The Secret to Writing Content that Sells

What is this – writing tips?

I’ll admit it, I was shocked myself when my fingers magically wrote out the title to today’s article.

But I was thinking… what is it that we here at SEOSiteCheckUp.com harp on over and over again? Wasn’t hard – content.

It’s because we (and we’re not the only ones… now) firmly believe that content is the key to SEO, to sales, to increased profitability… you name it. If you have good content, the majority of the hard work is done for you.

Of course, good content isn’t so easy to come across.

But we’ve written about that in the past too. What we’ve never done, and what we think you guys will enjoy, is a quick course on writing that sells. But it isn’t just writing – if you use the principle we’ll discuss in today’s article, you’ll be able to understand how the sales process works, and then use it to great effect.

Onward, troops!

AIDA

And there you go. That’s the secret. Right there. AIDA.

Why?

A – Attention

I – Interest

D – Desire

A – Action

This, ladies and gentlemen, is what I like to call THE BLUEPRINT. It’s the secret to selling! 

First, you must attract attention. Why? Well, quick science lesson – we all have a RAS (Reticular Activation System!). It sorts through information in our world, and “catches” all the information that’s relevant to you.

This is how you can go through the day without experiencing MASSIVE sensory overload. Because you only pay attention to a tiny fraction of what’s going on you at any given moment.

What does this mean in the context of this article? It means you never read the majority of advertisements you come across.

When you’re writing sales content, you have to rip people out of their dream-like states. You need to take a sledgehammer to the RAS. 

“Hey, over here!!!”

Next, interest. We have their attention. So what? Now we need to pique their interest. How do we do this? Well, why not use a statistic?

Let’s say we’re selling guitar strings.

“Did you know 1,300 people lose sight in one eye due to snapped guitar strings, per year?”

NOTE: I just made that up.

Well, if we were selling a better, stronger guitar string, we just got the customer interested in what we had to say. We took a statistic and shoved it in their face – a statistic that they couldn’t ignore.

So now they’re interested. You’re doing great!

Now we need to make them desire our product. See, it’s not enough to get someone interested in the angle we’re coming from. Now that we’ve shown them a stat that piques their interest, they need to see a logical and clear connection from their interest to your product.

And that’s the case we’ll make in desire. 

Talk about your product. Specifically, mention benefits that relate to the statistic (or another interest-creating mechanism you use) we used to capture interest.  Write from this angle: “what would I have to read to BUY MY OWN PRODUCT?”

Act as a customer. 

Lastly, we need them to TAKE ACTION.

How? Well, we show them EXACTLY what they need to do to fulfill their desire IMMEDIATELY, and we make it as easy as possible.

Yes, this means some handholding. Write out every single step your customer needs to take. Because some customers aren’t sure of themselves at this point. And the customers who are will skip these steps anyways. 

Trust me – the clearer you make the “action” step, the more you’ll convert.

There you have it – the secret to writing great sales content. AIDA. Follow the formula and, well… your sales content will practically write itself.

And, as we mentioned above, this isn’t just about writing. It’s about sales in general. Use this framework whenever you need to sell ANYTHING, and you’ll do great.

Lastly, can’t leave without this – if you want to SELL, you must have a GREAT PRODUCT.

Until next time!

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