Using copywriting skills for online marketing

23 replies
Hey Guys,
I´m new to all this, started learning about copywriting back in January and I think it´s cool!
I´ve read a few books on it by the greats such as Sugarman, Ogilvy, Collier, Schwartz etc. And have been following Halbert´s technique of copy great ads by hand.
However, I feel a little frustrated. I know I have developed persuasive writing skills but I don´t know what to do next. Like how to direct it. All I know is I love the idea of writing something that will persuade people to buy what I write about.
I would like to get into internet marketing and write ads for which I can then make money from. I just don´t have much knowledge about any of this, like how to get started. I´ve been searching on the net but feel kinda clueless.
Can somebody be kind enough to point me in the right direction?
Cheers a lot in advance!
Jon
#copywriting #marketing #online #skills
  • Profile picture of the author Will Compton
    John Carlton talks about going through your "Shameless Whore" period where you'll take any writing job you can get for whatever they'll pay you. And it's just to make sure you can deal with clients and deadlines and get testimonials and experience.

    You could put an lead generating ad in your local paper, you can build a "client bait" website and push traffic with adwords,

    Joe Polish talks a lot about setting up a free recorded message your prospects can call 24/7. Here's something you can put on the back of your business card to make it a direct response ad:

    24/7 FREE RECORDED MESSAGE
    "The 7 Biggest Mistakes Business Owners Make
    When Hiring A Copywriter... And How To Avoid Them!"
    Call XXX-XXX-XXXX Now

    Or use that as a classified ad...

    Or you can write a direct mail ad for your services and send it to local business owners.

    If you're really serious about being a freelance copywriter you should definately check out John Carlton's The Freelance Course for a roadmap to a successful freelancing career and how to break into the industry..

    And there is Ryan Healy's report, How To Get Your First Copywriting Client In 14 Days Or Less

    I haven't been to one yet, but I hear the big copywriting conferences are a good place to get qualified clients, because you know they paid to be there.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9238133].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author ewenmack
      Jon, small newspaper classified ads are a great place to start...even finish.

      You can use the web to direct them to wherever you want to go.

      And you don't have to be the product creator.

      Example would be a 20 word newspaper ad in the health and beauty section.

      Set you back about $20 to $30.

      It could be for a weight loss product.

      You create a landing page using Leadpages and capture their contact details
      in exchange for revealing where they can get a great offer to lose weight.

      That automatically takes them to a offer that requires them to fill in a form so they get a trial
      of the product sent to them.

      You get, maybe $45 for the submit.

      Now you can tweak those 2 steps to make profitable.

      Once you are in black, you can scale by increasing the number of newspapers to run them in.

      A good place to do it in one source is advertisingresults.com.

      You carry on doing what you love, turning words into money
      while others and automation take care of the rest.

      Best,
      Ewen
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9238202].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author hombre84
        Hi Owen,
        This sounds interesting! I´m guessing it´s similar to what Will has mentioned plus the newspaper ads. Where can I find a product to do this with?
        Thanks,
        Jon
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9241891].message }}
        • Profile picture of the author ewenmack
          Originally Posted by hombre84 View Post

          Hi Owen,
          This sounds interesting! I´m guessing it´s similar to what Will has mentioned plus the newspaper ads. Where can I find a product to do this with?
          Thanks,
          Jon
          Jon, you'll find the products on markethealth.com

          Once those products are first listed on there,
          they are already proven.

          Different brand has been selling over $20,000
          per day on Amazon.

          These products in the wellness market
          are very scalable because of the mass market appeal.

          This means you are not having to start over again on another product because your market has maxed out.

          People are rushing to the internet and forgeting millions upon millions still read their newspaper.

          In fact the Thrifty Nickel isn't home delivered, it's picked up by people who want to read the ads inside it.

          Newspapers don't put restrictions on what you can and can't do,
          like Google. Newspaper advertising rules have essentially stayed
          the same for decades.

          You aren't going to get bogged down by keywords, video creation,
          and other technical stuff.

          Even if you are good at it and fast, you hit a ceiling very quick because those keywords
          are based on small markets compared to weight loss for example.
          You are back on the hamster wheel of keyword research, video making and keeping up to date
          with what Google is doing because you could get wiped out at any time.

          Newspapers as a channel are wide open.

          Boardroom reached a plateau in their direct mail for a book,
          despite have the very best copywriters on the planet.
          They changed media. It was infomercials on tv.

          That brought in over $200 million.

          Newspapers is the BIG media opportunity all over again right now.

          Best,
          Ewen
          {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9242851].message }}
          • Profile picture of the author hombre84
            Hi Ewen,

            thanks for all your info!!

            So to sum up these are the steps to what you recommend;
            1. Choose a product from markethealth.com
            2. Use landingpages.com to open my own landing page for the product.
            3. Place an ad for the product in advertisingresults.com
            4, Start making money from customers conversions.

            This sounds great, and is something I will give a try!

            Hope I´m not asking too much, but could you give me an example of an ad you have ran and a landing page you have?

            Thanks,

            Jon
            {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9243152].message }}
            • Profile picture of the author ewenmack
              Originally Posted by hombre84 View Post

              Hi Ewen,

              thanks for all your info!!

              So to sum up these are the steps to what you recommend;
              1. Choose a product from markethealth.com
              2. Use landingpages.com to open my own landing page for the product.
              3. Place an ad for the product in advertisingresults.com
              4, Start making money from customers conversions.

              This sounds great, and is something I will give a try!

              Hope I´m not asking too much, but could you give me an example of an ad you have ran and a landing page you have?

              Thanks,

              Jon
              Jon, it's leadpages.net.

              That landing page only tells them where to get the great deal.

              You just fill in the template they have.

              You'll need to hook up with a autoresponder like Aweber
              so you can follow up with them to remind them of the deal
              if they haven't already signed up.

              Plus you must get your affiliate tracking code from markethealth and put
              that tracking code both on your landing page and in your emails so you get paid.

              No I won't show you my ads.

              Best,
              Ewen

              P.S. Rich Schefren, Frank Kern, Ryan Deiss and Perry Belcher all
              say you gotta be able to turn paid advertising into money.
              This sets you free from others.and enables you to scale.
              Congrats on making that move.
              {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9243182].message }}
              • Profile picture of the author hombre84
                Hi Ewen,

                Have you read Gary Halbert´s book, ¨How to Make Maximum Money in Minimum Time?¨ He gives tips on how to increase profits from newspaper ads.

                Here´s the tips;
                Run a full page ad on either the front or back of the newspaper, so it´s more likely to get read.
                Make your ad look like an article.
                Pepper ad with subheadings, especially the lower half which will be under the fold.

                Thought I´d share them with you seeing as you have already given me some good advice!!

                Cheers,

                Jon
                {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9245470].message }}
                • Profile picture of the author ewenmack
                  Originally Posted by hombre84 View Post

                  Hi Ewen,

                  Have you read Gary Halbert´s book, ¨How to Make Maximum Money in Minimum Time?¨ He gives tips on how to increase profits from newspaper ads.

                  Here´s the tips;
                  Run a full page ad on either the front or back of the newspaper, so it´s more likely to get read.
                  Make your ad look like an article.
                  Pepper ad with subheadings, especially the lower half which will be under the fold.

                  Thought I´d share them with you seeing as you have already given me some good advice!!

                  Cheers,

                  Jon
                  Thanks Jon,

                  I'm familiar with what Gary wrote..

                  He was referring to space ads.

                  I'm referring to little classified ads in the health and beauty section..

                  Best place to start because it forces you to say so much in so few words,
                  as well as not such a big investment while you are learning.

                  Best,
                  Ewen
                  {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9245526].message }}
                  • Profile picture of the author hombre84
                    Hi Ewen,

                    Ok, so I´ve opened an ac with markethealth, leadingpages, aweber, and advertisingresults.com.

                    I´m not the best technically, but I´m trying to figure it all out.

                    Can you please recommend me a good place to get an email registered for aweber?

                    Also about leadingpages.net, do I have to open my own site first and then connect the two pages? It´s a little confusng for me. Can I use weebly.com? I find that site pretty straight forward.

                    Once I have all this done I then just connect my site with markethealth?

                    Sorry for all the questions mate! I´ll call markethealth, aweber this evening and ask them for some help also!

                    Cheers,

                    Jon
                    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9247135].message }}
                    • Profile picture of the author ewenmack
                      Jon, LeadPages will host the lead capture page for you,
                      so you don't need your own domain.

                      I don't think it's important what email you use when
                      you register with Aweber, therefore you can use your
                      personal one.

                      Best,
                      Ewen
                      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9247156].message }}
                      • Profile picture of the author hombre84
                        Got it!

                        Thanks!
                        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9247177].message }}
                      • Profile picture of the author hombre84
                        Hey Ewen,

                        I´m still trying to figure out how to use leadpages and aweber, I´m slowly but surely getting there!

                        I didn´t know it´d be so technical. I´m guessing the technicalities puts a lot of people off affiliate marketing!

                        How do you guys do it all?

                        Jon
                        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9249151].message }}
                      • Profile picture of the author hombre84
                        Hi Ewen,
                        so do you think it´s ok to use the leadpages´ domain in the newspaper ad? You don´t think it´s pretty long and hard to remember etc?
                        Cheers,
                        Jon
                        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9251097].message }}
                        • Profile picture of the author ewenmack
                          Yes you are right Jon.

                          How you resolve this is you buy a domain name,
                          host it and place a 301 redirect to your LeadPages URL.

                          You should be able to find somebody on Fiverr
                          to set that up for you.

                          A good domain is something labs as it will be more likely
                          available and confers strength and stability.

                          Best,
                          Ewen
                          {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9251838].message }}
                          • Profile picture of the author hombre84
                            Thanks Ewen,
                            I´m going to try and get a domain done tonight!
                            Cheers again!
                            Jon
                            {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9251876].message }}
                            • Profile picture of the author hombre84
                              Hi Ewen,

                              I have things more or less in structure now, I´ve learnt the gist of things like leadpages.net and aweber etc. I have been dedicating myself to learning about this for the last 2 days.

                              Now I just need to fine tune things, such as the ad and opt-in page, follow up emails etc.

                              Can you please be so kind as to answer the following;

                              Should I make any other pages on leadpages apart from an opt-in page? Is a thank you page necessary?

                              After the opt-in page should I have a sales page so they could then buy immediately? Or should I send the buying details in the first email (and subsequent of course)?

                              How often do you recommend sending follow up emails? And for how long should they be sent to the recipient before a dead horse is being flogged?

                              Cheers for your advice! I am currently teaching English in Spain, my contract ends at the end of this month. I need to make the transition into making an income online by mid August. So I hope this works!

                              Thanks again!

                              Jon
                              {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9253124].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author wordwizard
        Originally Posted by ewenmack View Post

        Jon, small newspaper classified ads are a great place to start...even finish.

        You can use the web to direct them to wherever you want to go.

        And you don't have to be the product creator.

        Example would be a 20 word newspaper ad in the health and beauty section.

        Set you back about $20 to $30.

        It could be for a weight loss product.

        You create a landing page using Leadpages and capture their contact details
        in exchange for revealing where they can get a great offer to lose weight.

        That automatically takes them to a offer that requires them to fill in a form so they get a trial
        of the product sent to them.

        You get, maybe $45 for the submit.

        Now you can tweak those 2 steps to make profitable.

        Once you are in black, you can scale by increasing the number of newspapers to run them in.

        A good place to do it in one source is advertisingresults.com.

        You carry on doing what you love, turning words into money
        while others and automation take care of the rest.

        Best,
        Ewen
        Love your newspaper ads resource. Checked it out and might use it for my own ads.

        Thanks, so much, Ewen!
        Signature

        FREE Report: 5 Ways To Grow Your Affiliate Income

        Let Me Help You Sell: Sales Letters, Email Series, Pre-Sell Reports... PM me & we'll talk!
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9242278].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author SirThomas
        Originally Posted by ewenmack View Post


        You create a landing page using Leadpages and capture their contact details
        in exchange for revealing where they can get a great offer to lose weight.

        That automatically takes them to a offer that requires them to fill in a form so they get a trial of the product sent to them.
        Ewen, I understand you collect their email address before redirecting them to the trial offer, right?

        I know many people just send visitors straight to the product page... leaving money on the table.
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9243315].message }}
        • Profile picture of the author ewenmack
          Originally Posted by SirThomas View Post

          Ewen, I understand you collect their email address before redirecting them to the trial offer, right?

          I know many people just send visitors straight to the product page... leaving money on the table.
          Yes I thought I could make it happen by saying I need it to direct them to a special offer that's limited to so many, or just today and only to them...therefore direct them to a special page.

          Best,
          Ewen
          {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9243367].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author hombre84
    Hey Will,
    thanks for your ideas!
    Can you tell me what you mean by a client bate website? Do you mean opening my own website through which I advertise products from some company?
    Cheers,
    Jon
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9241886].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author RedShifted
    Hey Hombre84,

    If you ask me, you're over thinking this. There are millions of potential markets out there and what you should really learn now is keyword research. If you become proficient at keyword research you can find hundreds of thousands of untapped, starving markets.

    It's the absolute best way you can begin testing your copy.

    What I use to do is find specific keyword phrases with weak SEO, weak content, but high searches. Then I'd just rank my copy.

    After I started making money, I paid a developer to build me a custom made keyword bot. I was becoming sick of most of the cheaper keyword bots out there and noticed there was only 1 tool that I really liked. It's a very comprehensive keyword app from Swiss Made Marketing. But I wasn't willing to pay $100 / month to use the tool. I try to keep my monthly expenses as low as I can.

    So what I did instead was pay a developer $250 to build me my own custom made keyword app. It's like a poor mans version of the app from Swiss Made marketing. It generates huge lists of untapped niches and then I just write copy, record videos, rank them on Google, rank articles, rank blogs, local websites etc etc.

    For instance, I'll give you a niche I was targeting 4-5 months ago.

    "How To Stop Masturbating"

    It was one of thousands of keywords my bot extracted. So I wrote a script, recorded it into a video, ranked that video in less than 4 weeks, and started making money.

    The video was making money (monetized with Clickbank) for 3 months but it was converting very low.

    So I removed the video and told myself "I'm going to write a better script and rank a new video". I knew with a better video I could raise my earnings from $200 / month to $600-$800 / month (just from that 1 video).

    But I wound up making money in a bunch of other niches and so I never went back to that one.

    The point is, all you have to do is find low competition keywords with decent searches and just rank your copy. That's the best way to make money and test your skills. I don't just do this for Clickbank I do it for local businesses and act as an affiliate. I also co-own a local business with my brother and test a lot of copy on that site.

    I can not emphasize how easy this is to do. You don't need to be a professional copywriter, you don't even need to sell your copy. You don't need to be an SEO expert because all I use is GSA. But if you become very efficient at finding untapped markets, you can be an amateur copywriter and still make very good money.

    I have markets I've been testing copy in for 13 months now. One of those niches I've ranked 5 different videos for the same exact keyword. My first video converted at like 4%. My 5th and final video converts at 22%. And I've been milking that 1 niche for over a year now.

    There are SO MANY niches like this that you can immediately dive into.

    And there is nothing holding you back. (<< these new smiley's suck WF)
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9242073].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author hombre84
      Hey RedShifted,

      I am very excited about what you´ve said, it sounds great. Very entrepreneurial, just what I like!

      I need to do more research on this. But how do you know if keywords have weak SEO and content etc? Sorry man, I´m a little in the dark about this lingo. I need to learn about all this!

      Any good links?

      Thanks a million for your input!!

      Jon
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9242402].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author hombre84
    Hi Ewen

    thanks again for you advice!

    I´m going to get started at this tonight!

    Cheers,

    Jon
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9244017].message }}

Trending Topics