Report the news, not... the "olds".

Dear Friend,

The headline contest is over.

If you entered, thanks... and good luck, and if you didn't -- you should have.

You see, just like painting... or shooting foul shots, the only way you're going to write better headlines, is by practicing...

Writing Better Headlines!

I received so many entries, I'm going to need the weekend... a good cigar... and a full cup of coffee... to review them all.  So I'll announce the prize-winner of the headline contest next Monday, the first of August, not this Friday as I had originally planned.

Today I want to talk about something that was in the original ad that may seem incidental, but the way it was handled here, is GUARANTEED to lower response.

You can check out that original ad, and even print out a copy of it, right here:

http://www.kingofcopy.com/tips/real_estate_ad_071505.html

At the bottom of the ad, there was a sort of "disclosure" that said "This report is courtesy of Peter Butera, ReMax ACR. Not intended to solicit properties currently listed for sale. Copyright © 1997."

First of all, if you can get away without having any kind of disclosure, than by all means, don't put one in.

Sometimes though, the newspaper requires you to include them because they want to have "some" kind of indication that what you're reading really isn't"news" -- at least, not news published by the paper themselves.

But if you HAVE to include something like the writer included... the very WORST thing he could have done is to put down that the copywright © was from 1997.

That's nearly 8 years old!

Who is going to look at that "ad" as "news" with an 8-year old date on it?

People will know this is a sales piece written 8 years ago.

NO ONE, especially in "modernized" cultures, wants to read "news" that's 8 years old.

This is a HUGE red flag that screams "OLD ADVERTISEMENT RUNNING OVER AGAIN."

If you HAVE to put that disclosure in, your response is going to be MUCH higher, changing "some-thing" in the text so you can modify that copywrite date to read " © 2005".

See, there are dozens of little things like this you must consider when you're putting a display ad together.  I'll point them out to you when you order either a sales copy review -- www.kingofcopy.com/salescopyreview -- or if you book some consulting time -- www.kingofcopy.com/consulting.

There are a couple of more things I'd like to discuss with you, about this ad, and we'll go over them later on during the week.  I'll also show you how the revised display ad would look in it's final form, so you can print it out and put it in your files.

Tomorrow I'm going to let you in on an unusual opportunity I recently stumbled across.

Now go sell something,

Craig Garber

P.S. When it comes to marketing, why re-invent the wheel when you can get one already spinning faster than the cyclone ride at your local amusement park?  Here's how: www.KingOfCopy.com/consulting

Any comments?

Send them to me by scooting over to the contact form on my "Here's How To Contact Craig" page, and maybe I'll publish them -- I appreciate your feedback!

You can reprint, or link to this article, or to any article on this web site, as long as you include the following text-box:

“Craig Garber is America's top direct-response copywriter.  Join the ranks of Garber's swelling list of global VIP's who subscribe to his unconventional weekly marketing moments, and discover how to dramatically boost your sales and improve the response to your sales copy, on his website at http://www.kingofcopy.com. Copyright © Craig Garber.  All rights reserved.”

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