$10,000 Copywriting Challenge

To get serious folks submitting, you're going to have to give us some assurance the prize money will be awarded.

Last year, this gentleman below did an admirable job in conducting his contest, but you can see he had a couple of hurdles to overcome.

http://www.warriorforum.com/copywrit...t-control.html

Recently, this gentleman below did an equally admirable job conducting his. But he had an advantage. He was known to the community.

http://www.warriorforum.com/copywrit...g-contest.html

You'll be able to learn do's and don't's from each.

Your biggest challenge is you're an unknown. You're going to have to provide assurances a winner will be chosen and they will be paid--even if the winning copy still does not convert acceptably against cold traffic.

I hope this makes sense, and you're not offended by our collective cautiousness.

You can start by showing us the current winning control & website.

Good luck with your contest.

- Rick Duris

Phil,

The problem is... stuff like this is such a catch 22.

Kinda like the "i can't get a job cause I don't have
any experience and I don't have any experience cause I
can't find a job."

Well, when you're telling copywriters to write great copy
for a "chance" to get paid... you're automatically going
to limit the better writers.

Why?

Because the better writers usually are booked with
paying gigs and will not write anything without
being paid.

So, you're usually left with the sub-par, mediocre
writers who will bombard your PM box with messages,
yet hand you copy that won't convert.

You're much better off setting up a smaller amount
up front, to compensate the writer for his/her time
and then tie in performance later on, for a % of sales.

Because with few exceptions... the writers who can
knock this out of the park for you will not spend any
amount of time with a "chance" to get paid.

So again, you're left with the writers who have all
the free time in the world... but those aren't always
the best writers.

Phil,

Give the details Rick asked for.

Then maybe you might get a surprise entry from one - or more - of the new guys just starting out.

You'd be giving them a chance to prove themselves without really losing out. Even if they don't win, they build a portfolio.

And you might end up with some decent copy.

Phil,

I checked out the copy briefly... and I'll be honest, it's not horrible.

I've seen much, much worse.

With that being said... this market is my bread and butter and
one that I've sold millions in.

And I can tell you... this letter will not give you the results
you want, primarily for 2 big reasons.

1. There's no real USP.... there's nothing different/better/unique
that's not already being done on the top 10 of clickbank.

If you're gonna take this to clickbank, you've got your hands
full going up against a guy like Mike Geary who does 12 million
a year.

The entire time I was watching the video, I just had this sense
that I've seen the same thing hundreds of times.

Again, the copy isn't bad... and you could possibly do okay
with it, but my guess is... no one ever sets out to do "okay".

2. Proof. You'll need to add more proof to the sales pitch.

Now, I must admit... I didn't watch all the way through,
so maybe you added some proof towards the end.

But these days, you want to hit with proof right away.

Give people a reason to keep watching.

So, again.... the letter isn't horrible, but it's just
not anything different/better/unique/faster/cheaper, etc...

Back when I owned my fitness businesses.... I'd hire
guys like John Carlton JUST to work on my USP...
it was THAT important.

Just having a completely new and "wow"
USP can change your life.

Tony Horton was a broke personal trainer, living
in his car, when he put together P90X...

that's the power of a good USP and plenty of
social proof.

But again, your copy isn't horrible.

@ Arfa.... that's actually a perfect word... dull... was trying to put my finger
on why I was feeling like "man, I feel like i've seen this a hundred times"

Dull is spot on!

@ Rez...

Yeah, I remember watching something on CNBC on Tony. It might have been
"How I Made My Millions" and if I remember right, he was flat broke and I thought
they said living in his car... but either way, I know he wasn't making it and then
presto... he hit it with P90x... which if I remember right, was pretty much a
packaging of some of his other stuff.

But I think you're right, Rez... out of every single "made it big" story,
just about all of them started from nothing, or close to it.

I love watching Shark Tank... because every so often, the sharks
will remind those pitching their goods that they've ALL been
on the Ramen noodle diet before they hit it big.

Guys,

This is like deja vu all over again. Dan Caron did this and the event was interesting, fun and he got some great copy from a, at the time, nobody.

As a product owner, I don't think there's a better way to find great sales copy. The idea of paying some guy $25k just because he's got a rep are over. You'd be much better off offering that $25k to the masses and getting 10 pieces of copy to test. It's good business.

Does it suck for a copywriter to put his balls out there and risk everything for zero return and the public humiliation of losing? Absolutely, but that's life. Those of us that write copy regularly know we don't always write winners. Nobody does. I was skyping with a multi-millionaire CB product owner a month or so ago. He'd commissioned a letter for around $25k and it made him millions. When he hired the same copywriter to "update" the letter, it totally bombed. It happens to the best of us.

Gary Bencivenga mentioned the best way to beat a control was to write two letters with two totally different appeals. The only way to really move the needle is to change the appeal, but with reward comes risk. In trying a different appeal, you're equally likely to flatline. Such is life and the reason we test.

Not to segue into a diatribe but a few things in this industry have always bothered me. There are so many $5k-15k/letter copywriters in this IM business that are sadly deluding themselves. They ridiculously think that because some letter they wrote converted at 8+%, they're all that and a bag of chips.

They conveniently forget that the letter was mailed to a rabid, massaged list of hungry buyers. The conversion rate means squat. Yet they up their rates, talk about CB gravity and their "successes" like they're the second coming of Halbert.

I'd love for some of these "silver tongued persuaders" to try to pass the Halbert test. Creating a product and mailing it to the hottest list they can find in the SRDS and check the conversions. I'd love to see their cocky attitude evaporate as the "real world" responds, or fails to respond, to their magic words.

People love to ask the gurus, "If you're product is so good, why are you selling it?" I ask, if your copy is so freaking good, why aren't you selling your own damn products with it?

I entered one of these contests when I first started out my copywriting career. The company never even ran my sales letter, meaning I wasted my time.

Advice to new copywriters: Always get some sort of payment upfront (for sales letters anyway). Especially if the project is a "conversions = money" game (i.e., royalties or contests). At least get something for your work, because you never know what the company will decide to do in the end.

I can't really say that it isn't an interesting opportunity but I must subscribe to the general vibe around here ...

My assumption is that the control is rather hard to beat. This is not your $300 WSO letter but a letter that is already generating sales and which has been optimized for maximum conversion.

Therefore a new control would take time ... a lot of time. About 30 hours of research and 20 hours of writing and polishing.

That's 50 hours. An content writer earns about $10/hour. A true copywriter even if he / she does not work on a hourly basis costs can compute at around $50/hour or even more.

This would account to $2500 invested, $2500 for a simple bet. It's not a simple article or "come up with the best headline" or critique my copy. It's a full fledged project.

And now ... who would gamble $2500 or 50 hours of his time?

Now if you would stand behind Agora ... or Boardroom ... or Eben Pagan ... there would be many people to pay $2500 just to get this opportunity. However, unless you can bring some true credibility on board (which shouldn't be too hard), you'll attract a lot of people but 90% will not even deliver until the very end.

You've got a check of $10.000 ready for the winner. This means you are earning a decent chunk of change from your business. A simple CB link to your product with enough gravity or some other credibility element (please, no screenshots) would convince most of the top copywriters to consider this.

As far as I'm concerned, I am a decent copywriter and I could have a shot at beating the control but before investing two or three weeks into this (plus extra fees for the research, proofing, editing), I would need some financial assurance.

$10.000 in escrow would be good enough.

My two cents

-- and as far as the "broke, got a great idea, became rich" MO, I don't know if this is true or not, but it's way too overused. Virtually every "guru" said this at a moment in time. Starting with Tony (Robbins), Eben Pagan (how he was desperate to make some money and created DYD in one weekend while sitting in bed) and ending with most rags to riches story, it's starting to get boring.

Of course most people change in dire circumstances. Dohh ... that's life. Most people who started to work out went there because they were not very healthy or way too fat. Most folks who actually put the effort in and become good get there because they were done in the pit.

However, as a marketing appeal, it's way too overused.

Razvan

I think it was John Carlton who said something like...

I feel a lot better writing copy when I know I have the mortgage paid and lights are not going to go off

With respect...This type of thing pre-supposes that people are desperate for work and will have a shot at anything.

That being said...If I did have the time..I'd give it a shot...thankfully I don't as I have some really great clients I'm really grateful for.

You have to do what's right for you at the end of the day.

If you want the challenge and you have the time, then it makes sense.

Personally, my time is way too valuable to spend time on this type of challenge. I 'd rather spend my time as I do on creating my own products and enjoying the profits.

One thing to say about this comment - ouch! Great point.

I don't know what all of the drama is about.

I watched the current control.

Very beatable.

Extremely beatable.

Well made video. No doubt.

But the first couple minutes are not emotionally gripping (although I'm admittedly far from a "dual voice" presentation.)

If you have the time (and I guess the video producing/editing ability,) you shouldn't have too much trouble here.

Note to self:

I need to learn how to make VSL's.

mark

Every time I see someone doing something like this it turns out to be a scam to get something for free. In this case sounds like he wants a bunch of idiots to work for free and give him a bunch of free copy...

Sorry man where I come from you have to pay for what you want ..
If you can not afford a top copy writer go to odesk and find some schlep that will work for a peanut..
Dude has like 4 posts and of course come up with this kinda scam...

Funny thing is, there are a lot of people here who claim to be copywriters but probably have no idea what a copywriter does. You'll also see people whining about not having a portfolio.

This type of thing provides two opportunities...

A chance to win $10,000 as opposed to not having made a penny. And/or something for your swipe file, even if you lose.

Unless, of course, it's those same wannabes who really have no idea how to write copy but pretend they're experts. And I'll bet those are the ones who really try to put this type of thing down in an effort to make themselves seem more than they are.

With the obvious exceptions, of course. There are some genuine copywriters who just like to whine.

If you don't like it, don't enter. Just don't try to take the opportunity away from others.

I personally like a chance at a competition and was going to enter. But I got a job just yesterday, which puts me out of the running.

Nobody's heard of testing against a control?

Y'all dudes are pampered...

Hello copywriters... we're all set for the call today at 3:30pm eastern, so if you haven't contacted us yet and are interested, please do so by 1pm eastern today.

We will be recording the call and make this available to those that can't make it today.

We'll post the recording via email, again, to interested parties only who contact us before the end of the week (Sunday).

Thanks again for your interest and we look forward to sharing the results soon!

Bump. In for updates.

Any winners? Anybody's copy being tested? Anyone with a $10k check in their pocket yet?

Bump. Who won this contest? Did the winner get paid?

Bumpity BUMP!

I just remembered this competition and went searching. So nobody won, that's it?

-Ray Edwards

Yes. Reassurance this all wasn't some big scam would be awesome.

So who won this and how many copywriters entered the contest?

It probably was a waste of time as most people thought.