrigue, you have found a formula for guaranteed article marketing sales.