Thursday 16th September, 2010

“How to create a website that sells” (a long copy ad inspired by David Ogilvy)

I was wondering why small and medium businesses normally ask for short adverts.

It’s partly fashion and partly economy – if you have no money to test long copy against short copy, you’ll choose the short stuff.

That’s why we’ve decided to buck the trend by placing this long-copy advert on the back cover of our local business magazine, Colchester Connected.

It has well over 700 words, and it’s shamelessly inspired by this David Ogilvy classic (though he didn’t have to fit his on a sheet of A4).

It might not be your cup of tea, but if it hits a chord with the readers of Colchester Connected I’m sure they’ll be ringing us on 01206 266 799…

Too small to read? Download this PDF instead. You could read it half a mile away…

Update: this advert was responsible for bringing in a significant percentage of our income for the year. It performed significantly better as a leaflet than as a magazine advert.

Copywriter: Ben Locker

Category: Blog
Tags: ad-copy, advert-copy, adverts, colchester-old-adverts, copy-ad, david-ogilvy-inspired-web-design, david-ogilvy-long-copy-ads, how-to-create-a-website-advert, how-to-create-advert-web-site, long copy, long-ad-copy, long-copy-ad, long-copy-ads, long-copy-adverts, long-copy-press-ad, long-copy-websites, longcopy, ogilvy, ogilvy-copy-ads, ogilvy-style-ads

More: « First weeks at Ben Locker and Associates | Small business website design? You need The Toolkit »

6 Comments

  1. I love this ad, Ben.

    The long copy lends substance and authority–and includes plenty of truly useful information. A refreshing change from most of today’s jargony, clever and vapid ads.

    Predicting you have a hit!

    Comment left by Lorraine on Thursday 16th September, 2010 at 10:08 pm

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  3. Ben,

    The ‘slippery slide’. Love it.

    Dying to know what sort of response you get.

    I too predict a hit.

    Martin

    Comment left by Martin on Friday 17th September, 2010 at 10:37 am

  4. Ben,
    A great guide to website content, but you could perhaps have talked more about layout and structure. In particular, bookmarking, highlighting key words and phrases and using the inverted pyramid, all ways of making information accessible and easy to find.

    Comment left by Martin Harrison on Friday 17th September, 2010 at 10:51 am

  5. Clever work, Ben.

    Though I’d point to the usefulness of your ad, not the length, as the most notable characteristic. Getting attention with free advice.

    (Also, I love the phrase “dogmatism of brevity” in the Ogilvy ad.)

    Comment left by Paul on Friday 17th September, 2010 at 11:33 am

  6. [...] Copywriting news, comments and ideas from the UK’s Ben Locker and Associates Great post: Ogilvy-style Long Copy Ad Twitter: [...]

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