What’s the most important part in copywriting? Is it the words? The headline? Bullets? Testimonials? Guarantees? The offer?

Nope.

None of these, while all important, are not as important as this one, single yet powerful element. It trumps all the others by a longshot, and it’s the one element that all copy must absolutely have to succeed.

And once I tell you what it is, you’re going to say, “Of course!” But, it’s not what you think — at least, not in the way you think…

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In a recent critique for a coaching client, the issue of “gap analysis” arose. Gap Analysis is something I learned in sales, and it was heavily taught by sales trainers like Brian Tracy, such as in his course “The Psychology of Selling.”

Gap Analysis is an immensely powerful selling technique. It’s also an important feature of copywriting. In fact, most people will know a variation of it, which is often called “Problem-Agitate-Solve,” a term coined by top copywriter Dan Kennedy.

I prefer “Gap Analysis” because it drives home the relationship between those three elements. So what is Gap Analysis and how can you apply it to your sales copy?

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When a sales page is not performing up to your expectations, the worst thing you can do is nothing.

In most circumstances, there are steps you can take to alter the copy to improve your results immediately. By taking action and making changes, you can strengthen your copy quickly and improve your sales conversions.

The key to this process is testing to boost your outcome.

However, when most people start testing their sales copy, they immediately think of something they can add or tweak. Or they’re confused as to what to test, particularly what to test first.

I’ve found that the best and most efficient element to test is to actually first remove the things that are stopping people from ordering. In other words…

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Ralph Zuranski: Hi, this is Ralph Zuranski. I’m on the phone with Michel Fortin. He’s one of the leading copywriters in the world today. He is so successful in his writing that he’s helped a number of the Internet marketers achieve $1 million dollar days in sales.

He has been at a number of the Internet conferences. Michel Fortin knows more about copywriting and testing copy than anybody that I’ve ever met.

I think that’s one of the reasons why he’s such a great teacher and also such a great copywriter. He tests every aspect of copywriting to find out what works. I know that most of the time, on any of the copywriting pieces that he creates, he has four or five tests that all run simultaneously… the color, the fonts, the placement of images.

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My recent article about Facebook not being a viable marketing tool has created quite a stir.

Many people agreed with me. But some people didn’t, and I respect that. However, while a few were scathing and harsh in their remarks, others posted some excellent rebuttals on their own blogs.

This topic seems to be as controversial as the long-versus-short-copy debate in copywriting circles. Déjà -vu? Well, it’s no wonder because, just like the copy length debate, both sides are right.

It all depends on how you use them and with whom.

That’s why I agree with most of Facebook’s proponents. That might sound like a contradiction, but I believe it’s because many misunderstood my post. So I wanted to take a moment before hopping on the plane to clarify a few things.

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I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Russell Brunson at various seminars. Russell is not only an Internet marketer, he’s also a bright guy.

And recently, he’s proven my assessment to be true.

When he told me I was nominated as part of his Marketer of The Year 2006 Awards, in the copywriting category, at first I was somewhat reticent. But when I saw the list of those I’m up against, needless to say, I was stunned.

Nominees include the likes of Dan Kennedy, Yanik Silver, Armand Morin, Mike Filsaime, Mark Joyner, Rich Schefren, Perry Marshall, Shawn Casey, Joel Comm, Ryan Deiss, and a ton of others!

But here’s Russell’s brilliance.

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Some people like hypey copy, while others prefer newsy copy. Some people like long, others prefer short. Some people drama, stories and testimonials… Others data, statistics and facts.

Does it all matter? Absolutely.

What makes one style of copy more favorable than another? Why does one person buy from one type of copy and not from another? It really comes down to the buying behavior of your market. And in fact, there are four major personality types.

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