14 replies
Hi Copywriters

I would like to develop my copywriting skills. I've been reading a few of the books on the subject, ones recommended here on this forum. They've all been very interesting up to now, and opened my eyes to a lot of new ideas and techniques when it comes to writing and selling.

In the not too distant future I plan to put a few of these new found skills into practice on a few of the sites I have in the pipeline.

In the meantime I'd like to be practicing copywriting in some way. None of the books I've read so far really seem to give practical lessons as such.

Do any of you guys like to practice your skills when you are not working? Do you have any exercises to keep those copywriting muscles strong so that you're in peak fitness when the work comes in again?
#practice
  • For me the best ways to practice is to write.

    And then I edit about 28 times.

    If I'm not writing, a good way to keep your skills sharpened is to read Ads, Sales Letters etc - and "critique" them.

    What is good?

    What is bad?

    What techniques are they missing?

    How would you improve them?


    Hope this helps,


    Steve
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  • Profile picture of the author Mark Andrews
    Banned
    Originally Posted by FreeMeal View Post

    Do any of you guys like to practice your skills when you are not working? Do you have any exercises to keep those copywriting muscles strong so that you're in peak fitness when the work comes in again?
    All the superb copywriters I know are all booked up solid for months in advance.

    When we're not actually copywriting we are carrying out research on behalf of our clients.

    'Not working' doesn't fit into the equation. Most of the top copywriters here - we're all working non-stop. What keeps our copywriting 'muscles' strong is the fact that we're all excellent at what we do. Which is why we're never short of work.

    Best,


    Mark Andrews...
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  • Profile picture of the author ThomasOMalley
    Build up your swipe file of powerful sales letters.

    Study them relentlessly to see what works etc.

    Study the headlines, the first paragraph, the bullets, the copy flow, the offer etc.

    This will give you a great headstart.

    Get Halbert's Motherlode Collection of Sales Letters...a very powerful swipe file.

    Best,

    Thomas O'Malley
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    • Profile picture of the author CopyWriteHer
      I am in that stage now, Thomas (and taking on a few projects here and there). Very good advice.
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    • Profile picture of the author CopyWriteHer
      I've been having a bit of difficulty in locating some of the swipe files I see referenced in the forum. I even joined a paid forum that was recommended and said to contain a collection of good swipe files, only to find them not there (I unsubscribed so no huge loss). I am copying sales letters from recommended books but going that route, they seem few and far between. I searched the AIO thread on swipe files here and have located just a couple of those. I have heard some people suggest using any sales letter that grabs your attention as a swipe file, but doing it that way, you do not know how well it converted overall (and therefore if you're "studying" the right type of copy). Any suggestions on good swipe file locations?

      Originally Posted by ThomasOMalley View Post

      Build up your swipe file of powerful sales letters.

      Study them relentlessly to see what works etc.

      Study the headlines, the first paragraph, the bullets, the copy flow, the offer etc.

      This will give you a great headstart.

      Get Halbert's Motherlode Collection of Sales Letters...a very powerful swipe file.

      Best,

      Thomas O'Malley
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      • Profile picture of the author ThomasOMalley
        It can be difficult to find good swipe files.

        Keep your eyes open and you must be prepared to pay for a good set.

        It's hard to find the Halbert Motherlode of Sales Letters. Keep looking on ebay periodically.

        You should buy Richard Hodgson's The Greatest Direct Mail Sales Letters fo All Time and Lewis's The World's Greatest Direct Mail Sales letters...two different books. Go to amazon.com.

        These two books each have about 50-70 proven sales letters in each book. Also check out Denny Hatch's book, Million Dollar Mailings...another swipe file book.

        To get some powerful sales letters to study right now, check out Yanik Silver's sales letter at www.instantsalesletters.com and his sales letter at www.33daystoonlineprofits.com. Yanik has made a ton of money with these two sites.

        The bottom line is you will have to spend some money to get a really good set of sales letters for your swipe file.
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        • Profile picture of the author CopyWriteHer
          Thanks for those suggestions. I plan to look for them tonight. I am very willing to spend money for things that truly help me learn. I want to do a good job for my future clients and I know that the swipe files are a piece of the materials I need to invest in to do so.
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  • Profile picture of the author Alex Cohen
    Originally Posted by FreeMeal View Post

    Hi Copywriters

    I would like to develop my copywriting skills. I've been reading a few of the books on the subject, ones recommended here on this forum. They've all been very interesting up to now, and opened my eyes to a lot of new ideas and techniques when it comes to writing and selling.

    In the not to distant future I plan to put a few of these new found skills into practice on a few of the sites I have in the pipeline.

    In the meantime I'd like to be practicing copywriting in some way. None of the books I've read so far really seem to give practical lessons as such.

    Do any of you guys like to practice your skills when you are not working? Do you have any exercises to keep those copywriting muscles strong so that you're in peak fitness when the work comes in again?
    Are you a product creator?

    If so, write a sales letter for a product you plan on creating. The thought processes you go through, and the writing you do, will be very helpful.

    Alex

    P.S. I've seen one good course (170-page ebook) that gives practice exercises at the end of each chapter, "How To Be a Copywriting Stud!" by Randy Gage.

    According to the author, "As long as you do the practice exercises in their entirety, your skills will improve. And by the end of the course, you will be writing powerful copy."
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  • Profile picture of the author FreeMeal
    Thanks for all the advice everyone.

    I have a product in the pipeline so I will have to hone my copywriting skills at some point soon.
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    • Profile picture of the author Alex Cohen
      Originally Posted by FreeMeal View Post

      I have a product in the pipeline so I will have to hone my copywriting skills at some point soon.
      Perfect. Time to put what you've learned to good use.

      And once it's written, you can get some good pointers here by posting a critique request.

      Alex
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  • Profile picture of the author kcfried
    I've gone through a lot of different books and programs, trying to learn the art of copywriting and what I found is to just go out and start doing. I was fortunate enough to have a job where I had access to an email list where I could practice my email copy. We had analytics set up to where I could test subject lines and then I had tracking set up on links that I had in my emails. With certain objectives set in place, I worked on developing my voice in text and measured what was successful through the results I produced. Sometimes I screwed up, sometimes I offended but I started to see a spike in sales.

    If you've ever had a sales job, you learn to listen for hot buttons and then start hammering away. Whenever I write copy, I imagine the prospect sitting right in front of me and I start to go through their fears and potential objections. Know your prospects, know your authentic voice and pay attention to the results. Tweak from there.

    One of my favorite marketers out there is Frank Kern. He has a unique, real voice that I relate to. Find someone who is successful and that you relate to and go from there. Hope that helped.
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  • Profile picture of the author abugah
    To improve your skills, Gary Bencivenga ,one of the greatest copywriters now retired, says that you spend a minimum of 3 hours daily practicing your skill.


    I guess you can start by reading at least one great sales letter per day. Then have a goal of writing at least 500, 1000, 2000 words of copy daily. I think that should be enough work for you.


    Wondering where to get great letters?


    They are plenty online.

    1. Start by an intelligent guess. Do a list of 50 great living copywriters. Look up their websites and see if they are selling any products. Chances are the product has a sales letter. It is unlikely this letter will be a sloppy one.

    2.Go to Clickbank.com and click on marketplace. Click on advanced search and choose gravity of more than 150. Choose the category and click on the products that show up. Those that have sales letters will most likely be excellent letters.

    Does that help?
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  • Profile picture of the author Chrismiksen
    Write every day. Honestly, that's the only realistic way to significantly improve on your craft. When I decided that I wanted to take up a career in writing -- back when I was 15 -- I wrote, but I didn't write a lot. Writing back then took an hour out of my day, if that. Now I write 10 to 12 hours a day, which is split between various projects. The difference between my writing now and my writing then is night and day.
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  • Profile picture of the author copyassassin
    Originally Posted by FreeMeal View Post

    Do any of you guys like to practice your skills when you are not working?
    FreeMeal,

    Yes, we post in the Copywriting Forum. We respond to threads with (hopefully) good advice, and maybe get paying clients out of it.

    We also "practice" our positioning techniques by bad mouthing other copywriters, or simply creating threads with little to no value to practice our "authority" building techniques.
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