One day I sat and wrote a 295 word article for one of my sites. The article will not win a Pulitzer Prize, but it wasn’t trash either. I think it took me a total of 20 minutes. The majority of the time was spent signing up as an author.

I submitted the article and had it reviewed by their editors within two days. The article went live on 30 Aug 2007 and I was named an “expert author”. To date the article was viewed 319 times and I’ve received 25 site visits. These visits spend 4.22 minutes on the site and view 2.25 pages.

This is just one article. What if I wrote nine more? You get the picture. From my brief experience, I would definitely recommend you write a few articles to support whatever site you’re working on.

1. Showcase Your Expertise
You need to answer the question “why should I listen to you?” What particular qualifications demand attention? What have you done that others have not? What degrees do you hold? What life experience do you have? How many hours research have you spent? What training or certifications do you have? If you don’t have a particular expertise in an online venture, partner with someone that does.

As an exercise, open up a phone book and look through major ads. Can you identify how companies are showcasing their expertise?

Some examples:

“Over 70 years combined construction experience”
Pictures of completed work
Former District Attorney

2. Establish Your Trustworthiness
Expertise without trustworthiness is worthless. If you’re a crook, nobody will want to do business with you. You need to answer the question “how do I know I can trust you?” Do you have a contact E-mail address and/or phone number? Do you have a privacy policy? Do you have testimonials? Do you offer a money-back guarantee? You must build trust with your prospective buyers and maintain that trust.

More examples from the phone book:

Logo from the Better Business Bureau
Free estimates
Independently audited and approved

3. Increase Your Exposure
If nobody has heard of you, your expertise and trustworthiness are great but useless. You need to get “face time” with your potential clients. Are you writing quality posts in appropriate forums? Are you writing articles that demonstrate your expertise? Are you sending PR releases? Are you soliciting radio talk shows? Part of establishing your credibility is being out there as an expert.

How many of these keys are your currently implementing?

For more great “how to” articles, check out: Problogger Contest.

Top 5

1. [COMPANYNAME] Sales & Marketing Newsletter
2. Eye on the [COMPANYNAME] Update (Oct 31 – Nov 4)
3. [COMPANYNAME] Staff Shirts & Photos
4. [COMPANYNAME] May 2005 News Bulletin!
5. [COMPANYNAME] Newsletter – February 2006

Worst 5

1. Last Minute Gift – We Have The Answer
2. Valentines – Shop Early & Save 10%
3. Give a Gift Certificate this Holiday
4. Valentine’s Day Salon and Spa Specials!
5. Gift Certificates – Easy & Elegant Giving – Let Them Choose

What is their advice?

This is going to sound “stupid simple” to a lot of people, but here goes: Your subject line should (drum roll please): Describe the subject of your email. Yep, that’s it.

This doesn’t address conversion rates, but it does give an idea of how to get your E-mail read. People are innoculated against advertising which the worst 5 prove easily.

Some people are willing to even take a loss on front-end sales so they can have the shot at a more lucrative back-end product or service. At minimum, a smart business move is to always have something else to sell after the first purchase is made.

Sales:
Table with 6 choices: 30% purchased an item
Table with 24 choices: 3% purchased an item

How will you apply this knowledge to your ebiz?

1. Half Price
2. Buy one get one free
3. 50% off

It was #2. This won’t apply to every situation, but it does demonstrate that the words you use in your ad copy are important! Now if I could only find a cumulative source for all this type of ad copy information.