Using Powerful Language

One of the best side benefits of the emerging information superhighway is that it is helping written language to make a comeback.

Cyberspace and the written language fit very well together. In cyberspace marketing, you need to be very specific and accurate and detailed. Hype and vagueness don't count.

Written language is one of the best ways to communicate the extensive, detailed information that cyberspace demands.

So it is important to look at language patterns, and use the most powerful, effective written language in your online presentations, whether they be email, postings to newsgroups, classified ads on the commercial online services, or your Web pages.

One of the most powerful language patterns is to phrase your statements as cause and effect. We are conditioned from the time we acquire language to accept and believe statements if they are phrased in a certain way. When you understand and utilize cause and effect language patterns, your message goes directly into the mind of your prospect and is believed. Here is an example:

"Because you are reading this report, you will experience a dramatic improvement in your online marketing projects."

Every person defines their core beliefs in terms of cause and effect, and when you use the pattern of A causes B, no matter what A is and what B is, you have an excellent chance of being believed.

Use words such as "as", "causes", "because", "makes", "forces", "determines", "allows", and "proves" to construct cause and effect language patterns for your statements.

You can also use emotionally charged words to get the reader excited about what you have to say. Words such as "thrilling" and "excited" invoke emotion just by reading them. Use these and others that are appropriate to your message.

Another powerful technique is to use adverbs and adjectives which are known as presuppositions. They're called presuppositions because everything that comes after them in a sentence has to be accepted by the reader just to understand the meaning of the sentence.

When using presuppositions, you must always put the adverbs before the verb and the adjectives before the noun.

Some of the more common presuppositions are "easily", "truly", "readily", "unlimited", "naturally", "repeatedly" and "all". Here are some examples:

"Because you are reading this report, you will easily increase your success with online marketing."

"When you realize the unlimited potential of using these strategies, you will naturally become more effective in your business."

"Understanding these concepts causes you to realize that this is truly the best opportunity among all that are available to you."

As you can see, these language patterns are very powerful indeed. There are also language patterns to avoid. Specifically, words such as "can't", "but", "should have", "might", "if" and "try".

"Try" is one of the worst. It is also a presupposition, and instead of presupposing something positive, it presupposes failure. The phrase, "I'll try to get it finished" cannot be understood without accepting the possibility that it may very well not get finished.

"But" is a very dangerous word. It completely cancels out anything that comes before it.

"This is the best product in the world, but you have to use it to benefit from it." That "but" in the sentence turns it from the "best product in the world" into a big nothing. It is far better to say, "This is the best product in the world, and you have to use it to benefit from it." Doesn't that sound infinitely better? Most of the time, "and" can be easily substituted for "but" with very positive results.

"If" is another big no-no. Don't every say something like, "If you are interested, give me a call." That presupposes that the person will not be interested. Instead, say "When you are ready to go forward on this, give me a call."

There are many other powerful techniques that are beyond the scope of this report. These will get you started. The point is to seek out and practice using written language effectively. The challenge with language online is that you must sell while informing -- very much a "soft-sell" approach.

Please understand that using powerful language alone will not work online. You must have substance in what you are saying. But as long as you are saying it, you might as well present it in the very best light.