Do I need a copy writer ?

[Dave d]

Hi Guys,

Im going to start selling $7 - $10 reports which I have never done before and I would prefer to outsource the sales copy but what sort of price should I expect to pay. Obviousily I would like something decent but I wont have a list and an army of affilliates ready to justify spending an insane amount on a copy writer as I will initially just market the report myself on forums etc as I am just testing this out.

I'm quite happy to write it myself but I get the impression that this an endless subject so I dont want to spend the next 6 months learning to write copy or perhaps there are some basic resources that could get me up and runinng quickly.

So any recommendations ?

Thanks

Dave d

[Loren Woirhaye]

There are some writers on the forum who write copy for as
little as $200 for a sales letter from time to time. I cannot
say whether you can expect to get effective copy for that
price though.

In some niches a bargain salesletter may be good enough to
sell your product - in other niches where buying-resistance
is higher or where the general standard of selling copy is
higher, be prepared to spend more to get a writer to give
the project the time it requires.

Of course expertise in writing copy and constructing sales
offers is a different area of concern - and wholly subjective.

The standard for sales copy in weight loss and seduction
niches is quite high - for example - because there is real
money in those niches the serious players use higher-end
copywriters to construct powerful letters. As an upstart
competitor in those niches, with a weaker letter, your
chances will be like Frost the Snowman's chances in hell.

An ebook about how to train your ferret to poop in the
litterbox might be considerably less competitive in terms
of the skill of the writing for other products you'd be
competing against in the marketplace.

[Mike Anthony]

Originally Posted by Dave d

Hi Guys,

Im going to start selling $7 - $10 reports which I have never done before and I would prefer to outsource the sales copy but what sort of price should I expect to pay. Obviousily I would like something decent but I wont have a list and an army of affilliates ready to justify spending an insane amount on a copy writer as I will initially just market the report myself on forums etc as I am just testing this out.
Dave

Dave the answer is no based on this

"I will initially just market the report myself on forums etc as I am just testing this out."

If you do hire one hire a cheap one or someone or something that will help you just lay out a coherent sales pitch. It makes no sense to me spend alot of money for something you are just marketing through a few forums and testing out. just keeping it real. One marketer to another.

When you decide to drive traffic then sure but not now. Your situation makes a good example of the need for cheap copywrriters just as long as your expectations are reasonable.

[Cherilyn Woodhouse]

^^Agreed. In fact, I turned a potential client away just the other day for the exact same reason. No good high priced copywriter would take on this project, knowing that you probably wouldn't get a decent ROI on the copy if you're not driving big traffic to it.

I'd recommend writing it yourself, and maybe approaching some mid-level copywriters for a critique. It'd be in the couple-hundred-dollar range most likely (some are in the $1k+ range, but you don't need that much.) That'll save you $$, not necessarily save you time, but get you decent copy if you follow the advice in their critique.

Good luck!

[Mike Anthony]

Originally Posted by Cherilyn Woodhouse

No good high priced copywriter would take on this project, knowing that you probably wouldn't get a decent ROI on the copy if you're not driving big traffic to it.

You had to go and say that after I was just reading this


http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...ml#post1385906

Anything to tip me over the edge and get me in trouble again eh Cherilyn .

Some guy crying over there he just spent nearly five figures with a top coywriter here and has no money to even test his page it seems. (you can never really know)

Any way great advice to Dave.

[k0zm0zs0ul]

Originally Posted by Cherilyn Woodhouse

^^Agreed. In fact, I turned a potential client away just the other day for the exact same reason. No good high priced copywriter would take on this project, knowing that you probably wouldn't get a decent ROI on the copy if you're not driving big traffic to it.

I'd recommend writing it yourself, and maybe approaching some mid-level copywriters for a critique. It'd be in the couple-hundred-dollar range most likely (some are in the $1k+ range, but you don't need that much.) That'll save you $$, not necessarily save you time, but get you decent copy if you follow the advice in their critique.

Good luck!

Agreed! It's much more cost effective for you to pick up a book and read a quick overview on constructing a decent page, writing it, and then possibly hiring someone to critique it for you than to hire a copywriter at a steep price for something you are only going to market half heartedly.

You could try Dan Kennedy's Ultimate Sales Letter to start with, that might be helpful.

Warm regards,
Cori

[Dean Dhuli]

Three simple steps to come up with a "decent" sales copy:

1) What are you offering?
2) How can this product change the buyer's life for the better?
3) How to get it?

Sure, you can dramatize all these things and add all kinds of triggers,
but if you don't want to spend too much time learning how to write copy
and want something quick, then this is the way to go.


Hope that helps,

Dean.



p

[travlinguy]

There's a simple format that lends itself to shorter pitches. The outline is:

Feel
Felt
Found

It kinda goes like this...

Are you sick and tired of eating mice and oatmeal every day!? I know, of course you are!

I know exactly how you feel. I felt the exact same way when I was living on mice and oatmeal, and it sucked big time.

And then, something happened that turned it all around for me. Let me share with you what I found...

The word found might be discovered or learned or whatever allows it to fit the copy, but the outline is simple to follow and it works. Maybe it can work for you. Good luck.

[Alexa Smith]

It's clear from your posts that your English is more than good enough to write it yourself, Dave! (If not, that would be just about the only reason for imagining that copy you can get for $100 - $200 would convert much better for this purpose than anything you can write yourself).

There are several good tips above. No need to make a big deal out of it, just try and produce something you think you'd respond to yourself, and then post a link to it. A few writers here will give you their feedback and suggest some improvements, most likely. This sounds like all you need, really.

[Affiliit]

I agree with writing it yourself. Once you learn copywriting you will be able to apply the concepts you've learned into every aspect of your marketing and significantly improve your business.

One of my favorite books on the subject is Joseph Sugarman's "The Adweek Copywriting Handbook - The Ultimate Guide to Writing Powerful Advertising and Marketing Copy from One of America's Top Copywriters"

Amazon has the book from $11 - $15, depending on whether you want a used or new copy. It is a great book and you will learn a lot from it.

[Arizona]

Hi there Dave,

Obviously the choice is yours but if you have spent any time at all by now writing an article, you certainly know how time consuming writing articles can be.

Although I have written enough articles to be considered an "expert author" by Ezine Articles, I have to admit that I would much rather outsource my articles that I need written.

Don't get me wrong, I really enjoy writing articles and take pride in the articles that I have created and still do write them from time to time.

The fact of the matter is that my focus is focused on getting more people to our sites and not writing as many articles as I can to become an "expert author" on other article directories.

The money is obviously associated with traffic. With that being said, articles are a real important factor at getting more traffic. Realizing this, we outsource our articles as much as possible. It really frees up our time to do other important tasks that need to be done. We often use writers from the Philippines to assist us with this. What I would suggest though, if you do decide to go this route, is to get a sample of their work. I would also hire someone on a project based agreement versus a part-time basis. That way you will not go wrong.

Hope this helps!

Good luck to you!

[Scott Murdaugh]

Obviously the choice is yours but if you have spent any time at all by now writing an article, you certainly know how time consuming writing articles can be.

Copywriting... Writing words that sell. It's not article writing and unless you've got a REALLY good guy in the Philippines I wouldn't be outsourcing there.

For a low ticket report, I'm going to say write it yourself. You don't need long copy and you don't need to be the next Dan Kennedy to get it to convert.

Once you've got your back end marketing in place, and a list of buyers, that's when it'd pay off to hire a pro.

-Scott

[MikeHumphreys]

Unless you have a list with thousands of buyers on it, then hiring a top-quality professional copywriter to write a sales letter for a $7 product is like using a bazooka to kill a fly. It would work but it's serious overkill.

Most copywriters I know wouldn't take project selling a $7 product simply because it would probably take you a lot of sales just to recoup your copywriting investment. For example, if you paid a newer copywriter $700 to write the sales letter, you'd need more than 100 sales of your $7 product to recoup your initial investment.

We don't like to asking our clients to have to make a lot of sales just to recoup their investment before they start to turn a profit. It's much more pleasant for everyone involved to give you copy that quickly becomes profitable because you are selling a more expensive ($27+ IMHO) product and need to sell less units to make more money.

My advice is to grab Dan Kennedy's Ultimate Sales Letter. It's less than $15 and he walks you through how to write a basic sales letter.

Start with that... build a list of buyers. Work on related backend product(s) that are more content and higher-priced to offer your list of buyers. Now you might be ready for a copywriter for the backend product.

The more expensive products to create becomes easier to do as you become more confident in your ability to deliver high-value to your customers.

Hope that helps,

Mike

[Raydal]

Originally Posted by Dave d

Hi Guys,

Im going to start selling $7 - $10 reports which I have never done before and I would prefer to outsource the sales copy but what sort of price should I expect to pay. Obviousily I would like something decent but I wont have a list and an army of affilliates ready to justify spending an insane amount on a copy writer as I will initially just market the report myself on forums etc as I am just testing this out.

I'm quite happy to write it myself but I get the impression that this an endless subject so I dont want to spend the next 6 months learning to write copy or perhaps there are some basic resources that could get me up and runinng quickly.

So any recommendations ?

Thanks

Dave d

Everybody seems to be assuming that you have no back-end to
these $7 reports you'll be selling so it makes no sense hiring
a copywriter. If this is true, then you WILL take a long time to
make back your investment. But this is no argument to say that
you should just write the copy yourself.

Of course it takes more persuading to make a $7K sale than a
$7 sale but you still have to persuade.

If your profit margin is not high you have to find some way of
justifying investing in a copywriter, OR you can just change your
business model and increase your profits.

-Ray Edwards

[The Copy Nazi]

Suggestions to get up and running quickly? Sure.

Give it a catchy headline -

"Dave D's Killer $7 Report on DIY Brain Surgery"

Using short, simple sentences tell the punters -

Here's what I've got.

Here's what it does.

Here's why your life will be so much better if you have it too.

Here's where and how to get it.

And as Ray says, don't forget the back-end. Upsell them with a one-time offer (OTO).

[Dave d]

Hey Guys,

Some truly great advice here. It seems likely that I can pick a good book or report to get me started writing a basic sales letter. I know I may not turn out prize copy but I guess it will be enough to do the job and I may refine my copy skills at a later stage.

Once again some great tips here.

Thanks

Dave d

[Dean Dhuli]

Originally Posted by MikeHumphreys

hiring a top-quality professional copywriter to write a sales letter for a $7 product is like using a bazooka to kill a fly.

LOL

Nice analogy dude!




p

[Dave d]

Hi Guys,

I do appreciate all the advice given here on the forum but please do not PM me offering copywriting services as its getting a bit too much. I was merely looking for some advice as per my post above. The amount of PM's Im getting now is getting too much

Dave d

[Mike Anthony]

Originally Posted by Dave d

Hi Guys,

I do appreciate all the advice given here on the forum but please do not PM me offering copywriting services as its getting a bit too much. I was merely looking for some advice as per my post above. The amount of PM's Im getting now is getting too much

Dave d

LOL. Really? Trust me if you are just testing out your reports by doing a little selling on forums you do NOT need a copywriter.