My Copywriting Research Tools, What Are Yours?

14 years ago

Originally Posted by Stephen Dean

Just wrote a blog post about my favorite research tools. I bet a couple of them are underutilized by copywriters on here, so I wonder which research tools I'm missing.

Here's my list...

Google.com
Quantcast - Home
Yahoo! Answers - Home
ebay.com
amazon.com
Clickbank.com

What are your favorite research tools?

Cheers,
Stephen Dean

It depends on which direction I'm conducting research in. In some instances, I focus on database & profile research for conducting comparables. Other times, when conducting copy for Sales Letters, Niche Content specific studies I use the following:

I chose these to be more specific on a Product Detail Level vs. Industry Comparable Research:

Find a Meetup Group near you - Meetup
Goofbay
CB Topsites
http://pulse.ebay.com/
Google Product Search
eHow | How To Do Just About Everything! | How To Videos & Articles
Microsoft Audience Intelligence - Secret Sauce
Direct Marketing News

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Bruce Wedding

14 years ago

Amazon.com reviews are an awesome way to find objections for products that you can find similar books about.

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RickDuris

14 years ago

Originally Posted by Stephen Dean

Just wrote a blog post about my favorite research tools. I bet a couple of them are underutilized by copywriters on here, so I wonder which research tools I'm missing.

Here's my list...

Google.com
Quantcast - Home
Yahoo! Answers - Home
ebay.com
amazon.com
Clickbank.com

What are your favorite research tools?

Cheers,
Stephen Dean

Oh my goodness! THAT'S why everything sounds the same!

I don't have a problem with that as long as it works.

But if you're going for the LANGUAGE people really use regarding a topic, try:

Advertise on Twitter Apps and the Wider Realtime Social Web - OneRiot (Real time search engine.)
Mahalo.com: Questions, Answers, How Tos and Coupons (A search engine with a human touch.)
Forum Search - Omgili (Search engine for forums for questions regarding a certain topic.)

- Rick Duris

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Stephen Dean

14 years ago

Awesome resources, Rick.

I'm curious why you don't think Yahoo Answers would help with language. That's the one from my list that I rely on to look for word choice and other patterns. And it seems similar to your links.

I use Google to see what sites the audience has likely already been exposed to... and I use the top few URLs from the results to get Quantcast data and help make a demographic profile.

I use eBay and Amazon to see what people are buying right now in this niche so I can come up with an angle that's unique... AND either continues the conversation or is contrarian.

(Thanks to Bruce I'm going to be looking at Amazon reviews a bit closer.)

I use Clickbank for similar reasons... but ALSO to see which common themes appear in successful letters to see if I can use it to my advantage. (That's the only one I can connect to your comment about everything sounding the same, but it doesn't have to.)

I think it's a well rounded list - although I do value your resources, I'll be checking them out further.

Cheers,
Stephen Dean

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RickDuris

14 years ago

Originally Posted by Stephen Dean

Awesome resources, Rick.

I'm curious why you don't think Yahoo Answers would help with language. That's the one from my list that I rely on to look for word choice and other patterns. And it seems similar to your links.

I use Google to see what sites the audience has likely already been exposed to... and I use the top few URLs from the results to get Quantcast data and help make a demographic profile.

I use eBay and Amazon to see what people are buying right now in this niche so I can come up with an angle that's unique... AND either continues the conversation or is contrarian.

I use Clickbank for similar reasons... but ALSO to see which common themes appear in successful letters to see if I can use it to my advantage. (That's the only one I can connect to your comment about everything sounding the same, but it doesn't have to.)

Cheers,
Stephen Dean

You already took Yahoo Answers.

It's awesome for research. I was trying to contribute/add. But Amazon, Ebay, ClickBank, people swipe liberally and everything looks the same.

Quantcast data, I do not trust.

As for eBay Analytics, try http://www.terapeak.com For KNOWING what sells and for how much and when.

Don't take anything personally, Stephen. You're a good man.

My favorite is I ask Clients to give me the phone numbers of their recent sales. I record conversations. I ask questions. And I learn.

But it's the best research (and inspiration) there is.

- Rick Duris

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Stephen Dean

14 years ago

Originally Posted by RickDuris

Quantcast data, I do not trust.

You can cross-check it with Alexa.com. I do see differences from time to time but you can usually narrow it down by adding more data.

Originally Posted by RickDuris

"Don't take anything personally, Stephen. You're a good man."

I didn't, that's not my style. I appreciated your links and will add them to my blog.

In other news, I just got a new testimonial.

Originally Posted by RickDuris

"Personally, Stephen, you're a good man!"

Cheers,
Stephen

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RickDuris

14 years ago

Originally Posted by Stephen Dean

You can cross-check it with Alexa.com. I do see differences from time to time but you can usually narrow it down by adding more data.

I didn't, that's not my style. I appreciated your links and will add them to my blog.

In other news, I just got a new testimonial.

Originally Posted by RickDuris
"Personally, Stephen, you're a good man!"

Cheers,
Stephen

Sheesh! So that's how testimonials are made as well? Well, I'll be darned.

- Rick Duris

PS: By the way, Alexa is just as flawed. AR, aren't I?

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Matt MacPherson

14 years ago

Here's something I've been doing for quite some time: go to search.twitter.com and type in [keyword "so bad"] or [keyword pain]. You can come up with other variations but you get the idea. Use this to quickly find out what your audiences emotional hot buttons are. Works like a charm.

Cheers,
Matt

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ewenmack 14 years ago

For targeting ideal clients I'm hearing great results from Rosie Dow And Ann Convery.

They use profilling and matching words that ideal client finds attractive.

Different words for different profiles.

All the best,
Ewen
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The Copy Nazi

Banned 14 years ago

Check out this WSO on a new "longtail keyword tool" - pulling results from Google, Yahoo, Amazon, YouTube. (no affiliation whatsoever) http://www.warriorforum.com/warrior-...her-tools.html

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JRCarson 14 years ago

I like to just use Google, look at the top 10, and then check out Amazon customer reviews...for physical product pages.
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- JRCarson 14 years ago
  
  Oh yeah...another HUGELY good one, dummies.com.
  
  Thanks
  
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  Stephen Dean 14 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by JRCarson
  
  Oh yeah...another HUGELY good one, dummies.com.
  
  How do you use dummies.com?
  
  Cheers,
  Stephen Dean
  
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  Occupation: Best Copywriter Ever.
  Clients: Matt Bacak, Jim Edwards, Ryan Deiss and more.
  
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bengrimm82

14 years ago

[DELETED]

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Alex Cohen 14 years ago

Successful competitor sales letters are another good research tool. They can help you ...

1) determine the emotions that drive prospects to buy
2) determine what benefit gaps exist in the marketplace

Alex
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Len Bailey

14 years ago

I spend a lot of time on Yahoo! Finance when I'm writing for investment/financial clients.

When I'm writing for health/nutritional clients, it's MedlinePlus.

I also hit the local bookstore.

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lchiles

14 years ago

Thanks guys, this is awesome stuff.

I also go over to Clickbank and look at testimonials that are there and Amazon as well. The key is to look for patterns and trends. Are they complaining about the same issues? Do they love certain parts of the course? What does it DO for them?

Good sites. Thanks Len for the health one. WebMD.com might be good too.

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fypnlp

14 years ago

Hi guys, there are some amazing resources you've mentioned. A few places I knew about, and some really really really cool places I'm going to check out.

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Irish Intuition 13 years ago

I like forums for research. Yahoo Answers I find has a lot of
planted comments. Amazon can be useful but also suffer
from planted comments.

We don't know if the comments are from real consumers or
from someone within that industry.

It seems amazing to me that even though technology assists
us that communications aren't improving.

Seeking out real consumers who have shown interest in the
subject we are peddling is what I do. I like to ask the
questions so I can try to create the answer.
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- Prosechild 13 years ago
  
  this is a super helpful/useful thread. I've added some new sources of info, thanks everyone who shared their resources.
  
  Thanks
  
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My Copywriting Research Tools, What Are Yours?

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