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Best Book for writing homepage copy

by deezn
7 replies
I'm trying to learn copywriting but not for paying clients (yet). I want to start with my own professional practice. My clientele are consumers (not other businesses ... not that it matters a lot I know principles are the same).

I'm trying to learn how to write home page copy. So when someone visits my page, they feel the urge to do one of two CTA's, reach for my free ebook or call me right away.

I know two CTA"s are generally not a great idea, but my profession is such that there are those who need help ASAP, and those still shopping.

I've been reading a few books already, and it's great. But a lot of it is based on sales letter writing. But for some reason I feel compelled to make the homepage not a single sales letter, because the organic visitors are all different (different services needed, different stages of their search, etc.)

My question is, are any of these three books, or any other you would recommend, good for learning to write like that?

Advertising Headlines That Make You Rich: Create Winning Ads, Web Pages, Sales Letters and More - David Garfinkel; Hardcover

Do the Web Write: Writing for and Marketing Your Website (Numbers 101 for Small Business) - Dan Furman; Paperback

Letting Go of the Words: Writing Web Content that Works (Interactive Technologies) - Janice (Ginny) Redish; Paperback

Or if there are any tips on how to adjust sales/ad copywriting to fit the homepage without reading any book that would be great.
#book #copy #homepage #writing
  • Profile picture of the author ThomasOMalley
    I highly recommend Dan Furman's Do the Web Write. He has helpful information on writing a professional services website.

    Good luck with your web writing.
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  • Profile picture of the author deezn
    Thank you very much Thomas.

    I'm just looking for quick guides right now to get something half decent up (copy in my industry is D-F quality).

    Still contnuing my studies, lapping up all of the recommendations in this forum everyday.
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  • Profile picture of the author KingOfContentMarketing
    Check these books out.

    http://www.warriorforum.com/copywrit...ml#post6537746

    Actually, I think you have 2 of them listed already. Krikey. Check out that thread anyway.
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    Marketing is not a battle of products. It is a battle of perceptions.
    - Jack Trout
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  • Profile picture of the author Loren Woirhaye
    You might want to look at Maria Veloso's book.

    There's a new edition out. I haven't read the new one. The
    old one has some weaknesses but it is focused on web
    copy issues exclusively, not print.

    You might subscribe to Bob Bly's email newsletter - he
    wrote a lot of print books on copy and selling but I
    think in recent years he hasn't updated the older
    ones and instead has focused on publishing niche
    ebooks on those subjects.

    Also, Dan Kennedy's "Magnetic Marketing" course has
    a lot of examples of effective print ads and marketing
    material for selling services.
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    • Profile picture of the author CurtisSWN
      Any of Caldini's books on influence are invaluable. I also like the books by David J. Lieberman; "How to Get Anyone to Do Anything"
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      • Profile picture of the author ewenmack
        Page layout to match different visitors expectations is going to be critical.
        A simple 3 section design which clealy states that section is for, and clickable to the next page where they find out more is an example. To read about and see split test results on this, go to Marketing Experiments and Visual website Optimizer and click on case studies.
        Between those 2 websites you'll get hundreds of split test results.

        Design does make a major change in results, as you'll see by those test results.

        Best,
        Ewen
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  • Profile picture of the author deezn
    Thank you everyone. I'm going to go with ... everything everyone's suggested :-)

    Joe, I'll check the thread out. One of the mantras pounded into my head (By Dan Kennedy) is that you never say, that won't apply to my business. It's always, what can I take from this, that I can use.

    Loren, thanks for mentioning Bly. I have his Handbook, and it was easy to read and great. I did not know about his newsletter.

    Curtis, I have Influence, but I need to finish/re-read it. I've added Lieberman's book into my Amazon wishlist.

    ewen, very interesting. I must check this out!
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