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When it comes to freelance writing jobs two questions are often asked, where are they obtained, and how much should a writer charge for his or her services? The answer to both questions is not a black or white one, but there are some tried and true methods of both picking up freelance writing jobs, and finding the appropriate rate to charge that will have you writing for greenbacks before you know it.

One can not start charging money for their writing services without a client, thus it is first and foremost the job of a new freelance writer to seek out work before deciding what to charge. Doing this can be a daunting task, since most new freelance writers have little to no professional experience. Lesson the blow of stress and anxiety by creating several feature articles on a favorite set of topics that can showcase your work.

Once a basic portfolio of the written work has been created, it is time to start searching for freelance writing jobs. Start the search for writing gigs by looking on the large freelance websites that offer an abundance of content thirsty clients looking for a professional writer.

Another great place to find freelance writing jobs is online forums. Forums, especially those dedicated to webmaster tips and discussion offer a virtual jackpot of writing opportunities. Since the web is still dominated with the written word, there is no better client than that of a webmaster with a series of niche sites that is in need of constant content. Further, webmasters tend to be more patient with new writers as long as the rates are relatively inexpensive.

Whether you land your first freelance writing job from one of the big name freelance job boards online, or from a online forum, make sure to start with an affordable menu of prices. While some new writers can instantly charge larger than average rates for their work, most start with modest fees to help gain a client base and build up their portfolio.

While the term modest is left up to reader interpretation, charging between $20 and $100 per page would fall into that category of affordable writing services. This also will differentiate your services from the glut of writers that attempt to command rates 5 to 10 times the above amount.

Remember, there will always be time in the future to raise your rates, create retainer packages, and come up with ways to earn more for writing less, however when starting out it is imperative to keep it cheap for the clients so they have an incentive to take a risk on a new writer.

Finally, be sure to be persistent in your search for freelance writing jobs. Without doubt you will face some adversity along the way to becoming an established freelance writer, but for those that stick to the above advice a world of creative satisfaction and financial stability awaits.

Ron Subs is a marketing consultant for the bestselling book The Definitive Guide to Making Money Online with Your Writing. For more information about the book and the author visit Http://www.WriterWork.com

You can create attentive and receptive readers by developing and using the right copywriting skills. Good copywriting can be the answer to phenomenal sales, and even a small adjustment in copy can have large impact on results.

Do you have a website? Do you have an opt-in page? Are you getting traffic? Or are you agonizing over what to promote or what to write about on a blog or in a newsletter?

Is the blank screen staring back at you expecting a response, but your eyes glaze over and your brain begins thinking of what is on Television. You get up for a snack, settle into another exciting episode of a favourite television program and forgot that you were going to write those killer emails or blog posts so you can make some money?

Does the idea of trying to write world-class copy, copy that gets response, cause sweat to pour from your palms and drip from your brow? Do you put off what you know you should do, but just don’t get around to it because you’re unsure of how to get started or what to write about or how to write messages that generates responses?

Then it happens, another day goes by without anything loaded into your autoresponder or posted to your website or blog that could have earned you a commission! Another lost opportunity! Does this sound familiar?

Well, you’re not alone…it is estimated that 97% of those with online interests have a general grasp on how to setup a squeeze page and get decent traffic, but when it comes time to selecting and extracting benefits from a sales page and writing killer response pulling copy, they are less sure of themselves.

Crafting your online messages in a way that draws the reader into the copy using techniques like trance inducing language will create a massive increase in your conversions and sales. If you’re like most people online you just want to see results.

Including trance inducing language in your messages can get the attention of your reader and put them into a highly receptive state of mind. That’s all it does. But the results are spectacular! The most successful online marketers hire the best to write this kind of copy for them. Trance inducing language can create large sales figures.

Your messages work harder for you when you include trance inducing language which triggers trance-like attentiveness. Instead of the one-thousand-and-one things that are going on around them every minute of every day, readers feel compelled to follow your message paths.

Sometimes it’s almost magical the way these messages get people to respond. Of course, there’s nothing really magical, in the supernatural sense of the word… but the results can be magical!

People act on messages because they are drawn into the words and thoughts Even if they do not accept them 100%, they do not want to give up a potential advantage by continuing to read your message.

So here is a powerful formula for creating massive response. It could be considered to be a million dollar technique:

Draw people into your message in a way that suspends their skepticism long enough to convince themselves that if they don’t follow you they will be missing out on some key advantage they could obtain from you either now or in the near future.

You can induce deep attention or a trance-like state in your audience on command once you learn how. Help your reader get into a highly focused and attentive state while guiding them to take your predetermined most desired action.

Making money online comes down to how good you are at crafting a message that will focus the attention of the reader, keep their attention and lead them to take an action, an action such as click through to a website and order the product, thus generating a commission.

Each message has a specific job to do and should be created with the reader in mind, and to extract the maximum desired response from the reader. Their object is simple, get clicks through to the product site and predispose the reader to order now.

A subject line should be crafted carefully to create curiosity, and to increase the open rates, and also to lead into the body of the messages. The first message should bring the reader in to an attentive and involved state by building the rapport and drawing them into the flow of the copy.

The message should also be introducing the product and communicating the power of the benefits of the product and also suspending skepticism long enough and simultaneously making the reader immensely curious to bring them to click through to the site wanting to learn more.

An attentive state can be induced by the use of question and answer formats. This can also enable the answering of objections before they arise. When questions are answered, the reader is moved closer to the purchase decision.

Bullet points should be used to highlight the benefits and again move the reader towards the step of clicking through.

But, of course, sending a single message gets some sales, but it is widely known that the majority of the real profits come from the follow ups. Trance copy should also be used in additional messages for promoted products. The copy in each message needs to be carefully crafted using trance copy techniques to engage and to create maximum desired response, leading them to act now.

If you are not currently promoting a product, you can start your search at Clickbank, and choose a relevant product which is showing good results and good return.

Outsourcing high-level copywriting could be expensive, so it is wise to invest in and develop your copywriting skills. There can be big dollars in good copy and the lucrative results it can generate.

Courtesy Jules Hawk. For a gift audio on copywriting skills, go to http://www.writecopynow.com and for the easy copywriting solution visit: http://www.cashcreators.affiliatewealthsuccess.com

Someone once said that the invention of the Internet was the most innovative thing that has happened to the professional writer since the creation of moveable type. There’s no doubt that after a shaky start a decade ago, web content is here to stay as a juggernaut that twists and turns as it evolves through the exorbitant professional writer rates that were charged and the cheap overseas copy that was found in the end to actually turn business away. Like any other transformation, the writer who makes his/her living from the web needs to shed some of their old beliefs and attitudes to keep up in this new world.

Statistics show that the average office worker spends about thirty hours a week looking at a computer screen. And although computers have made it easier to share and pass along information, reading from a monitor has proven itself so far to be less effective than paper. Because of the slight flicker that’s present with monitors and the fact the resolution is a little harder on the eye, the experts have been able to ascertain that reading from a screen is 25% slower than paper.

So this means that the professional writer will have a different set of criteria they need to address when they’re writing for the Internet; because they’re up against a medium where people find it more laborious to read off their monitors and they tire out more quickly, the adaptable writer comes to the conclusion that they must somehow adapt their style to this new wave of progress. At least one of the ways to do that is by shoring up on the tenets of good old fashion journalism and cut the fat from everything you write.

Get to the point. Be brief and concise. These have always been the trademarks of anything that’s well written anywhere, but these adages take on an added urgency when you’re dealing with a standard where the professional writer will have on average nine seconds to hook someone’s attention before they click away. While every word always counted back in the days where all our information came on paper, the amount of avenues that allow readers to get the same input different ways has increased exponentially with the Internet forcing writers of all kinds to sharpen their skills.

However, while writing for the Internet should be anything but bland, there is an apparent lack of tolerance for self-indulgence present at the same time. The best content seems to follow the rules of all good writing and be factual, clear and lean.

Robert Starr is a professional writer/editor with several published books and a degree in journalism. He’s brought 20 years of experience in the craft to his own online writing/editing service. You can reach him at
http://www.robstarr.org/index.php

Let’s assume you have a brilliant product or service, and you want to make it an absolute no brainer for people to buy it. What can you do? One of the best things you can do is to take away all the risk for the purchaser and give a guarantee.

People these days are worried about being ripped off and want some reassurance that you will not do that to them. By offering a guarantee you reassure them of your good intentions and in doing so, you will reduce their resistance to buying your goods or services.

All businesses can offer voluntary guarantees in addition to those required by law no matter if they are selling goods or services. You just need to be a bit creative. You can offer:

* Money back guarantees - where you refund the purchase price for whatever reason

* Time guarantees - where you guarantee a person to be on time or a job to be completed on time

* Satisfaction guarantee - where you guarantee people will be happy with your product

* Results guarantee - where you guarantee a particular result will be obtained (e.g.: page 1 on Google for 50% of your keywords within 12 months)

* Product guarantee - where you guarantee the particular qualities of a product (e.g.: won’t go hard in the tube)

* Price guarantee - where you guarantee a particular price point (often used if someone sees the same product elsewhere advertised at a lower price)

* Service guarantees - where you guarantee a particular standard of service

Here are my top 10 tips for guarantees:

1. The longer the better! In most parts of the world, people are entitled to a refund within 30 days of purchase. The fascinating thing is that the longer the guarantee the less likely it is that someone will return it. If you only give a 30 day guarantee you place urgency on the person to use it/test it and then get back to you if they are unhappy, you are triggering increased returns. By extending the guarantee period you will surprisingly reduce your return rate. The longer the guarantee = the stronger the guarantee.

2. Go beyond the norm for your industry. Remember when cars used to have a 12 month warranty and then one company suddenly offered a 3 year warranty - what happened to their sales? Go beyond the norm in your industry for your guarantee and test the results.

3. Give 100% back. If you are going to give a guarantee then give every cent back to the consumer. Don’t hold back handling fees or other fees and charges. Give the lot back! You will end up with happier customers and less returns.

4. Take out the fine print. If you offer conditional guarantees you will create bad blood with your customers. Take out all the “subject to” and “if you tell the person at the time of the event” type of words. It is best to offer an unconditional guarantee for the most power and yes that means if they don’t like the colour of your shirt they can ask for a refund.

5. Take out the hype. In the past few years some people have been offering “triple your money back”, “$100 for your trouble” type of guarantees. People see them for the hype they are and steer away from them, particularly in the Australian culture. If your product is as good as you say it is, a straight money back guarantee is enough.

6. They make you cringe. The best guarantees will make you feel a slight cringe in your stomach as a business owner. You may feel worried there will be hordes of people lining up to get their money back. The truth is you will get a few returns, but the good will you will generate is priceless. If your guarantee doesn’t make you slightly cringe you need to stretch it.

7. Focus on the positives. Write your guarantee in a positive way “if you are not overjoyed with our XYZ product for any reason simply returns it for a full refund”.

8. Act quickly. If you get a refund request, then you need to action it within 24 hours if possible. The longer you delay, the unhappier the person will become and the greater the problem you are creating for your business.

9. Don’t take it personally. Treat all refund requests as merely feedback that you need to listen to rather than a personal attack and treat the person making the request as a valued client rather than a problem. By not taking it personally you have the opportunity to build relations rather than break them down.

10. Honour your commitments. With all voluntary guarantees you need to honour their terms and conditions. By stating a voluntary guarantee you have created a contract with the person and you could be up for penalties if you don’t honour your commitments.

If you want to learn more about your legal obligations for warranties and refunds in Australia visit the ACCC website.

Ingrid Cliff is a Freelance Copywriter and Human Resources Consultant to Small Businesses with her business Heart Harmony. Ingrid writes a free weekly small business newsletter and Small Business Ideas blog for small businesses. http://www.heartharmony.com.au

There has been a major shift in how people buy things and relate to companies in the past 3 years and this trend is brilliant for small business. The trend is away from “buying a brand” to “buying the person behind the brand”.

We have been disillusioned by big business so now we are looking to know the faces behind the names of the brand. We want to know their personalities, what makes them tick and can we trust them to do what they say they will.

Some indicators of this trend are the shift in ads on TV. Gone are the ads promoting a company Woolworths the Fresh Food People to be replaced with ads showing core Woolies employees showing their expertise with fruit by showing weekly information about new seasons fruit and vegies. Bunnings shows their employees talking in their words about their company. Even the banks are cashing in showing their tellers in social settings.

Other indicators are the growth in reality TV programs - love them or loath them they reflect a societal trend towards wanting to know what makes people tick.

This trend has also shifted into writing. Gone are the boring web pages or brochures with “we try harder”. People expect more. They want to know more. They want to know what it will be like to work with you.

This means you need to go back through all of your writing … all of your webpages … all of your letters and brochures. Do the words you are currently using reflect you and your personality? Do they let your customers a glimpse of the person behind the product? If you read them and had to describe the personality of the business what would you describe it as?

Here are my top 5 tips to put personality back into your writing.

1. Identify the person behind the brand. You need to work out who is going to be the person profiled behind the brand. Generally it is the Managing Director for small companies … but not always. Do some digging to find out interesting facts about them, what they think about or what they believe in. Use these facts in your writing to help people identify your brand.

2. Get a warm approachable photo. All stuffy studio shots need to be instantly binned. Look for ones that show the personality of the person.

3. Write as you speak. One of the things good copywriters do when we talk with clients is to listen to how the person talks. We pick up sentence flows, words the clients commonly use, phrasing and common sayings. We weave their way of speaking into the writing so we are writing with their voice. This means that people get a strong sense of the person and the product and there is no disconnect between the words they read and the words they hear when they go to the business.

4. Tell stories. Parables and stories are some of the most powerful psychological tools available. Many top psychologists through history would only tell stories, or part of stories and allow the mind to work to fill in the blanks as part of their therapeutic approach (Milton Erickson was one of the masters of this strategy).

Learn from psychologists and weave in hero stories, plotlines and metaphors into your words. In small business the story can be as simple as how you first discovered a particular product and why you like it - just tell it as a story.

5. Insert emotion. Personality is messy, complex and full of contrasts. Emotion is a big part of what makes up personality. The old way to write was to wring all of the juice out of your words to make them dry, academic and clinical. Now you need to put the juice back in - you are not “happy to introduce a new product”, you are “jumping out of your skin excited to bring this brilliant new product to your customers”.

Your email sign-off should not be “regards” or “yours sincerely”. Your sign off should reflect your personality and should be an indicator of what you are like to work with.

The best part of writing with personality is it feels like all straight-jackets have been removed. You no longer are stuck trying to fit yourself into a narrow box of “acceptable”.

Allow your personality to shine through and people will naturally flock to you. Yes, you may also turn away some customers who don’t identify with you - but the even better news is that they were usually the customers you had problems with.

By allowing yourself to shine you naturally attract people aligned to you and your message which is great for you and great for your business.

Ingrid Cliff is a Freelance Copywriter with her Brisbane Copywriting Business (Heart Harmony). Ingrid writes a free weekly small business newsletter packed full of articles and tips and Small Business Ideas blog for small businesses. http://www.heartharmony.com.au

When working with businesses on letters they send to potential clients trying to get an appointment with them, we often see the same mistakes being made over and over when we look at their existing letters.

To help you not make the same mistakes, here are our top 10 tips for effective appointment letters.

1. Be realistic in the response you are looking for. People are not sitting by the post-box waiting for your letter. For most people you have to prove to them first why they should read (and not bin) your letter and second why they should give up some of their precious time to see you. Industry statistics talk about a 2% - 5% OPEN rate. That means only 2-5% of all of your letters actually get read.

Out of those figures, industry statistics vary between a 1%-20% actual response to your offer. There are things you can do to improve these rates, but at least you now know what you are up against. Up to 98% of all people won’t read your letter, let alone action it.

2. What list are you using? A good list will make your mailing. If you are mailing to people who you already have a great relationship with, you can expect your response rates to increase. If you are mailing to a cold list of names you have gathered from the Yellow Pages, or just delivered to PO Boxes, your response rates will be much less.

3. Headlines and subheads. People scan letters before reading them. Make sure you have clear and enticing headlines and sub-headlines to make them want to read more.

4. Spelling, grammar and layout count. If you send out a letter full of typos, poorly laid out and looking unprofessional - you can count on getting a very poor response. Good layout, with clever use of bold, colour, underlining, larger fonts and copy doodles all boost your response rate.

5. Go with the flow. Your letter must flow logically and consistently. You want them to understand the features and benefits of what you are offering and how these will make their lives easier. You want to take your audience through a gradual development of ideas, building them to a point where they know clearly whether or not what you are suggesting will meet their needs and wants.

6. How credible are you? People want to know you have background, knowledge, experience and expertise in the area. They want to know that other people have used your services and are fully satisfied with the results. Demonstrating your credibility through including testimonials or case studies will help potential customers feel comfortable with you - enough to want to take the next step.

7. Strong call to action. Many people send out a letter seeking an appointment and do not make it clear what they want the person to do. Are they to wait for your call to make an appointment, call you to make an appointment or contact you for more information? Tell people clearly what you want them to do and they will do it.

8. PS. If there is a PS on a letter people will read it. Use your PS to reinforce a key point or your call to action. PS’s increase your response rate.

9. Follow up. A single mail shot with no follow up rarely works well. All letters should be either followed up with a phone call to the person, or a second mail shot a few weeks later. Many people intend to take action but simply forget. Following up significantly boosts your response rates.

10. Test & measure. Businesses need to test and measure the responses to all marketing. How many responses did you get to the one letter? Now try sending out the same letter to a different sample with just different headlines and sub-headlines to check the response rates. Try changing the call to action with a third sample.

The top direct mail companies all tweak their mailings until they get a control piece - one that consistently performs well. Once they have a control piece they keep using it, every now and again testing a sample with a new piece to see if it beats the control.

Small business can do the same thing. Use sample sizes of about 100 minimum as this will give you some indication of trends (Big business uses about 10,000 as their minimum but few small businesses have the budgets to work with those numbers).

Ingrid Cliff is a Freelance Copywriter with her Brisbane Copywriting Business (Heart Harmony). Ingrid writes a free weekly small business newsletter packed full of articles and tips and Small Business Ideas blog for small businesses. http://www.heartharmony.com.au

The number one secret to the 7 secrets of advertising success is to get more prospects to take notice of your advertising. After all, if they don’t even notice you, that’s a done deal and you’ve totally wasted your money.

There’s a whole bunch of ideas you could use, and here’s 5 top ways to get you started.

1. Captivating Headlines

Advertising guru, David Ogilvy says that four out of five people only read headlines - nothing more! Think about that. If you don’t grab your reader’s attention in the headline they’ll click off or turn the page and you’ve lost them. More to the point - they’re not coming back.

You’ve got about 3 seconds so make every word count. And remember your reader will only be thinking about “what’s in it for me”. You are guaranteed to get your prospects attention if you write your headline focused on their wants and needs and offer a solution.

2. Editorial Advertising

When placing a print ad in a newspaper or magazine a great strategy is to model your ad to look and feel like the editorial copy in the publication your prospect is reading. They will pay more attention to it.

Even though they’re aware it’s an ad, people are still going to read it because it’s in that style of the editorial that they are familiar with. Subconsciously they know and trust the publication so you have an added level of endorsement you just don’t get in a straight ad.

3. Lumpy mail or grabber

This direct mail technique is bound to get your prospects attention and get the envelope opened. People are curious so put something lumpy inside the envelope or pin a “grabber” to the right-hand corner of your letter. Like a fake cheque or fake money. Even real money. Clip on a dollar note or stick a coin on.

Just make sure you use something relevant and refer to it in your headline or opening paragraph so it’s not seen as just a gimmick.

4. Audio and video

Whether adding audio or video to your website or mailing a CD or DVD to your prospects the technologies are available right now to do that easily and inexpensively. You must have these explosive techniques in your arsenal.

Both powerful attention getters that will instantly create a closer connection with your prospective customers when they see and hear what you have to say. Just hearing your voice alone will make a big impression and really stamp your personality on your message. Add the visual and you are tapping into one of our most potent senses and people will really feel like they know you.

Video is particularly useful if you have a product to demonstrate. If a picture can paint a thousand words - what can you say in a short video? And here’s a tip. Make it memorable. Keep in mind that even if you don’t make a sale you at least want to be remembered.

5. Give to get

Nothing gets attention better than FRE^E and don’t we all love getting something for nothing? But here’s a tip. Just because it’s free doesn’t mean it is not valuable or worse still, that it’s worthless. Really, ask yourself, would you want something that is worthless?

Now here are two important things to remember.

Firstly, you must give valuable information and “showcase” your knowledge as well as your generosity or there’s no point to this approach. Imagine what your prospective customer will think when you give away great content. How much more will they get in return for payment?

Secondly, don’t expect your prospective customer to know the value. You do and you must put a price on it. This honours you and honours them.

So put some or all of these ideas into your advertising and I guarantee you that people will begin taking much more notice of what you have to offer. Once you’ve got their attention you can lead them to read your sales message right to the very end.

Direct response marketing expert Kathleen Ann is the “Marketing Champion for Small Business and entrepreneurs”. Delivering simple techniques and tools you can use to increase sales and profits. Sign up for her free audio workshop “7 Steps to Advertising Success” http://www.PowerUpYourMarketing.com

The second step to the 7 secrets of advertising is to get more prospects to read your ad till the end. After all, if we don’t get to fully inform our reader how can we expect them to make a buying decision. And fully informed means, reading your ad right to the very end.

Here are 3 effective strategies to help you achieve this.

1. Break up your copy

Remember your prospect is looking for a reason to turn the page or click off to another site so it’s not just what you say but how you present it.

Use short paragraphs and sentences.

And break up your copy with Subheadings.

Subheads make it visually more appealing for the reader so they are more likely to start and continue reading if it looks easy.

Just be sure that the copy that immediately follows is totally relevant to the headline. And that each section flows into the next.

You should use them like bridges throughout your copy to move your reader from one point to the next - linking all the main elements of your letter. This also means that skimmers can quickly scan or scroll down your entire letter and still get the message even if they are not reading every word.

2. Turn features into benefits

You’ve maybe heard that we’re all listening to our own radio station called WIIFM or “What’s In It For Me.”
So if your prospect is thinking in “what’s-in-it-for-me” terms then you need to be writing in those terms.

They will only be stopping on your ad long enough to see if there is a possible solution to their problem.
And to keep your reader interested you need to be writing in WIIFM terms throughout your copy. Not just in the headline.

This means writing in benefits and not just features. Your prospect is not interested in your product or it’s features. They are only interested in what your product or service can do for them.

A simple way to translate features into benefits is by using the 2 magic words “which means”. If for example you are selling a television set with a really big screen. You could write “The top model in the A-brand range has a big 60 inch TV screen which means you can create a movie theatre in your very own living room”.

3. Use bullets effectively

Like subheads, bullet points help break up your sales letter and make it easy to ready as well as appeal to skimmers. People like that sort of checklist, like rapid fire.

Some of the most effective bullets are

- Blind bullets which are a teaser and don’t give anything tangible but they do create curiosity.

- Give away bullets where you give the reader a nugget of tangible information which makes them think if you are giving this away the information you are selling must be really great and valuable. Use this sparingly, say one at the beginning and one at the end of your bullet list.

- Short sentence bullets that let you pack in a lot of information in a concise way. Like a shorter version of a short paragraph.

- Written in benefit terms that translate a feature into a benefit that solves the reader’s problem.

Use these techniques to have your prospect reading your letter or ad right till the end you are bound to increase your sales results. Especially if they trust what you say.

Direct response marketing expert Kathleen Ann is the “Marketing Champion for Small Business and entrepreneurs”. Delivering simple techniques and tools you can use to increase sales and profits. Sign up for her free audio workshop “7 Steps to Advertising Success” http://www.PowerUpYourMarketing.com

The third step to the 7 secrets of advertising is to get more prospects to trust what you say.

Take it for granted that no-one believes you. Now, that sounds rather blunt, doesn’t it? But people don’t know you so why would they believe what you say?

Now you will also have heard that people buy from people they know, like and trust so here are 5 simple tips to build trust that you can put to use right away.

1. Use Photos

You could start with your photo in your ad or on your website and a caption underneath that. People can then see you and get a sense of connection. That’s a really, powerful way to build trust.

Photos of your clients are great too. It’s comforting to see that others have already put their trust in you.
And if you have a tangible product or can demonstrate your service in action, include a photo so people can see what it looks like. This immediately ads substance to your offer and proof that it’s real.

Of course if you have a bricks and mortar business include a picture of your building and personnel as evidence.

2. Honest Copy

Use honest copy to reveal the real reason behind what your are doing or offering. Firstly, it’s emotive and we know that people buy on emotion. But just as important is your authenticity will shine through in your words and that’s really, humanizing. People will automatically feel like they can trust you to do what you say.

3. Strong Guarantee

You simply must have a strong guarantee. You just can not go past making it a no-brainer to do business with you.

What are you prepared to do by way of a guarantee, if you don’t live up to your promises? Let people know they have got nothing to lose and everything to gain by buying your service or product.

Now days it’s not enough to simply offer a money back guarantee. That’s a given. You need to demonstrate that you will be the loser if your product does not live up to expectations, not them.

The truth is, very few people will take you up on your guarantee but it will increase your sales because you have demonstrated your trustworthiness.

4. Testimonials

Now, one of the most powerful things you can do to get people to trust you is to build your credibility through testimonials. You can’t just go around blowing your own trumpet all the time. What other people say about you is pure magic.

You get instant credibility and proof when someone else is validating what you say.

You could use those in written form with a picture or interview somebody. Ask them to speak about you and use the audio or you could video them - even more powerful.

So don’t think of testimonials just as a thank you letter that you received. You could even create your own. Help somebody write or speak about you in a way that will support what it is you want to share with other people. Powerful stuff.

5. Evidence your expertise

Many small business owners are very modest and humble and don’t really want to talk about themselves and blow their own horn.

But when it comes to something like listing your experience and your expertise and specific qualifications you simply must let your reader know. They won’t know otherwise.

Don’t hide behind it. If you’ve ever achieved it - share it and build that level of trust that you can, and will do what you say.

Now put some or all of these tips to work for you and you will increase your customers trust and increase your sales. Once you have got their trust you can work on getting more people to respect your value. Sounds similar - but it’s not the same thing at all.

Direct response marketing expert Kathleen Ann is the “Marketing Champion for Small Business and entrepreneurs”. Delivering simple techniques and tools you can use to increase sales and profits. Sign up for her free audio workshop “7 Steps to Advertising Success” http://www.PowerUpYourMarketing.com

A style guide is a document that helps writers and editors by answering the questions they will meet when editing. They vary greatly in length and cover a variety of different subject matter from how to attribute different types of information in academic works to how to properly write out a military commander’s rank in a newspaper article. One of the big reasons that style guides are so important is that they lend a certain uniformity to the look and feel for a certain kind of text. For example, all the papers that are done using MLA style offer symmetry of information and text that all the people associated with liberal arts disciples are familiar with.

One of the other useful aspects of the style guide is that, where there is a choice about the way something is expressed, it can provide the preferred option such as the use of capital letters (Supervisor versus supervisor), the use of symbols (% versus percent) and even the preferred spelling for certain words (colour versus color)

In some of the positions that you might find yourself in as an editor, it’s important that you get a brief of some description that answers all the questions that you will need to know. Before an editor starts any edit, there is some necessary preliminary work that needs to be done to ensure that the editor has the necessary level of confidence to do the job well.

The editor should be confident that they are familiar with the readers linguistic level and that they know the kinds of words and the knowledge level that they are working with. In effect, that they know who they are editing for. It wouldn’t do much good to use the words and phrasings meant for a plumber’s union magazine if the intended audience was university professors.

There are several other good reasons that you need a style guide. For example, all decisions about points of detail are made just once. Once they’ve been formalized, this saves any editor a lot of time and allows them to move on to other issues. Style guides also help to ensure that documents are consistent, and this helps to create a professional image no matter which type of document you’re working with.

Having a style guide handy is also essential when you’ve got several people contributing to the same document. Again, this promotes a consistency throughout that adds to a professional overall appearance.

There are many organizations and companies that have a in house guide as well and it’s a good idea for anyone who wants to work for a specific organization to familiarize themselves with that company’s rules.

Remember too that no matter what kind of text that you edit, you might want to produce your own style guide that will be specific to the kind of work that you are doing.

Robert Starr is a professional writer/editor with several published books and a degree in journalism. He’s brought 20 years of experience in the craft to his own on line writing/editing service. You can reach him at
http://www.robstarr.org/index.php