Page 71 - 100 Great Copywriting Ideas: From Leading Companies Around the World (100 Great Ideas)

29 WRITE MORE AND
DOUBLE YOUR PROFITS

Our house is stuffed with story books. Some we can read in a few
minutes, others take an hour or two. Guess which ones my children
prefer? This preference for engagement runs deep in the human
psyche. And it may go part of the way to explaining why long copy
tends to work better than short copy. In fact, it’s been shown that the
best copy can double your profits.

Now, many otherwise sane and rational people (you know,
marketeers, business owners, people like that) get all huffy when
advised that longer copy works better. Yet these are the same sane
and rational people who want maximum profits. Hmm.

The idea

From a successful mail order and internet marketing business
Here’s another great example of a highly successful business that
appears to break the rules about web copywriting. I say “appears”
because the “rules” he’s breaking aren’t rules at all—just myths.
I looked at the website of a very successful American marketing
consultant and found dozens of long pages including one, picked at
random, with 3,072 words of copy.

He’s not doing this because he likes doing it. He’s doing it because
it works.

Long copy is, in general, more responsive than short copy. This
applies to web pages. Sales letters. Emails. Ads. Whatever. Some
of the world’s most profitable mail-order businesses have tested
relentlessly, and ended up with 12-, 24-, or even 32-page sales letters.

62 • 100 GREAT COPYWRITING IDEAS