Anyone tried this method of copywriting?

[max5ty]

Lots of talk about slaving countless hours over a sales piece, trying to get every word just right and in the proper order -

- re-reading it and changing it and then re-reading and changing it - then sometimes scrapping the whole project and starting over -

along with sleeplessness, cigarettes (some), coffee, aspirin, maybe a drink (oops, did I say that?) - all to get the perfect outcome.

Usually the long drawn out process with all the changes, end up going right back to basically where I started anyway.

There have been times that it seemed I worked so long on the piece that I'd go through just about every emotion, and changed whole paragraphs just to fit my mood - and if I was still working on it, rechange things again when the next mood set in.

Assuming all the research into the product has been completed, and all the benefits have been identified...

have any of you used something similar to the Gene Schwartz method of setting a timer for 33 minutes and then write like crazy and at the end of the time, go with what you've got, other than going back and checking spelling, punctuation and proper word order?

Just wondering if anyone had any thoughts on this.

[alcymart]

Well first of all, before changing anything in your Ad copy, you must split test it because you can easily find yourself with a worst Ad copy as the first you wrote. If you don't split test, your Ad copy like you stated may be a reflection of your own mood at the time of writing and visitors don't come cheap. A great place to split test are Traffic Exchanges because you get plenty of visitors in no time for free...

...and even though some will tell you Traffic exchanges are not that great, they are "excellent" for Split testing your Ad copies, and I dare anyone say the opposite.

PM me if you need a list of the best free traffic exchanges I compiled over a period now of almost 11 years.

Bernard St-Pierre

[max5ty]

Originally Posted by alcymart

Well first of all, before changing anything in your Ad copy, you must split test it because you can easily find yourself with a worst Ad copy as the first you wrote. If you don't split test, your Ad copy like you stated may be a reflection of your own mood at the time of writing and visitors don't come cheap. A great place to split test are Traffic Exchanges because you get plenty of visitors in no time for free...

...and even though some will tell you Traffic exchanges are not that great, they are "excellent" for Split testing your Ad copies, and I dare anyone say the opposite.

PM me if you need a list of the best free traffic exchanges I compiled over a period now of almost 11 years.

Bernard St-Pierre

Thanks for your kind offer, I may take you up on that.

[briancassingena]

Your ad or sales letter is your sales presentation - Unless you can get the copy spot on first time, us mortal humans have to edit.

Jerry Seinfeld would spend an hour editing an 80 word joke down to 5 words. His audience is a lot tougher than ours, but it's a good lesson for all of us.


Mate if you can write a sales letter in half an hour and get good results, good on you

[travlinguy]

Before writing anything I think about the outcome I want. I call that planting the seed. Then I let it go. Within a day or two the method or hook becomes evident. That's when I sit down and write until I have nothing left. With some writing (not sales copy), this might go on for many days. During this time I don't edit and rarely even go back to reread anything. I just write.

When I stop writing I print out the pages and sit down to edit. This might take another couple of days or more. I can't even remember the last time I scrapped something and started over from scratch. By the end of the editing stage I usually have something that works.

Then I leave it for a few more days and come back and do the final editing and proofing. I've been writing this way for years. I don't do this for shorter pieces, only assignments or projects with serious substance.

[The Copy Nazi]

"Coypwriting"??

Start with proofreading your coyp.

[Nick Brighton]

To be honest, I've never scrapped a piece and started fresh. The reason being that I have the groundwork/skeleton outline (including hooks, angles, arguments etc) all in place before I start to flesh it out.

The rest is just making it read smoothly, adding in metaphors, facts, proof, and replacing dull words and phrases with the fizzle and sizzle.

[max5ty]

Originally Posted by The Copy Nazi

"Coypwriting"??

Start with proofreading your coyp.

Thanks, I agree, I fixed it.

Did the first part right by speed writing, then forgot to go back and spell check

[Samuel Mitaro]

Two thoughts for you.

First, I learned a while ago how to write a first draft. I used to write slowly and carefully, writing and rewriting in my head before committing it to the keyboard. The result needed little editing, but it was cold, stilted, and forced. So I started free writing the first draft. The result was loose and packed with usable material, no matter how ill-organized or trite it was.

Only then did I learn to rewrite. Not edit, but rewrite. Now I print the draft on paper and start over with a blank screen. The draft may be a mess, but it is full of possible directions and ideas. I distill, organize, and reword. The result, to me, is much more interesting. This isn't the only way to do it, but it works for me.

Second, in one of his books, Bob Bly mentions the "quality curve." He says that the improvement from draft to first rewrite is 80-90%, but that the improvement from first rewrite to second is only 3-5%, and so on.

If I have done a decent job mapping my sales points and outlining as necessary, I should only need to draft, rewrite, and polish. Of course, time lapses always help, if your deadline allows such a luxury.

For what it's worth, that's my approach.