Designing and Formatting Email Ads

On the Fast Track with…
Designing and
Formatting Ads

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Before you can begin setting up the C.H.I.P. programs to send out your ads, common sense dictates that you must first HAVE an ad. Right!?

This Tutorial is a general overview of exactly what an "ad" is, and the mechanics of formatting ads. It will give you good, basic knowledge to assist you in becoming an EXPERT in the art of "copy-writing," another name for writing ads.

Now, if you are promoting the Big Dogs program specifically, our BIG DOGS AD-VAULT already contains dozens of pre-formatted, ready-to-go ads that are designed exclusively to advertise Big Dogs! The AdVault itself is the subject of our next Fast-Track tutorial. On the other hand, if you wish to promote something else using the C.H.I.P programs, that's fine, also.

This tutorial will still instruct you in the basic mechanics of formatting
ads for any program, product, or service, not just the Big Dogs program.

But first, let's get to the BASICS.....

I. What is an Ad?

According to Webster’s dictionary, an advertisement, or ad, is something that is designed to...

“announce or praise a product or service in some public medium of communication in order to induce people to buy it or use it.”

Naturally the “public medium of communication” that WE are concerned with here is the Internet. And through the use of email marketing, our goal is to “induce people to buy or use” OUR product or service.

In terms of email marketing, an ad consists of three basic parts:

(1) the “Subject Line"
(2) the “Sales Message”
(3) the "target URL"

II. What is a Subject Line?

Unlike a magazine or newspaper, when you first open your computer's email box you do not see dozens or hundreds of complete ads, do you? What you DO see are dozens or hundreds of short sentences describing very briefly what the actual ads themselves are all about. If any of these “short sentences” grab your attention or pique your interest, you can find out more details by clicking on any of these short sentences to open the complete email itself and read the entire ad.

Each of these short sentences is referred to as the “subject line” or the headline. A subject line is designed to do just one thing: grab your prospect's attention and get him to read the entire ad.

Keep the following points in mind when designing YOUR subject line:

1. Your subject line should be no more than 45 characters long. This INCLUDES all letters, numbers, AND spaces. Why only 45 characters? Well, you DO want your ENTIRE subject line to be seen by your prospect, don’t you? You have probably opened your email box yourself and seen “half” subject lines – subject lines that were cut off in mid-sentence. The reason for this is that there are HUNDREDS of different types of email programs. Some display very long sentences, while others display only very brief numbers of characters.

Virtually ALL email programs display at least 45 characters, however.

Thus, if you limit your subject lines to a maximum of 45 characters, you will be virtually assured that all email programs will present your complete subject line to your prospects and NOT cut it off in mid-sentence.

Example: The subject line…..

REVEALED - Secrets of the Big Dogs!

…..contains EXACTLY 41 characters, including all letters, characters, punctuation marks, and spaces. (It is important to repeat that spaces are counted as any other characters.)

But how do you KNOW how many characters are in your subject line? Do you have to COUNT each character, one-by-one?

No, you don't.

Counting Words, Characters and Lines of
Text in Your Subject Line

Step a:

Assuming you are formatting an ad in Microsoft Word, highlight the line of text you wish to count.

Step b:

With your Word document open, click on the "Review" tab at the very top of the page.

On the horizontal icon menu that appears, open the "Word Count" area.

There you will see the number of words and characters (with and without spaces).

Incidentally, it goes without saying that your subject line does NOT have to be EXACTLY 45 characters long. It can be as SHORT as necessary, of course, and it can be a character or two LONGER. 45 characters is just a benchmark.

2. The only characters your subject line should contain are letters, numbers, and the basic punctuation and figure signs. By “basic punctuation and figure signs” we mean...

the period .

the comma ,

the hyphen (dash) -

the exclamation point !

the question mark ?

the colon :

the pound sign #

the plus sign +

NEVER try to get fancy by using the following figures in your subject line: ~, @, %, ^, <, >, /, \, *, (, ), {, }, $, &, and ; Also, do NOT use more than one period beside each other. For example, you should not format a subject line like this:

REVEALED..... Secrets of the Big Dogs!

Those multiple periods you are attempting to use as a divider can make your subject unreadable in some email programs.

And above all never use quotation marks (“) or apostrophes (') in your subject line.

Why are these latter characters a “no-no?” Once again it has to do with the different email programs. Some email programs don’t read these less common figures properly; some even try to interpret them as HTML code. As a result your subject line is either not displayed at all, or it becomes a jumble of unintelligible characters!

Example: The subject line…..

>>> REVEALED - Secrets of the Big Dogs! <<<

…..looks pretty good, doesn’t it!? Those little arrow heads to the left and right really seem to make your ad stand out, don't they? But many email programs will interpret those >>> and <<< at the beginning and end as HTML code, and your subject line will, quite literally, become invisible!

You should also never use multiply-repeated characters, like the three exclamation marks at the end of...

REVEALED - Secrets of the Big Dogs!!!

Multiply-repeated characters are one of the things that the spam filter programs look for, and your ad will probably be filtered before it gets to your prospects email box.

Likewise, do not use an exclamation mark and a question mark in the same subject line, like...

Need TRAFFIC? Get it HERE!

or

Who DOESNT Need More Traffic!?

An exclamation mark and a question mark in the same subject line are also "spam triggers" and will prevent your emails from getting through.

3. Never capitalize ALL the letters in your subject line. This is called “shouting” and is the sure sign of a rank, inexperienced amateur – or of a twelve year old! Use all capitals and your email will NOT be opened (but it will make the reader chuckle!) You should, however, capitalize a word or two here and there for emphasis, or the first letter of each word in the subject line, since this is how one sees most headlines.

Example:

REVEALED - SECRETS OF THE BIG DOGS!

…..is called “shouting.” Not only are all caps difficult to read, but it is considered rude and the mark of an amateur; your email will, in all probability, NOT be opened. So don't do it!

On the other hand…..

REVEALED - Secrets of the Big Dogs!

…..shows the proper format. Just one word (“REVEALED”) is in all caps, for emphasis. And just the first letters of “Secrets,” “Big,” and “Dogs” are capitalized, more or less as they would be in the headline of a magazine article or at the top of a newspaper. THIS is proper form.

4. Your Subject Line - A Checklist

Never make your subject line more than approximately 45 characters long, including all letters, numbers, and spaces.

Use only the following punctuation marks:
. , - ! ? : # +

Never use multiple periods in a row, or for that matter, multiply-repeated characters of any kind.

Never use quotation marks or apostrophes

Never use a subject line containing both an exclamation point and a question mark.

Never capitalize all the letters in your subject line. Only one word (at most) should be capitalized for emphasis.

III. What is a Sales Message?

OK, your prospect has come across YOUR subject line in his email box. It interests him enough to “open” the email to get more details. What he opens to is your sales message – the ad copy itself.

A sales message consists of three basic parts:

(1) the “hook,"
(2) the “tale"
(3) the “sting”

The Hook.

The hook in your sales message is similar in concept to your subject line. It is a headline, standing by itself, at the top of your sales message. It should be the same, or just a slight rewording of your subject line. It introduces your main sales message and reinforces the concept of your subject line.

The Tale.

The tale is the main body of your sales message. You are, in effect, telling the prospect a brief story (in other words, a “tale”) about the benefits of the program, product, or service you are promoting.

The Sting.

The sting is also referred to as the “call to action.” It is nothing more than the URL of the main sales site (your target URL) that you are promoting. After all, the main purpose of ANY ad is not really to sell the prospect right then and there. Rather it is designed to incite his interest enough that he will click on your link to go to your main sales site. THIS is where the REAL sale is made!

It is important to note, however, that most mailing programs these days DO NOT ALLOW any URL's in the body of the sales message; rather, these mailing programs provide a SEPARATE block where your target URL will be entered.

Between the dotted lines below, let’s take a look at a sample sales message:

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Secrets of the Big Dogs!

The exciting new ebook that unveils the never-before-revealed
techniques the EXPERTS use to make their website traffic---

E-X-P-L-O-D-E!

+ Even if you just got your first computer,
+ Even if youve been struggling unsuccessfully to become
an Internet marketer,
+ Even if you ALREADY earn a good income online,

Secrets of the Big Dogs---

---is going to turn YOU into a well-oiled, unstoppable,
money-making MACHINE!

You’ll learn the secrets to---
+ REDUCE your time online to just five minutes a day!
+ SLASH your advertising expenses to ZERO!
+ AUTOMATICALLY generate thousands of targeted,
leads per DAY!
+ An amazingly simple method to achieve an amazingly
comfortable income in an amazingly short period of time!
Income that is both RESIDUAL and ONGOING!

Secrets of the Big Dogs---

---reveals what the big boys on the Internet are HIDING from
you, and how YOU can beat the system to become an
Internet power player!

You CAN become a thoroughbred of Internet marketing!

Click the link below to find out HOW:

And… if anything is unclear, please email or even
CALL me. I might not have ALL the answers, but I WILL be
happy to help in any way I can!

All the best,

(YOUR FIRST AND LAST NAME)
(YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS)
(YOUR PHONE NUMBER)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Can you pick out the three main parts of the sales message – the “hook,” the “tale,” and the “sting?”

They’re pretty obvious, aren’t they. The “hook” is merely a repetition of your original subject line, and it acts as a headline for the rest of your sales message. The “tale” is everything else in the sales message, with the exception of the “sting,” which is your "target" URL – the URL of your main sales site (which you would customarily place in a SEPARATE area or block of the mailing program).

How long should your sales message be?

Well, that’s all a matter of taste and how much you have to say. Keep in mind, however, that, while some mailing programs have no limits on how long your sales message is, a few have a maximum of 60 lines. This INCLUDES text lines as well as blank lines between paragraphs. The above sales message contains 50 lines. These 50 lines include all the lines containing text, and the blank lines between paragraphs.

We recommend that, at least while you're "learning the ropes," you should get used to writing ads that are 60 lines in length, or less. Why? Well, as we stated above, a 60-line ad will fit in the parameters of the majority of mailing programs. In addition, as you gain marketing experience, you'll probably start to purchase a few solo ads in ezines.

Most ezines also set a 60 line limit on solo ads.

This "60-line-limit" is NOT a hard and fast rule, though. Ten years ago, for example, many of the experienced Internet gurus of the time were designing ads that were three and four pages long! Today, the trend has reversed and most ads are well below that 60-line benchmark.

Now, referring to the sample sales message above, keep THESE points in mind when designing YOUR sales message:

1. Do NOT use “word-wrap” when formatting your ad. Word-wrap is that very handy feature of some word processing programs (like Microsoft Word) that, when you type to the end of one line, it automatically takes you to the beginning of the next line. This is great for typing a document that is going to REMAIN a document, but it’s LOUSY for a document that you are eventually going to copy and paste elsewhere and then have sent out as an email.

Why? Because most email programs that you are going to be using when sending out your sales message do not coincide 100% with word processing programs.

Between the dotted lines below, let’s take a look at the first few paragraphs of our sample sales message once more…..

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Secrets of the Big Dogs!

The exciting new ebook that unveils the never-before-revealed
techniques the EXPERTS use to make their website traffic---

E-X-P-L-O-D-E!

+ Even if you just got your first computer,
+ Even if you’ve been struggling unsuccessfully to become
an Internet marketer,
+ Even if you ALREADY earn a good income online,

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Now, that’s the way you WANT it to look when your prospect opens your email. But!... if you allow the word-wrap feature to take you to the beginning of the next line automatically, THIS is how your sales message may end up looking when your prospect opens it…..

(Bad Example 1)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Secrets of the Big Dogs!

The exciting new ebook that unveils
the
never-before-revealed
techniques the EXPERTS use to make their website

traffic---E-X-P-L-O-

D-E!

+ Even
if you just got your first computer,+ Even if you’ve been struggling unsuccessfully to become
an Internet marketer,
+ Even if you
ALREADY earn a good income online,

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

.....where the sentences are all "chopped up" and difficult to read.

Or, like this...

(Bad Example 2)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Secrets of the Big Dogs!

The exciting new ebook that unveils the never-before-revealed techniques the EXPERTS use to make their website traffic---

E-X-P-L-O-D-E!

+ Even if you just got your first computer, + Even if youve been struggling unsuccessfully to become an Internet marketer, + Even if you ALREADY earn a good income online,

Secrets of the Big Dogs---

---is going to turn YOU into a well-oiled, unstoppable, money-making MACHINE!

You’ll learn the secrets to--- + REDUCE your time online to just five minutes a day! + SLASH your advertising expenses to ZERO! + AUTOMATICALLY generate thousands of targeted, leads per DAY! + An amazingly simple method to achieve an amazingly comfortable income in an amazingly short period of time! Income that is both RESIDUAL and ONGOING!

Secrets of the Big Dogs---

---reveals what the big boys on the Internet are HIDING from you, and how YOU can beat the system to become an Internet power player!

You CAN become a thoroughbred of Internet marketing!

Click the link below to find out HOW: And… if anything is unclear, please email or even CALL me. I might not have ALL the answers, but I WILL be happy to help in any way I can!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

.....where the sentences run the whole width of the recipient's browser window and, also, difficult to read. It is a FACT that people don't mind scrolling from top-to-bottom, but they HATE scrolling from left-to-right!

But the solution is very simple. Instead of allowing the word-wrap feature to automatically take you to the next line, use what's called a "HARD CARRIAGE RETURN." All this means is that when you get to a particular point in the sentence you are typing, simply use your “Enter” key to take you to the beginning of the next line. That’s all that a “hard carriage return” is.

At what point in the sentence should you stop and use that "hard carriage return" to begin the next line?

2. That, too, is simple: Each line of your sales message should be no longer than 65 characters (including spaces).

But how do you KNOW how many characters are in a line of your sales message? Do you have to COUNT each character, one-by-one?

No, you don't. In our "Counting Words, Characters and Lines of Text in Your Subject Line" guide above, we showed you how to use the "Word Count" feature to count words, characters and lines in your subject line, and the same "Word Count" feature may be used to analyze your sales message.

Incidentally, it goes without saying that each line of your sales message does not have to be EXACTLY 65 characters long. Each line can be as SHORT as necessary, of course, and it can be a few characters LONGER. 65 characters is just a benchmark, and if you have a line or two that's even 69 or 70 characters long, that's OK.

Of course formatting your lines to be no longer than 65 characters can be time consuming if you're writing an ad for the first time. Let's face it - until you get the ad just the way you want it, you're going to be adding words here, deleting whole lines there, reformatting paragraphs to make them sound better, etc, etc. You certainly don't want to have to worry about line-length as you're writing the ad for the first time - that would take you forever! What we recommend doing is to first type your ad into a regular Word document using the automatic "word-wrap" feature. Then, AFTER you've got it worded exactly the way you want it, and you've "spell-checked" it, etc, THEN you can copy and paste the Word document into a blank NotePad document, formatting it as you go so it doesn't go over the 65 character limit.

The only characters your sales message should contain are letters, numbers, and the more basic punctuation and figure signs. Sound like familiar advice? That’s right. We covered this when discussing your subject line, above. And the same rules apply.

the period .

the comma ,

the hyphen (dash) -

the exclamation point !

the question mark ?

the colon :

the pound sign #

the plus sign +

NEVER try to get fancy by using the following figures in your subject line: ~, @, %, ^, <, >, /, \, *, (, ), {, }, $, &, and ; Also, do NOT use more than one period beside each other. For example, you should not format a line of text like this:

REVEALED..... Secrets of the Big Dogs!

Those multiple periods you are attempting to use as a divider can make that line of text unreadable in some email programs.

And above all never use quotation marks (“) or apostrophes (') in your sales message.

Why are these latter characters a “no-no?” Once again it has to do with the different email programs. Some email programs don’t read these less common figures properly; some even try to interpret them as HTML code. As a result your text lines are either not displayed at all, or they become a jumble of unintelligible characters!

Example: The line of text…..

>>> REVEALED - Secrets of the Big Dogs! <<<

…..looks pretty good, doesn’t it!? Those little arrow heads to the left and right really seem to make your ad stand out, don't they? But many email programs will interpret those >>> and <<< at the beginning and end as HTML code, and your text line will become invisible!

You should also never use multiply-repeated characters, like the three exclamation marks at the end of...

REVEALED - Secrets of the Big Dogs!!!

Multiply-repeated characters are one of the things that the spam filter programs look for, and your ad will probably be filtered before it gets to your prospects email box.

Likewise, do not use an exclamation mark and a question mark in the same text line, like...

Need TRAFFIC? Get it HERE!

or

Who DOESNT Need More Traffic!?

An exclamation mark and a question mark in the same text line are also "spam triggers" and will prevent your emails from getting through.

3. Never capitalize ALL the letters in a text line. This is called “shouting” and is the sure sign of a rank, inexperienced amateur – or of a twelve year old! Use all capitals and your email will NOT be opened (but it will make the reader chuckle!) You should, however, capitalize a word or two here and there for emphasis, or the first letter of each word in a text line.

Example:

REVEALED - SECRETS OF THE BIG DOGS!

…..is called “shouting.” Not only are all caps difficult to read, but it is considered rude and the mark of an amateur; your email will, in all probability, NOT be opened. So don't do it!

On the other hand…..

REVEALED - Secrets of the Big Dogs!

…..shows the proper format. Just one word (“REVEALED”) is in all caps, for emphasis. And just the first letters of “Secrets,” “Big,” and “Dogs” are capitalized, more or less as they would be in the headline of a magazine article or at the top of a newspaper. THIS is proper form.

4. Your Sales Message - A Checklist

Never make the text lines in your sales message more than approximately 65 characters long, including all letters, numbers, and spaces.

Use only the following punctuation marks:
. , - ! ? : # +

Never use multiple periods in a row, or for that matter, multiply-repeated characters of any kind.

Never use quotation marks or apostrophes

Never use a text line containing both an exclamation point and a question mark.

Never capitalize all the letters in a text line. Only one word (at most) should be capitalized for emphasis.

5. Never shout.
We talked about "shouting" when we discussed the subject line, didn't we? It means something just a little different when discussing the sales message, however.

As far as the spam filters are concerned, "shouting" is defined as anytime your sales message has more than two words on the same line that are all in capital letters.

For example, you might be tempted to have your sales message say...

---is going to turn YOU into a well-oiled, unstoppable, money making MACHINE!

...for emphasis. But those three words you have all in caps - MONEY MAKING MACHINE - will be flagged by the spam filters as shouting. If you have enough instances of shouting in your sales message, it will NOT be delivered to your prospects!

6. Once you’ve designed the “perfect” sales message, put it aside for a few hours, or until the next day. Why wait? Because after working on an ad for a while, we sometimes get too “close” to it, and we overlook obvious errors. You’ll be surprised to hear yourself saying, “Gee, I didn’t mean to say THAT,” or “Wow, that sentence just doesn’t make sense,” or “Oops, I forgot to talk about the most important benefit.”

7. Proof-read your ad before exposing it to your prospects! Fortunately, our modern word processing programs make this chore a snap! Analyze your ad yourself to pick up the more obvious spelling and grammar errors and typographical mistakes. Then just use the “spell-checker” and “grammar-checker” function of your word processing program to find the things you may have overlooked.

"You luz a hole lot of kredibility with your potenshal cliants if you’re add has serious errors fo this kind."

(See the point?)

8. Be sure and TEST your Target URL! Once you are done formatting your sales message, copy and paste the URL into your browser to make SURE it is correct and will take your prospect to the proper website. MORE SALES ARE LOST BECAUSE OF A MISSPELLED URL, OR ONE THAT IS MISSING COMPLETELY, THAN FOR ANY OTHER REASON!

9. Do not put ANY URL's into the body of your sales message. At one time it was popular to insert your Target URL at multiple spots in the sales message. The perceived wisdom was that this would give a prospect multiple opportunities to go to one's website.

This was before the day of spam filters and anti-virus programs.

Many ISP's automatically filter out emails that have multiple URL's in them, and many anti-virus programs interpret multiple URL's (because they are in HTML format) as a virus.

Enter your target URL ONLY into the area of the emailing program that is provided for it!

10. Always include your full name, email address, and telephone number in your sales message. This information buys you a whole lot of credibility, and on the Internet credibility is EVERYTHING! I am constantly amazed at the number of ads I see everyday, in which the writer does not even include his name! When I see such ads the first thing I think is, “Why should I buy something from someone who doesn’t even give me the courtesy of letting me know who he is!?”

Of even more crucial importance is your email address. What if your prospect has questions after he visits your website? What if he wants to know that there’s a “real human being” at the other end of that sales message? What if he just wants to thank you for introducing him to the incredible product or service you are offering?

As a side note, to make sure your email address is not misinterpreted by the filters as a URL, use a space to separate the @ symbol from the rest of the address. For example, instead of entering your email address as:

stan@bigdogsecrets.com

enter it as:

stan (at) bigdogsecrets (dot) com

Most sales messages you see do not include a telephone number. “After all,” the misinformed writers of these ads reason, “this is the Internet. This is the 21^st century. Telephone numbers are obsolete.” Well, nothing could be further from the truth!

Publishing your telephone number in your sales messages implies that you are a “real” business person, NOT just a twelve year old with a computer and an email address.

It implies that your business proposal is legitimate and that you have no qualms about talking to someone person-to-person. VERY, VERY FEW PEOPLE WILL EVER CALL, but the mere fact that your telephone number is there helps substantially in adding to your credibility.

11. Your Sales Message - A Checklist

Format your sales message so that each line is no more than 65 characters long, including all letters, numbers, and spaces.

Format your sales message so that it contains no more than 60 lines, including text lines as well as blank lines between paragraphs

Use your "Word Count" function to easily determine how many characters are in each line of your sales message.

Use only the following punctuation marks:
. , - ! ? : # +

Never use multiple periods in a row, or for that matter, multiply-repeated characters of any kind.

Never use quotation marks or apostrophes.

Never have more than two words on the same line that are all in capital letters. This is shouting!

Set aside your sales message for a few hours or overnight, and then review it.

Always proof-read and spell-check your ad.

Be sure that - (1) your full first and last name, (2) your email address, and (3) your phone number - are in each of your sales messages.

Unless instructed otherwise, never insert any URL's into your sales message.

Ian Stewart, the owner/admin of BuildABizOnline has put together a very excellent guide to avoid having your email ads sent into the spam folder. You can access it here:
https://www.buildabizonline.com/spam-words.html

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