The Four Acts of AIDA

No, I’m not referring to the famous four act opera AIDA (La traviata – The Fallen Woman, loosely translated in English). I am talking about the AIDA method of writing copy for an ad or a sales letter.

AIDA is an acronym that stands for: ATTENTION, INTEREST, DESIRE and ACTION.

Act I – ATTENTION – with millions of web pages out there, you need to capture the visitor’s attention in a matter of seconds. Use a headline that speaks directly to the visitor’s main point(s) and offers a solution or benefit.

Here are some examples of good headlines written by ace copywriter and Internet marketing strategist, Bob Bly:

• “How to Avoid the Biggest Mistake You Can Make in Building or Buying a Home” – promises the reader useful information
• “The 5 Tech Stocks You Must Own NOW” – makes a recommendation
• “Now You Can Get $2,177 Worth of Expensive Stock Market Newsletters for the Incredibly Low Price of Just $69” – stresses cost savings, discounts, or value

You can see more examples by Bob at http://www.bly.com/newsite/Pages/DMNCOL19.htm

Act II – INTEREST: once you’ve got them hooked with your headline, they are more likely to continue reading the first one or two paragraphs of your copy. This is where you have to pique their interests by talking about their likely fears, problems, concerns or needs. Keep in mind, web surfers tend to skip read. So use subheads, bullet text and not long paragraphs of text.

Act III – DESIRE: in this part, you talk about or demonstrate how your product or service is the perfect solution for their problem described in Act II. Illustrate your point with testimonials, actual examples and/or case studies that validate your claims.

Act IV –  ACTION: Now comes the fun part, the close, where the rubber meets the road, yada yada. This where you ask them to click on the “Buy Now” or “Subscribe Now” button. You’ve already done the heavy lifting, persuade them to take action  now instead of sitting on the fence. You may have to offer a free preview, sample or discount to close the deal.

Follow the AIDA method of writing sales copy and you will start seeing dramatic improvements in converting visitors into customers.

Want to learn more about how to use content in your marketing? Here are two good resources for you:

1.      Content Marketing Roadmap – the online business owner’s guide for more sales and profits with content marketing. Learn more about Content Marketing Roadmap

2.      Words to Profits – This eBook will teach you how to get inside the head of the reader and write words that plug directly into their brain so they are hardwired into your sales message until you choose to let them go. Learn more about Words to Profits

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