If you're like most small ecommerce businesses, you're likely to write your own marketing copy. Be aware that this is a highly regulated area that could result in substantial liability. I've boiled most of the regulations into 2 basic traps you must avoid.

What is Marketing Copy?

Wikipedia defines "copy" as written material, in contrast to photographs or other elements of layout, in a large number of contexts, including magazines, advertising, and book publishing. In advertising, web marketing and similar fields, copy refers to the output of copyrighters, who are employed to write material which encourages consumers to buy goods or services.

Web copy has one major advantage over offline copy - it is interactive. Hyperlinks provide you with powerful tools to lead a potential customer through a pathway designed by you which ultimately leads to a conversion to your call to action.

Trap No. 1: Failure To Substantiate Claims Before Publication

When you write your own marketing copy, you necessarily make certain "claims" - statements upon which a consumer may reasonably rely in making a purchase decision. In so doing, you're facing another legal pitfall.

Legally, claims are extremely important. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Act, 15 USC Sec. 41-58 and accompanying regulations prohibit "unfair or deceptive acts or practices". Unfair or deceptive acts or practices include claims that are not substantiated before the claim is publicly disseminated.

So review your ads carefully, and be sure that you can substantiate and back up your ad claims.

Here are some examples of claims and the related challenges regarding substantiation and back-up:

* If you claim "best value", understand that it's a promise that is very broad in scope - essentially, you're promising that your offer is worth more than the asking price - if you're going to make this claim, you'd better provide the proof on your site.

* If you claim "we're no. 1", you need to be very specific regarding how you determine no. 1 - no. 1 at what? - in gross sales, in sales growth for a specific period, in the number of widgets sold?

* If you claim the "latest and greatest", "next generation" or words to that effect, you should substantiate how the claim is true - explain specifically how you justify the claim in relation to other competitive products on the market.

* If you claim "user friendly" or "easy-to-use", you need to be specific regarding substantiation of specifically how much time a certain task routinely takes, exactly which steps are automated.

* If you offer a "risk-free guarantee", understand that even a free evaluation is not completely risk-free because the evaluation takes time for the customer to evaluate - time is money, so-to-speak, so a better approach is to promise an unconditional refund, no questions asked.

Trap No. 2: Avoid Untrue And Deceptive Claims

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