Ideas from other people copy?

I use this acronym often: SIAMIB

Which stands for "Steal it and make it better."

Note the form of the statement and make it your own.

Lifting phrases word-for-word isn't cool.

Being inspired to come up with your own just-as-great phrasing is much cooler.

As you're in the learning stage, one "breakthrough exercise" I found was to go through a Gary Bencivenga maglog... like "Lies!, Lies!, Lies!" or his Thankgiving ham letter (And I mean the whole thing... and these are 24 page or so letters) and just go sentence by sentence... word by word... and ask myself "Why is he using this word not that one? That phrase? That structure?

Then when I sat down to come up with my own words, for my own letters, I was better informed about WHY a particular word, phrase of my own would work, or why it wouldn't.

Bottom-line might be this: You've got to develop faith in your own ability to face a blank page and just let your own words flow. And as they flow you want to have enough marketing know-how to assess whether or not they meet proven persuasion strategies.

Don't want to get too "Secret-y" but it might be a good idea to believe, as best you can that there is no limit to your own creativity.

That after you write one good phrase... sentence... or letter... there's just another one waiting inside you... sat in your subconscious... ready to pop out right when you need it.

This is pretty standard practice in copywriting. There are even books sold
with those "stolen" words and phrases. Check out Words That Sell and
More Words that Sell by Richard Bayan (AMAZON) and also Phrases That
Sell by Werz and Germain.

That's where those other sales letters 'stole' them from.


-Ray Edwards

One word cannot be copyrighted. (Yes, one word can be trademarked.) What about a phrase or a sentence ... can they be copyrighted? Or must the work be more substantial before it obtains copyrighted status? Perhaps a legal eagle will give us an answer.

And then of course the "fair use doctrine" exists. Under certain circustances, portions of copyrighted works can be used without permission.

Alex

You gotta know what words are important to your CUSTOMER. It doesn't matter if you think the words are cool. What words are powerful to them? Which words hit their emotional hot buttons and make them wake up out of the web surfing daze that they're in?

The way to figure out these words is to talk with your customers on the phone (forums can work sometimes too) and listen to how they describe their own problem. If they say they're frustrated, then use that in your headline. Don't say "pissed off" if they don't use that phrase when they're talking about it.

The more your customers can relate to your headline and find themselves in it, the more they'll "wake up" out of their web surfing daze and look at what you have to say.