Great online copywriting resources you can use...
 

Hi,

One thing I feel is very useful in any business is skill in copywriting - that is, writing effective ads.

Why? Because nothing happens until a sale is made, and when you know how to make sales with your writing, you can have a "salesperson" working for you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, anywhere you want that salesperson to be! Whether it is on a website, in a mailed out letter, or even on a poster or billboard.

Anyway, one thing I like to do is to constantly hone my copywriting skills.

What do you feel are some of the best copywriting resources online?

Don't worry if it's been mentioned before...

Here's one I'll mention. It's the website

www.hardtofindads.com

You have to register to see all the content (though it's free). There are many amazing ads there you can study, written by the "greats"... People like Eugene Schwartz, Benjamin Suarez (though they misspelled his name), there's the famous John Carlton "one legged golfer" ad (which is in the "Big Time Million Dollar Display Ads" collection)... and so on...

What other copywriting resources do you know about and recommend?

Thanks in advance, I hope you find useful information in this post. Now make sure to use the information too...! :)

Dien

Re: Great online copywriting resources you can use...
 

I've read and learnt from a lot of awesome folks over the years - everyone from: Eugene Schwartz, Gary Halbert, Robert Collier, Claude Hopkins, David Ogivly, Rosser Reeves, Dan Kennedy, Denny Hatch, Herschel Gordon Lewis.

But if I had to recommend just 3 books on how to become a better copywriter - they would be:

1. Brainaudit by Sean D'Souza

2. Advertising Secrets of the Written Word by Joe Sugarman

3. Accidental Magic by Roy H. Williams et al - The Wizards Techniques for Writing Words Worth 1,000 Pictures
(the book just has 25 pages of information... the rest of it is a collection of pictures and poetry from students. But those 25 pages are the short cut to becoming a much better writer.)

Re: Great online copywriting resources you can use...
 

As you said, we should indeed be students of great
copywriters such as those mentioned.

However, when I think of copywriting, I think only in
terms of emails and web page sales letters.

I often devour the emails in my inbox from marketing
masters such as Frank Kern, Stephen Pierce, Shawn
Casey, Jeff Paul, Michael Nicholas, Mike Filsame,
Tellman Knudson, Anik Singal, Jodi Hans, and many others.

They are extremely instructive.

I believe in investing the time to dissect and study
marketing emails and online sales letters. The master
marketers hire master copywriters for both email and
salesletters.

We should study copy of today's online masters.

God loves you.

Brent.

Re: Great online copywriting resources you can use...
 

"Awesome" thread full of Golden nuggets, posted by particular friends, relatives and business associates from the other Education factory... :)

Have your Bookmarker's all ready to go!

A Pot of your favorite beverage...

Another Quick favorite sitting and ready to go in Google for your reading pleasure... ;)

"The Zeigarnik Effect" which describes a phenomenon first articulated by the Russian psychologist Bluma Zeigarnik...

Maximum Influence: The 12 Universal Laws of Power
Persuasion...
http://bib.tiera.ru/DVD-016/Mortense...8255s%29. pdf

The other Education factory...

Enjoy...

All-In-One: The Copywriting Swipe File...
http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...wipe-file.html

Phil

Re: Great online copywriting resources you can use...
 

Dien,

The biggest reason Halbert was so good at building relationships in print was his use of quick little "transitions". They quickly create and/or convey a closeness between reader & writer that otherwise can take a long, long time to establish.

Anyway, some time back, I went over all his newsletters and pulled out the transitions I thought were effective. I think it's worth any copywriter's time to read this page over every once in awhile, just to put yourself in the right frame of mind. Here it is:

Writing Key

Richard Dennis

Thanks Ankesh... a great trio...!
 

Thanks Ankesh for sharing these!

I wholeheartedly agree with you about "Advertising Secrets of the Written Word" by Joseph Sugarman. The exact same book has been republished as "The Adweek Copywriting Handbook" - however, with a difference.

The original "Advertising Secrets" meticulously explained many "case studies" in the back - ads where Sugarman had explained the principles to his students using examples. You also get Sugarman's own eye-popping ads (e.g. for his "Mafia Auto Gadget" for example!) - and info on whether the ad was a winner or a flop.

"The Adweek Copywriting Handbook" is the same book, but with all of these valuable example pages ripped out... So where possible, if you're serious about it, get "Advertising Secrets" instead of the "Adweek" one.

I've heard of Sean D'Souza, but haven't checked his stuff out yet. Thanks for the recommendation!

Also, thanks for mentioning the "Accidental Magic" book. I've got the "Wizard of Ads" books, and there's some great stuff there (also pay attention to some of his fascinating design elements)... I look forward to "experiencing" this book too!

Thanks, Ankesh!

Dien

Old-timers and new-kids-on-the-block fight it out
 

Hi Brent,

I agree with you here...

When an online marketer screeches, it could have a valuable lesson!

(I use the word "screech" affectionately. :) )

There are also a variety of "styles" to check out...

Some of the online marketers whose stuff I like to pour over are also some of the "old-timers"... like Jim Straw, Robert Ringer, and I love the articles by Denny Hatch.

Though they don't come that often at the moment, every new "bullet" by Gary Bencivenga is a must-read.

Not-so-old and not-so-new is Yanik Silver, who is always quite creative, and Tellman Knudson keeps his stuff interesting too. (I'm sure there are others I've missed out on too...)

Thanks, Brent!

Dien

Re: Great online copywriting resources you can use...
 

Thanks Phil,

That's a handy thread to know about!

Thanks! :)

(...and for the other info too!)

Best wishes,

Dien

He cussed till kingdom come, but shared copywriting gold...
 

Hi Richard,

A deep felt THANKS for sharing this... That's incredibly valuable!

I agree with you, one thing Gary Halbert did terribly well was to CONNECT with the reader, on a personal level. He had a riveting way of writing... Once you started reading, it was impossible to stop!

Gary Halbert was great at keeping you "hooked", then reeling you in...

After seeing your document, you're right - his transitions were a big part of that!

Speaking more of Gary Halbert, one of my favorite of Gary Bencivenga's "bullets" is the one he wrote after Gary Halbert passed away...

It's stuffed with valuable advice.

Find it here...

http://www.marketingbullets.com/bullet23.htm

For example...

"Using negative adjectives in your headlines works like crazy. Here are some examples:

Desperate Nerd From Ohio...

One-Legged Golfer...

Blind Medical Doctor Discovers ...

Half-Dead Cuban Washes Ashore In Miami With Strangest Secret That Can Double The Income Of Most Americans!"

Hmm... That also reminds me of another great example of this... something about "Dead Doctors" who "Don't Lie".... :)

Thanks Richard!

Richard knows his stuff cold... When he speaks, I listen (and you should too)!

Best wishes, :)

Dien

Re: Old-timers and new-kids-on-the-block fight it out
 

I love this thread!

The thing about marketing with emails is that you have to
constantly be on your copywriting toes.

The art of email copywriting has constantly been
evolving over the few short years of its existence.

We were all wowed in the beginning by the long copy
of breathless prose from the old masters of mail order.

But because of the daily bloating of the inbox, the
target of our copy yawns as he quickly deletes our
carefully crafted emails.

A quick glance at that headline which screams
"clever copywriter" is enough.

We're talking a headline that would have killed, just a few
short years ago.

Recent studies show that the prospect doesn't even want
to be addressed by his first name in the headline any more.

Imagine that!

Before that, it was an almost indelible rule that you load
up your aweber with "First Name."

Here's what Seth Godin has to say in his book, The Purple
Cow:

"Cows, after you’ve seen them for a while, are boring.
They may be perfect cows, attractive cows, cows with
great personalities, cows lit by beautiful light, but they’re
still boring.

A Purple Cow, though. Now that would be interesting.
(For a while.)"

Copywriting, particularly for the internet, after a while can
be cow after cow, after cow, after..

and then along comes an email with a purple headline, and
a purple body copy...then zing, just like that, a sale is made.

God loves you.
Brent.

Re: Great online copywriting resources you can use...
 

I like makepeacetotalpackage.com of Clayton Makepeace. Some of the guest posts are better than others, but there is a ton of good information there for free in the archives. There is at least one good thought provoking post a week. His products are good too.

Not to forget thegaryhalbertletter.com - which I am sure all of you know already.

And one of the last living legends of copy : draytonbird.com has some free resources and a hilarious bog, but you really need to own his book: Commonsense Direct MArketing.

Add Triggers of Joe Sugarman to that book list ...

The infomarketingblog.com of Lawrence Bernstein is very good too and has a lot of gems in the archives.

Conrad

Re: Great online copywriting resources you can use...
 

Hi,
I have checked the sites you have and it was great and fits my needs. That was really a big help, for that I want to thank you Conrad.
ps: any resource were to submit articles? Thanks!


Regards,
Kristine Russell

Re: Great online copywriting resources you can use...
 

Hi Kristine,
Glad you find the links useful.

My choice would be to use ezinearticles.com and keep on feeding them with articles. This domain shows up in search engines quite often and because it takes time to write thoughtful and intelligent articles, I would rather choose a powerful partner than diffuse my energy all over the place.

I mean, writing original content, placing it and having a life - means you have to make choices ...

copyblogger.com/content-marketing is a good how-to resource.

And what about the forums where your prospective customers lurk?

Have fun with it,
Conrad