Ms. Veloso claims to have learned what she knows about web copywriting from Mark Joyner, the best-selling author of MindControlMarketing.com. Veloso writes “Mark…introduced me to many of the psychological devices that I use in writing web copy, which have produced the signature model of web copywriting with which I’m identified today” (p. xxi-xxii), including the Zeigarnik effect and cognitive dissonance.

Throughout the book, Ms. Veloso “…examines the steps, the psychology, and the philosophies that are considered in writing successful web copy rather than modeling the web copy itself and trying to adapt it where it isn’t appropriate. Instead of simply presenting formulas or power words and phrases, [she] demonstrates how to acquire the mindset with which to view websites, email, and all other marketing communications so that you, too, can write web copy that sells” (p. 7). Among other things, the author provides an exercise that will help you become a great web copywriter in five hours or less and a unique copywriting approach based on five simple questions, which, when answered, make the web copy practically write itself.

According to Ms. Veloso, “before you write one word of copy, you must first

• Know your objective
• Know your target audience
• Know the product or service” (p. 33).

To know these things calls for the answers to five questions which Ms. Veloso calls creating the blueprint:

• Question #1: “What is the pain, problem, or predicament?” which leads to Step #1: Write down your target audience’s problem.
• Question #2: “Why hasn’t the problem been solved?” which leads to Step #2: Write down the reason(s) the problem continues, persists, or lingers.
• Question #3: “What is possible?” which leads to Step #3: Write down what’s possible.
• Question #4: “What is different now?” which leads to Step #4: Write a few sentences about what differentiates your product or service.
• Question #5: “What should you do now?” which leads to Step #5: State clearly what you want your prospect to do. (pp. 36 – 39).

And then the next step is to put words to the blueprint by:

• Step #1: Injecting emotion.
• Step #2: Adding bullet points, bonuses, guarantees, and a close. Unsuccessful marketers are reluctant to ask for the order. For any offer to be successful, you must be clear and explicit when you ask for the order. Include every detail, even those that seem obvious to you. Make it easy for the prospect to buy. Online or offline, simply asking for the order does not close the sale. “Click here to order” or similar phrases do not constitute a close. As a rule, web visitors click on the order button only after you have done the necessary steps to close the sale. If you haven’t given enough information, you haven’t closed the sale. Period.
• Step #3: Adding credibility building elements.
• Step #4: Adding psychological devices.
• Step #5: Replacing rational words with emotional words (pp. 46 – 60).

Ms. Veloso also introduces three rules about web copywriting:

 “Rule 1. Don’t Make Your Website Look Like an Ad

Your website should provide the solid information that your prospect is looking for, and it should have an editorial feel to it. Above all, it should be free of hype. Why? Because people usually go online to find information” (p. 11).

A study conducted by web usability experts John Morkes and Jakob Nielsen (reported in a paper titled Concise, Scannable and Objective: How to Write for the Web) showed that web users “detest anything that seems like marketing fluff or overly hyped language (‘marketese’) and prefer factual information.” If web visitors ever do get sold on something, they want to be finessed, not bombarded by blatant advertising” (p. 12).

 “Rule 2. Stop Readers Dead in Their Tracks

The copy, written in the editorial style, follows through by giving readers a sense that they’re reading a news item, not an advertisement” (p. 16).

“Rule 3. Capture Email Addresses

For a website to succeed, it must have effective direct response web copy that induces action from a single exposure. Just think. What’s the point in getting someone to come to your website if the site visit doesn’t generate a response such as picking up the phone and calling your business, subscribing to your newsletter, signing up for your mailing list, or buying your product or service?” (p. 16).

That’s why it is absolutely essential for your website to have an opt-in mechanism. The odds are low that people will buy from you the first time they visit your website. After all, they don’t even know you. Rather than lose them, ask for something that is easier and less intimidating than pulling out a credit card—ask them to give you their email address. It’s a simple, non-threatening way to initiate a relationship” (p. 17).

This is just some of the information Ms. Veloso has to offer in her book:

• The most powerful psychological principles underlying web copy that sells are explored in Chapter 3, which offers devices, strategies, tactics, and tips that can make any website sizzle with sales activity.
• The formula for measuring the selling quotient of your copy (Chapter 4) shows you how to evaluate your copy’s selling ability and how to get an immediate boost in your response rate.
• In Chapter 5 you’ll discover the amazing power of email marketing and how to write attention grabbing email copy.
• In Chapter 6, the author shows how to write compelling online ads, newsletters (or ezines), autoresponder messages, and other marketing communications that can propel online business to uncharted heights.
• After you’ve learned the craft of web copywriting, Chapter 7 reveals the four step fool-proof secret to success in all your copywriting endeavors.

The book includes a whole list of web copy do’s and don’ts – too many to list in this essay. Ms. Veloso’s book proved to be an invaluable resource.

_____________________________

Veloso, M. (2005) Web copy that sells: The revolutionary formula for creating killer copy every time. AMACOM Books. Retrieved from EBSCO host on September 5, 2011.

The 2012 primary elections are over and studies, such as How Redistricting Affected Voter Behavior In The 2012 Primaries, have been completed. But the 2012 election story is far from being over.

In less than a month across America, on Tuesday, November 6 to be exact, any eligible voters who haven’t already voted through an absentee ballot can exercise their right to vote for the next president of the United States. The fact is not every eligible voter will register, and not every registered voter will vote.

As can be seen in the chart below, whether or not it’s a presidential election (2004, 2008) or a congressional election (2006, 2010), consistently, not all eligible citizens choose to register, nor do all registered voters choose to vote. In the chart below, VEP stands for voting-eligible population and VAP stands for voting-age population. Recalling back to the 2008 election of President Obama, there seemed to be so much hype about how many more people got out to vote. However, the statistics don’t show an overwhelming improvement from 2004.

2004 – 2010 General Election Statistics
(Election data taken from data tables on United States Election
Project website last updated 9/6/12 by Dr. Michael McDonald,
Excel spreadsheet by Allison Dennis)

The question remains: who will decide the fate of America? Who will actually vote for the next president of the United States? Will they vote for Barack Obama or Mitt Romney? The map below shows that anyone can still make a difference.

Electoral Votes Map
D = Democratic, R = Republican
(Electoral map as presented by Charlie Cook on
10/12/12 on The Cook Political Report website)

Whoever they vote for, if it’s the same people that voted before, it will be less than 62% of the voting-eligible population. It’s not too late to be a part of your countries’ history. The story isn’t over yet.

According to the 2012 Election Central site, “Tickets for the 2012 general election debates are controlled by the Commission on Presidential Debates and are extremely limited since the debates are primarily produced for television. The majority of tickets are distributed to host university students and faculty through a lottery system with the remaining tickets going to friends and families of the campaigns and the media.”

Not only will most debates be available to watch on television (watch your local listings for channels), they will also be streamed live online.

Barack Obama in Windham, New Hampshire
August 18, 2012. Photography by Scout Tufankjian
for Obama for American. www.barackoabama.com

Mitt Romney in Aurora, Colorado.
June 20, 2012. Photo by John Moore/Getty Images. https://plus.google.com/113664776160150493710/

DATE:  Wednesday, October 3, 2012

TIME:  9:00 – 10:30 p.m. EST

LOCATION:  University of Denver in Denver, Colorado

TOPIC:  Domestic Policy

MODERATOR:  Jim Lehrer (Host of NewsHour on PBS)

FORMAT:  Six segments of approximately 15 minutes, with two-minute response times to each question.

Remember, this is only the first step in the process. Make sure you check out this site and watch all of the debates, so that you can make an informed decision on Tuesday November 6, 2012 – Election Day!

Be sure to share this with your friends and family who may not have heard about the scheduling yet.

This is not the first time Steve and I have had this discussion. Steve just never seems to remember because he’s either drunk or high by the time we ‘talk.’ Oh, he’ll remember bits and pieces, but never the ultimatums.

Last week when I told him it was over, the same old rhetoric began again. I think he’s finally beginning to understand.

“So you’re saying that no matter what I do, it’s not going to be good enough. You want me to move out regardless?”

“Yes, I want you to move out regardless.”

I’m a grown woman and I’ve had my share of failed relationships. You’d think breaking up would get easier.

The one thing I have learned is the easiest way to sabotage a relationship is to fall in love with someone who has an addiction. And I get it. I’m more than willing to take my responsibility for these doomed relationships.

But, I have to admit, it’s taken me 48 plus years to recognize that one of the common denominators in my failed relationships has been the addictions of my partners. I guess when I think about it, I have my own addiction. I’m addicted to fixing people. I’m going to change the world one man at a time!

Steve shared this truism with me. “Women get married expecting to change men, but men never change; men get married expecting women to never change, but women change constantly.” What God has been showing me lately is it’s not my job to change people. That’s His job.

What is it about addiction that sabotages a relationship? According to Matta, “Addiction is a pathological attraction to any person, place, or thing…Often, they are unconscious, vain attempts to find something outside of ourselves to make us feel whole” (2006, p. 104). It could be a drug addiction – marijuana, heroin, cocaine. It could be an addiction to alcohol or sex. But the definition also mentions an addiction can be an attraction to a person.

But what takes a normal attraction to any person, place, or thing to the point of being pathological? It’s when having sex isn’t about the sex; when smoking pot isn’t about getting high; when having a drink isn’t about getting a buzz; when being with a person you supposedly love isn’t about making that person happy anymore. It’s when all these actions “are about overcoming feelings of emotional deficit…feelings of loneliness and unworthiness” (Matta, 2006, p. 113).

That’s exactly the place I arrived at in my failed relationships. These men were looking for emotional validation I wasn’t able to give them. They would never be whole or happy no matter how many times I told them I loved them or supported them if they couldn’t find validation within themselves. And the same is true for me. I won’t be able to have a successful relationship until I can find validation within myself.

Interestingly, in each relationship I’ve tried to show my partner the real answer is a relationship with Jesus Christ. He’s the only one that can give us the validation we need. He’s the only one that can fill that God-shaped hole in our hearts.

I guess I need to let God take control in my life and make me whole so I’ll stop looking for a man that I can fix and let God introduce me to a Godly man of His choosing.

Matta, W. J. (2006). Relationship sabotage: Unconscious factors that destroy couples, marriages, and family. Westport: CT. Praeger Publishers.

Friday night, my 23-year-old daughter, Amanda, called about 10:30 p.m. She was actually on her way to work. She works night audit for an inn, 11 p.m. to 8 a.m. “Can Ashley and I come over on Sunday?” I made out through the sobs over the cell phone. Ashley is my 14-month-old granddaughter. “I have to work again tomorrow from 1:30 to 9 and then Dan has to work Sunday and I’m already so tired and feel like crap.” Dan is my son-in-law.

“You’re already tired and feel like crap and you’re just on your way to work?” I tried to understand the situation. “How are you going to work?”

“I’ll be fine. I don’t have a choice,” the crying stopped as she parked at work. She was obviously trying to get her game face on.

“It sounds like you just need some sleep. You’re pregnant, going to school, working, and trying to take care of your husband and daughter. Wouldn’t you rather I came and took Ashley on Sunday so you can get some sleep?” I offered.

“No, I need to get away from the house. Dan doesn’t do anything around the house and I just need to get out.”

“Okay, you know you’re always welcome to come over for a visit,” I reassured her. This was not an unfamiliar conversation.

Saturday morning, I woke up rather early and my whole body just ached. It wasn’t like I’d stayed up late Friday night partying. As I laid there wondering where the truck was that had just run me over, I decided I must have taken on Amanda’s weariness so she could get through another day. That’s when I decided it was time to talk to God.

I sat up on the couch and closed my eyes and I told God all about what was going on (as if he didn’t already know)! Then I cleared my mind and just listened. I’m not sure how long I sat there. I didn’t watch the clock. But when I was done listening, I felt led to go visit my son-in-law and granddaughter while Amanda was at work. I had no idea what I was going to do or say; I just knew God wanted me to be a mom. And I went with a desire to be used by God as opposed to being a meddling mother-in-law.

I drove to their house and had a very nice visit with my son-in-law. I listened while he did some venting of his own. Ashley and I tried out her toys as we picked up the living room and Daddy did the dishes. She showed me how she could push the red circle and make the bear pop up or slide the yellow knob and make the beads whiz around. Then she showed how she could pull the Kleenex out of the box and throw them in the trash bag. I tried to teach her how to blow her nose and then throw the Kleenex in the trash bag. I didn’t stay too long.

A few hours later Amanda called, “I understand Dan and Ashley had a visitor today.”

“Yeah,” I said. “I was just in the neighborhood. You can still come over tomorrow if you want.”

“No,” she said. “Maybe next time.” Because there will be a next time. You see I was wrong all those years ago. My babies will always need their mommy.

My first two taxis in Newark were big, black, unmarked sedans with no meters of any kind. When I got in the first unidentified cab, I thought for sure my naked body was going to be found in some God-forsaken alley. The second cab ride took thirty minutes to go five miles. The driver couldn’t speak any English or read a map. I was so relieved to reach my destination in both instances that I actually tipped the drivers on top of paying outrageous rates each time.

When the driver came to take me back to the airport, I was so happy to see a big “Airport Shuttle” sign on that old green minivan. At least I knew we’d be headed in the right direction. The driver even spoke English. Then he got out of the van to get my luggage. As he struggled to open the rear hatch, I helped him lift the luggage. I estimated his age to be about a hundred years old. Okay, maybe that’s exaggerating. He probably wasn’t a day over eighty!

After driving to get to the New Jersey turnpike, we waited in traffic to get to the toll booth. At the last minute, the driver decided the turnpike wasn’t the way to go. He doubled back to take city streets – ah, yes, the heart of downtown Newark. At least the van sounded like it was in good condition and the air-conditioning worked. We could keep the windows closed and the doors locked to be safe.

“Let’s count the traffic lights from this end of Newark to the airport,” my driver offered. I guess he thought it would help pass the time. “That’s one…two…three…four.” He soon stopped counting as we became absorbed in deeper (I use the word loosely) conversation. Now we’ll never know the number of traffic lights in Newark!

“Who do you think is smarter – women or men?” was his first question. I forget what I actually answered, but I thought it depended on whether or not we were including ourselves. I had a sneaking suspicion I was smarter than him.

“So, you’re from Michigan,” began our next topic. “That’s right next to Canada, huh? So, do you think Canada will ever decide to join the U.S.A.?” I hadn’t realized they were thinking about it.

“North America is a very big continent,” he noted. “Do you realize Mexico is part of North America, not Central America? Hey, I’ve got a question for you. Is Baja, California part of the United States or Mexico?” I was pretty sure since California was a state, it was part of the U.S.

“I don’t know,” he shook his head with some doubt. I finally said without a map, it was hard to tell.

About fifteen minutes before we got to the airport, the driver took off his glasses, started rubbing his eyes, shaking his head, and said, “When we get to the airport, I better stop and have a cappuccino so I wake up.” I wanted him to wake up before then.

I made it to the airport with the old man and the taxi. It was a trip I would not soon forget. Godspeed to his next fare.

So, I’ve always stayed away from that Eastern stuff – incense and candles, meditation and yoga, mantras and gurus. And when anyone talked about solitude, it brought up images of my younger days when I’d often feel loneliness from a lack of friendships or anyone close that I could talk with. The last thing I wanted was to spend my days in solitude.

Yet, as I got older and started developing deeper friendships with other women and began going on dates with members of the opposite sex, I would still find myself fighting bouts of loneliness. In fact, there were times when I could be in a room full of people and still feel lonely. I was beginning to understand that solitude and loneliness weren’t the same thing. Because as lonely as I might be feeling in that room full of people, at the same time I could think of doing nothing better than going home and being by myself.

Even after I got married and had been married for years, I would try to explain this need to be alone to my now ex-husband. He would say he didn’t think it was healthy for me to want to be alone so much. It was Henri Nouwen that finally put my feelings into words. “Whenever we enter into solitude, we witness to a love that transcends our interpersonal communications and proclaims that we love each other because we have been loved first (1 Jn. 4:19). Solitude keeps us in touch with the sustaining love from which we draw strength” (Nouwen, 1978, p. 14). I used to explain to my husband that keeping him happy and keeping him from getting depressed zapped me from all my energy. Neither one of us, at the time, understood why I needed “my space” – what I now know was “my solitude.”

The truth is that we all need this place of solitude where we can get away from the busyness of everyday life and get back in touch with our Creator. “Somewhere we know that without a lonely place our lives are in danger…The careful balance between silence and words, withdrawal and involvement, distance and closeness, solitude and community forms the basis of the Christian life and should therefore be the subject of our most personal attention” (Nouwen, 1974, p. 18).

Introvert or extrovert, married or single, active or not, we all need to find time to be with our Lord – to contemplate our existence, to pray for one another, and listen for that still, small voice. A little solitude is good for us all.

__________________________________________________________________

Nouwen, H. J. (1978). Clowning in Rome: Reflections of solitude, celibacy, prayer, and contemplation. New York: Doubleday.

Nouwen, H. J. (1974). Out of solitude: Three meditations on the Christian life. Notre Dame, IN: Ave Maria Press, Inc.

I think it was the first day when we were talking about listening that somehow the subject of my good friend came up and my concern for his spiritual life. I think it came up because I realized last week what a lousy listener I had become. At any other time this probably would not have mattered except we were specifically learning about the importance of listening in the course. As Dr. Quentin Schultze pointed out in his third video titled Listening as Attending to Reality, “From a Christian perspective, listening is best defined as attending to reality—paying attention to, and getting to know well, the way that things really are in the world.”

The fact of the matter was that my friend and I had been doing a lot of talking about spiritual things lately. And since I agree with Dr. Schultze in his video titled Considering the Nature and Purpose of Human Communication when he says, “Humans are called to be faithful caretakers and cultivators of God’s good Creation” and that “the human vocation (ultimate calling) is following Jesus Christ as faithful caretakers of God’s world,” I had taken it upon myself to see that my friend was so-called “saved.” My problem was that he was saying the right things, but his life wasn’t producing what I thought was the right “fruit.” How could I help? What was I doing wrong? Where was I leading him astray?

These were the questions I left the group with the first day. And I pretty much thought that was that. The rest was mine to figure out. But much to my surprise, we came back to the subject the next day.

And in discussing the subject the next day, I found myself confessing that I hadn’t been a very good listener. That I had, in fact, acted as if I had been installed with a special Holy Spiritometer and I had the power to measure how much someone was filled with the Holy Spirit. Well, I realized that I owed my friend an apology and that I hadn’t been a very good communicator or steward of the language God had given me to take care of.

Then I began attending to reality – the reality that I was not being a faithful communicator. God had put me in a situation in which I was to cultivate a relationship between my friend and Jesus Christ, but God was not going to hold me personally responsible for saving my friend. Only Jesus Christ can do that. Instead of lovingly encouraging my friend, I had been brow-beating him with judgments.

And that’s when I knew what my next step was to be. I was to let it go and to let it be. I was to let go and let God. And that’s where faith comes into play. I have to trust God and have faith that He will meet my friend where he is when He’s ready.

I always thought things would be better as an adult. I thought other adults would be more understanding. But it was my ex-husband who said he actually thought there was something wrong with me. He thought it was unnatural for me to enjoy spending so much time alone. When I couldn’t take his accusation of “I think you have a problem” any longer, I decided to go to a psychologist.

So, I went to a psychologist. The diagnosis? I’m an introvert!

Now before you get too concerned, my therapist assures me of two things. One, introversion is not terminal. To date, there have been no recorded cases of DBI: death by introversion. Second, introversion is not a mental disorder according to the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders).

What a relief! I’d actually suspected for quite some time that I might have the dreaded personality trait. I say dreaded only because my ex-husband isn’t the only person I know that treats introversion as if it’s some kind of deadly disease.

Actually, according to dictionary.com, introversion is a psychological term meaning “the act of directing one’s interest inward or to things within the self” or “the state of being concerned primarily with one’s own thoughts and feelings rather than with the external environment.” Hmm. No mention of anything crazy or deadly there!

Introversion represents whether you prefer to focus on the outer world or on your own inner world. According to the Myers Briggs Foundation website, this indicates “I like getting my energy from dealing with the ideas, pictures, memories, and reactions that are inside my head, in my inner world. I often prefer doing things alone or with one or two people I feel comfortable with.”

So, I’ve discovered that being introverted isn’t a disease or something about which I, or anyone else for that matter, should feel ashamed. And I just want to tell all those quiet, inward-looking people out there, it’s okay to be quiet and to embrace that part of you. If we were all extroverts, there wouldn’t be anyone to listen and develop all the great ideas. So celebrate your personality traits, whatever they may be.

http://www.myersbriggs.org/my-mbti-personality-type/mbti-basics/

The South Carolina State House with dome from side lawn on a July afternoon. Picture taken by Allison Dennis on July 19, 2012.

In South Carolina, the primary elections were pretty interesting, almost to the point of ridiculous. It would almost be understandable if South Carolinians stayed away from the polls this November. But I’m going to try to convince you NOT to stay away.

It actually started with the January presidential primary. The South Carolina primary has always been important to Republicans. According to the New York Times, “since 1980, every Republican winner in South Carolina has gone on to win the party nomination.” The winner in South Carolina this January was Newt Gingrich. It looks like the Republican nominee is going to be Mitt Romney. This was the first indication that this was not going to be a typical election year.

Statue on side lawn of South Carolina State House. Picture taken by Allison Dennis on July 19, 2012.

Still reeling from January’s results, voters became confused about whether or not their voting districts had changed due to redistricting. Then in May, quite a few candidates were thrown off the June primary ballots for not filing one of the required reports at the correct time. This was followed by a state legislative review and finally a South Carolina Supreme Court decision that a candidate needed to file a paper copy of his/her EIS or economic interest statement at the same time he/she filed to run for office. In the end, there will now be 42 petition candidates on the November ballot in addition to the winners from June’s primaries and a new state congressional district seat and the presidential race.

So, calling all South Carolinians who did or did not vote in the June primaries. Your votes are needed this November. Go to the SC Election Commission’s site and find out who’s still going to be on the ballot in your district. And if you’re not sure of your district, go to Check Your Registration off the site’s home page. A lot of district seats are yet to be determined. You can really change things locally and beyond!