Copywriting
Ccopywriting is the single most important skill you can learn in marketing. You either learn copywriting or hire someone else to do it for you, while paying dearly. Personally, I’d rather keep that kind of money in my own pocket and just learn how to write it.
It doesn’t matter how fantastic your product is, if your salescopy is bad you will not get any sales and you time and money will be wasted. You can actually have a less than great product, but if your salescopy announces the prommised land, then it will sell.
There are writing specialists (ghost writers) you can hire, but you’re better off being able to write at least some of the content yourself.
My first advice is to quit editing while you are writing. Write first. Edit later. More about editing below.
Most people like to talk, but they’re scared of writing. They tense up as soon the word writing is mentioned. If that's you then you need to change your mindset. Don’t think of it as writing. Think of it as talking on paper. Write just as if you were talking to your best friend. And don’t worry if you make a mistake! Again, edit late!
It's not going to be perfect. That’s why the first copy of anything you write is a rough draft. It’s bound to be rough. It has bad grammar and spelling mistakes. It it's not going to have a great flow or make perfect sense. That's why you will edit it later.
But sit down and start writing. That’s the hard part. Just let it come up as the words come in your head when you talk. It takes practice, and you’ll probably be editing a lot at first. But you have to get started somewhere.
First you must hoose a hot topic. Find a niche that people are searching for and develop it.
Discover what people have problems with in their lives. Your article or sales page should be a solution to one of those problems. Check out the news or online forums to find out what everyone is writing about. What's the big news of the day? What is really getting people talking?
Your next step is to create an enticing title. This is your headline. It has to reach out and grab people’s attention. It has to make them want more by announcing the benefits of the article or the product. It must clearly state what's in it for them. The main purpose of a headline is to make the reader want to go on and read more.
The title is bar far the most important part of anything that you write.
Then you have to write an outline. It doesn’t have to be a perfect outline. Just research the subject and take some notes. You may want to put your notes on some index cards. The important part is to find and record the various information you want to use. When you do your writing, make sure you look back on your notes from time to time te ensure that you have included all the important information.
Again, write like you talk. Sit down and write as quickly as you can. Try to not even stop. Don’t think about your choise of words. Don’t go back and edit your mistakes. Not yet. Just write. The reason most people have such a hard time getting started with writing is that they’re so worried about mistakes they never do anything. Like Nike says, “Just do it!”
Write just like you’re talking to a friend. Let it flow out. Don’t wait. And don’t go back to read what you’ve written until you are done.
After you have completed your rough draft, it's time to take a break and get away from your writing. Do something else for a while and don't even think about your project. It's important to let your mind rest on the subject so you can return to your work with new enthusiasm. Now you may come up with new ideas about what you forgot to say.
Finally, it's time to edit. Read through it line by line. Edit it for grammar and use your spell check. Add additional notes where needed. Delete lines where you have repeated yourself needlessly.
Let a friend read it out loud to you. Take note of every place where there is a stumble and rewrite it until there is a nice flow. If it sounds like 'writing,' then you should edit it. Keep working on it until it sounds like conversation. It must be simple, easy to understand and useful.
This last step is where you take some of your rambling thoughts in the rough draft and turn them into polished diamonds.
