You’ll want 10-15 articles in advance and “drip” them over the course of a month. This way you can work on promoting your site without having to go back and write more.
I promise that I’m not just being titillating. EROTIC stands for:
- Engage
- Rapport
- Open-Up
- Titillate
- Indicate Value
- Call-to-Action
I think if people put the same energy into writing content that they did into their relationships, there’d be a lot better stuff on the web, and a lot more wealthy affiliates. If you’re writing a review site, you need to speak the language of selling. That means you need to seduce your customers and get them in the right mood - the buying mood.
In the same way that we build romantic relationships by introducing ourselves to strangers, standing out and being interesting, showing them how cool we are while showing genuine interest in their needs and desires, being used without being clingy or desperate, and closing the deal with confidence, we can close a business deal without even meeting our customers by using the methods listed below.
I want you to always put yourself in your visitor’s shoes – that’s an exercise you should do often - and ask what information they need to know in order to make a decision. They’re going on a journey, from arriving at your site looking for information, or to solve a problem, etc., to building trust in you, to see a product can be of use, a solution for them, etc. This is going to be a little different for each article and niche, but this formula works well no matter what you write.
Engage
You know who never gets any action at the singles bar? The guy or gal who sits in the corner and stares listlessly into space. If you aren’t engaging the opposite sex, and letting them know who you are, then you might as well wear a “nothing interesting here, move along” shirt.
In the online world, our headlines work the same way.
It doesn’t matter what your article is like unless you can grab a little attention. People are skeptical, and there’s a lot of garbage out there. A picture that after EVERY sentence, the person reading is going to stop, hover over the X button, and ask themselves “should I keep reading this”?
Engage them with a provocative title, an interesting sentence, or a compelling question. Generally, people have an interest in:
Dangers they should avoid.
Products they should buy.
Numbered lists.
Ways to save time and money.
Negativity. Things that are bad, things that suck, people that are bad or in bad situations.
Extended metaphors. Why something is like something else.
Rapport
There’s nothing worse than going out with someone who only talks about themselves. People want to be around people that care about their problems and want them to succeed. In real life, we can show our interest by looking someone in the eye, smiling warmly, and listening well.
Here, you create rapport with the reader by introducing a problem they’re having and explaining how your product can fix it.
Describe what the problem is, then discuss how it feels to have the problem physically, then emotionally, then introduce your solution, then talk about how it feels to get rid of the problem. There are a few ways to do this – you can tell an interesting story about yourself or the kind of person that would need this product…
It was around my third pair of ripped jeans that I decided to see if the “Little Extra” 450’s were the right jeans for me. It’s always been tough for me to squeeze into designer jeans no matter what my weight was because of the way my hips were built. I’d have to either wear something way too tight or go up a size and look bigger than I was. But when my best friend suggested I try Little Extra’s, it gave me a little hope. How did it go?
Or you can talk about the company that made the product, and the problem they’re trying to solve.
The women’s jeans market used to be SO homogenous – if you weren’t thin, you weren’t in! Women didn’t have much of a choice but to struggle their way into pants that didn’t quite fit the way they should. Luckily, things have changed, and there’s a big market for jeans for women with curvier figures. But do Little Extra’s get the job done – and more importantly, do they do it in style?
Finally, you can make the story about the reader.
It’s the worst thing that can happen to any child. When your child cries and cajoles you every time you drop them off at school, it can put a dent in your workday and give you feelings of guilt no responsible parent should have to cope with. But the STRESS SAFE SYSTEM promises to improve your child’s disposition and the quality of your life. Does it really live up to its promises?
Anyway, if it’s appropriate, you can close the paragraph with a question you’ll answer in the rest of the article. Basically, this opening paragraph isn’t just a chance to talk about a product, it’s a chance to show the person reading that you care about them and want to help.
Open Up
Relationships aren’t just about smiling, introducing yourself, and making Googly eyes. And they aren’t just about whispers and passion, either. The vast majority of a good first date is pretty mundane – learning about a person and finding out whether they fit into your life. As you open up to them, they’ll open up to you.
Spend 2-3 paragraphs giving a solution to the reader, and rewarding them for making that click. Don’t just throw together three bland paragraphs - try and organize them in a way that is coherent and tells a story. There are three basic ways to do this:
- What are the most dramatic problems facing people who use this product? If it’s snowboarding supplies, it’s probably being cold and getting wet. Talk about the most urgent problems and then slowly go to more aesthetic things.
- What’s the most unique feature of this product? If everybody wants to know about something right off the bat, don’t deny them.
- Go “outside in”… start talking about the design, cosmetic features, and exterior of the product. Then discuss the details on the inside that make it work.
Titillate
Sexy writing and sexy interactions in real life have something in common, and that’s what they’re devious. Plenty of people have “nice” dates, but if you aren’t getting your hooks in and being seductive WHILE you’re having your “normal” date, they just won’t find you interesting.
Be colorful and inject your own personality into your writing. In most niches, you aren’t uncovering brand new information as much as you are packaging it in a way new customers can identify. You don’t need to get in the way of the information, but you do need to be interesting.
You can also start sprinkling in your credentials, and the credentials of your sources, or your personal story. As you write, it’s important to sound like you know what you’re talking about, and have a deep appreciation for the subject your site is about. Intelligent asides are a way of reminding people that you’re a real person that’s opinionated and experienced.
This Samsung phone has a Super AMOLED screen, but those screens are mostly marketing hype.
If you’ve read my other reviews you know I don’t like the girth of their jackets.
Panasonic’s bread machines don’t come with a cooking window, but that’s actually a good thing because they mess with the flow of heat and ruin every loaf.
Indicate Value
You don’t just want to talk about your life and be funny – you need to make your customers want to be with you. So as you write, sprinkle these seductive authority boosters in they’ll take your articles from wimpy to wow.
If you got a list of bullet points from an Amazon page, you need to translate “sales speak” and “patented features” into plain English. Explain why a feature is so special. People don’t care about what a product does, they care about what it does for them. Let’s say you’re reviewing a stroller with waterproof material. Which shows you how valuable the stroller is?
A single bullet point that says “Waterproof Exterior”
It’s terrible to have to deal with mold on the inside of your stroller – it smells bad and it draws attention. Luckily, the Gracie Babybus 2 is water resistant so you can carry your baby around in peace.
Instead of relaying a list of features, start talking about benefits, and get them imagining this product in their everyday life!
You also increase your value by frankly discussing the flaws of your product.
This is crucial to a longer review – point out the good and bad of your product. Think of it as a way to show you’re “not like other guys”. If you’re promoting an Amazon product that has a common complaint about it, point it out. Then reframe it by asking yourself how to solve that problem.
The Horizon Fitness stroller is very lightweight – that makes it tough for parents looking carrying their baby over rough surfaces, so it’s best for people who are going to be carrying two things at once or need maneuverability.
Don’t use the price of an item as a negative. First of all, prices come and go all the time, and you don’t have the time to update it every 3 months. Second, it’s about value, not cost.
If you can, give some examples of people who have made this solution work. If you’re reviewing an Amazon product, it shouldn’t be hard to find someone who has gotten through the flaws of your product.
Call To Action
Finally, you need to summarize your article in a couple of sentences and explain the effect of applying the steps in the article. If you asked any “questions” to open your review, answer them. Be as specific as you can about WHO this product is designed for and will help the most.
When you’ve done this stuff well, you’ll really show off the value of your information and yourself.
Longer, more in-depth reviews just convert better. They give more information, build more trust, and demonstrate the kind of value we need to move people down the funnel.
Once you’ve shown off the value of your product and yourself, you have to seal the deal. There are so many people who blow it at the end of the night because they’re afraid of rejection. They settle for a kiss on the cheek or a handshake and they go home unsatisfied.
Outsourcing It
I have never, ever been satisfied with a Fiverr article. Even remotely.
If you’re looking for help with a project, go with
Articlez (www.articlez.com) or NeedAnArticle (www.needanarticle.com) – I prefer NAA since
you can be a little more detailed in what you want them to write, and they turn around a little faster than Articlez, and there’s a lower monthly charge.
Anyway, even the best content is pointless if you can’t actually get the people to your site! So let’s start talking about how to format our articles to give ourselves the easiest road to the top of the search engines.
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