May 17

Shallow men believe in luck. Strong men believe in cause and effect.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

What is the “unique selling position” in your market? Luck will not propel you to success. Understand the “cause” of your market’s problem by knowing your target. Solving their problem is the “effect” they are looking for. Corporations have entire departments dedicated to finding out who buys from them so they can hone in on that market segment. They do that by profiling not only who buys from them, but who is their competition. Successful marketing campaigns listen to their market. It’s about connecting a hidden desire or an expressed desire in a market, a target market. Your job is to identify where those minds are, find them and then connect with them. You don’t have to be a corporation. It’s your job to do your own research and it’s available to you through your competition.

Singularly look at writing to one person rather than a group. When you get this one concept down, your copy will stick like glue to the reader because it’s just the 2 of you in the room. It’s a real easy thing to say “everybody is my target market” but it’s not. Your target market is only those potential customers who are suitable for your products or services. You really have to know exactly who you’re talking to so you can provide the solution to their problem. That’s why I demolish those roadblocks for you in my highly acclaimed workbook and audio CD, Red Hot Copy to Woo Your Target Market.

Copywriting is interactive between the reader and the writer. You want him or her to keep reading so you have to engage the reader. When you get in touch with your TARKET, that’s where you really make the sale. You need to know everything about who you’re writing for. In other words, start with the catch in the mind instead of the pitch.

Remember that it’s not about you. Eugene Schwartz, Copywriting Master says, “The creativity is in your market and in your product, and all you are doing is joining the 2 together. And the only way you can get the creativity out of your product and your market is to dig it out. And the only way you can dig it out is dig it out more than anybody else digs it out.

International copywriting trainer, author and speaker, Lorrie Morgan-Ferrero has been a freelance writer and journalist for over 25 years. Her words have made her clients hundreds of thousands of dollars. Now she focuses her vast experience on teaching others the skill of copywriting. Lorrie is the author of a highly acclaimed copywriting course, creator of the Red Hot Copywriting Bootcamp and founder of Copy Campus, a unique membership resource site designed to support copywriters and entrepreneurs on all levels. Visit her site to learn more at http://www.red-hot-copy.com.

May 17

If you are trying to sell a product or service on your website, then it is important to make your site as professional as possible. You might think designing that your own website to look like a professional did so is a rather difficult proposition, however there are many tools online that will help you achieve professional looking design.

Step #1 URL

First of all, you want to come up with a URL that is professional. This means nothing long, difficult to spell or pronounce, or vulgar. What you want is a short and easy to remember URL that has something to do with your website and one that people will be able to share easily with others through word of mouth. This might take some effort to come up with because many simple URLs are taken, but with some thought and creativity you will be able to come up with something that works. NOTE: Don’t even think about registering a domain unless it is a .com!

Step #2 Design

When it comes to design you want your page to look professional. Fortunately, there are thousands of professional web page design templates that you can either buy or download for free. Then, all you have to is upload your grammatically correct and perfectly spelled content and your appropriate photos and graphics to have a professionally designed site.

Step #3 E-mail

You want to make sure that your web host supports e-mail for your URL. This is an important design element that makes you appear professional.

Step #4 Newsletter

A weekly or monthly newsletter on your website about current trends, need to know information, and the like is a great way to appear professional and well put together.

Step #5 Secure Payments

For a professional website you must be able to accept credit card payments and they must be on a secure server. There are no if, ands, or buts about it. If you do not accept credit card payments and if your site is not secure you can forget making any online sales. Be sure that your website itself is as secure as possible and that the software you use for credit card processing is safe and has extra security measures build in.

Step #6 Testimonials

Testimonials are another excellent way to build confidence in your product and promote a professional appearance. When you make a sale, simply send a follow-up e-mail asking for feedback and permission to post what they have to say on your website. Testimonials can really make a difference!

Step #7 Password Protection

If you have a membership type site, you’ll want it to be password protected so you can save the information of each member, allowing them to personally manage their pages. This is very important and can really give your website a professional appearance that will stand out.

Michael Turner reveals his foolproof way to increase website traffic in his free 7 part mini-series. Grab it free right now at http://www.powertraffictactics.com/

May 17

I coached as my wife was delivering our third child. She was at the final phase of delivery where the last few pushes would result in the birth of our second daughter. As the crown of our daughter’s head protruded slightly from the very end of the birth canal, my wife’s obstetrician yelled, “Stop! Don’t push…”

He quickly positioned a hypodermic needle and injected anesthetic into a section of my wife’s perineal tissue - the skin between the vagina and the anus. Next he grabbed a scalpel and carefully addressed the freshly anesthetized area. The attending nurse and I instinctively wheeled our heads to the side so that our eyes could not see what happened next. “I never watch this part,” she told me, as the doctor quickly performed a simple procedure known as an episiotomy. Our daughter was born minutes later. As mother and daughter were meeting face-to-face for the very first time, the doctor was busy stitching the incision created during the episiotomy.

The idea behind performing an episiotomy is twofold. The first reason is concern for the baby. Passing through the vaginal canal is the most stressful time for a baby experiencing a traditional vaginal birth. Cutting the perineal tissue creates a wider opening so that the baby can slip through more easily. The second reason is, in theory, to prevent out-of-control tearing of the mother’s perineal tissue. The idea is that, by making an incision, the area affected by cutting or tearing is controlled to a certain extent by the attending physician. The problem is that not all mothers experience tearing, so the laceration can be unnecessary.

According to an article by Salynn Boyles published on WebMD (http://my.webmd.com/content/article/110/109783.htm), The Journal of the American Medical Association (Vol. 293 No. 17, May 4, 2005) reports that researchers screened nearly 1,000 medical resources published in the past 60 years looking for data measuring the effectiveness of the procedure. Data from twenty-six articles contained relevant content and were aggregated to form conclusions.

The article reported that there was “fair to good” evidence that the results of routine episiotomy were not advantageous over the results of those with restrictive use of episiotomy. In cases where episiotomy was performed routinely, the severity of the laceration, the degree of pain suffered, and the amount of medication needed to treat was no better than for cases where episiotomy was not routinely performed.

Though most of the individuals were not followed late into life, relevant studies have shown no benefit from episiotomy for the prevention of urinary incontinence or pelvic floor muscle relaxation. Studies have also shown that “impaired sexual function - pain with intercourse - was more common among women” who had the procedure. A report published in the British Medical Journal in January of 2000 reported that women who received episiotomies during delivery had a significantly higher incidence of anal incontinence - the inability to control bowel movements and gas - than their counterparts who did not receive the procedure.

At best episiotomy is something no one wants to

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