Have you made this mistake in your copy? You write a marketing piece that sounds like this...

Users of this amazing herbal supplement are likely to lose weight twice as fast as most people. In a recent study, it was found that metabolic rates of users increased among 38% of them, compared with just 7% among the control group, resulting in significant overall weight decreases.

Ho-hum. BORING!

What's wrong with that copy? I'll tell you.

Nobody talks like that!

It sounds like it was written by a computer.

If you want to turn the stranger who visit your website into a friend who will buy your product, you need to create a sense of connection with them. And you do that by writing your copy just the way you would say it.

Joe Vitale calls this "intimacy." He means that the reader can get a feel for the personality of the writer. So here's my advice.

Don't try to hide who you are. Allow your personality to shine through you copy. Because when your readers have an idea of how you are, they build a feeling of trust in you. Don't try to imitate other writers - be yourself.

That's how you make friends.

But writing like you talk isn't a task that comes easy to most people. When you speak, your words have a certain rhythm. When you write, you need to capture that same rhythm. Here are some tips.

* Use short sentences and short paragraphs
* Try to make ever sentence as impactful as a headline
* Use alliteration and rhyme all the time
* Don't use any words with more than three syllables.
* Repetition, repetition, repetition
* Use slang, as long as it is appropriate and understandable by your audience
* Don't use any foreign words or phrases, and stay away from clever puns.
* Most people won't get it.
* Keep your words simple.


Your readers may not have the same level of education or training that you have, so try to keep your words simple, yet descriptive.

When you speak, you use your hands, your body language, and the tone of your voice to emphasize certain key parts. In writing, you can do the same thing by using bold, italics, highlighting, etc to accentuate critical passages.

These will also break up your text, making it easier on the eyes.

And finally, you need to write in the active voice. In other words, don't just state that something happened, state who or what is doing the action. Don't say "The information will be quickly absorbed due to subliminal suggestion." Say "With subliminal suggestion, you will quickly absorb the information."

Don't be afraid to use cliches. "Warm as toast" and "Mad as hell" and "Dog tired" are such common phrases that everyone knows what they mean, and everyone uses them in general conversation. So even though cliches should be avoid if you are writing a novel, they should be embraced in sales copy.

Always say "I" rather than "we" or "us." The more lively, interesting and conversational you can make your copy, the more your readers will identify with you. Your copy must sound like it is directed from you to them, personally (you don't have the advantage of talking face to face), so you have to turn those strangers into your friends.

Because friends are more likely they will be to buy from you.