Warning… This Content Skill Will Cause A Traffic Jam

Listen To The Article Here?

Rubbernecking…?

Is a term used when drivers take their eyes off the road because something attracts their attention.?

It happens to all of us occasionally…?

Luckily when it happened to me the other day I was on my way to the dump…?

Which is out in the middle of nowhere.?

My oldest son Dallas and I were having a grand old time!??

Driving through the country…?

Listening to good music…

When all of the sudden out of the blue…?

Let’s pause this story for just a minute.?

I want you to use this short pause to think about your reading habits.???

There is so much content out there today…

That you have turned into a creature of habit.??

You read the same emails and the same social media posts from the same people… every day.??

Anything outside of that norm unless it attracts your attention gets unsubscribed too or scrolled past.?

Why??

Because you only have so much time in a day.??

And the people you follow at one point in time… in a sea of content… caught and held your attention…

How did they do it????

I’m going to tell you how in just a minute…?

But first, let me finish my story.?

Where was I??

Oh yeah! Having a grand old time driving through the country on my way to the dump.?

When all of the sudden out of the blue…?

My son Dallas and I saw a huge orange sign right off the side of the road…

That read, “Fresh Made Cinnamon Rolls This Way” ??

With an arrow that pointed down a dirt road.?

It’s probably a good thing there was no one else on the road or my rubbernecking would have surely gotten us in a wreck.?

Needless to say, we hurried to the dump, unloaded our stuff, and then turned down the dirt road on our way back…?

Where we found a quant old farmhouse…?

With the biggest and best-tasting homemade cinnamon rolls, I’d ever seen.?

One bite out of this hot delicious cinnamon roll had me thanking my lucky stars that the big orange sign grabbed my attention.?

Your number one job with writing content is to grab and hold your reader's attention…?

This is why the beginning of your content is the most important part of your content.?

In copy, we call this the lead.?

In my 5 years as a copywriter, I’ve noticed that the best way to cause rubbernecking inside of your lead is to activate the “Reticular Activating System.” (RAS)?

This is the portion of your brain that analyzes our data-filled high-input environments.?

The RAS is what causes us to focus on things our brains have cataloged away as important.?

In my story, this was the orange sign with the word “Fresh Made Cinnamon Rolls.”?

The orange color drew my eye and the word Cinnamon Rolls held my attention.?

Seeing the sign activated my RAS…

And with no conscious effort on my part, it caused my eyes to focus on it.?

The secret to writing content that converts is to use a lead that’s filled with RAS Triggers.?

You can write a strong lead like this by using these 3 easy steps:?

1. Use words that are sure to draw your reader's attention. Maybe you’ve noticed that in nearly every newsletter that I write at some point, I use the words (small business, entrepreneurs, or solopreneurs)...

I do this because I work with small businesses, entrepreneurs, and solopreneurs.?

Your readers are so inundated with content every day that if you want to stand a chance of having them even notice you…

Then you need to use words like these that specifically draw their attention.?

2. Use a story in your lead. A good story will hook your audience right in the beginning and set up the rest of your copy for success.?

Especially if it has words that trigger emotion.?

If you are using a story lead in a video…?

Then the voice you read it in, how fast you read, and the dramatic pauses you use all have a big effect.?

3. Tell your readers what they want to hear. You do this by using empathy to tap into your audience's frustrations.?

And to validate their beliefs.?

This type of lead works best when used with high energy!?

Here’s The Real Deal?

In order to write great content…

You need to be able to activate your reader's RAS system inside of their brain.?

The best way to activate the RAS system is to use words that are sure to draw your reader's attention, use a story in your lead, or tell your readers what they want to hear.?

If you can learn to do this every time you write a lead then you're going to cause traffic jams with every platform you are on.?

No questions asked.?

Speaking about traffic jams I better go.?

I just got a call from our local police station.?

Apparently, the Green Goats were having a parade that involved them LEADING the fainting goat down main street.?

This parade cause quite a traffic jam because the fainting goat would scream and then faint every 20 seconds.?

By the time the police got there the Green Goats had cars backed up all along main street which is about a 5-mile stretch.?

Now the Green Goats are trying to activate the officer's RAS Systems by telling them that there are fresh donuts on the other side of town.?

I better go save them before they get arrested.?

Just remember... fill your lead with RAS trigger words and you will cause a traffic jam.?

Just like the green goats.

Until next week,

Bobbie Lee (The Green Goat Copywriter) ?