The Art of Persuasive Business Writing

All good writing involves persuasion-getting the reader over to your side. You may be writing to persuade a colleague to take on a new project, writing a blog post trying to persuade people to accept a new idea, or writing persuasive advertising copy for a new product. In each situation, your goal is to persuade your readers that you have something to say and that it is in their best interest to take the action you have requested. Here are five elements to keep in mind when writing persuasive messages. 1. "You" attitude. Too much business writing has an "I" or "we" viewpoint, which causes the writer to sound selfish and not interested in the reader. If you want to get your point of view across, convey information, or persuade the reader, you have to talk in terms of the reader's interests, hopes, wishes, and preferences. Good writing psychology requires that you present your message in light of the reader's viewpoint rather than your own. "I" or "We" To help us process this order, we must ask for another copy of the requisition. We trust you will extend your service contract. "You" So that your order can be filled promptly, please send another copy of the requisition. By extending your service contract, you can continue to enjoy topnotch performance from your equipment. 2. Warmth. You can make all sorts of mistakes in your messages yet still leave your readers with a good feeling if you can convey the magic intangible of personal warmth. Warmth is more difficult in writing than it is in oral communications. Essentially, warmth is an aspect-possibly even the measure-of the "you" viewpoint. You should not only demonstrate concern for the audience's problems but interest in their attitudes and an appreciation of the ways in which handling the situation is going to be helpful to them. 3. Parallel experience. One way of touching the right spots with your reader is to draw on a parallel situation in your own experience. Build your writing around this experience, or use what you learned as a basis for your writing. By creating a sympathetic bond between you and your reader, you enhance the person-to-person connection and help your reader to become more open to what you are saying. 4. Good manners. If you want to persuade your reader, you must show impeccable manners. In other words, be nice. If you are rude or overly aggressive, your reader will shut down to your argument and turn elsewhere. When in doubt, put yourself on the other end of the writing and ask, "How would I feel if this was directed at me? Would I be offended, or would I be open to listening to more?" 5. Tone. The tone of your writing goes beyond the content of your words and offers the reader an overall feeling or indication of your meaning. The overall tone of your message will depend on the subject, but a general guideline is to stay positive. Suggest to your reader that you are interested in his or her problems and in solving them. A good tone is ruined by using harsh words or phrases. Some examples: Poor the alleged loss you claim that you neglected to send in which you assert if we were at fault we request that you send us Improved the loss you refer to we understand that you did not send you tell us please accept our apologies please send us Persuasion is an art, not a science-but that does not mean there is no winning formula. By incorporating these five elements into your business communication, you will have a greater chance of getting your reader to stop, listen, and take the action you want.

The Art of Persuasive Business Writing by: Courtland Bovee

All good writing involves persuasion-getting the reader over to your side. You may be writing to persuade a colleague to take on a new project, writing a blog post trying to persuade people to accept a new idea, or writing persuasive advertising copy for a new product. In each situation, your goal is to persuade your readers that you have something to say and that it is in their best interest to take the action you have requested. Here are five elements to keep in mind when writing persuasive messages. 1. "You" attitude. Too much business writing has an "I" or "we" viewpoint, which causes the writer to sound selfish and not interested in the reader. If you want to get your point of view across, convey information, or persuade the reader, you have to talk in terms of the reader's interests, hopes, wishes, and preferences. Good writing psychology requires that you present your message in light of the reader's viewpoint rather than your own. "I" or "We" To help us process this order, we must ask for another copy of the requisition. We trust you will extend your service contract. "You" So that your order can be filled promptly, please send another copy of the requisition. By extending your service contract, you can continue to enjoy topnotch performance from your equipment. 2. Warmth. You can make all sorts of mistakes in your messages yet still leave your readers with a good feeling if you can convey the magic intangible of personal warmth. Warmth is more difficult in writing than it is in oral communications. Essentially, warmth is an aspect-possibly even the measure-of the "you" viewpoint. You should not only demonstrate concern for the audience's problems but interest in their attitudes and an appreciation of the ways in which handling the situation is going to be helpful to them. 3. Parallel experience. One way of touching the right spots with your reader is to draw on a parallel situation in your own experience. Build your writing around this experience, or use what you learned as a basis for your writing. By creating a sympathetic bond between you and your reader, you enhance the person-to-person connection and help your reader to become more open to what you are saying. 4. Good manners. If you want to persuade your reader, you must show impeccable manners. In other words, be nice. If you are rude or overly aggressive, your reader will shut down to your argument and turn elsewhere. When in doubt, put yourself on the other end of the writing and ask, "How would I feel if this was directed at me? Would I be offended, or would I be open to listening to more?" 5. Tone. The tone of your writing goes beyond the content of your words and offers the reader an overall feeling or indication of your meaning. The overall tone of your message will depend on the subject, but a general guideline is to stay positive. Suggest to your reader that you are interested in his or her problems and in solving them. A good tone is ruined by using harsh words or phrases. Some examples: Poor...........................Improved the alleged loss...............the loss you refer to you claim that.................we understand that you neglected to send..........you did not send in which you assert............you tell us if we were at fault............please accept our apologies we request that you send us....please send us Persuasion is an art, not a science-but that does not mean there is no winning formula. By incorporating these five elements into your business communication, you will have a greater chance of getting your reader to stop, listen, and take the action you want.

Internet Marketing For Online Business by: Cliff Posey Jr

Internet marketing for your online business can be confusing, especially if you are not familiar with all of the different aspects of website marketing. This is why it can sometimes be hard to determine exactly which marketing method to use. Many business owners are afraid to choose a marketing strategy because they fear it will not pay off. Others don't care and are willing to try virtually anything. No matter which category you fall into, you will have to eventually make a choice. Every online business needs to advertise in some way if they want to compete. At some point, you will have to take a chance. It is only after you have developed and implemented a website marketing strategy that you will truly be able to determine whether or not it was a success. Though there are many different website marketing techniques, there is really only one way to judge the success of your online campaign. Follow-up. If you never follow-up on your marketing decisions, it will be impossible for you to determine whether or not you should continue with a specific website marketing strategy. See, a website marketing campaign is just like any other marketing campaign. Once it is over, the results need to be analyzed and measured. Follow-up is especially important when it comes to Internet marketing for online business, because there are so many methods of advertising. By tracking your results, you can determine which methods of website marketing were effective and which methods were not. You can then adjust your methods accordingly. If you have never tracked your website traffic or the results of a website marketing campaign, it may be hard to determine where to start. However, you shouldn't become frustrated and give up too soon. Results tracking is very important if you want to make sure you're not throwing your advertising money out the window. The easiest way to track your site visitors is by viewing your website's logs. These logs are a record of your site visitors and can help you determine where the traffic on your website came from. By viewing these logs, you will know whether or not the visitors were a direct result of the website marketing campaign. Just about every web hosting company provides this service to their customers. If your web host does not allow you access to these logs or if they will not send you weblog reports, you may want to consider switching web hosts. If switching hosts is not a viable option, you can also purchase one of many software programs that are specifically designed to help you track and analyze your website marketing efforts. Results tracking is an essential part of Internet marketing for online business. Without it, you will have a very hard time figuring out exactly how effective your website marketing campaign is. You would never know how a website visitor found your site and you would never know which advertising strategies were failures. Effective Internet marketing for online business brings traffic to your website and then converts that traffic into paying customers. When you can accomplish this conversion on a regular basis, you will know that your website marketing strategy is truly a success. Comprehensive Internet marketing for online business is more than just launching a campaign. You must also take an active role in market research, strategy development, campaign design, risk management, and quality control. Then, by carefully monitoring and measuring the results of your website marketing efforts, you can

Is Making A Good First Impression On Business Clients Important?by: Dock Murphy

It has been said that it is important to always make a good first impression and you only get one chance to do that. After that opportunity passes, you will play catch-up in having your clients believe in you. You only rarely get a second chance to make a good first impression so you have to make the best of the opportunity. In business, the first impression begins with the first contact a potential client has with you. Whether it is on the telephone or in person, the first time a client has any type of dealings with you company can help him for an instant opinion. Unfortunately, for many business owners, they are not the ones holding the key to the first meeting. It could be hindered by the receptionist who answers the phone or the maintenance man who is supposed to keep the front sidewalk clear of litter. If they are not all on the same page in making your new clients feel welcome, you are fast approaching the point of being too late to make that good first impression. Even if the prospective new client gets into the office with no trouble for the first meeting, do not keep them waiting. While five minutes may not seem like a long time, but it could give the opinion that you do not think that person is important to your business. If they feel they do not matter to you, they will not believe you matter to them. It does not matter what industry you are in or what type of work you do, there are many others that can provide the same service or product. The new client wants to be comfortable knowing that you are going to say what you will do and then do what you say. If you make the client feel uncomfortable or make them wait, they will probably seek another place to park their business. If the new client feels good about doing business with your company and strikes a deal, that is only the beginning. That first impression can be ruined by bad follow up and not delivering on your promise. If you can do everything right, that first impression can translate into the best advertising you can hope for…word of mouth. It is a commonly accepted theory that if you make one client happy they will tell five others. If you do not treat them right they will tell two of their friends, who will tell two of their friends and so on, until business quits coming to you. There is no shame in doing what is right for the customer. After all, if the clients quit coming to your door, you may as well lock and stay at home.

4 Ways To Skyrocket Your Opt In Rate And Build Your On-line Business

If you are not building an opt-in list on your website you are losing money - period. Having a list is the most important aspect of website marketing as it gets your prospect into your marketing funnel…and that utlimately means a higher bottom line. But how do you improve your opt-in rate with clients…
1. Sell the benefits not the features.
Your prospect is giving you permission to send them information to their email account and they want to know WIIFM or “What is in it for me?”. You need to carefully structure your opt-in box so that it is easily identified and filled out.List the benefits of the information that they will receive, how quickly they will receive it and list some testimonials from happy customers about the quality of your information. You have to sell this to your prospect if you want to have any hope of getting them to sign up for an optin-list.For example, “In just 30 seconds time you too could find out the 7 deadly mistakes first home buyers make and how to avoid them. ”
2. Experiment with pop-ups.
Many people hate pop-ups but they can be an effective opt-in strategy as either a pop-up on entry or a pop-under on exit. I recommend testing and measuring the effectiveness of the pop up on your site.On some of my sites they have increased the subscriber rate yet on others the opposite has occurred. Remember to test and measure everything to establish what works, what doesn’t and what gives you the best ROI.
3. Have a strict, easily visible, no spam policy.
Customers want to know that their details are safe and that they aren’t going to receive spam from you. Write in the opt-in box that you “hate spam as much as you do and you can easily unsubscribe if you don’t like the service”.If they do unsubscribe make sure that you remove their details from your database. Most quality email marketing systems will do this automatically (like 1 shopping cart and Aweber).This provides a safe opportunity for prospects to explore and learn about you and also leave if they dislike the information.
4. Place your opt-in form on your sales page.
This should go about half way down so they can opt-in for a free report and they are “in the system”. In doing so you have identified a qualified lead, one which is more likely to buy from you.By employing proven opt-in tactics you will be able to skyrocket your opt-in rate and build your business with a larger client base

Some thing about the United States

The United States has reached a deal with the European Union, Japan and Canada to keep its Internet gambling market closed to foreign companies, but is continuing talks with India, Antigua and Barbuda, Macau and Costa Rica, U.S. trade officials said on Monday."We are pleased to confirm that the United States has reached agreement ... with Canada, the EU and Japan," Gretchen Hamel, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Trade Representative's office, said in a statement several hours after the EU had announced details of the deal it had reached with Washington.
The decision is a disappointment for European online gambling companies who hoped a case brought by Antigua several years ago at the World Trade Organization gave them a foothold to get back in the U.S. market after being kicked out by Congress last year.In an April 2005 victory for Antigua, the WTO said a U.S. law allowing only domestic companies to provide horse-race gambling services discriminated against foreign firms.But rather than open up the U.S. online horse-race gambling market, Congress tightened restrictions on other forms of Internet gambling last year by making it illegal for banks and credit card companies to make payments to online gambling sites.The Bush administration also announced in May that it was retroactively excluding gambling and betting services from market-opening commitments it made as part of the 1994 world trade agreement, saying that U.S. trade negotiators had made a mistake by not expressly excluding them at the time.
That opened the door for the European Union and other trading partners to seek compensation from the United States in the form of increased access to another U.S. service market.Hamel said the deal reached with the EU, Japan and Canada "involves commitments to maintain our liberalized markets for warehousing services, technical testing services, research and development services and postal services relating to outbound international letters."European gambling companies had argued the EU was entitled to as much as $100 billion in compensation for being denied access to the U.S. market. But EU officials never publicly embraced that amount and U.S. official called it an exaggerated figure.Hamel declined to say on Monday how much the deal was worth. "We're not going to get into that," she said.

Internet and Business

4 Things To Watch Out For From A Home Internet Based Business Opportunity
There are so many opportunities on the internet offering to set people up in their own home based internet business that it can be difficult to separate the real, legitimate opportunities from the ones that only want your money. Knowing what to look for hidden within the offers can mean the difference between finding a legitimate business to operate and ending up helping someone else make money while losing your own. With most fraudulent offers for in internet business there are four red flags that need to be thoroughly investigated before signing up to work for the website. Understand that not all of the companies that make these claims are out to take your money, but these are four things that many less than honest companies have in common:
1. Large upfront investment
2. The chance to make big money with little work
3. Do not clearly state what you will be selling
4. Lack of available contact information
While it is not uncommon for business to want a fee to become a representative for their business, you have to consider the amount demanded from you before you can start selling their product or service. You should also have a clear picture of what you will get in return for your investment. It is common for the term training to be listed, but many times the training consists of links to other sites where you are expected to learn about the company’s business model. The training may also focus on how to recruit others into the business, offering to pay a “bounty” for bringing in new people. A company that focuses on bringing in more people instead of selling the product may be on the border of being illegal. Anyone who has ever been involved in a business knows it takes work. One of the most common pitches is the promise of a big payday without having to work more than an hour or two a day…or even a week. There is no such thing as a free lunch and those who try to convince you otherwise and not being totally honest. That disclaimer about income may not a representative of the potential earnings, should beg the question about why even bother to list it. If you have been reading an online based business opportunity for several minutes and have no idea about the product or service you are being asked to sell, it could be an indication of a scam. Many keep it a secret until you have spent your money and find out there is no way you can sell this to others with a clear conscious. Know what the product is, and how much it will cost, before considering the offer any further. Look for contact information. If the only means of contacting the company is through an email address, it could be they don’t plan to be around long enough to answer any questions or complaints. Money back guarantees are also only about as good as the contact information. Email addresses and post office boxes are not good contacts.