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I'm throwing my hat in the ring

by TracyBelshee
12 replies
This isn't really a sales page, but have at it if you'd like

Getting Started in Marketing is Scary

The problem is, there is an endless variety of things you can do.

The gurus will tell you if you will follow their secret, never before discovered methods the world will be yours.

It often means you have to build a landing page and send traffic that will hopefully buy what it is you have to sell.

Don't have anything to sell? They have that covered too. Just buy their affiliate products and keep sending traffic. And it doesn't cost them a dime.

But something is missing

What they usually leave out, is that your landing page (the same type of page that sold you their system) is often the most important part of the selling process. The magical sales page that tugged at your emotions and convinced you that this time, your dreams will come true.
Think about it. If you are like me, you read these things and it's almost like looking in a mirror. You tell yourself, this guy knows just what it's like. He's been exactly where you are now. If you just get this one last eBook, this one last system, nothing can stop you.

Have you ever wondered

Why the sales page often seems to be the best part of the deal? How they always seem be so convincing? What is it that gets you to buy almost every time? To hand over your hard earned money, time after time?

After years of on again, off again trials at building my own business... After trying and failing, only to give up, I've finally figured it out. And I'm going to share it with you.

The secret ingredient

So just what is it that seems to give these gurus the Midas Touch? Quite honestly I don't think you're going to believe it.

It's just one simple word.

Copywriter

I told you. You probably think I'm nuts, but it's true.

Most of these gurus pay big bucks to have someone write their sales letter for them. Someone who has made a life (and very lucrative living) of studying the art of copy and leading a buyer to do what they already want to do.

Some say they practice magic

Casting spells getting you to part with your money.

But the simple fact is, these seemingly mythical people are just like you and me. That's what makes them so good. They understand us and use us against ourselves.

They take our wants, our needs and our fears and weave a web of wonder. A tale so captivating it draws us in and shows us ourselves. Their writing makes us fear the consequences if we continue with the status quo. They understand our pain because they have been through it too.

But what can you do?

Fortunately, they have the answer. The one thing that can make the pain go away.

It's the one fix that can truly improve your life but it's not easy.

In fact, it's something that most people will never do because at first, the cure seems more difficult than enduring the pain of yet another failure.

Simply get started.

Begin now. Get yourself some books by the likes of Halbert, Sugarman and Collier. Start reading and when you are done, read them again. When you've done that, start writing and don't ever stop. You may even want to stop by the Warrior Forum and check out the Copywriting subforum.

That's where some of these mythical wise men and women hang their hats in their free time.

If you're lucky, you may catch them when they are resting. If you are even luckier, they may bestow some of their wisdom on you.
#hat #ring #throwing
  • Profile picture of the author Cam Connor
    Right off the bat "Getting Started in Marketing Is Scary" ... Are you sure you're targeting the right audience with that?

    Best,
    -Cam

    Edit: From skimming the letter, I took this as your letter to sell yourself as a Copywriter, but from skimming it again, I'm not really sure what you're selling here, so not too sure who your target market would be. Though if this is to sell your services, then I stand by what I wrote above...
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  • Profile picture of the author aidacopy
    First of all, congrats! Throwing your hat in the ring is a scary prospect, and now you've done it.

    Like Cam, I'm having trouble seeing your angle here. Is it supposed to be an article on the importance of copywriting, or are you offering a service?
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    • Profile picture of the author TracyBelshee
      Sorry for the confusion, I should have spent a minute explaining it when I posted last night.

      I'm not actually selling anything, it's more of a personal growth project.

      When I first started writing that last night, it started as a welcome post to a blog I am putting together to sorta chronicle my own progress. I've spent quite some time reading and learning over the years, trying different things and usually end up not really doing anything but reading and learning.

      A few months back I began really reading this sub-forum and have come to the conclusion that most people fail for a lack of ability to sell themselves or their product. They can buy thousands of products to sell, but if they can't put it out to the public in a way that shows the customer why it's the best product for them, then they are just buying yet another product to sell.

      It's the same thing if they create a product. If they can't effectively communicate the product, then they are going to sink.

      I've decided that the best thing for me to do is to start learning the art of writing copy that sells.

      What is up above is my first draft of my first attempt at writing something that engages an audience. It was meant to explain the purpose of the blog and was written before I went to bed last night..

      It began much shorter and was meant to go an entirely different direction but it sorta took on a life of its own.

      Actually, I woke up in the middle of the night and have decided another direction to take what I wrote above. That will have to wait until tonight after work though.

      Thanks for taking the time to read it and respond, I appreciate it
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      • Profile picture of the author gjabiz
        Originally Posted by TracyBelshee View Post

        t

        Actually, I woke up in the middle of the night and have decided another direction to take what I wrote above. That will have to wait until tonight after work though.

        Thanks for taking the time to read it and respond, I appreciate it
        If you have time to post this, you could have and should delete the thread, or get known as a TW...a Time Waster. Just MY opinion.

        gjabiz
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        • Profile picture of the author TracyBelshee
          Originally Posted by gjabiz View Post

          If you have time to post this, you could have and should delete the thread, or get known as a TW...a Time Waster. Just MY opinion.

          gjabiz
          I'm sorry I've wasted your time.

          Was it a waste of time because it was so poorly written? Because it wasn't a sales page?

          I'm here to learn and am tempted to take your advice simply because being a time waster is definitely not my goal. But what will I have learned?

          This is a tough one because I've read your posts here and respect you, but I'd hate to blindly take the advice without understanding why.
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          • Profile picture of the author gjabiz
            Originally Posted by TracyBelshee View Post

            I'm sorry I've wasted your time.

            Was it a waste of time because it was so poorly written? Because it wasn't a sales page?

            I'm here to learn and am tempted to take your advice simply because being a time waster is definitely not my goal. But what will I have learned?

            This is a tough one because I've read your posts here and respect you, but I'd hate to blindly take the advice without understanding why.
            ]

            You said you are changing course, going in a different direction. Perhaps I misunderstood. If so, apologies.

            But, if you are going a different route, then any comments on what you posted, won't be of much use to you, will it? Correct me if I'm wrong.

            gjabiz

            PS. Be happy to comment on this, but, will it be of service to you? I don't know.
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  • Profile picture of the author TracyBelshee
    You had me curious so I'm peeking in at work from my phone.

    Thanks for responding.

    My change of direction is that I'm going to expand on this page and use it as a lead page of sorts of my own.

    My project is basically my on the job training, both in more effective writing and in building the whole platform.

    So I'll be changing the direction only by changing the end and turning it into something hopefully compelling enough to bring in readers interested in the whole journey.

    One thing I'm going to have is a mind dump section. As this is the first draft, it will be kept behind and accessible by those interested.

    Long story short, if you have a few minutes to spare and this is interesting enough, I'd love your comments.
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  • Profile picture of the author angiecolee
    First, let's take a look at what your readers will skim, AKA the bolded bits. I won't really call them headlines or subheads because they're not quite that compelling.

    Originally Posted by TracyBelshee View Post

    Getting Started in Marketing is Scary

    The problem is, there is an endless variety of things you can do.


    But something is missing


    Have you ever wondered


    The secret ingredient


    Some say they practice magic


    But what can you do?


    Simply get started.
    You might want to talk to Seth and see if you can get your hands on his video about how strategically bolded parts can subliminally reinforce the message you're trying to get across. Is this message as clear as you want? No.

    Then we've got to talk about who you're targeting. Newbie copywriters? Business owners new to marketing online? Aspiring IMers?

    Seems like you're trying to convince wayward people to become copywriters. Not sure that's going to work all that well for you.

    You really need to drill down to who the target is. Then, what do you want them to do? Then, why is it you that can help them do this thing? Then, overcome any objections.

    If this is a sales piece, SELL. Don't meander. Don't get poetic. Don't pat their head and hold their hand. Grab them by the balls, make them feel the pain, and SELL THE SOLUTION.
    Signature

    Aspiring copywriters: if you need 1:1 advice from an experienced copy chief, head over to my Phone a Friend page.

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    • Profile picture of the author TracyBelshee
      Originally Posted by angiecolee View Post

      First, let's take a look at what your readers will skim, AKA the bolded bits. I won't really call them headlines or subheads because they're not quite that compelling.

      You might want to talk to Seth and see if you can get your hands on his video about how strategically bolded parts can subliminally reinforce the message you're trying to get across. Is this message as clear as you want? No.
      Thanks, I'll do that. When I wrote the "headlines" I was aiming for a bit of an attention grabber to be sure, but clearly need to work a bit better at that. I'm not sure if I've seen the video Seth did or not, but I had read along the lines of making them give the pitch on their own and can see that wasn't accomplished.

      Originally Posted by angiecolee View Post

      Then we've got to talk about who you're targeting. Newbie copywriters? Business owners new to marketing online? Aspiring IMers?

      Seems like you're trying to convince wayward people to become copywriters. Not sure that's going to work all that well for you.

      You really need to drill down to who the target is. Then, what do you want them to do? Then, why is it you that can help them do this thing? Then, overcome any objections.

      If this is a sales piece, SELL. Don't meander. Don't get poetic. Don't pat their head and hold their hand. Grab them by the balls, make them feel the pain, and SELL THE SOLUTION.
      You are right, I went at it halfway. To be honest, I wasn't trying to sell anything (at least not directly) but that's what I need to do. Even if it's just for my own improvement.

      That was basically what I realized in the middle of the night. If I'm going to do it, I may as well go all the way. Not that I have anything to offer a particular group as far as training, obviously. But my goal is to learn from the process and I should just go at it full tilt.

      I'll have to decide on a proper target. If anyone picks up on it and follows it, great.

      The idea for the blog came about from the idea of writing every day to build up my skills. A compilation of what I'm doing and learning that seems a bit more real then writing in a word doc or whatever.

      It also serves to learn to build a proper site for business in the future. No sense doing it halfway.

      Thanks for your critique, I appreciate it.
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  • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
    Banned
    The puncutation needs attention, Tracy.

    I'm not saying this from the perspective of being pompous and pedantic about "correct punctuation": I'm saying it because some of your punctuation is making it really hard to read, and obscuring the meaning.

    Originally Posted by TracyBelshee View Post

    The gurus will tell you if you will follow their secret, never before discovered methods the world will be yours.
    I had to read this sentence twice, to understand it. You know what you meant (and I do, now, after struggling with it a little). The first part makes it sound as if you're saying that if you'll follow their secret, the gurus will tell you something. That's partly because of the comma after "secret", which you've quite correctly included as a commas separating two adjectives, but without realising the confusion it can cause. You can, of course, avoid this problem by changing the words and their order a little.

    Gurus tell you that if you just follow their secret, never-before-discovered methods, the world will be yours    .

    Or even ...

    Gurus tell you the world will be yours, if you'll follow their secret methods.

    Originally Posted by TracyBelshee View Post

    If you're lucky, you may catch them when they are resting. If you are even luckier,
    The one before "even luckier" should be "you're", too, to balance the first one.
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    • Profile picture of the author TracyBelshee
      Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

      The puncutation needs attention, Tracy.

      I'm not saying this from the perspective of being pompous and pedantic about "correct punctuation": I'm saying it because some of your punctuation is making it really hard to read, and obscuring the meaning.



      I had to read this sentence twice, to understand it. You know what you meant (and I do, now, after struggling with it a little). The first part makes it sound as if you're saying that if you'll follow their secret, the gurus will tell you something. That's partly because of the comma after "secret", which you've quite correctly included as a commas separating two adjectives, but without realising the confusion it can cause. You can, of course, avoid this problem by changing the words and their order a little.

      Gurus tell you that if you just follow their secret, never-before-discovered methods, the world will be yours      .

      Or even ...

      Gurus tell you the world will be yours, if you'll follow their secret methods.



      The one before "even luckier" should be "you're", too, to balance the first one.
      Yep, I definitely know I need work on punctuation. I guess it's time to track down a good book for dummies because it's always been a problem for me.

      In fact, I never use anything stronger than a good comma, quotes or parenthesis because I'm even crappier with the rest.

      I didn't know that about the second "you're", but will definitely keep it in mind.

      Thanks for your time with this as well
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  • Profile picture of the author angiecolee
    Read it out loud and pause at every comma. You'll hear the awkward bits pretty easily.

    I read my work out loud every day.
    Signature

    Aspiring copywriters: if you need 1:1 advice from an experienced copy chief, head over to my Phone a Friend page.

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