1. Spend up to 80% of your time on the headline of a space ad or sales letter. And your e-mail subject line. (Your letter headline can often be used as the teaser copy for the envelope.) Reason? Potential customers won’t bother to read your email unless captivated by your subject line. Plus, 50% to 80% of the sales success offline of your advertising message is a direct result of your headline. That means your message loses up to 80% of its effectiveness without a strong headline! Another important reason to invest this time is that the offer’s positioning is determined by the headline theme.
Most copywriters do not spend nearly enough time on headlines. I write as many as 250 subject lines and headlines before I select the final one for a campaign.
2. Use either “ragged” right or justified right margin for each column of copy when you create Internet copy, a letter or for a website or when you have a space ad set in type. I’ve tested both and I have seen no effect in response rates.
3. Use Ariel or Times Roman online. Use Courier typeface in sales letters offline. Some call it old-fashioned, but my experience shows that Courier outpulls any other type style. The typewriter “me to you” look “feels” more personal and urgent.
4. To close the deal you must create a fantastically valuable offer which is almost impossible to refuse it’s so good. Use highly saleable products as free bonus gifts. Bonuses always increase sales with one exception. I once made the mistake of using a failed product as a bonus with disastrous results. Remember this: if you can’t sell it, you can’t give it away successfully!

5. Always use a headline at the top of your sales letter online or off. Never use a company logo or your name and address at the top of a sales letter. It is a “me” message and depresses response. Use a logo at the end of a letter on the last page. Exception: if you are writing to an audience who would be positively influenced by your name or credentials, e.g. a famous doctor writing to other doctors.
6. Never change a word of winning copy for anyone until you first test it. Especially if you are asked to do so by a magazine or newspaper “for copy acceptance reasons.” I learned the lesson the hard way. A magazine’s legal department asked me to change three words in a 1200 word full-page ad, which I did. The response dropped to 1/10 of the former level! My recommendation: If it’s working, don’t change even a comma. If someone insists on changes, it’s prudent to just pull the ad. Remember, because a winning ad often challenges conventional thinking, it seems to attract requests for change. But don’t do it. Once you agree to do it with a given media, you’ve lost control of the creative process. And your sales will usually plummet. Of course, one of the big advantages of online marketing as long as you stay within the law you can say what you want.
7. Copyright all your sales materials. Your winning ads are worth their weight in gold. You are bound to have people who try to copy your success. For your protection on every e-mail, letter, space ad, brochure, etc., add the copyright symbol, a small c in a circle like this, ©, along with the word copyright, the year and your name. It should look like this:
© Copyright 2007 John Smith Corporation

8. Use a caption under every photo used in advertising. The eye is drawn to a photograph. If you don’t at least identify who is in the photo, at minimum you will lose many readers who will stop reading your sales message.
9. Test the use of a photograph online and in your space ads. It often improves response. But it must support and tie into the headline and copy. For highest response, always include human beings rather than just objects in copy. Children are the biggest attention-getters of all. Remember the old saying, which happens to be true, “A picture is worth a thousand words.”
10. In photos of people, make certain they are looking directly into the camera. Eye contact with the reader is a good involvement strategy.

These 10 items are borrowed from Ted Nicholas, one of the best copywriters around…even though he doesn’t actually consider himself a copywriter.   You could certainly do worse than follow his advice!  Visit his site at www.tednicholas.com