• Eliminate the idea of being clever from your writing brain - being clever won’t get you very far and can get you into trouble
• BEFORE you start writing - determine who your customer is.  Who is buying from you?  Once you figure that out, target him/her - write copy based on that person’s want/needs/pain/fears/desire
• Be conversational in tone - speak to your audience as if they’re real people (because they ARE)
• Talk about the customer (benefits), not you (features).  You can discuss a few features, but put those words deeper into the copy
• One of your main tasks is to overcome skepticism - if you don’t convince the prospect, you’ll lose the sale
• Develop creditworthiness with testimonials - ASK your customers (nicely, of course) for testimonials.
• ALWAYS talk to your customers - in surveys, on the phone, etc.  And always reward them for their time and feedback with a free gift, discount, etc.
• If the copy is good, it can be long
• Sales copy does NOT have to be grammatically correct!!!!!!
• Tape your best salesman’s pitch, and use some of the language in your copy
• Know your prospect, know your customer - can’t stress this one enough - it forms the BASIS of all of your sales copy.  In this case, what you don’t know really CAN hurt you - right in your wallet
• If you can only ask your customer one question, it should be - What’s the biggest reason you buy from me
• Use bullets in your copy
• In order to be compelling, your copy MUST illustrate how you can solve your prospect’s pain/problem
• Be specific in your greeting - i.e. Dear Marketing Professional, Dear Beauty Shop Owner, Dear Health Conscious Friend, etc.
• Always answer the question WHY - why should I buy from you, why should I pay this price for your product/service, why is this price the price you are offering
• Don’t forget the P.S. - yup, people really DO read them!
• In sales copy, the joy is in the details - give SPECIFICS - steer clear of generalities

There you have them - the highlights.  Print this page out and keep it over your desk.  Follow these guidelines, and your sales copy will sell.  Good luck!