What HOOKS the prospect like a helpless fish to bait?

There really isn't one specific thing, it really depends on your product, your audience, etc. etc.

I've had most of my success with tapping in to a specific emotion related to a specific ailment for health related issues. Mentioning something that only a person with that ailment would understand. That convinces the person that you know what you are talking about.

That works for almost anything. What if you saw this headline,

"Tired of reading success stories about others in forums, coming close to the big one but never hitting the big money, not afraid of putting in hard work to make good money - Come Check Out my Internet Marketing Blog"

I am tapping into emotion that only internet marketers can relate too. In fact only a person that has been doing it for awhile, and going through the same emotions as you are so you feel at least this person knows as much as me and has finally cracked the code I've been close to cracking myself.

Then you shell out $10 for the WSO. lol.

-Stack Bundles

I like Appsumos way of doing copy. Check them out.. Looks awful, but works. I read in an interview

John Carlton explains it this way...
The entire article is here: Fishing For Hooks | The RANT

Alex

http://www.warriorforum.com/search.p...rchid=11124092

One way to look at it, is taking away the prospect's "PAIN".

If you visited your doctor, and while he's looking at your x-ray, he says
"tsk..tsk..afraid you have a real problem here..."

You would be ready and willing to spend any amount you had to fix it, wouldn't you? Even though you didn't have a thought about it before hearing it from the doctor.

You could say the same, in different degrees, of getting rid of male baldness... to losing weight . The old formula of "problem-agitate-solve" is such a great formula for writing copy.

I cheat.

The USPs I formulate make good on the broken promises of an industry.

People are pissed off during the normal course of most businesses standard operating procedures. Just remind them how much.

Don't try to be clever. Try being smart and doing your research. And by that I do not mean looking at the mediocrity of how everyone runs their business and copying it -- get close to customers.

Something I abide by and has been helpful too in addition to market research and homework, "Never do unto others what you don't want to be done to you"

This is nice sentiment. However I find it faulty -- it leads to not looking outside yourself. The big mistake is pretending you are the customer and to know without ever testing some (often very poor) assumptions about what motivates the target.

Quite the contrary "I am the customer" is wildly popular thinking which leads directly to ignoring the customer. Because why on earth would you seek to know customers when they're just like you ...and you already know everything about you.

Finally, not doing what you don't want done leaves you with few ideas as to what should be done. I do not want to be left in the vacuum and cold of outer space. That leaves few clues as to what a target customer wants out of a can opener.

A minor philosophical quibble: There are infinite ways to screw up, but very few for getting things right for a target customer.

Try the Platinum Rule instead: "Treat others the way they want to be treated." This forces you to shift focus off yourself, how clever you're being with copy, ... and the me, myself, and I of the Golden Rule.

As a marketer looking to hook the prospect, always search for niches with competitors who've fooled themselves with golden rule thinking.

doesnt matter what you are selling.. just hire a midget to read your sales script and flash some boobs inbetween the unrealisitic screenshots once in a while and your sales will increase %300 </truth>

I see the 'hook' as whatever it is that grabs your prospect's attention and sustains their interest using the AIDA model (Attention, Interest, Desire, Action).

Each of these four stages are vital, but that initial click to view your page is the first step in getting a potential buyer for your product.

Just wanted to say I love your headline!!

Fantastic..

It differs from the audience and niche ...

Some people are hooked by good and solid proof. Some like social proof (testimonials, videos). Some like that you have a toll-free number that they can call (creates trust).

Everybody reacts differently ... See Kilstein's 'NLP Copyrighting', it's very interesting and gives you good insight about copyrighting that you rarely see in use and are powerful.

And another thing: any trick you use will eventually become boring. Those lame IM pages you see today that convert on 2%, used to convert on 6%, 3 years ago. Why? Because they were unique, and people still believed them.

You learn in public speaking that your audience is preoccupied
with their own thoughts and you must break into that preoccupation
in a number of ways.

The same applies to a sales letter hook. One of the most effective
ways to do this is to "read the prospect's mind" by stating a truth
that they will agree with.

What are they thinking about at the point of intersection with
your marketing message?

If it's a PPC ad then they are SEARCHING for information.
If it's a magazine they are READING what interest them.
If it's a WSO they are LOOKING for a deal ...

So all hooks wouldn't work in all circumstances as effectively.

-Ray Edwards

There is a hook that will work 100% of the time in all markets and for all products -- without fail.

It's not a tactic or an element that can be attached to a sales letter. It's not a USP. It's not a headline. It's not a theme, or angle. It's not NLP, or emotion or a story.

All of which must be present in a sales letter.

The one and only hook that will compel them to bite ... firmly, irrevocably ... is hunger.

They must be hungry -- starving -- for what you're offering.

Gary Halbert said it best, and I'm paraphrasing, I can make a million dollars in one day selling hamburgers from a pushcart, if standing in front of my cart is an endless line of hungry customers.

Understand what your target market hungers for -- then, feed them.

That's the only hook you need -- the smell of beef on an open grill. And you'll sell all the hamburgers you can dish out.

Find the hunger.

When it comes to creating a 'hook' for your prospect, I often think of "FIGS".
F=Fear of loss
I=Instant Gratification
G=Greed
S=Sense of Urgency

Appealing to one or more of the above emotions creates your hook.

Many times you can do a hook in the form of a warning...

Don't Spend Another Dime On PPC Until You Read This!!

Or the hook can be a question...

Can You Really Lose 30 Pounds In 30 days and Keep It Off Without Starving?

Both forms create curiosity and makes the reader want to read further.