Follow This (The Flaming Piano) Jerry Lee Teaches Copywriting Strategy

What Can Jerry Lee Teach Us About Copywriting Strategy?

In the late 1950's (no one seems to know the exact date or place) Jerry Lee Lewis was asked to play a concert in Chicago (I think). He went into this deal thinking that with his huge skills and popularity that he would no doubt be the closing act. He was wrong.

Once he got to the concert and entered the backstage area he was informed that he was going to have to open for Chuck Berry. He was furious to say the least. In his mind he was the greatest, and now he was being asked to open for someone else.

First he refused and decided to leave the concert. The producers were running crazy trying to figure out how to explain that Jerry Lee Lewis would not be playing as promised. Then just before they were about to start a riot, in walks Jerry Lee.

He went out on to the stage and put on the best show he was capable of doing, playing his piano, almost the whole concert though, standing up (or on top of it singing). At the end, during his very famous song, "Great Balls of Fire" he pulled a coke bottle full of gasoline out of his pocket, and doused the piano down with one hand while still playing with the other. Next, out came the match.

He played the song, and repeated the chorus over and over until the piano burned to the ground.

As he was walking off stage, he passed by Chuck Berry and  simply said, "Follow That!"

Today, more than ever the competition to get attention on the internet is outrageous. Copywriting Strategy is more valuable now than Ever Before.

Every time you write an article, you need to be thinking of who will be following you. Every word needs to be written with the thought in mind;

"Is this going to be forgotten in 10 minutes, or is this the quality that can go viral?"

So what is your copywriting strategy? Do you even have one, or do you just start writing whatever can get your keywords to fit in a sentence?

I am all about good SEO, as will be noticeable through the courses I offer, and the  Free Marketing Training available. But one thing that I always place ahead of my SEO writing Strategies, is my copywriting strategy. And for good reason.

I don't care how many people come to my site, if they don't like what they see. It is that simple. If someone doesn't care for the information they get, or can't understand it because the sentences don't feel natural, they don't count as visitors. They will just move on to another site.

There is no money made, until something is sold!

If you get thousands of people to your site and none of them buy anything, does it really matter that thousands of people came to your site?

Writing copy is an art that should captivate your audience. Everything you write should include the Three E's, and do it well. I know this doesn't always work out, but you should always try.

Nothing ever went viral on the net without having one or all of the Three E's in place.

That is not an observation, it is simply a fact. You have to captivate your audience in some way, that makes what you are writing stand apart from the crowd.

Here are a few copywriting tips to use today:

• Your title needs to be sticky clickable. Make people want to know what this is about. Draw their mouse to it and make them have to click.
• Use something off the wall. I find ideas sometimes just by browsing around in Google Images, Beware, you may have nightmares after just browsing Google Images.
• What was in the news on specific years? Doing some archive searches in the news for certain years can help you pull in an audience of your age choice. I choose this post story as an extreme example of targeting my grandfather. This story comes from his prime years. So it would definately be something that would catch his eye.
• Don't target too specific unless your product or service is that specific. This post will no doubt catch the eye of my target...(grandfather) but it is titled in such a way that it will make almost anyone wonder.
• If you can make them wonder, curiosity will do the rest.
• Be bizzare if need be. If you are having no luck with your other efforts step out a little and title something out there. I have a blog on Better Networker titled "Rise Of The Machines, Fall Of The Produce". It got quite a bit of views for my first post ever on that site, and in my first day in the community.
• Always give. Never write a post, article or even a sales letter without giving away something good. If your readers leave with something they can use today, they will come back for more. Come up with your best quick tips, and write them all down. Use one in everything you do. You can use them more than once if the content is spread out on different sites. Like an article on Ezines, and a Squidoo page.

Now, I am not saying forget about SEO. Like I stated earlier, SEO is my favorite free marketing strategy. All you need is the knowledge, a little time each day and the patience to see it through. SEO can be very powerful even if no one has ever heard of you. Because if you do it correctly, they will.

But none of it matters if you can't keep them on the page. Learn your basic copywriting strategy, and don't forget the lesson we learned from Jerry Lee. Take control of your situation. If the competition is too fierce, then all that is needed is to up your game.

Don't be afraid to pour out a little gasoline from time to time.

Chris Owen,
Chris Owen Academy