Tweet

5 Secrets of the Copywriting Masters

Written by: James Palmer

Article Overview: 5 secrets of writing killer, persuasive copy just like the pros do.

5 Secrets of the Copywriting Masters

Want to know how the pros really create winning copy that sells? Try these 5 expert tips for starters, and you'll be well on your way to writing copy that promotes your products and services-just like some of the greatest copywriting superstars of all time.

Focus on the Consumer, Not on Your Product. The question on everyone's mind is, "What's in it for me?" Answer that question about your product or service to the prospect's satisfaction, and chances are good that they will become paying customers. They don't care how long your company has been in business, or what you were doing that made you come up with the idea for your product or service. They only want to know how it will help them solve a problem that they are facing.

Use Everyday Speech. You're writing about widgets to ordinary people, not an academic paper on Hemingway's use of the comma. Avoid the stilted, high-falutin' Corporatese that poisons many a marketing piece. Use ordinary, everyday speech, and avoid jargon if possible.

Start a Swipe File. This is the one thing that all successful copywriters do, and if you're going to be writing your own copy, you should too! So start saving those pieces of "junk mail" that you get, and print out and save any web sales letters or emails you come across as well. They can be a fountain of inspiration for your next promotion. Why reinvent the wheel?

Read. You can't be an effective writer-of any type of material-if you don't read. Read magazines, newsletters, Web sites, and blogs relating to your industry. If you're at a loss for industry publications, check out Tradepub.com, which offers free magazine subscriptions and whitepapers for dozens of industries. I get many of my ideas for my blog posts and this newsletter from reading marketing publications.

You should also read for pleasure. Not only is it a great way to pass the time, but it can teach you about language and sentence construction, which come in handy when you're writing your next promotion. Read business books, as well as your favorite fiction. I like science fiction, but any genre will do, and it all helps you learn how to tell a compelling story, which works as well in marketing copy as it does in today's bestsellers.

Test, Test, Test. Another thing all successful marketers and copywriters do is test. Run your sales letter or webpage against another, changing only one thing at a time, like the headline. Whichever one outsells the other, use that one as your primary sales message, then test again! Change something else about the letter, like the lead, or the offer, or the guarantee. Heck, even use a different font! Even the most seemingly insignificant element will make people more likely to whip out their credit cards than another. Keep testing and testing until you've got something that continues to pull better than anything you set it up against. This becomes your Control. Use it as the basis for everything else you create.

That's it! 5 super copywriting secrets you can start using right now!

Related Articles
  Copywriting Secrets:How To Become The Best Internet Network Marketer
  The 4 Simple Secrets For Creating True Wealth
  The 4 Simple Secrets to Creating True Wealth
  How To Get Unblocked When Writing Sales Letters & Emails
  Copywriting - what a waste of time

Article Tags: academic paper, comma, copywriters, everyday speech, expert tips, free magazine subscriptions, hemingway, industry publications, jargon, junk mail, marketing publications, ordinary people, poisons, sales letters, starters, superstars, swipe, web sales, whitepapers, widgets



Related Forum Posts
Re: My Favourite 7 Boldest Entrepreneur Moves of All Time - Hi Evan, I have a new suggestion for "Boldest Entrepreneur Moves of All Time" and a suggestion for your Learning from the Masters series: 1. Boldest Entrepreneur Moves of All Time = Christopher Columbus: "... he saw the possibility of treasure and commerce where others saw only danger. He committed so wholeheartedly to that vision that not even dozens of rejections and ongoing penury could dissuade him from pursuing a journey to Asia via the West. He built on his technical strengths as a seaman to plan a viable journey and eventually marshal an expedition." - Christopher Hoenig, 6 Essential Secrets for Thinking on a New Level I bought Hoenig's book about 10 years ago but couldn't make head or tail of it then... reading it now and finding it inspirational... 2. Nomination for Learning from the Masters video: Dee Hock, founder of VISA. (Source = Hoenig.)
Famous Entrepreneur Blog? - Hello Forum Members! I have a question for you and would love to hear your feedback! I'm doing a test project with Microsoft and Phata Media to do a monthly video series called Modeling The Masters where I discuss a famous entrepreneur in detail and give advice on how you can model their strategies and implement them into your business. The first one is on Harley Davidson and the video was filmed yesterday and is currently in the editing room. My questions is: Would it make sense to accompany the videos with a new blog on Modeling The Masters? The idea here would be to post the video, and then once a week share a lesson from one of the famous entrepreneurs and I put my spin on it for how you can implement it into your business. The idea is to give entrepreneurs additional motivation and strategies by copying what worked for famous, high flying entrepreneurs. I would love to hear if you think it's a good idea and what you would like to see in the blog if you were a reader. Thank you everyone in advance!
Re: How long should a Business Plan be? - It is not how long, but how feasible is your business plan. If you read Evan's ebook on Business Planing like the Masters, you will see on the bonus materials how some masters wrote only a few pages and investors fund their ventures
7 words or less for Structogram - Some "7 words or less" (more or less) for Structogram for your comments: Training to get your message across(6) Secrets to get your message across (6) Training so people will listen to you (7) Helping you get your message across (6) Training to learn to get your message across (8) Communications training for yourself and your team (7)
Re: Promote the Forum using Modeling the Masters - Hi GT IM Faceplate is still on my to do list. Things have been pretty hectic for me over the past month or two, but will be taking a bit of time off from my offline work over the Christmas period which means more time for my internet activities and plan on joining IMF then. Will also promote the Masters series with more effort once I have this extra time. MichelleJ


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Email Marketing Made Easy #11 - Avoiding Spam

••••••>SEO Tip Of The Day: HTML Validation

Is the iPad useful? One CEO tells all ....

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.