88 of 93 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Don't You Wish You Knew How to Destroy Your Client's Credibility in a Few Simple Steps!, July 7, 2010
Maria Veloso's Web Copy That Sells has some good information but often times ends up discrediting herself when she gives examples of her own work as you will see for yourself when you read this review.
She'll explain some concepts of copywriting and then she will bring up her work for things like "the one minute cure" --and ebook claiming to cure most diseases in one minute. now as a serious marketer, When she's touting a headline she wrote that says "Simple Formula Has Been Scientifically Proven to Cure Cancer and Virtually All Diseases" how am i supposed to take this seriously and apply this to my own work when she's showing examples of websites and products that appear to be scams specifically aimed at people with terminal diseases desperate for some hope?
Considering she spends some time talking about how your copy has to have credibility, how can she not realize her book loses credibility with such examples of her work? it seems her own work is usually done for these websites offering get rich schemes, low end marketing programs aimed at the internet bottom feeders and false miracle cures. If i was her i would be a bit concerned that the Federal Trade Commission would be reading it.
She will suggests things like making fake blogs posts, websites that masquerade as science journals and all those types of bottom feeder trickery. I understand that these methods probably work for the type of shady businesses she has worked for but it doesn't work for solid legitimate businesses. A real medicine, medical equipment or health supplement can't risk their reputations using such questionable (and i would say unethical and possibly even illegal) devices.
This is not to say that she doesn't have some good advice for web copywriting newbies, but excuse me, copywriting giants like John Caples and Joe Sugarman would not touch this stuff. those guys actually had to sell real things to real people not one minute cure to cancer victims, so it's so much easier for me to find them credible and take their advice. Ms Veloso just leaves me feeling a bit dirty.
It's through the work of people like her that our web surfing experience suffers and it has become so difficult to find good information.
>>If you are interested in selling information packages and ebooks of questionable value,this book might be for you.
>>if you are writing copy for shady businesses that have no reputation to worry about this book might be for you.
>>if you think the best way to sell is to use questionable tactics and trickery this book might be for you.
if you are interested in selling physical objects or copywriting for any company that can't afford to throw their reputation in the trash, i would suggest you forget about this book and instead learn from credible and successful direct marketing giants like Drayton Bird, Joe Sugarman, John Caples, Lester Wunderman and adapt their techniques for the web.
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23 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Bible for web copy writers, October 21, 2009
This book is a true joy to read: every chapter contains gold nuggets of advice that will make your web copy writing more effective. The author's mantra is essentially focused on keeping messages simple, targeted to the audience's needs, and appealing on an emotional level. It contains everything from word lookup tables (eg. use "discover" rather than "find") to step-by-step guides to evaluate your content.
As a test, we converted one of our websites and email campaigns using the book's advice, and measured the responses with Google Analytics and the results were staggering. While it sometimes felt like I was writing an infomercial ("Learn the secrets of weight loss to discover the new you!"), it has an undeniably positive effect on the bounce rates, page views and conversions. We're now renovating every site along the same lines. Overall, this has been one of the most productive technical books I've ever read.
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