Copywriting and it's Challenges

2 years ago

Originally Posted by Sunday Abiodun

Due to the fact that I have no Job at the moment, I decided to try online. I came in contact with copywriting and fell in love with it
Been trying to find my way about it. Note: I live writing so I can easily blend in but learning the rudiments of copywriting all by myself has been challenging.
What is your recommended solution for me
PS: Am in search of a mentor, don't mind working for free just to harness my skill in this beautiful profession.

The reason I ask HOW did you come in contact with it, is because, it will determine your path you choose to take.

So, lets start there...what or whom did you first encounter that triggered the idea that you could be a copywriter? Where did you cross paths with it, and what makes you think you can do it?

GordonJ

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Claude Whitacre

2 years ago

Originally Posted by Sunday Abiodun

Due to the fact that I have no Job at the moment, I decided to try online. I came in contact with copywriting and fell in love with it

Been trying to find my way about it. Note: I live writing so I can easily blend in but learning the rudiments of copywriting all by myself has been challenging.

What is your recommended solution for me

How long are you prepared to study copywriting? What industry would you work in?

"Copywriting" covers a whole swath of applications. Would you be writing ads? sales letters? video scripts? product descriptions?

For example, I decided to study copywriting to make my retail ads pay off. It took me two full years of reading copywriting books, testing ads every week, and studying ads in magazines in the local library before I finally made an ad produce a profit.

How long before you need to get a paycheck? Who would pay you?

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SARubin

2 years ago

Do you have any sales experience?

Let's start there...

Originally Posted by Sunday Abiodun

Due to the fact that I have no Job at the moment, I decided to try online. I came in contact with copywriting and fell in love with it

Been trying to find my way about it. Note: I live writing so I can easily blend in but learning the rudiments of copywriting all by myself has been challenging.

What is your recommended solution for me

PS: Am in search of a mentor, don't mind working for free just to harness my skill in this beautiful profession.

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Claude Whitacre

2 years ago

AAAAANNNDDD.........Another one bites the dust.

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â€œDo not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise; seek what they sought.â€ - Matsuo Basho

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SARubin 2 years ago

Originally Posted by Claude Whitacre

AAAAANNNDDD.........Another one bites the dust.

Slightly disappointed, but not too surprised. If I had read the original post more carefully I wouldn't have replied at all

I ran the original post through my "dreamer to marketer" translator and apparently here's what it really says, in plain English...

"I have no job, and little ambition. Internet marketing looks easy, and because I can write a complete sentence copywriting should be easy, as soon as someone shows me how to do it.

P.S. What I really want is someone to take me by the hand, spend their own time and effort, and do it all for me. For free."

And as the sun sets on another beautiful day, the marketing graveyard prepares to welcome its newest member. A wannapreneur soon to be broken, in both body and spirit, crushed by the heavy demands of reality.

If only they understood that easy dreams are a thing of myth and legend. And all who embark on their path are soon confronted by the burden of actual work.
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RMRC 2 years ago

Originally Posted by Claude Whitacre

AAAAANNNDDD.........Another one bites the dust.

Some people are in such a hurry to learn they don't end up learning anything lol
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Kay King

2 years ago

On the forum for 6 minutes after asking the question...and then poof.

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GordonJ

2 years ago

Originally Posted by Kay King

On the forum for 6 minutes after asking the question...and then poof.

Well...maybe 6 mins better than 6 years of posting oneliner ME too answers eh?

Anyhow. The reason I asked where one comes across the idea of copywriting to make money has a lot to do with IF they ever will or not. See, if the first blush contact is one of those, "If you can write a letter like this one, you can make $100.000.00 A YEAR in your spare time"...

Or whatever is the first thing which arouses interests, mainly from writers, who think, I can do that...it sets the EXPECTATIONS.

Getting people to part with money via copywriting, is NOT easy, and NO, not anyone or everyone can do it. It is arguably an art, science, skill with some TIMING thrown in.

One of the problems with IM, and we see it here, but also everywhere, especially FACEBOOK, where the pros have written those pieces that make it sound so easy.

Just as some say affiliate marketing is easy, it is all about EXPECTATIONS...which is why the Unicorn over the rainbow chasing has become an evergreen niche.

So for all of you would be copywriters, who or what set your expectations and do you have the time, and determination to stay with it until you get good at it? And when and how long does that take? Either a couple of weeks, or, probably more likely, a couple of decades.

But I'm sure someone, somewhere has a nice 495 dollar course which gets you off to a fast start...and when you reach maybe having spent thousands, the light bulb goes off.

The only sure fire way to become a decent copywriter is to WRITE copy for transactions, any thing else is just learning without knowing.

GordonJ

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DABK

2 years ago

$497, Gordon. Dontcha know prices ending in 7 outperform those ending in any other number? Using them is the sign of a real really successful copywriter. It's one of the ways you sort the good ones from the riffraff. I know it's true because I seen it in the copy of a guy who was standing next to a red Ferrari, in front of a McMansion and there was a half-naked young, slender woman sprawled on the Ferrari (pure sign that it is, indeed, and proof that the house too was his, which is proof that the stuff in his course was top notch).

Originally Posted by GordonJ

But I'm sure someone, somewhere has a nice 495 dollar course which gets you off to a fast start...and when you reach maybe having spent thousands, the light bulb goes off.

The only sure fire way to become a decent copywriter is to WRITE copy for transactions, any thing else is just learning without knowing.

GordonJ

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Claude Whitacre

2 years ago

Originally Posted by GordonJ

Or whatever is the first thing which arouses interests, mainly from writers, who think, I can do that...it sets the EXPECTATIONS.

Getting people to part with money via copywriting, is NOT easy, and NO, not anyone or everyone can do it. It is arguably an art, science, skill with some TIMING thrown in.

It reminds me of several misunderstanding I've heard over the years.

You know how to write a book report, and so it follows that you can write copy that sells.

You create a short movie, and now you believe it's the same as creating an infomercial.

You know someone who is at ease at parties, and assume she would be great at selling.

I gave a speech once that made me quite a lot of money. In the bus, on the way to the airport, a guy that attended the event asked if I thought he could be a great speaker..."You were funny. I know plenty of jokes, so I think I can do what you do".

The OP said " I live writing so I can easily blend in but learning the rudiments of copywriting all by myself has been challenging".

I get it. But copywriting is one of the few subjects I think you could learn, on your own, by reading the classics on direct response copywriting, and then testing what you learned with your own offers. That's pretty much what I did. But it took several years before I even started to grasp why one thing worked well and another failed...the underlying principles of buyer behavior.

To me, "trying copywriting" is akin to "Trying surgery". You think you can perform surgery because you've seen doctors do surgery on TV, and you like the same music they listen to, and have the same haircut they do. So why not? You should fit right in.

A relative of mine once told me that he thought he was a better fighter than I was (He had no training at all. I had several years) because he could kick higher than I could. I told him "That's like thinking you are a better singer, because you have a louder voice."

Beginner mistakes in thinking.

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Princess Balestra

2 years ago

So what zackly happens to a fly-by wannabe spoutin' misplaced apostrophes these days?

Gotta make the besta the fkr, I guess.

Bcs sumthin' gotta cumma nuthin' less'n we all doomed.

Tellya, we gaht all kindsa info wrote out on alla our bra an' high fiber nibble labels ...

but not wanna 'em says WE ALL DOOMED.

My view?

I gaht no idea what is gowin' on.

Worse even, I gaht no clue whatevah ain't.

That is my Toosday, Sweetiepoppets.

It is like I been abused by a specter.

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Kay King

2 years ago

It is like I been abused by a specter.

True - and I hate when that happens...

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Jeff Polaski

2 years ago

You can join copywriting communities, attend virtual events, utilize freelancing platforms and reach out to established copywriters in your desired niche.