Hello all! I'm new here and I've got some questions.

Start here:

http://www.warriorforum.com/copywrit...pywriters.html

As simple as possible:

Resources: CURRENT copy. Especially controls. Join lists, keep the copy, study it. More specific: Get CURRENT copy being used in areas you have a strong interest in. But, more important: WRITE copy. Write everyday.

SIMPLE and effective way, and fastest, to get clients: WRITE copy that works. TESTIMONIALS and referrals can't be beat.

This is the INCREDIBLY OVERSIMPLIFIED answer.

GordonJ

Of course,you need to learn cutting-edge copywriting techniques right here on this forum.Practice a lot in your imagination-imagine different copywriting scenarios and write as well.Practice makes perfect holds true here.

I got some great advice from Rick Duris not so long ago when I left the corporate copywriting world to start my own business...

Having a successful copywriting business depends on 4 components:
1. Client work
2. Managing the client
3. Sharpening the saw
4. Marketing yourself

1. Client work
The most obvious. When you have a client, you need to do work for them. This is the stuff most new copywriters focus on, and then unfortunately lose track of things like administrative stuff to keep your business running, and #2.

The sad news: you're not going to get paid to write 40 hours a week, not at first.

When you've built a reputation, you could potentially farm out all the research and editing and prospecting and scheduling and accounting, but at first you're a one-man band and you've got to have at least some semblance of reality here.

2. Managing the client
The one a lot of copywriters forget about, which is why some clients have a bad taste in their mouths when it comes to working with us. One of my other mentors, Kevin Rogers, compares it to a date. You're all excited and fascinated with each other. Everything's going swimmingly, all the right boxes are checked, and everyone's stoked to kick off the project.

But then you get lost in the work and forget to check in. YOU know you're working, but all the client knows is you took their money and disappeared for several weeks while composing your masterpiece. Maybe you'll deliver. Maybe you won't. Maybe you'll show up a week late with a half-assed draft and an excuse about your dog dying and your elderly mom moving in on the same day.

The point is... part of the time is going to be spent writing. But part of it should also be regularly checking in to let them know where you're at. Asking questions when they pop up. It may be your masterpiece, but their business is their baby and you have no right to hold it hostage, ya know?

Some copywriters do that. "Leave me alone, I'm working" type attitude. If you know you can deliver, by all means, be the diva. But otherwise, be a pro.

3. Sharpening the axe
You don't think you can read a book or take a course and be done, right? I think I've got a hundred books on business, consulting, marketing, prospecting, productivity, creativity, and selling in my Amazon queue.

I've got two conferences I'm attending later this year and I'm considering a third that could potentially expand my knowledge base about e-commerce/automation/AI integration.

Not only should your career include ample time for self-development... every project should teach you something as well, whether the project went well or off the rails entirely.

If it went well, you learned a system that worked, and that you should integrate that system into your business for all future projects (and hell, maybe you can sell it to others too).

If it went off the rails, you let the emotion subside and then run through it as objectively as possible. Were there red flags you ignored? Did you fail to do something (get a contract signed? meet a deadline?)?

Correct those mistakes for next time. Your campaign run, but not product results? Figure out why. Use that knowledge moving forward.

If you're not constantly learning and growing your knowledge in this field, you're already dead - you just don't know it yet.

4. Marketing yourself
I did a spectacular job of this my first month in business for myself.

But then I overbooked and overworked myself, and as a result stopped marketing myself.

So when the work was complete and the money dried up, I wound up in a state of panic, and almost had to take some projects I KNEW were shitty in order to make ends meet.

Marketing yourself is priority number one, whether you're swamped or you're completely bored with NOTHING to do (good - more time for marketing!).

You can do this in a number of ways - cold emails, cold calls, referral-only systems, authority/guru positioning in the market of your choice.

Just know that marketing yourself is not something you can bill your clients for. So your rates not only need to be high enough to satisfy any lingering worries about keeping the lights on and food in your belly... they have to pay you for the time you spend marketing yourself.

Which is why it's critical to switch your mindset from "what do I think they'd pay for something like this?" or "what will the market bear? Let me do some competitive research" to "What do I need to make this project worthwhile for me, to inspire me to do great work (and keep the bills paid)?"

From my experience, that number's probably 4-5 times higher than the one you're initially comfortable quoting.

The good news is, we're in a great time, where anyone can buy a domain and set up a website, and be in business by tomorrow morning.

The bad news is, ANYONE can buy a domain and set up a website, and be in business by tomorrow morning.

So why should someone do business with YOU?

I love the copyblogger.com website. They have all kinds of resources over there to help improve your copywriting. Convince and Convert is another one.

The other thing is to write a lot. Have a specific person in mind when your write (who you think your ideal customer is.) Imagine you are writing to that person. This will help your writing be less formal and more conversational.

Hello Roy,

I am a big fan of the 20 - 80 principle, focusing on what has the biggest impact. There are hundreds of things you can do / read / review in order to accomplish your two goals, but some are far more effective than others.

Here are the three things you should do daily.

#1 - Build yourself as an authority. Generally, people want to buy (services) but if nobody knows you, nobody will buy from you. Exposure is very important as at the end of the day, it is a numbers game. X number of people know you, Y are in the market and Z will buy from you. Blogging on sites like Quora, LinkedIn and Medium is a good start.

#2 - Write as much as you can. Ideally, you're going to write and someone else will offer you feedback. This is the fastest way to learn. However, in most cases, you won't have this option so just write 1000 - 2000 words of copy every single day. It doesn't matter if you don't have customers, sell fictional products or write copy to promote yourself.

#3 - Don't exaggerate with the theoretical knowledge. You don't need to read 100 different copywriting books. The truth is that no matter your field, after the tenth book or so, the information tends to repeat itself. Find the top ten books on copywriting and creatively learn from them.

What does this mean?

Instead of aiming to have output, treating your brain like a hard drive, interpret the information. Read one chapter and then write an essay on it. Practice what you've just learned. Create some index cards. Teach it to someone else. You want to go for intensity as opposed to volume. It may take one month to finish one book, but you're going to get a lot more value from a single book approached in this manner than if you would just superficially read 10 - 15 - 20 books.

As far as the book, it doesn't really matter. When you approach the information like this, the ROI tends to be high. I suggest you go with the classics (Recommended Reading | MakepeaceTotalPackage.com) but there are many top copywriting books on Amazon and it is hard to say that one is better than the others.

Best regards,
Razvan Rogoz

Since when did necessity demand complexity?

Quickest ZAP, synapse to synapse, quits ****in' around in the swampo.

All possibility spawns VAMPO.

Beyond that, sumone pitchesya & their language dictates available conflux on whateverya got gowin'.

That moment, they are immutable -- an' you are superconstrictedly not.

1. https://readable.io/text/

Speak as simple as possible. This is ironically very, very hard. All your text should be accessible to a 6-year old with ADD. That is basically the unconscious attention of an adult in the digital age.

2. Build a portfolio and even do free "samples" from specific niches you are interested in so when you apply to a job you serve the "niche specific sample" like it's nothing special, like you've done this before...Don't be generic, engage with the client obviously, but delivery of your skills and the biggest source of his anxiety should be shot out of the water the second he gives your application a second look.

(optional)

3. After you get good:Trade deals. You will very soon find yourself stagnating. Invest in your skills and portfolio. Offer to do some free or lower cost content to get the big fish, the fat clients. Approach for a reference toward one of their clients or associates and get your copy trough their bureaucratic middle management firewall.

You begin at:

1. AWAI
2. Digital Marketer
3. Top Blog: copyblogger, problogger, johnchow, famousblogger....
4. Classic newsletter

I read from The Education of Millionaires: It's Not What You Think and It's Not Too Late of Michael Ellsberg. He share about learn by subcriber famous, quality blog as: Dan Kennedy, Gary Halbert, Marie Forleo...

Step 1: Register 2nd email

Step 2: Opt in for expert's blog

Step 3: Everyday, 20-30 minutes, you read and copy one letter

After 1 month, it's diffference than now

Well,you can go right to 2 of the best and get trained properly.Fast, Effective Sales Copy with David Garfinkel & Brian McLeod
Dave and Brian lay it out. Have templates, examples,etc. they rock so does it.
-WD

You can begin with one headline /week with 52 headline hack on SmartBlogger