Why You Should NEVER Hire a Cheap Copywriter

[MaskedMarketer]

Originally Posted by Zeus66

Would some of you pros be kind enough to recommend a good copywriting course or book?

Did you even bother to look at the third thread within this forum?

Top Copywriting Books... Ever

[Daniel Scott]

John,

Top Copywriting Books... Ever

-Dan

[Johnny12345]

Originally Posted by Daniel Scott

Johnny,

I considered sending this via PM but thought this would be a good place to put it since the discussion kind of arose RE: my "origins", and I thought it would be a nice plug for Tim and Kev... who are both great guys and were a big help to me when I started out doing this kind of thing.

-Dan

Daniel,

Thank you for the added detail. It's good that you posted it here, instead of using a PM, because I think a lot of people will find your story interesting and inspirational.

Johnny

[MarkAndrews IMCopywriting]

Hello John

Just sent you a private message with some very good information for you that doesn't cost the earth and is pretty comprehensive.

Hope it helps you out mate.

Best regards.

Mark

Originally Posted by Zeus66

Would some of you pros be kind enough to recommend a good copywriting course or book?

Thanks,
John

[Zeus66]

Mark,

Thanks so much for the suggestion! I have taken your advice. Very kind of you to take the time.

Regards,
John Schwartz

Originally Posted by WordPro

Hello John

Just sent you a private message with some very good information for you that doesn't cost the earth and is pretty comprehensive.

Hope it helps you out mate.

Best regards.

Mark

[MarkAndrews IMCopywriting]

Absolutely no worries John, not a problem, my pleasure.

Kindest regards and the very best of luck to you.

[Metronicity]

Originally Posted by Daniel Scott

Lately, I've been seeing a disturbing trend... people are raving about the "cheap" copywriter they have who does "awesome work"... then crying a few days later because the letter turned out crap.

To these people, I have one question... are you really that surprised?

As copywriters, our job is to make sure that whatever product we're selling has a huge perceived value. It increases sales.

If your copywriter is writing letters for $100, it's for one reason... they are unable to sell themselves. And if they can't sell themselves... what makes you think they'll do any better with your product?

Now, I'll admit, there is OCCASIONALLY a decent cheap copywriter. But I'd be surprised if they did more than, say, five letters until they hit the 4-figure mark (at least).

For those of you not "in the know"... here's why we copywriters charge so much...

For a start, it takes years of practise to hone your skills to a point where you can write good copy. And that's years of consistent, hard work... studying textbooks, analyzing other people's letters, writing your own letters... again and again and again... until you can consistently write letters that make sales.

Plus, a letter isn't a one-day job. Writing a letter involves researching a market, analyzing the competition, constructing a USP, learning the product/service inside out, and "laying out" the letter... and all this happens before you even start writing the damn thing.

Let me tell you, writing copy is intense. It's a slow, sometimes painful process that really exhausts you mentally... and it takes a LOT of time. Hell, even just writing a headline can take me hours. Sure, it'll end up being a killer headline... but it takes a long time.

Then after you write the letter you have to keep going back over it, fine-tuning and polishing it until you have cut out every unnecessary word... conveyed the perfect balance of reason and emotion... and basically crafted a finely-honed sales machine.

Plus, there are way more business owners than there are GOOD copywriters. There's a reason guys like Vin Montello or Ray Edwards charge five figures a letter... because they make their clients that many, many times over with their killer letters.

No one ever complains that their doctor charges too much. After all, he's been to medical school for years and you NEED a good doc... not just any old hack.

Copywriting is the same.

Time and time again I see people put up cheap copy that looks (to the untrained eye) as though it's well written... but upon close inspection the holes start to appear. The headline's too long and wordy. The copywriter hasn't hit the key emotions of the target market. There are crucial components of the sales copy left out... etc etc.

And it's no surprise, really. If you write a letter for $100, you can spend a maximum of five, maybe six hours on that letter... and that number includes the time you spend doing the quote and soliciting the client.

The average letter takes the average good copywriter about 40 hours. Some letters are more, some are less, and it always "depends", but 40 hours is a realistic figure.

If you worked for 40 hours for $100... you'd be looking at $2.50 an hour.

You would quit and go to Macca's where you'd earn three times that at minimum wage.

This is why hiring a "cheap" copywriter is a bad idea... because they don't have the skills to do your product justice... and even if they did, they don't have the time to spend on a letter because they have to do a crazy amount of letters just to pay the bills.

Is it possible you find a great writer for cheap, who is writing his first letter? Maybe, but it's about as probable as winning the lottery. If you like to gamble, go for it... but I don't screw around when it comes to my business.

And to those of you who think I'm doing this as some kind of "copywriting conspiracy" so we can keep our prices "high"... think again.

I charge $3 000 for a letter right now. Most people don't have that kind of cash, and 99.99% of the time people who hire $100 writers don't have $3 000 (and I'm on the low side for a good copywriter).

I'm simply making this post so a few less people get burned.

Most of you will read it and never listen to it... but I hope this helps at least a few people understand WHY good copy is so expensive... and why it kind of has to be.

Kind regards,

-Dan

Oh boy. You've opened a can of worms here. As you probably know, I've been promoting - shock horror - "cheap copy" in WSOs for several months here. You wanna know why? Mainly to get known on this Forum - I've only been actively participating here for six months. So I wanted to start out with a "bang" - to get noticed. What's the best way to get noticed with this crowd - offer a great service at a great price - which is, after all, the whole idea of the WSO section. There's a lot of people reading that section who are either just starting out or don't have thousands to throw at a "name" copywriter. So I offer (well I did - it's finished now) $97 rewrites of existing sales page copy. And at least double that for jobs that require more work.
Any copywriter worth his chops should be able to rewrite a salespage pretty quick. Sure - some of them take longer than others. But when I'm "in the zone" I can rewrite a salespage in about an hour. I'll take that $97 an hour any day. But you know what I'll also take - leads and offers to better and higher-paying gigs. And that's what those "loss leaders" do.
We'd all like to be paid Frank Kern-style $35,000 a gig but they don't come every day. And frankly I'd rather be a working hack than an "unemployed copywriter" sitting on my butt waiting for the phone to ring with five-figure gigs.
"Unable to sell themselves" - yeah right. I suppose that's why I'm up to my neck in work - not all of it "$97 rewrites" - I'll give you the drum. Think about "upsell on the back end". Your "cheap copy" can be a great foot in the door if you like. It'll get you in the house and talking to the Missus where you can show her how to get that stain out of the carpets or how quiet her house can be with double-glazing.
BTW Gary Halbert had a great little trick he used when he was selling encyclopedias door-to-door. He'd ring the door-bell and then turn around and walk away. Invariably the door would open and the householder would say "Yes....can I help you?". Halbert would say "Oh I'm sorry...I was looking for the Schwartz family and then I just noticed these beautiful roses you have here and...". That got him in the house. And talking. And solving their problems. And writing the order.
Forget about "selling yourself". Think about "solving someone's problem". The order comes from that. à bientôt, That Cheap-Ass Copy Guy.

[MaskedMarketer]

Originally Posted by Zeus66

Take your attitude and shove it, pal. I wanted people taking part in THIS thread at THIS time to give suggestions, and several of them have. Next time, attack someone who isn't a member of this forum with a solid track record. See all the Thanks I've gotten here for helping others? About twice as many as you in about the same amount of time as you. Stick to attacking newbies, ok?

John

John,

I did give you a suggestion.

So i may have jumped down your throat just a little, but wasn't attacking you. I apologize if you think I was attacking you, but really your question gets asked here over,over, over, and over, and over again. Thats why the answer to your question is at the top of the forum.

But, I'd recommend you go with Sean D'souza course. One of the best courses out there with easily consumable content. Its gonna set you back around 2k, but sean stuff is excellent. He hardly gets mentioned on the forum here and his stuff is top notch.

You can check his website to read his copy or go to copy blogger and find his articles on there.

[PhiltheBear]

Originally Posted by MikeHumphreys

And it's the one service that many people mistakenly shop on price instead of the copywriter's reputation, track record, and skill level for delivering great copy.

Which is exactly why the title of this thread is a load of rubbish.

Great copywriters usually cost most - because they have experience and a good track record.

Good copywriters usually cost a bit less - largely because they don't have the lenght of experience.

BUT

At the end of the day it's all down to the skill of the individual - and NOTHING else.

I've seen some unbelievably bad copy by 'gurus' like Ted Nicholas - and some great copy by people who've just gone out and written their own thing. But it's 100% the case that cost doesn't equate with great.

[MarkAndrews IMCopywriting]

Originally Posted by Metronicity

Oh boy. You've opened a can of worms here. As you probably know, I've been promoting - shock horror - "cheap copy" in WSOs for several months here. You wanna know why? Mainly to get known on this Forum - I've only been actively participating here for six months. So I wanted to start out with a "bang" - to get noticed. What's the best way to get noticed with this crowd - offer a great service at a great price - which is, after all, the whole idea of the WSO section. There's a lot of people reading that section who are either just starting out or don't have thousands to throw at a "name" copywriter. So I offer (well I did - it's finished now) $97 rewrites of existing sales page copy. And at least double that for jobs that require more work.
Any copywriter worth his chops should be able to rewrite a salespage pretty quick. Sure - some of them take longer than others. But when I'm "in the zone" I can rewrite a salespage in about an hour. I'll take that $97 an hour any day. But you know what I'll also take - leads and offers to better and higher-paying gigs. And that's what those "loss leaders" do.
We'd all like to be paid Frank Kern-style $35,000 a gig but they don't come every day. And frankly I'd rather be a working hack than an "unemployed copywriter" sitting on my butt waiting for the phone to ring with five-figure gigs.
"Unable to sell themselves" - yeah right. I suppose that's why I'm up to my neck in work - not all of it "$97 rewrites" - I'll give you the drum. Think about "upsell on the back end". Your "cheap copy" can be a great foot in the door if you like. It'll get you in the house and talking to the Missus where you can show her how to get that stain out of the carpets or how quiet her house can be with double-glazing.
BTW Gary Halbert had a great little trick he used when he was selling encyclopedias door-to-door. He'd ring the door-bell and then turn around and walk away. Invariably the door would open and the householder would say "Yes....can I help you?". Halbert would say "Oh I'm sorry...I was looking for the Schwartz family and then I just noticed these beautiful roses you have here and...". That got him in the house. And talking. And solving their problems. And writing the order.
Forget about "selling yourself". Think about "solving someone's problem". The order comes from that. à bientôt, That Cheap-Ass Copy Guy.

Pot.

Kettle.

Black.

K.I.S.S.

[Astounding Writing Coach]

I think the thing that a lot of businesses overlook when it comes to copywriting is that copywriting is an investment rather than an expense. We as copywriters know paying for years of training and developing our writing skills was a good investment. Now if we can just convince those wanting the benefits of our investment to see copywriting that way....

Susan

[Scott Murdaugh]

Susan,

Trust me... There are plenty of businesses out there that see good copywriting as an investment.

It's a lot easier to convince them that you're the right investment than it is to convince them that copy in itself is something worth investing in.

In other words, don't educate, market to the people who value your work.

-Scott

[Collette]

Back in the day, I used to try to 'educate' (i.e. convince prospects that good copy was an investment in their business). These 'prospects' almost never had any kind of marketing plan, nor had they created any kind of budget for marketing.

And they were, without exception, floundering, flailing, or circling the drain.

Exhausting. Draining. And rarely produced any significant ROI for me.

I finally wised up.

These days, I just move on.

[MrEyeconic]

Ok just out of interest if someone cannot afford a four figure copywriter is it best to..

A) go for the $200 copywriter who might have some experience in copywriting OR
B) Do it yourself through learning and looking at successful sales letters?

Gurpreet

[Scott Murdaugh]

I'd go with B)... And then if you could afford to, have a professional critique it for you.

-Scott

[BrianMcLeod]

Originally Posted by Scott Murdaugh

I'd go with B)... And then if you could afford to, have a professional critique it for you.

-Scott

Ditto.

Spend $200 on a few of the books in the sticky on top of this forum.

Give yourself permission to fail and start writing.

Test, measure and adjust.

Make some sales.

Reinvest that into a serious critique for between $500-$1k

Implement the advice in the critique.

Count the money.

Best,

Brian

[Kevin Lam]

Originally Posted by Zeus66

Would some of you pros be kind enough to recommend a good copywriting course or book?

Thanks,
John

John, not you too! Go slap yourself for even asking that.

Top Copywriting Books... Ever