Insider Copywriting Secrets
After a lovely but cold Ballantyne’s Day weekend on the farm, it was time for me to warm-up. So I’m back down in Florida, working side by side, and trying to keep up with the hardest working man on the Internet, Joel Marion.
It’s amazing to see how much work Joel puts into crafting his copy, creating his sales flows, managing affiliates, and everything that comes along with having big, successful launches every time.
Very inspirational, but also a great reminder that having a website does not give you “Passive Income”. Anyone promising you money without work is a liar. The great thing is that you don’t have to do a lot of work – again, for a simple 6-figure business you only have to work hard a few hours a week.
But if you want to make millions, you’ll need to put in the time and effort. Still, it sure beats digging ditches like I did at age 13 for $3.10 an hour!
We have a really great discussion going on over in our Virtual Mastermind member’s area, with Gary (our ETR copywriter) and Mikey Whitfield helping out an ambitious new member.
This was our new member’s question…
Q: My product is a unique way of doing circuit training. I’m ready to write the copy, but don’t know where to start doing research to find facts and stats to support my copy claims. Do you have any recommendations of websites, journals, etc that you use for research? Right now I’m just using Google and have found some decent articles, but I’m sure there’s a lot of great sources out there that I’m unaware of.
Answer from Gary, our lead copywriter at ETR:
The best way to do research is to do it old school: hit the books.
It’s the shortcut to getting effective information fast. Before I start writing a letter, my goal is to find at least 5 books on the topic.
For your product, I’d look into all the anti-cardio and pro-circuit training books out there. Buy em. But don’t read them cover to cover just yet. First take a look at the table of contents and see if there are any chapters that seem to be relevant. Mark those down.
Then go to the index of the book and scan it for key words relating to your topic. Make a note of those pages where the juicy stuff is discussed.
Once you’ve done that – then read those pages and take notes. Usually you’ll find a few good studies and plenty of “done for you research.”
Usually when I’m doing research, I also make a running list of keywords that I want to search for. It’s useful when you see an author describe something in an unusual way that didn’t think of and want to go back and check Google for more information.
I know this seems like a lot of work – but I promise your copy will be 1,000 times better for it.
Also, I have no doubt that if you do some serious research, you will find the BIG IDEA you need in your headline.
Nobody just “thinks up big ideas“, unless they’re incredibly lucky.
Most big Game-Changing Ideas come from pursuing knowledge “like a pig pursues truffles.”
Hope this helps,
Gary
*****
Great advice, Gary.
Of course, this advice will be lost on those folks that just think they can slap up a site and make a quick buck.
It will really only make sense – and make a difference – to those folks willing to do the work like Joel.
You see, in creating his five multi-million dollar video sales letters for BioTrust, Joel printed out all of the top converting Video Sales Letters in the industry and studied them relentlessly.
He noted the structure that worked, how the video made transitions from “Big Idea” to “Proof” to “Guarantee” and then ultimately, to the “Call-To-Action” that closed the sale.
In addition, Joel also spent hours studying the “Master”, our friend, Jon Benson. Jon has created dozens of top-selling Video Sales Letters, and was a pioneer in this new way of selling. Jon’s brilliant, and Joel recognized that, so he studied the Master.
Watch this video for the Game-Changing copy course that Joel studied
Get better every day,
Craig Ballantyne
Success is simple once you accept how hard it is. Understand that & you’ll be prepared to make the sacrifices you need to achieve success.