You should already know that clarity trumps persuasion for making sales. In fact, to borrow a metaphor from direct-response expert Dean Rieck, your copy should be like a shop window—completely invisible, affording a perfect view of the thing you’re selling.

But as with most important things in life, that’s easier said than done.

Fortunately—as with most things in life—much of the mystery can be removed by adopting a system that takes care of the basics. So let me introduce you to my Four Keys for writing clear, shiny copy that affords prospects the perfect view of whatever it is you’re selling.

Key #1: Conversational style

I’m sure you’ve heard it said that people don’t buy from websites—they buy from people.

And I’m sure you’ve also heard that people seldom buy from people they don’t like and trust.

Which is why hyped highlighter copy doesn’t tend to work. There’s no real personal connection, because it doesn’t read like anything a person would say—certainly not a person you’d be inclined to like or trust.

The same goes for verbose, puffed-up “corporatese”. No one talks like that—and if they did we’d assume there was something ludicrously wrong with them.

The solution is to write like you would talk.

Simple, right? So simple you probably reckon there’s no need to read the rest of this section—but you’d be wrong.

Because actually, writing like you talk is hard, and you’ll likely fail at it to start with. That’s because you have to make a shift in your thinking before it will click for you.

You have to get out of “Writing Mode”The more self-conscious you are about communicating, the worse you tend to do it.

So you have to stop thinking about writing, and instead focus on just telling. You have to stop thinking about how your sentences look, and instead focus on how they sound. You have to get out of the mindset that you are performing a task which is difficult, technical, complex, or in any way different to the task you’d have if you simply sat down with your prospect and talked to him about what it is you’d like him to buy.

This is actually surprisingly hard.

From a very young age, talking comes completely naturally to us. It’s so basic that even thinking about teaching it in school seems absurd. The only people who need lessons in talking are people with disabilities.

Yet from a very young age, writing is something we struggle with. We are conditioned to think of it as somethinghard—something requiring strict rules and methods if we’re ever to achieve some rudimentary level of ability. Even though we’re taught to write all the way through school, most adults are incapable of competently stringing two words together on paper.

Well, let me tell you a little secret: You started out a great writer. But as you went through school, and were conditioned to think of writing as writing rather than as simply communicating, you got progressively more self-conscious about it—and progressively worse at it.

The best writers—at least in terms of sales copy—are the ones who are able to completely ignore everything they’ve been taught about writing, and instead get on with the job of just telling.

How to write conversationallyDon’t write—tell. The best way to get started is not to write at all—but to speak.

Ideally, record yourself talking about your topic with a friend you know and trust. That way, you’ll avoid most of the self-consciousness that comes when you get out a voice recorder and try to record yourself talking to the air.

Then play back your recording and just listen to what you say. Take notes. How do your sentences sound? How often do you break the rules of formal grammar? I bet it’s all the time. So forget formal grammar. How often do you say something that in retrospect sounds totally gitty? Pretty often too, probably. So figure out what you wish you’d said, and use that instead. Write like you talk, but with the benefit of lots of time to choose your words. It’ll be a lot easier to read—because people read with an internal monologue. When you write conversationally, they can hear your words flow.

Key #2: Narrative Structure

The second key to clarity is to put your copy together in the way your prospect finds easiest to process and understand.

Let me give you a clue. How do you teach kids complex ideas?

The answer, of course, is stories. Indeed, as soon as we can talk, we want to hear and tell stories. And that is simply because our brains are wired to process information most easily in narrative form. We’re very, very good at processing specific actions that involved concrete things in a timed sequence.

We’re really, really bad at processing vague ideas, abstract concepts or relationships, and unordered sets of things.

We need stories to give things structure.

In fact, if you’ve studied any philosophy, you’ll know that it can be almost impossible to grasp some ideas without real-world examples of them. But as soon as we have such an example, we find it fairly easy to generalize it to other situations.

Because we most easily process information in a narrative structure, it only makes sense use that structure in your sales copy.

Now, this does not mean you have to tell stories. I highly recommend that you do tell stories—case studies are an obvious and very powerful example of why. And most of the best, most successful sales letters have used stories to get their point across (the “two young men” story for The Wall Street Journal, for example, or the chicken salad story penned by Lillian Eichler). Stories bypass the ol’ frontal lobe and get the limbic system champing at the bit. And the limbic system is what gets us to buy things.

But that’s another article—or three. Here, I’m simply talking about using a narrative structure for your copy. Like this: remember studying plots in school? Your 3-act, beginning-middle-end structure? A series of rising action leading to a climax? Well, here’s how that looks when applied to copy:

How copy can be placed into a narrative structure (action peaks are suggestions, not hard rules)

The headline has to start the exposition strong, or the rest won’t get read.

The lede has to bring an immediate peak of action to keep your prospect interested.

But don’t make the mistake of starting off so strong that there’s nowhere to go but down. You can’t sustain climax-level action for long—and you can’t keep getting more extreme indefinitely.

To give a concrete example: people often complain that the final raptors-versus-T-Rex scene in Jurassic Parkfeels flat. And it does—because after the shocking T-Rex-eating-a-car scene, and the nerve-wracking raptors-in-the-kitchen scene, the final climax doesn’t add enough extra danger. Even if it did, we’re burned out on danger by the time it arrives.

In sales copy, “flat” means your prospect loses his sense of excitement. Keep him strung too high for too long and he’ll get burned out and lose interest. So start gentle and raise the action gradually. Screaming headlines and hyped ledes might pull people in, but they won’t keep them to the end.

To use a bike racing analogy, it’s better to enter the corner slow and come out fast, than to enter fast and not come out at all.

Key #3: Benefits, then features

Copy that seems clear as glass to you can be muddied in a very simple way for your prospect. Here’s what happens:

You write a conversational narrative that goes through all the benefits of your product. But you don’t give anyreasons for these benefits.

Or you write a conversational narrative that goes through all the features of your product. But you don’t give anyreasons for those features.

To you, with your knowledge of the product, the how of the benefits or the why of the features are entirely obvious. But to your prospect they are opaque. There’s a murkiness about your product that prevents him from buying.

Here’s an example: Imagine you’re talking about how your home study course will teach your prospect to hack his neighbor’s wireless network in 2 hours. For example! The reason this is possible is that the course just teaches some simple principles for operating a bundled automated software utility. This does the actual grunt work of breaking into the network.

Simply talking about how your prospect will be wirelessly checking Facebook in 2 hours won’t give him the kind of clarity he needs. Even though he wants this benefit, and even though you may furnish plenty of proof—testimonials or case studies or whatever—it’s not clear how it’s possible.

Alternatively, just talking about the automated utility in detail, relating each feature back to a corresponding element of wireless network security, will show him that hacking is possible—but it won’t help him understand how it is possible for him, since he doesn’t understand it.

To achieve clarity, both the benefit and the feature must be explained--and then their relationship.

Talk about benefits firstIt’s easy to talk about features before drawing out the benefits. If you know your product better than your prospect, which you probably do, then that’s the natural order to take.

But your prospect is only interested in the features inasmuch as they create benefits for him. Which means you should talk about the benefits first, then clarify them with reference to features.

Obviously there are exceptions to this rule. A lot of technical B2B prospects know exactly what features they’re looking for, and want to see them tabulated nicely. But that’s because they already know the benefits. So you must know your prospect to know how much you need to explain for him.

When in doubt, here’s a simple rule: use bullets to describe both features and benefits succinctly. For example (benefits are in bold):

• Peace of mind that your data won’t disappear if your connection drops, thanks to the persistent asynchronous database connection
• Better color reproduction for print work because of the advanced In-Plane Switching technology—the crystal molecules in the display move parallel to the panel plane instead of perpendicular, reducing the amount of light scattering in the matrix
• They’ll fight over it when you’re dead--with 4–5 oz Full Grain leather, tanned with high-grade oils and preservatives to keep it from being destroyed by dryness or moisture, and bound with polyester industrial thread, you can be sure your bag will outlive you

Key #4: Scannable Elements

79% of people on the web don’t read--they scan.

Which means that if your text doesn’t contain plenty of “hooks” for your prospect’s eye to grab onto, it’ll just slide right off the page.

What do I mean by hooks?

• Meaningful subheads which summarize major points or tease your prospect into the copy (like mini-headlines)
• Bullet lists which itemize important pieces of information such as features or benefits
• Boldface to highlight keywords, important benefits, etc
• Short paragraphs with only one idea each (otherwise a prospect scanning the first few words will miss the second idea)
• Images that convey value more forcibly than copy could, such as charts, graphs, or high-quality product photos
• Captions—these get read by 50% more prospects than body copy, and often have a nearly 100% recall rate

There should always be at least one scannable element visible on the page at any given time. Test this on the kind of screen and at the kind of resolution your prospect is likely to be using—not just your own.

Use scannable elements to sellYou have to make the bits that stand out, that catch the eye, count. If you don’t convey value with the scannable elements they aren’t going to achieve anything. So spend time distilling the most value into the least space for each of your hooks. It could very well be the difference between keeping your prospect on the page and having him slide off into the ether.

Four Keys for Clear CopyThese keys all take practice to master. But they are simple enough that you can get started today and see notable improvements immediately. Read your copy aloud—is it conversational, or stilted? Examine its structure—does it build up to the call to action, or is it haphazard? Test its benefits against its features—is their relationship clear? And stand back and squint—can you pick out the major items of interest when the body copy is blurry?

With these four simple techniques, you are guaranteed to produce copy far better than nearly anything you’ll find on the web.

About the Author: Bnonn is the author of a free video course on the secrets of creating websites that capture readers and turn them into customers. Known in the boroughs as the Information Highwayman, he helps small businesses sell more online by improving their marketing copy, design, and strategies. When he’s not knee-deep in the guts of someone’s homepage, he is teaching his kids about steampunk, Nathan Fillion, and how to grapple a zombie without getting bit. (Also you can follow him on Twitter.)

Great SEO content is great content. Period. And what goes into great content? Relevant, readable text and useful images, graphs, or videos that catch and keep interest. But you can tip the SEO scales in your favor and still engage readers.

Here are 5 secrets of great SEO content writing:

1. Create content that is readable and relevant.
   
   

   2.  Use long tail keywords.

   3.  Use keywords in H1 tags, image alt tags, and other HTML tagging and semantic code.

   4.  Keep up with search engine algorithm changes.

   5.  Build authoritative and relevant inbound links using rich anchor text.

Readability and Relevancy

The foremost thing to remember for SEO content writing is that ultimately a human will read it.   Using a keyword over and over ad nauseum does not great content make. Humans do not want to read the same word over and over, they want to read content that solves their problems and answers their questions. SEO is only part of the equation; you want people to stick around awhile so they can find out the other great things about your content.

Long Tail Keywords

Trying to rank for single keywords, or “head terms,” can be incredibly difficult and does not target your audience very well unless your head term is labyrinthectomy. Head terms are often highly sought-after, extremely competitive keywords that can cost more in time and money than they are worth.

Long tail keywords, on the other hand, can help you accurately target your precise audience. These are keywords related to your content that are not used as heavily and are therefore not as competitive (meaning easier for you to rank for them). They are also generally more specific to your audience and by using several long tail keywords and phrases you can actually get more action and lower bounce rates than with a highly competitive head term.

Use Keywords in Your HTML Code

Placing keywords in your content a certain percentage of the time (say, once or twice every couple of paragraphs) as well as in your title is a good place to start. But there are more places that are not read by humans but appeal very nicely to search engines. The HTML code within the webpage is a great place for keywords:

• H1 tags
  
  
• Alt tags
  
  
• Internal links
  
  
• Meta description tags (to a lesser extent)
  
  

One meta tag you can ignore in SEO content writing, oddly enough, is thekeyword meta tag. Due to frequent overstuffing and irrelevancy, search engine algorithms now completely ignore this tag.

Keeping Current in SEO

In keeping with the previous statement about keyword meta tags, it behooves us all to pay attention to the changes that occur periodically in search engine algorithms and behaviors. According to Search Engine Watch Top 10 SEO Myths Dispelled, Google can and does change its search algorithm several times a year, usually to thwart indiscriminate use of various SEO practices (see again: keyword tag). Search Engine Watchand SEOmoz’s blog are a couple of excellent resources to help you keep up with changes.

Link Building

Inarguably the most important part of getting search engines to put your content at the top of the list is through authoritative and relevant links from other sites to your content. Inbound links made of rich anchor text (the clickable text in the link) with your chosen keywords from a site considered authoritative and relevant by other users has the greatest impact on where your content will rank.

Rich anchor text in SEO content writing means using a more specific phrase than Harry the Handyman. Rich anchor text that will draw more relevant clicks has more precision in its wording. See Harry the Handyman for Erasing Bathroom Grout will have a higher click rate for the key phrase “bathroom grout” and bring in very relevant and sales-ready customers.

There are more than 5 secrets for great SEO content writing, but these are the most important. For more information look into the sites below.

SEO Tools and Resources

Google Analytics

SEO Copywriting Tips from Copyblogger

HubSpot Inbound Internet Marketing Blog

Open Site Explorer

Content Marketing means creating and freely sharing informative content as a means of converting prospects into customers and customers into repeat buyers. The primary goal is to obtain opt-in permission to deliver content via email or other medium over time. Repeated and regular exposure builds a relevant relationship that provides multiple opportunities for conversion, rather than a “one-shot” all-or-nothing sales approach.

While copywriting techniques are often applied to content created for marketing purposes, we’re not talking about advertising in the traditional sense. In contrast to “interruption” marketing such as television commercials or direct mail, content marketing involves delivering requested information with independent value that creates trust, credibility, and authority for the business that provides that value.

There are many ways to profit with content: blogging, video tutorials, email newsletters, white papers, free reports . . . and yet many people are confused about the entire concept. So Copyblogger Senior Editor Sonia Simone put together this quick 5-part tutorial that lays out the basics in plain language.

1. What’s the Difference Between Content Marketing and Copywriting?
2. The Three Essentials of Breakthrough Content Marketing
3. 49 Creative Ways You Can Profit From Content Marketing
4. How to Use Content to Find Customers
5. Why Content and Social Media are a Powerful Match

Remember, content drives the Internet, and consumers are looking for information that solves a problem, not immediate sales pitches. The trust, credibility, and authority that content marketing creates knocks down sales resistance, all while providing a baseline introduction to the benefits of a particular product or service.

The individuals and businesses that are having the most success online tend to take an approach that involves a high ratio of valuable content that seems to no sales agenda, mixed with periodic promotional messages.

Creating stellar content for your marketing is great. But great content doesn’t (quite) distribute itself. It needs vehicles for people to pass it along, discuss its merits, argue over its controversies, blog it, mash it, tweet it and even scrape it. Which is, of course, where social media comes in.

Social media didn’t create content marketing, but it’s an unsurpassed tool for getting it distributed. On the flip side, great content gives social media life, by giving people something more interesting to talk about than what they’re ordering right now at Starbucks.

Social media is the third tribe’s sacred hearthThe third tribe—the new breed of smart, savvy online entrepreneurs—are creatures of the social web. Gathering points like forums, Twitter and Facebook are the campfires that pull the tribe together. Some of us have been convening around digital campfires for a long time. (I found my first in 1989, before the invention of the World Wide Web.)

Social media has grown so explosively because connection is probably the deepest drive we have. The campfire gives us a place to share information about the day’s hunt, a forum to air out the tribe’s differences, even a place for us to consider new and better ways to build campfires.

No, it’s not a utopian picture. Our campfires are places for bickering and malice as much as for inspiration and community. But without a connecting place, without a central spot to bring us together for conversation, there is no tribe.

Our gathering places are never perfect. They’re human. Which is what makes them so extraordinary.

Great content is the third tribe’s saga and storyIt doesn’t matter if you’re talking about the Yanomamo in the Amazon rainforest or friends at a barbecue in Teaneck, New Jersey. Anywhere people gather around fires, they’re going to tell stories.

It’s in the nature of the human animal to play with language, to create fables and songs and nonsense to entertain ourselves with. And it’s in our nature to make beautiful objects and embellish anything that will stand still long enough.

These instincts are alive today in great writing and imagery being shared all over the Web. The impulses that make us reweet a blog post or a fantastic Flickr image are the same ones that bring a superb Navajo weaver renown across four states.

Wonderful words and beautiful images capture our attention, no matter who we are or what technology we might have at our disposal. Our impulse to create, and our desire to remark on skillful creations, haven’t changed much since we started walking upright.

The third tribe is on the moveIn addition to our passion for connection, the other remarkable human trait is adaptability.

No other animal can adapt to as many different ecosystems and environments as we can. We’ve built dwellings in Antarctica and in space. We’ve survived the Ice Age and world wars, tsunamis and earthquakes, and even Joan Rivers winning Celebrity Apprentice.

When the environment is stable, we get complacent. We settle into calm, self-satisfied habits for thousands of years at a time.

But when the earth starts to shake, we wake up again: the same smart, watchful, inventive and dangerous monkey we’ve always been at heart.

I’ve heard the current economic meltdown described as “economic climate change,” which I like a lot. We don’t know where it’s going to get unbearably hot and where the temperature will plunge to permafrost. The system is too complex to predict, except we know it’s going to change and it’s likely to change fast.

But some things won’t change. If we can sing a remarkable song, others will gather to hear it. And now, digital campfires connect us from Kuala Lumpur to Iceland to Dallas.

If I create content that’s worthy of attention, the world will show up and talk about it. I don’t know how they’ll show up in 5 years (or 5 months), but I know they will.

My job is to make something amazing, then use the global network of digital campfires intelligently to find the people who will love and appreciate it.

How about you? What songs and legends are you bringing to your campfire?

About the Author: Sonia Simone is Senior Editor of Copyblogger and the founder of Remarkable Communication.

Sure, it makes us feel warm and fuzzy to create great content. But can we actually get any customers with it?

Absolutely, but not if we take the usual blogger’s approach. Money doesn’t drop out of the sky just because we produce high-quality material. We need to put some time, thought and planning into the marketing side of the content marketing equation.

And that means we need to think strategically about how different types of content contribute to the larger persuasion cycle.

Get their attentionEarlier in this series, we talked about the fact that every bit of content needs to be a tasty cookie that rewards your audience for consuming it.

So how can you attract a new audience to come find you? You need something bigger and more exciting than a cookie.

You need a birthday cake.

In other words, a piece of content that’s exciting, that feels special, and that tastes good. (It doesn’t hurt if it also has a great headline.)

Not only that, it has to show your potential audience that you know your stuff and that you solve a worthwhile problem. Otherwise they might enjoy scarfing down your content, but they won’t bother coming back for more.

White papers, special reports, extended tutorials, manifestos and viral video all make excellent birthday cakes. (If you want more ideas, you can find lots more here.)

Contrary to popular belief, you do want marketing messages in your birthday cake content. But they have to be palatable, subtle messages. You’re not closing sales here . . . the birthday cake is just the beginning of the conversation.

Raise questions. Poke around at pain points that you can address in later content. Tell stories that resolve objections. But be subtle about it. The purpose of this content is to get your audience into a receptive state of mind before they start hearing any overt sales messages from you.

Create interest and desire for what you have to offer, but don’t talk too much (if at all) about how you’re going to solve all your audience’s problems and make their lives wonderful.

If your birthday cake is compelling enough, your audience will stick around to find those answers.

And, of course, how does your birthday cake get in front of a new audience? By being remarkable enough to share. If it’s not good enough to link to, bookmark, retweet, and email friends about, it’s not good enough. Keep working on it, or partner with a content expert who can create something exceptional for you.

Converting attention to customersGood bloggers are fantastic at capturing attention, but sometimes we have a tough time knowing what to do with it.

The answer is to keep delivering compelling messages to our new audience, either using a blog, anemail autoresponder, or both.

Here’s where you use content marketing fundamentals to start creating a commercial relationship. Obviously, you still deliver terrific quality. You teach and entertain more than you sell. You use metaphor, rhythm and vivid language to make your writing sing.

But you also use the techniques we teach at Copyblogger to create an audience of buyers, not just fans. You begin to call on your copywriting bag of tricks, adding more persuasive elements to your writing.

You’re still keeping the selling under the radar at this point, especially if you’re using a blog to deliver your content. At this phase, you’re building your case, establishing trust, and increasing the intensity of your audience’s desire.

When you’re ready to take an order, send your loyal fan to a well-crafted landing page. That page does the most explicit selling, with a killer offer and a clear, direct call to action.

There’s definitely an art to writing an effective landing page, but if you’ve primed your audience with a smart content strategy, the landing page doesn’t have nearly as much work to do.

How to be in the third tribeIf you don’t see yourself using the hard-sell, high-squeeze tactics of the traditional Internet marketing crowd, but you also don’t want to eat ramen noodles for the rest of your life as a “cool but broke” blogger, you can ignore those two tribes and join what we’re calling the third tribe.

In the third tribe, we take the best elements from hardcore Internet marketing, but we deliver them with the passion, personal voice and credibility that the best bloggers have to offer.

Content marketing is our tribe’s most important tool. In fact, it’s the tool that defines this tribe. Master it, and the game is yours.

Visit Copy Blogger at www.copyblogger.com to discover how content marketing and web content writmakes all the difference.