I’ve seen this ongoing debate debate jump up again recently in several Blogs and message boards and I can’t help but laugh. It’s not a new debate… Ever since the long copy masters of the early 1900’s, people have been arguing for or against the practice.
As a copywriter and conversion specialist, convincing my clients to test longer copy on their web sites is often a very difficult task. After all, online customers have microscopic attention spans and are always in a hurry to move on.
Different visitors have different goals, different personalities and different buying styles. Some visitors will want to read everything you can give them before buying and then they still need “more information” before they can decide. Others just want to know “what are you selling”, “what does it do for me” and “how much is it” and they want to know it NOW!
It may sound like an impossible task to write copy that sells both of them… After all if you cut your copy to bone to sell the second visitor, you won’t have enough information to persuade the first visitor. And, if you waste the second visitors time by forcing them to read a 20 page letter to “get to the meat”, they will leave.
(Fortunately, there is a way to satisfy BOTH of them on the same page… But more on that in a minute…)
There are two basic camps in this debate… The first group says “Long copy ALWAYS outsells short copy”, while the second group says stuff like “…as a consumer, I don’t have time to read all that copy. I’ll NEVER from long copy.”
The part that makes me laugh is that 90% of the people in BOTH camps have never scientifically tested copy of ANY length! They make these statements of absolute facts, with no test results to back up their claims.
The truth is, sometimes long copy out pulls short copy and sometimes short copy out pulls long copy. But you have to TEST it to know which is going to work for your site and your target demographic. (Actually there is one absolute when it comes to copy… Good copy always outsells Bad copy, regardless of length!)
Another thing to keep in mind is, just because you conduct a test and find that a shorter version out pulls a longer version, don’t automatically assume that “short copy is better than long copy”. If you are testing a clear, attention grabbing short message against a long, boring message, your test is not going to tell you much.
Its much like comments I get from time to time about using audio as a tool on websites. Occasionally a client will tell me “we tested using audio and it didn’t work”. Well… Just testing audio vs. no audio, doesn’t mean your test result is valid. Perhaps your message was not effective, maybe they didn’t like your voice. You need to test multiple audio scripts and even multiple speakers, before you can draw a valid conclusion.
In the end the length of the copy is irrelevant, the response rate is what matters.
From my own testing I have found, as long as you keep your reader interested, keep your copy active and ensure a good flow, longer copy usually out performs short.
To often, people who have heard that “long copy is better”, write long copy for the sake of long copy. The result is usually long-boring copy. Adding more words, just to have longer copy is missing the point… The copy still needs to be tight, clean and laser focused.
The good news is, if your prospect is truly qualified and in real need (or want) of your product or service, they will read everything you give them, as long as you keep it interesting.
My friend (and long copy letter king) Michel Fortin recently posted an excellent article to his Blog about how to keep long copy interesting. You can read it here: http://www.allhottips.comAt the beginning I told you that there is a way to write your copy to persuade and keep the interest of both long copy AND short copy fans.
You can cater to both visitor types by using “Dual Readership Paths”. You do this by using your headlines and sub-headlines within your copy to tell the “scan and ” visitors everything they need to know to make their buying decision. By creatively using your sub-headlines and bullet points you can persuade those who do not have the time to read your entire message, without sacrificing needed benefits and copy for those who won’t without a “full” explanation of your product or service.
The bottom line is this…
The LENGTH of your copy is not what is important, it is the EFFECTIVENESS and response rate that matters.
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Domestic and/or International Term Life vs. Cash Value Insurance Policies
There are two forms of life insurance policies available. The first is Domestic/International Term Life insurance, which is the most basic form of insurance. It offers insurance death benefit coverage and that’s it. With a term policy, your premiums are applied 100% to the cost of the term insurance. As you age and retirement grows near, the need for any life insurance decreases. Your children will now be able to support themselves and your savings for retirement will begin to approximate a lump-sum insurance payment. At this time, it may be safe to cancel or sell your current Domestic/International Term Life insurance policy.
The second type of insurance is cash value insurance. There are many financial products that fall under this category. They can include universal life insurance, variable life insurance and whole life insurance. Cash value insurance combine regular term insurance with a tax-sheltered savings plan that is long-term. One of the most important things to know about cash value policies is that they must be held for life, but this does not mean that premiums need to be paid for life; it is possible you only need to pay premiums for 5 -7 years. In most cases, there will be some upfront costs that are associated with setting up the savings plan, paying a commission to the agent and investing the money. Despite these initial charges, this type of tax-sheltered savings can have huge advantages, however, be aware that it may take at least 10 years for those advantages to be a benefit. If you are thinking of purchasing a cash value policy, make sure you learn about every aspect of the policy.
How Cash Value Works: Not All Cash Value Insurance is Created Equal
Understanding how a general cash value policy works is essential. Your life insurance is paid by a portion of your regular premium payment. The balance is then applied to the savings account attached to the policy. In to build savings, your advisor should request a minimum death benefit and fund the policy over at least 5-7 years. The premiums for a cash value policy are higher than that of a term life policy with the same death benefit, but you are not buying this policy for the death benefit, but rather for tax-free savings and tax free withdrawals. For this retirement strategy, you definitely want to get the minimum death benefit to maximize the cash value growth. While the premium may seem higher, savings is the ultimate goal. The savings from a cash value policy can provide you with income that will cover all life insurance payments upon retirement. If you die, the balance of the savings and the death benefit is then passed onto your named beneficiary, which ideally will be an irrevocable trust. Depending on the type of policy, the amount passed on will be a portion of the death benefit of the insurance or in addition to that death benefit.
Withdraw Cash Value Life Insurance Money with No Income Tax
If set up correctly, removing money from the plan will not result in income taxes which is one of the key benefits of the policy. There are strict rules regarding taking money from the savings in the plan, but a good advisor or Estate Street Partners will walk you through those details.
In the author’s opinion, the best type of cash value life insurance is Indexed Equity Universal Life (EIUL) because it has an annual minimum return guarantee, but still allows the cash value to grow at market rates every year if the stock market has positive returns. These policies lock in the gains in up years and avoid losing money in the years the market goes negative. Usually these policies are tied to a stock index like the S&P 500.
The mechanics are simple: The insurance company does not invest in the stock market, rather they invest in bonds and some of the interest that is generated from the bonds goes to you to guarantee a minimum rate of return and some of the interest is used to call options on the index. When the stock market index goes up it pays off the policy at the same rate of return of the market.
Why You Should Keep Your Cash Value Policy & Not Cancel it
There are many people who will a cash value policy and then cancel it. Cash value plans can provide great benefits, but you must keep that policy and not cancel it. If you think you may cancel a life insurance policy later, it may be better to purchase a term life policy instead. But there is really no need to cancel it, just stop paying the premiums and the cash value will continue to grow tax free. Unlike a Term life policy, one does not need to pay premiums for more than 5 years unless they want too.
If you are contemplating buying life insurance, make sure the agent breaks it all down. You want to know the exact benefits of each type of policy and what these benefits entail. Many agents will recommend you to cash value because of the savings plan attached to it. While this may be a good option for most, it may not benefit everyone in the same way; it depends on each individual’s situation. Each person has their own needs when it comes to life insurance, so make sure you get all the information needed before making a decision.
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One of the fundamental issues in Finance is the relationship between risk and return. Investors are willing to commit their resources for a period of time in the expectation of receiving future cash flows that will compensate them for the time they have committed their money, the expected rate of inflation and the risk they have undertaken.
Individuals invest for a variety of reasons: for creating a retirement fund; for funding their children’s education; for putting a down payment on a new house. Organizations invest for numerous reasons: for creating payouts for their retired employees (pension funds); for providing scholarships (endowment funds); for providing adequate funds to policy holders when policies need to be cashed out or benefits need to be paid (insurance companies).
In any case, investing covers three basic needs:
Income: investments are made in the hope of providing future income. Investors are trading their money today for expected income streams that will outweigh the current outlay.
Capital preservation: investments are made to preserve capital. Investors put their money on conservative investments because they are not willing to undertake any risk. On the contrary, they are looking for the assurance that the funds will be available, with no risk of loss. In this context, capital preservation refers to the preservation of the real value of the investment as the nominal value will increase according to inflation.
Capital appreciation: investments are made so that capital grows in value and meet future needs. The goal for those investors who are wiling to undertake a certain risk is to grow their funds at a faster rate than inflation so that they enjoy a higher return on their investment after inflation and taxes have taken effect. Normally, investments made for capital appreciation involve risk exposure and risk can affect returns both positively and negatively.
Speculation refers to the undertaking of extra risk to achieve above-average returns in a relatively short-term horizon. Unlike investing, that is a well-informed decision after having taken into consideration a series of economic, market and company factors, speculating is, in effect, a betting on future movements of the market. Speculators take specific positions in the market, either by betting that the price of an asset will rise or by betting that the price of an asset will decline and use derivatives to get extra leverage.
For example, a US speculator believes that the British Pound will strengthen relative to the US dollar over the next 2 months and takes a position of 100,000GBP. The speculator buys 100,000GBP in the spot market hoping that GBP can be sold later at a higher price. We assume a spot price at 1.6580 and a futures price at 1.6530. If over the next 2 months the exchange rate rises to 1.7000 USD/GBP, the futures contract enables the speculator to realize a profit gain of (1.7000 – 1.6530) x 100,000 = $4,700. The spot market alternative gives a profit of (1.7000 – 1.6580) x 100,000 = $4,200. If over the next 2 months the exchange rate declines to 1.600 USD/GBP, the futures contract gives a loss of (1.6530 – 1.6000) x 100,000 = $5,300. The spot market alternative gives a loss of (1.6580 – 1.600) x 100,000 = $5,800. The difference between the two alternatives is that if the speculator goes with the spot price, he would have to make an initial investment of 100,000GBP x 1.6580 = $165.800, while if he uses futures contract he would deposit the margin account, that is an amount around $20,000. This how using derivatives allows speculators to gain leverage.
For Adam Smith, speculators are always ready to pursue short-term opportunities for profit; for John Maynard Keynes, their activities are aimed at forecasting the psychology of the market. On the contrary, investments forecast the prospective yields of the invested assets based on fundamental or technical factors that support investors’ expectations.
The problem between investing and speculating is that many investors do speculate although they are sure they don’t. For instance, investors who do proper analysis of the market know that they can hold a stock even if the stock price falls. If they are really savvy investors, they will increase their position in the particular stock to take advantage of its future uptrend. However, the opposite is true for speculators, who will sell the stock betting that the stock price will decline further. In general, speculation may mean different things to different people, but in its essence it has one original meaning, which is theorizing without a factual basis.
A freelance writer, top MBA graduate with Finance major, passionate about business, finance, history and music; this is pretty much me in a nutshell.
I provide high quality writing services since 2005 in the field of Business & Finance, Movie Reviews, Book Reviews, Health & Fitness, Internet and Relationships. I also have a very good knowledge of Politics and History.
My advanced familiarity with financial modeling, financial statement analysis, capital budgeting and market research has helped me a lot, not only to be a successful professional, but mostly to see life under a more creative and innovative perspective. Besides, having lived for two years in Chicago, IL and Boca Raton, FL and for quite some time in Paris, France has provided me with an international aspect and has enlarged the way I see and understand life.
I currently work as a financial and investment advisor at an international financial institution. Yet, my dream is to be able to make a living as a writer.
The habanero pepper was commonly thought to be the hottest pepper in the world until the Bhut Jolokia came a-knockin’. Bhut Jolokia translates to “ghost chili” and is referred to by many other names in different countries. Some of those names translate to King of Chilies, Poison Chili, and King Cobra Chili.
In 2000, the Bhut Jolokia was introduced to the western world. It comes from the state Assam in India, and is also naturally found in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan. In 2005, researchers at New Mexico State University grew and tested the Bhut Jolokia with the Scoville Scale to measure its level of heat against other chili peppers.
The Scoville scale originally measured the amount of sugar-water dilution needed to nullify the heat in the pepper as scoville heat units (SHU). We are now able to separate compounds and measure the amount of capsaicin in each individual pepper. There are a few different types of heat found naturally in foods. One comes from a chemical found in mustard oil, which is the spice found in wasabi and horseradish. The other is capsaicin, which is a compound found in chili peppers. While the spice of wasabi often affects the nasal passage and clears sinuses, the heat from capsaicin burns the mouth, tongue, throat and stomach.
Jalapeño peppers, which are considered somewhat spicy by the average person, have about 2,500–8,000 SHU. The Red Savina Habanero, commonly believed to be the hottest pepper in the world, came in at a notable 350,000–580,000 SHU. And finally, at an astounding 1,041,427 SHUs, the Bhut Jolokia won with almost twice as much heat as the Habanero.
There are plenty of videos posted on various sites, such as YouTube.com that show people’s reactions to tasting this ridiculously spicy pepper. If you are interested in becoming one of them, your best bet is to from an online source, and cultivate the pepper yourself. If you don’t mind waiting a little while, you can probably find a restaurant carrying dishes with this pepper in the next few months, as this ghost chili is certainly starting a spicy trend.
Ryan Frank is an avid writer and blogger living in San Diego, CA.