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My most challenging part of copywriting to sell something online has always been the task of writing benefit statements. But, other than a good headline, to sell visitors to your service, product and ideas you need great benefit statements.

All of the other parts of copywriting such as good headlines, price offers and stories were much easier for me than finding good benefit statements. But creating a benefits list drove me crazy; that is until I learned how to come up with one or more benefits every minute.

Any basic sales course will tell you that features don’t sell a product or service, benefits do. Knowing the truth to that, I started to take a closer look at what benefits really are. I discovered they are really just action items in disguise, agreed? As an example, you “build” muscles or “create” more time. If that is true, how bout starting each benefit statement with an action verb? The process goes like this:

1.  Alphabetize a long list of action verbs.

2.  On your computer or desk, spread out the list so you can see the whole thing
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3.  Beginning with the letter A, read each verb aloud and come up with a descriptive sentence about your product or service that includes the verb.

As an example, “Accelerate” is the first verb on my list.

So, I might say that my product helps to “accelerate” fingernail growth.

4.  Keep writing benefits as long as you are able and don’t quit! You will be able to pare down your list to only those that give the best punch later. You don’t need to stop to think if you are writing duplicate phrases down either, now is not the time. Just keep an open mind and write down any benefit statements that come to mind about your product or service.

5.  Now you organize your benefit list in order of priority from most important benefit to last.

I’ve used this process not only for creating benefits lists, but also for writing articles, such as “35 Reasons Why a Blog is Better than a Traditional Web Site for Your Business,” or “50 Ways to Kill a Perfectly Good Seminar”.

Use my list of verbs or create your own and start creating your killer benefit statements in just 20 minutes. Most of the time, you won’t need more than a great list of 20 benefits.

Marty Dickinson is an entrepreneur and the founder of HereNextYear, Inc., a full service Internet marketing company in business for 15 years.  He specializes in Internet marketing solutions for the small business owner, speakers and authors.  Visit to see what HereNextYear has to offer and to learn more about their innovative new website packages fully integrated for ease with social networking and other Internet marketing strategies.

My most challenging part of copywriting to sell something online has always been the task of writing benefit statements. And, second to the headline, the benefits are what sell people on your product, service, idea or even political opinion.

In comparison, the other parts of copywriting that people might find challenging, such as stories, headlines, and great price offers were easy. The benefits list always drove me crazy; until I discovered the secret to creating one benefit or more per minute.

You may recall from Sales 101 that benefits are what sells your product or service, not features. Knowing the truth to that, I started to take a closer look at what benefits really are. They are just things that help you take (or not take action), right? For example, you “lose” weight or “make” money. If that is true, how bout starting each benefit statement with an action verb? Here’s the process:

1.  Alphabetize a long list of action verbs.

2.  Display the alphabetized list of action verbs on your desk or, even better, view them on your computer screen so that you can see the list in its entirety
.
3.  Begin with the first verb in your list that begins with the letter A and read the verb out loud and make a sentence out of it that describes one benefit of your product.

For example, the first word in my list of verbs is “Accelerate”.

So, I might say to myself that my product helps people to “Accelerate your learning speed by     getting true hands-on training with every command”.

4.  Write as many benefits as you can and don’t stop! You can cut out those that don’t have as much impact later. You don’t need to stop to think if you are writing duplicate phrases down either, now is not the time. Just keep an open mind and write down any benefit statements that come to mind about your product or service.

5.  Now is the time that you will prioritize your list from most important to least.

This process has worked for me to write great benefits statements, as well as when coming up with article ideas for my blog, such as “35 Reasons Why a Blog is Better than a Traditional Web Site for Your Business,” or “50 Ways to Kill a Perfectly Good Seminar”.

Use my list of verbs or create your own and start creating your killer benefit statements in just 20 minutes. Usually, 20 benefits is more than enough to create great sales copy.

Marty Dickinson is an entrepreneur and the founder of HereNextYear, Inc., a full service Internet marketing company in business for 15 years.  He specializes in Internet marketing solutions for the small business owner, speakers and authors.  Visit to see what HereNextYear has to offer and to learn more about their innovative new website packages fully integrated for ease with social networking and other Internet marketing strategies.