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A master class copy.

by Quality Copywriter
11 replies
Hey copy People

I came across this little video from Clayton Makepeace a while ago.

if it's still up when you read this...

it definitely worth a look.

it's fulla little gems.

"Speedwriting Secrets - Pre-Event Webinar - Session 1" - Videos - Viddler
#class #copy #master
  • Profile picture of the author Steve The Copywriter
    Very good.

    I do miss the Total Package.

    For anyone who is a touch bewildered and has no idea what I'm on about the "archives" are online.


    Steve
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  • Profile picture of the author wordsandthebees
    Originally Posted by Quality Copywriter View Post

    Hey copy People

    I came across this little video from Clayton Makepeace a while ago.

    if it's still up when you read this...

    it definitely worth a look.

    it's fulla little gems.

    "Speedwriting Secrets - Pre-Event Webinar - Session 1" - Videos - Viddler
    Thanks for sharing. The video is still active. It's an hour long so I'll watch this when I have a bit more time on my hands.

    I was interested in a Copywriting Masterclass that I'd recently been alerted to but the cost was over $2000! I'm sure most of the content would be covered in a roundabout way online from forums, groups and free webinars/podcasts. What do you think?

    I am happy to pay for learning however that seemed a little steep to me.

    Thanks for the thread, I'll definitely follow it up
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    • Profile picture of the author Andrew Gould
      Originally Posted by wordsandthebees View Post

      I was interested in a Copywriting Masterclass that I'd recently been alerted to but the cost was over $2000! I'm sure most of the content would be covered in a roundabout way online from forums, groups and free webinars/podcasts. What do you think?
      Advantages of paying for training from a reputable source:
      • It's from a reputable source. Not just some guy on a forum who - as we're seeing a lot of here recently - is just regurgitating what he's read elsewhere without any understanding of the subject.
      • It's more likely to be coherent. Learning from free sources means you're getting a hodgepodge of information which probably won't fit together and might well be contradictory.
      • It saves you the time and effort of having to find the information.
      • You can decide what you want to learn and when you want to learn.
      That said, $2,000+ is a lot of money. And as a self-education junkie myself, I know most of the courses out there aren't worth anything close to that.

      Clayton Makepeace's "Quick-Start Copywriting System" and Gary Bencivenga's "The Bencivenga DVD Course" are the gold standard. And I'd advise caution spending big money on a course that isn't one of those two.

      But you don't need to invest that much to get a good education. There are plenty of excellent books you can get for a fraction of the price of a course:
      • The Ultimate Sales Letter by Dan Kennedy - The best book for beginners.
      • The Adweek Copywriting Handbook by Joe Sugar - A perfect follow-up.
      • How To Write a Good Advertisement by Victor Schwab - Fantastic, heavily ripped-off, look at the fundamentals.
      • Cashvertising by Drew Eric Whitman - An encyclopedia of copy techniques. Better value and with more content than a lot of far more expensive courses.
      • The Brain Audit by Sean D'Souza - A great look at the big picture of getting people to buy.
      And that's barely scratching the surface. There are classics by John Caples, Bob Bly, H.G. Lewis, etc,

      So you don't need to spend a fortune to expand your knowledge
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      Andrew Gould

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      • Profile picture of the author wordsandthebees
        Originally Posted by Andrew Gould View Post

        Advantages of paying for training from a reputable source:
        • It's from a reputable source. Not just some guy on a forum who - as we're seeing a lot of here recently - is just regurgitating what he's read elsewhere without any understanding of the subject.
        • It's more likely to be coherent. Learning from free sources means you're getting a hodgepodge of information which probably won't fit together and might well be contradictory.
        • It saves you the time and effort of having to find the information.
        • You can decide what you want to learn and when you want to learn.
        That said, $2,000+ is a lot of money. And as a self-education junkie myself, I know most of the courses out there aren't worth anything close to that.

        Clayton Makepeace's "Quick-Start Copywriting System" and Gary Bencivenga's "The Bencivenga DVD Course" are the gold standard. And I'd advise caution spending big money on a course that isn't one of those two.

        But you don't need to invest that much to get a good education. There are plenty of excellent books you can get for a fraction of the price of a course:
        • The Ultimate Sales Letter by Dan Kennedy - The best book for beginners.
        • The Adweek Copywriting Handbook by Joe Sugar - A perfect follow-up.
        • How To Write a Good Advertisement by Victor Schwab - Fantastic, heavily ripped-off, look at the fundamentals.
        • Cashvertising by Drew Eric Whitman - An encyclopedia of copy techniques. Better value and with more content than a lot of far more expensive courses.
        • The Brain Audit by Sean D'Souza - A great look at the big picture of getting people to buy.
        And that's barely scratching the surface. There are classics by John Caples, Bob Bly, H.G. Lewis, etc,

        So you don't need to spend a fortune to expand your knowledge
        Hi Andrew,
        Thanks so much for this valuable information.

        I agree entirely that there's so much information available online that it can be hard to sort it into some sort of logical order.

        I do also agree that it's good to know that what you're learning is coming from a credible source.

        I have had a look at both of those study tools and the books, what a great list! Thanks so much for passing on that information, I'll be sure to bear them both in mind for the future.

        I'm not adverse to spending money on something worthwhile so I am definitely keeping my eyes and ears open for better offers than I received earlier in the week.

        Thanks again for your advice, I appreciate you taking the time to respond.
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      • Profile picture of the author shawnlebrun
        Originally Posted by Andrew Gould View Post

        Advantages of paying for training from a reputable source:
        • It's from a reputable source. Not just some guy on a forum who - as we're seeing a lot of here recently - is just regurgitating what he's read elsewhere without any understanding of the subject.
        • It's more likely to be coherent. Learning from free sources means you're getting a hodgepodge of information which probably won't fit together and might well be contradictory.
        • It saves you the time and effort of having to find the information.
        • You can decide what you want to learn and when you want to learn.
        That said, $2,000+ is a lot of money. And as a self-education junkie myself, I know most of the courses out there aren't worth anything close to that.

        Clayton Makepeace's "Quick-Start Copywriting System" and Gary Bencivenga's "The Bencivenga DVD Course" are the gold standard. And I'd advise caution spending big money on a course that isn't one of those two.

        But you don't need to invest that much to get a good education. There are plenty of excellent books you can get for a fraction of the price of a course:
        • The Ultimate Sales Letter by Dan Kennedy - The best book for beginners.
        • The Adweek Copywriting Handbook by Joe Sugar - A perfect follow-up.
        • How To Write a Good Advertisement by Victor Schwab - Fantastic, heavily ripped-off, look at the fundamentals.
        • Cashvertising by Drew Eric Whitman - An encyclopedia of copy techniques. Better value and with more content than a lot of far more expensive courses.
        • The Brain Audit by Sean D'Souza - A great look at the big picture of getting people to buy.
        And that's barely scratching the surface. There are classics by John Caples, Bob Bly, H.G. Lewis, etc,

        So you don't need to spend a fortune to expand your knowledge
        Andrew is SO right... and those books he listed are gems.

        But also remember this... you can read ONE book and take action on it,
        and start seeing some results, and know if you're on the right track.

        Honestly... take what you learn in ANY of the books that Andrew posted,
        read it, and apply it.

        Start writing copy using what you learned, and sending traffic to it and
        testing it.

        Sure, most books aren't complete books on how to write copy, but
        MANY give you enough to get a pretty good letter up.

        John Carlton's Kick ass secrets had pretty much all you needed
        to know, in order to write good copy, and I grabbed it for $200
        about 12 years ago.

        For me, real world writing, testing with traffic, getting results, and
        tweaking taught me more about copy in a year than almost any
        book.

        See... the problem is, a lot of people will buy 100 books and
        read all of them before they write a single word of copy.

        The REAL learning comes from reading one, then taking
        action with what you just read.

        I did sales letters that sold millions of fitness products
        in 2002 and up... after I bought just one Dan Kennedy
        book in 2001.

        When I was a cop... I learned more on the job in a week than I
        did with my college degree and $10,000 in books and tuition.

        I've probably read more copy books than most... but I still
        recommend using one... taking action on what you read,
        put copy up and online, and test it.

        Tweak accordingly, and then move onto more learning
        that you can apply.

        Like I said, I started with a Dan Kennedy book...
        got some actual letters online and started testing.

        Then came John Carlton's kick ass secrets which
        I'd read a chapter and then apply it.

        I did this all the way up to Gary Bencivenga and his $5000 course.

        Every single book I bought... I didn't get any other
        until I read and applied as much as I could before moving on.

        I just see WAY too many writers stuck in the "Ready, Aim, Ready, Aim,
        Ready, Aim phase far too long.

        Just remember... buying and consuming books will cost you money
        and will prevent you from making money if you never apply the info.

        But learning, writing, and selling makes you money.

        By the way, The Brain Audit by Sean D'Souza may be the single most
        underrated copy book I've ever read... it's one of my top 3 faves of
        all time.

        Another gem that's not known by a lot of people... How to Sell
        Anything to Anybody by Harry Browne.

        If you read that and then just apply it to the written world... you'll
        be ahead of most amateur writers within a month or two.
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        MILLION Dollar Copywriter Offering Written Sales Letter or VSL Script Worth $5,000 - Just $500!
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  • Profile picture of the author colmodwyer
    I'm going to this, any time I've seen Clayton speak it's been worthwhile.

    But, I agree with Andrew too. If $2,000 is a lot of money to you (or your employer isn't covering the bill, like mine is for me), you can learn a TON from $10 books.I was already a full time copywriter before I ever went to any events like this--thanks to books Andrew recommends and others.

    Cheers,
    Colm
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    • Profile picture of the author wordsandthebees
      Originally Posted by colmodwyer View Post

      I'm going to this, any time I've seen Clayton speak it's been worthwhile.

      But, I agree with Andrew too. If $2,000 is a lot of money to you (or your employer isn't covering the bill, like mine is for me), you can learn a TON from $10 books.I was already a full time copywriter before I ever went to any events like this--thanks to books Andrew recommends and others.

      Cheers,
      Colm
      That's great, thanks for the info.

      Do you have any specific books that helped you out in the early stages?
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      • Profile picture of the author colmodwyer
        Originally Posted by wordsandthebees View Post

        That's great, thanks for the info.

        Do you have any specific books that helped you out in the early stages?
        Tested Advertising Methods by John Caples was the most influential in terms of making me want to be a copywriter... Though I find it pretty boring now.

        The Gary Halbert Letter and Bencivenga Bullets (search google) are great online resources too--and free!

        Start reading hot promos too.
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  • Profile picture of the author Steve The Copywriter
    A lot of people make a huge fuss when they talk and write about "selling."

    Luckily, as mentioned by Shawn in the above post good old Harry Browne didn't.

    He just explains how to do it properly and get the best results.


    Steve
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  • Profile picture of the author cruze22
    In The Motivation Master Class, Jim will show you how to develop the most valuable attribute in business; the ability to motivate other people and yourself. This superb audio program, which runs for 111 minutes, is considered by many to be the most powerful development program anywhere!
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    • Profile picture of the author GordonJ
      Originally Posted by cruze22 View Post

      In The Motivation Master Class, Jim will show you how to develop the most valuable attribute in business; the ability to motivate other people and yourself. This superb audio program, which runs for 111 minutes, is considered by many to be the most powerful development program anywhere!
      Class begins:

      People are PREOCCUPIED.
      You want to sell something to some of these people.
      You write a PROMOTION about what you want to sell...and if it is about
      what THEY WANT to buy, then,
      You make sales.

      Class dismissed.

      Of course, there are a few details, and Andrew's list and other resources all about learning these details.

      So, since I feel generous today, here now, is the Graduate Version of the above Bachelor's degree in copywriting.

      First, who are the people,
      what are you offering them?

      Where are the people?
      How do you INTERSECT WITH THE PEOPLE?
      What is their state of mind, at this intersection?

      How do you INTERRUPT their current PREOCCUPATION?

      So you have either a prospect or a product. Savvy marketers create products for people who have already bought certain kinds of things, and CREATE/ACQUIRE similar products to offer them.

      Some have a problem, a need or a hunger. Your offer must solve, fix or satisfy.

      PREOCCUPATIONS? What are they?

      Now, we look at The Brain Audit, Cialdini, Maslow, Browne...to get a good grip on what people are thinking about. We discover:

      Conscious and
      Subconscious needs and wants.

      Primal, base as in the bottom of a Maslow Pyramid.
      Self fulfillment, as seen at the top of the Maslow Pyramid.

      We now KNOW as a copywriter what our Target may be thinking at one of those levels as regards our offer.

      What words will break their preoccupation, what sounds, what images will capture their brief attention span? We know because of

      Halbert, Kennedy, Abraham, Makepeace, Carlton, et al.

      OR, because we are a part of the niche or market we are trying to sell to, and we know what works on us and others in that niche, like golf, LONGER DRIVES.

      So our offer must now MEET or Intersect with the prospect. WE, the copywriter know where to create that meeting because of:

      Joe Sugarman, Vic Schwab, Ben Suarez, Jeffrey Lant, etc.

      We use the media where the best chance of a good intersect will happen.

      It could be an extremely short meeting, so the first 10 seconds are critical, but we copywriters know how to throw a stone and break their igloo of preoccupation and then once we have their attention, give them the short elevator speech, keep them
      listening, reading, watching because we learned how through our studies.

      Then WE ASK FOR THE ACTION. We write with intent.
      We write with purpose.
      We spent the time reading and learning and now...

      All of that comes down a critical few seconds of time.

      They either ACT as you want. Or they don't.

      If they do, then you find more people like them. If they don't you test and tweak and try again or look at one of the areas in the basic class above...

      Could be product, prospect, promotion or media wasn't the best choice you could have made...

      OR maybe, if you get a lot of INaction and NO sales, maybe, it is because the ONE book you read didn't quite cover enough, but, hey, you're a copywriter, right?

      GordonJ

      PS. I do offer a certificate for those who pass this "master" class, it is suitable for framing, and it is free, you will, however want it to look good on your wall, so, I offer a few choices on the frames, beginning at only 19.97. The final exam is pass/fail.
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