Have you ever been to a national park, or driven somewhere wild and beautiful, and stopped at one of those scenic overlooks?

You know…Those paved pull offs that provide a fabulous photo op, plus a few signs explaining what you are looking at?

Since I spent years working for the Forest Service as a naturalist (I actually have a degree in leading nature hikes and writing these kinds of signs), and I’m a readaholic, I can never resist reading these signs.

Some signs grab my attention right off the bat. Others don’t.

Now, I’m the kind of person who will happily read the back of a shampoo bottle. So it’s got to be pretty bad writing if I’m not interested in reading it.

In college we spent hours analyzing what makes one sign more readable than another (fascinating stuff). Now, as a copywriter and marketing strategist, I still do the same thing everyday.

Interestingly, everything I learned about writing nature signs works equally well for writing effective marketing materials.

And there’s one secret I learned that cranks up the power of your marketing materials without fail…

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The Double Readership Path
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Everyone knows that people don’t read anymore, right? We’re all way too busy for that.

Instead, if you’re like most folks (IE in a hurry), you skim and scan to see if the materials at hand are interesting. If the information is well written, and what you’re looking for, you might read at least some of it.

Or, a quick scan might be all you need to find out what you want to know. Then you’re off to something else in the blink of an eye.

When I learned to write signs, we were taught to handle this reading behavior by writing a big, bold headline. Then a couple sentences in a slightly smaller font. Then a subhead followed by more information. Plus maybe a few photo captions.

That way, even if you only read the headline you’d get the idea. But it’s also easy to read a little—or a lot—more.

Your marketing should work in a similar way. In the copywriting world we call this “creating a double readership path” because you are writing for both readers and scanners.

Sadly, most entrepreneurs are still writing only to suit readers. Their sales letters and Web pages are filled with giant blocks of tiny text. And there’s not a headline, subhead or bullet in sight.

They’ve forgotten about the scanners and skimmers altogether. And I’d be willing to bet they’re losing readers’ attention—and a ton of business—as a result.

Now some people, especially if they’ve studied Website copywriting, are starting to figure out the double readership path secret.

They keep sentences short. They use meaningful headlines and subheads. And they know how to write benefits-oriented bullets.

A few even use formatting tricks like highlights, underlines and strategic bolding to increase scanability.

But most fail to think this whole concept through strategically when they write. And that’s the key to making the double readership path work.

Because if you use these tricks willy nilly you can actually make your marketing materials more confusing instead of less.

Let me explain…

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Beware the Arbitrary Emphasis
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A while back I critiqued an ad where the writer used every double readership trick in the book. Unfortunately, there were so many highlights, fonts and boxes it was hard to know what to read. Plus, random words were bolded, italicized or underlined for no particular reason, while critical info—like the guarantee—was buried.

The whole thing was totally confusing. And worst of all, even the headline “Get your F*ree CD” was worthless.

The ad failed to tell me anything at a glance because I couldn’t tell what to read first. I didn’t know what was on the cd…Llet alone who would want it, or why I should order it.

The sale was lost long before I started reading because I couldn’t skim it first.

Here’s the key to making the double readership path work…You have to highlight only information that’s most important to your target market—or to making the sale. And these pieces have to read well on their own.

So even if all they do is read the headlines, subheads, bolds, underlines and highlights, they get a complete story.

If you’ve done it right, your ideal client should get sucked in to reading the rest of the copy too. And voila! The sale is halfway made.

If you want to make good use of your time, you’ve got to know what’s most important and then give it all you’ve got.” – Lee Iacocca

Activity doesn’t necessarily equal achievement. Rather than trying to get someplace quickly, first you need to know where you want to go. Focus your activities in the direction of your goals. Where are you most prone to being busy but making little progress? Do you know exactly what you want to accomplish today?

SURCE: Donna Amos, Inspirer of Possibilities, http://www.solopreneurs.org

“Practice isn’t the thing you do once you’re good.
It’s the thing you do that makes you good.”-Malcolm Gladwell

I love outdoor “extreme” sports. I’ve whitewater kayaked and skied for more than 20 years now, and I returned to mountain biking a few years ago after about a decade off.

Having done the other sports for so long it’s easy for me to get impatient with my biking learning curve. I want to be as good as my hubby and the rest of the guys—but I’m just not. I don’t have their years of biking experience or the skills that go |with that.

While I’ve had some amazing days on my bike, I still regularly have bad days like the one last weekend…

I wasn’t very focused on biking since I was in the middle of a brand launch and had just had my folks in town for a week. Within 15 minutes my front tire hit a big, pyramid-shaped root I should have seen and stopped dead.

My body, on the other hand, kept flying forward until I somehow managed to stuff the end of my handlebar into my thigh creating a palm-sized, immediately Technicolor bruise. Then, not 10 minutes later, I stuck my handlebar end into almost the exact same spot again (OW!).

No matter what my rational mind says in those moments (it’s okay, you’re learning; practice makes perfect, etc.), my emotional side can get really frustrated, fearful and freaked. But I’ve learned I can’t let a couple mistakes and bruises keep me from having fun and being “successful” (I’m still smiling at the end of the ride in the pic above).

Just like I can’t let it stop me in my business. And believe me; I’ve “crashed” enough times to cause more than a little emotional and pocketbook pain. Thankfully I’ve learned a few tricks for getting past those bad days, staying positive and creating ongoing success as an entrepreneur.

1) Practice really does make perfect. Sure, I’ve known how to ride a bike since I was a kid. But mountain biking requires a whole ‘nother skill set that’s taken a lot of time to learn. So when I fall I just remind myself that I’m practicing not failing. Same holds true for marketing and growing a business.

2) Some days are better than others. I can have an amazing day biking where I land jumps easily and cruise over obstacles I’ve never even tried before. Then, the next day I can’t even ride an easy trail without crashing…And that’s okay. Just like some days I’m uber-productive and write a bazillion articles while working with clients and launching a new product. Others I can barely get one task completed. Rather than beat myself up for my bad days I celebrate the good ones.

3) A little coaching goes a long way. A few years into mountain biking again I was ready to quit. I ended every ride beaten and bruised from trying to keep up when I didn’t have the skills needed to succeed. I certainly wasn’t having much fun. Finally, I bit the bullet and attended a weekend mountain biking camp at Whistler. I came back a new rider and—bad days and bruises notwithstanding— I wreck a lot less because I have the skills to truly enjoy riding now.

I do the same in my business…I regularly take classes, attend conferences, buy products, and hire experts to teach me what I don’t know. So I’m way more successful way faster, with fewer bumps and bruises along the way. And it’s a heckuva lot more fun to run and grow my business since I’m not struggling blindly to keep up without really knowing what I’m doing.

Wanna learn more about how I manage to run and grow my business and still have plenty of time to play? Join me for my FREE TELECLASS on “Insider Secrets for Growing Your Business and Having a Life”

Get the deets and register right here: http://theunchainedentrepreneur.com/freecall

By Anita Wong

Does your website look one way, your blog another way, your Facebook fan page still another way, and your Twitter page looks like something else?

Consistency and repetition are very important when it comes to brand recognition.   Make sure your customers and fans know it’s you by taking advantage of the ability to modify your blog stylesheet, upload your logo image to your company’s fan page and use a custom Twitter background.

Make sure that your logo is clearly displayed and when possible, use the same color scheme on all of your collateral materials, including social media.

SOURCE: Anita Wong www.wsdnw.com