1 Laura Catella Presents… Elite Level Special Report: copyWRITING Hit harder. Read Smoother. Write Better. & You’ll Sell More Automatically 2 Disclaimer There are no flagrant claims about anything, really, in this book. The only way it will serve as true value to you is if you do the things it says to. If you do not do that, then this book serves no other purpose than entertainment, which is fine with me but not ideal for you. That said, I do hope that this short report in which we’ll be discussing various copywriting tips and tricks is helpful to you. Should you have any questions or comments, do not hesitate to contact me: [email protected]. Also, this book is not available for free. If you came across it by some unsavory means, please notify me. Dedication A lot of great copywriters helped me write this book (without knowing it!) – Some of their names will be sprinkled throughout . 3 Some Short Personal Chat You know what’s funny? Every time I think of creating content these days, I feel like I have to shoot a video. Screw that. I’m a writer… This is a guide. It’s about writing. By reading it, you’ll pick up a few writing tactics that I may never explicitly tell you. In fact, each and every line of this is an example of the process… the writing of copy. All writing is copywriting. Therefore, good copy is first and foremost, good writing. (This is especially the case with video sales letters, because if the copy is bad, the viewer is hit with the “badness” 10x harder). Good writing. That’s it kids, that’s the big secret… Now listen, you may not like me for this, but there’s a good chance you’ve been lied to, at one point or another. You’ve read, or heard, that you don’t have to be a good writer to write good copy. And that’s flat out horse shit. Do not get it twisted. Anything can convert – a good offer in front of a hot and bothered crowd can (and damn well should) convert at least a little, even with bad writing. Let me set one thing straight, though. Good writing, as we’ll be discussing it, has little to do with grammatical-nazi writing. That belongs in textbooks and scientific journals. Think, then, of copywriting more creatively than that. So no, you don’t have to be an English major or have the AP Styleguide up your ass to write elite level copy; you must be a good writer. The only “rule” I follow is what reads best... …which you must take the time and dedication to figure out. This need not mean a whole lot of learning, but it does mean a whole lot of practice. What practice? Writing, more writing… more writing. Reading, and re-reading… Tweaking… Cutting… Moving… Refining. 4 A Concrete Example Of Practice: Taking just one tip (to start) that you’ll learn from this report and testing it out, using it where you can, getting a feel for it, and seeing where it works. This is critical to your development and success. Always Remember: We’re not here to discuss just anything converting, no. We’re here to discuss methods (pretty easy ones) to help you rapidly become a better writer – better writers convert more, and they can convert colder traffic. And it’s often thought that the colder the traffic you convert, the better copywriter you are. Which, of course, makes sound sense… If one sales person can get strangers off the street to buy a timeshare (for example), he or she is a more artful sales person than one who can only get current customers or pre-sold leads to buy… Now, having the compulsive need to hit each approach to an argument, let me further clarify... There is skill and prowess one can flaunt to straight up crush conversions with warm, or even burning hot, traffic. What’s that skill and prowess got to do with? Oh, good writing. And for one last shake into reality, look over all of the best copywriters’ work, the Halberts, Makepeaces… Look at Montello’s and Rogers’ work (hell, look at their blogs) and tell me they don’t command the English language like an orchestra pit leader. The “$30,000 for me to even look at it” guys… yeah – they’re good writers. That’s the type of money and the type of copywriting you’re interested in, right? Good, let’s continue… 5 Good copyWRITING Let’s discuss some of the elements of good writing that are most vital in the specific world of copywriting, shall we? First, let’s talk about building rapport. We’ll begin here because it is incredibly easy and insanely powerful… If your writing can create an emotional connection, a sale is imminent. Engaging The Reader We’re Talking Together Notice that I’m talking with you. I say you, I say what we’re discussing, I ask you questions. This all adds to the conversational tone of the piece – and it is easy for you to read and remain engaged… we’re talking! You’re not reading some diatribe… Within that paragraph lie some simple ways you can engage your reader and keep them hooked to your page: Say “you” Remind them that you two are talking “Next let’s talk about,” or, “now let me tell you” are all examples and there are plenty strewn throughout this report, so pay attention. Ask Questions Ask questions. Here are my guidelines for asking questions: Only ask questions when… 6 You’ll immediately answer The answer is an obvious yes The answer is an obvious no Leave nothing lingering! So with the question I’ll ask in just a few pages, “Why are stories so effective?” I go on to answer in the following paragraph. I’ll speak with you and build some curiosity by asking the question, then I’ll deliver on that and answer it. The other type of question you should ask is the obvious yes question… it’s always good to get the reader in the yes mentality. Here are some examples: “Want to see how you can quit your day job by next month?” Notice I say “see how” – Not everyone may want to actually quit their day job in the next month, but I’d be damned if they wouldn’t wanna see how… “Ready to take more vacations?” “Would you like to be able to earn more money, with less work?” “Do you want a great investment, for free?” “Tired of working hard for stress and shittiness in return?” Yes, yes, yes… See where I’m going here? Good, let’s move on… Use obvious no questions when you want to build fear or scarcity. “Do you want to miss out on the next Google?” “Would you sit idly by and watch a life with more freedom pass you by?” “Want to look back and this moment, and realize you missed a great opportunity?” 7 No, no, no For the record, I prefer yes questions to no ones. But, we as copywriters need to use both, to appeal to varying psychology types, which I’ll discuss later on… For now I’d like to stick with some writing fundamentals that will help keep readers engaged. Like flow and tempo… Pacing, Control, Flow Control The Tempo I control the pacing of different “blocks of material” by saying things like “Let’s move on” or “Moving forward”… This, firstly, adds a natural pause and makes the reading more comfortable. Additionally, it lets you know (mostly subconsciously) that we’re on this journey, this adventure of reading, together. Do What Reads Best As I said to you above, “what reads best” is fundamental. Always, always read your copy aloud. Take this to the next level by having someone else read it aloud. If it’s a WSO, have a 7 year old read it aloud (hey just saying). The moment they stammer or lose the flow… stop, cut and simplify. Think about ways to break down long sentences. Now, I like to write longer sentences… and there is nothing wrong with that, so long as you know how to break it up. ;) Commas and ellipses (…) automatically bring readers to a pause, and determining which one to use (for the most part) is simply a matter of checking which one you haven’t used recently. 8 Also notice my use of parentheses in the preceding paragraph (which was 1 sentence but didn’t feel like it). Parentheses give the eyes a bit of a “break” from all of the letters and allow for another “breath.” Note though that you must actually “say something off to the side” in your parentheses. Do This In The Editing Phase Edit “internal” sentence flow by alternating long and short sentences. For me, the process I’m about to describe works best while editing as opposed to writing… while writing I do my damndest to just keep writing and edit after. I suggest you do the same, and become an editing pro (not necessarily with grammar or typos, you can outsource that, but with stylistic changes). Brain-dumping… THEN fine-tuning is the most efficient use of your time. You will write more, at a higher quality, in less time = the ultimate goal. So, anyway, the way I edit for Pacing, Control and Flow is to check my variation of long and short sentences. If I’ve got a long one, and I will, I try to edit the following sentence to be short and punchy. I’ll find an example in the above paragraph: Long sentences “For me, the process I’m about to describe works best while editing as opposed to writing… because while writing I do my damndest to just keep writing and edit after. I suggest you do the same and become an editing pro (not necessarily with grammar or typos, you can outsource that, but with stylistic changes).” Off-the-top-of-my-head Revision: “For me, the process I’m about to describe works best while editing as opposed to writing. While writing I do my damndest to just keep writing and edit after. Do the same. Become an editing pro (not necessarily with grammar or typos, which you can outsource, but with stylistic changes).” Yeah. It’s gonna be tough not to include that up in the top. 9 Editor’s note: I did correct it on my first pass through this, totally forgetting that I had to leave the mess up there! ;) Grammatical Incorrectness For The Sake Of Flow There may be different schools of thought on this, and depending on the market (we’ll elaborate on the importance of evaluating the market shortly), I wouldn’t always subscribe to it. Generally, though, I avoid “correct but clunky” phrases like... Going to Have to Want to ____ to, I guess It reads faster and flows better if you say “gonna, gotta, wanna, etc.” Nothin’ Hurtin’ I tend to like to drop the G… but if it doesn’t occur to me naturally, I don’t force it. That said, if this material was for a more professional realm, I’d avoid this style. Which means 99.5% of Internet Marketing products are primed and ready for your gonnas and wannas. ;) I’d say if you’re unsure, avoid it, but you should rarely be unsure. There are some solid fundamentals for the way your writing should build rapport and have a good flow. Now, let’s get into something very near and dear to my heart, which is the fact that form is meaning… 10 Form Is Meaning I really, really love white space. Join the love. Writing is auditory, writing is visual – words are on a page (or screen, no difference), they are looked at! So if they’re not pleasing to look at, fewer people will look at them! And big blocks of text are simply not pleasing to the eye. They indicate work. I’m adamant about this as a writer of poetry: form is meaning. Let’s consider that further for a second… Form is meaning. So poems look like poems. They’re either stanzaed or short… For the most part, you see a poem on a page, you know it’s a poem. The more tightly packed the text lays on the page, the more “academic” or scientific the content. Check it out: Poetry is the most free-flowing Prose is the next (much tighter on the page, novels are densely packed) Newspapers have columns (even tighter!) Dictionaries and encyclopedias are the worst (TY for zoom-able computer screens these days) So where on this list should we place sales copy? Well, you know what, for elite level copywriters, it varies. It depends on the market. We’ll get to that in our next section. But the most important thing for you to realize right now is that form varies. You’ve got to think about the way your text looks on the page. 11 This isn’t a lecture on full formatting or graphics. Don’t confuse this. It is a lecture on how bodies of text should appear on your pages. It is a lecture on your line breaks, subhead breaks, bullet breaks, etc. Form is meaning. The more academic you want your work to appear, the tighter you make it. At the same time, consider how long people happily spend reading the dictionary ;). I’m going to wrap this into a little schpiel on text decoration, as it is related… Text Decoration Our discussion of form also relates to the use of text decoration. Think about the different ways you read bold, italicized, and underlined words. Or haven’t you? It’s fun so let’s dive in. When I say something to you in bold, I’m sort of shouting it out to you. If I was reading it aloud, I’d read it with more power in my voice. I’d want to make sure you heard it. When I say something to you in italics, I’m stressing the point to you by “stretching it out.” If I was reading it, I’d say the words slower and more deliberately, but not necessarily louder. Now, when I say something to you in bold and italics, I do both. Slower and louder. When I say something to you that’s underlined, there is an element of finality to it. It feels factual. I’d read it in a definitive tone of voice. Then, for the extra special elements on the page that I simply must get you to read, I highlight the text. I would never highlight more than .05% of words and the majority of the time do much less. They’re for the zingers ;) But for Pete’s sake, do NOT overdose with any sort of text decoration. If you scream too much, you say nothing. 12 So, to go back to our list of writing types and their form… I mostly consider my sales letters to fall somewhere in between poetry and prose. From an idealistic standpoint, this sort of form means that I’m telling a story… and I’m more than telling a story (which is the idea of a poem). That means open spaces. Short lines when I want them. And the freedom to do whatever I want with text decorations. Now that we’ve discussed rapport, flow and form, let’s delve into the more psychological tools that’ll arm you like a Spartan Warrior as you write your persuasive copy. 13 Simple Psychology Is Your Best Friend Market Research Like A MoFo For elite level copywriters, research is arguably 9/10ths of the work. First, we must seek answers to the following questions… Where is the traffic coming from? Are they warm? Have they bought before? Are they cold, ppc traffic? What do they speak like? What sort of things do they read? (Wouldn’t it be nice to know what type of materials the viewers of your sales page read… so you can help ensure they LIKE reading what you write?) These are more specific interests than hopes and aspirations. Most of us have similar hopes and aspirations, and a good copywriter can generalize while sounding specific, like… “You may not be able to put a finger on it, but you’ve probably got a good feeling that if you made a change, if you tried something different, you could begin to improve your life…” That’s probably true for most people. It’s also hypnotic, which we’ll speak about later (gosh how all of these things interconnect!). Back to finding out more specific things… Knowing the age and gender of your market can help you determine how you should speak with them. Here’s a real life example… I learned this on one of the first sales letters I ever wrote, it was in the Forex niche… I wrote something like, “I want your heart to rush in excitement as the # staring you in the face at the ATM increases insanely each and every time you visit.” 14 Now that’s cool and all (in fact, at the time of this writing, that letter is #1 in CB ;P), but I shared the letter with a mentor at that time who pointed out a very important thing… “Guys read this. Our hearts don’t rush.” Their hearts don’t rush! So keeping the market in mind, I’d change that line to say something fun like, “I want you to feel the rush of going toe-to-toe with the beast that is Forex, pummeling him, flipping him off and taking your highly deserved profits” That sounds a bit more like what the general Forex trader can relate to. Let’s delve a little more into what we can assume about the people reading our letters… Basic Psychology Worth Knowing Different types of people respond to different things differently. Oh, and we’re ALL different types of people. How confusing! Luckily, we have some ability to place us so-freakin-diverse humans into different groups, and I’ll briefly go into that here: Learning Modalities Audio, Visual, Tactile – Do you learn best by listening, watching, or touching? The last statistics I read indicated that the majority of the population was visual learners, but you must speak to all 3 groups in your writing. Well, how do you do that? The simplest way to start is to make sure you vary between seeing words, hearing words, and touching words. Here are some examples: See how this product will give you an advantage like steroids (but legally)? 15 You’re tired of feeling your back ache from sitting at that job for 8+ hours… Ready to hear your girlfriends coo at you in jealousy? Give ‘em all what they like. Scarcity V. Abundance Mindset Some people seek rewards, some people seek to avoid unpleasant consequences. We must make sure that each mindset knows that they will get what they want from the product you’re writing about. We can boil that down to make sure we write about… 1. What they will get from the product… 2. What they will get if they miss out on the product… So in a lot of cases, #1 would be money, freedom, happiness, success, love, a better body… And in a lot of cases, #2 would be more of the same, struggling to pay bills, tied to a job one hates, anxiety, bad relationships, an unhealthy life… #1 - If you’re ready to get a new hot body, you have to act right now. #2 - You will kick yourself if you pass up this opportunity and continue to spend your days in baggy clothes, avoiding the mirror… Act right now. Practice this and remember to speak to each type of mindset in each and every letter you write! Left V. Right Brained I’m going to go out on what I think is a pretty sturdy limb and say that most copywriters are right brained. We’re big-picture, creative types who don’t like to get bogged down with the little details. 16 So, for those who are interested enough in the art of copy to have read this far ;), it’s probably relatively easy to write in a style that “right brained” people “like”. That sort of writing involves speaking to the end result or ultimate benefit, the culmination of the dream (I’m getting a rush just thinking about it). But, we have to write for left-brained folk too, bless them! Without them, the world would not run, I assure you! These are the practicalists, the technical people… the people interested in the steps to “how” the big picture gets carried out. Of course most people are in the gray area in between and some may be pretty staunch in the middle, but it’s best to write to both to make sure all grounds are covered like a proper snowfall. So, how do we write to the left brained people? We give them steps to the process, for one. #1. You will access X #2. It will show you exactly X #3. You’ll discover X #4. You’ll then be able to X #5. Which will get you X As a cute exercise (just in case you’re not sure where you stand), if you’re only interested in #5, you’re probably right brained. ;) Here’s a more tangible example… A right brained offline marketer is probably interested in living the dream of multiple highpaying clients whose work he outsources while he lives a life of freedom and flexibility. A left brained offline marketer is probably interested in how they get the clients, how they satisfy them, how they outsource the work, then how they get more freedom and flexibility. See, the end result is the same (which is why having a keen grasp on your ultimate benefit is essential, see next section), but the process of getting there is different. All good sales material must satisfy both of these – each person must know how your product is going to give them exactly what they’re looking for. 17 Now, as promised, let’s get right-brained about it and talk about the big picture: the hook. Hook and Voice Elite level copy always has a hook. The thing I don’t see discussed too often is the “author’s” (usually the product creator’s) voice. I think if you consider hook and voice to tie into one another, you have a much easier job perfecting both. But let’s look at them each individually first, shall we? ;) Why is this product different from everyone else’s? Don’t let that question scare you. Break it down (i.e. be a little left-brained about it) and tackle it slowly. Does your product do something faster? Does it do something bigger? Does it do something easier? These are all good starting points for your hook. Does it reject something that’s been done? (You may have to dig deeper for this one but a lot of products do this, in one way or another) Is it a done-for-you solution? Is it a business in a box? Is it hands free? Ask the product creator – why did you create this? A lot of times your hook will lie buried within that answer. Here is a real life example: 18 I have a client in the seduction niche. He helps guys pick up and bed women. When I asked him why he created his product, he said he’d been around the “pickup artist” game for a while and that he wanted to finally create a product where any guy, no matter what he looked like or how much money he had, could pick up a girl. And I let that stew in my mind for nearly a month while I wrote the more standard sections of his letter… Then, it hit me. Former PUA Flips Off All Of The “Systems” And Busts His Ass To Finally Discover How To Attract Burning Hot Women Without The Corny Jokes and “Peacocked” Outfits. This wasn’t the final headline (out of respect to my client), but you get the idea. So, what’s the hook? He’s saying F* the system! He is rejecting what’s been done. And that makes for one very provocative hook… it’s got “this is something brand new” included! Now let me use this opportunity, if you don’t mind, to transition a little bit into a discussion of “voice” in copywriting. Notice how in my example headline above I say “Flips Off” and “Busts His Ass” and “Burning Hot Women” – Now, those are a bit graphic (not by my standards, but you know what I mean). That’s the “Voice” I’m developing here. I’m making it relatable to my market, guys. Powerful, masculine, no-nonsense talk – this relates to the hook because the guy isn’t eating the PUA bagfull-of-magic-tricks garbage anymore. And remember when we talked about the importance of knowing what your audience likes to read? Guess what? That’s the voice you want to write in! Now, another example of finding the hook… What about a social media plugin? What’s the “big idea” there? More traffic… no, what’s the big idea behind traffic… going viral… More money… for some… what comes along with being viral? Everybody knows your name… hmm… Ready For Facebook To Take You From Unknown (But Loved By Family & Friends) To Superstar? Cause we all know that if everybody knows your name… money follows all on its own… 19 In this example I do the work (not really tough) to tie together the Hook (you’ll get “famous”) with the ultimate benefit (lots of easy money). Flesh through it more and tell me what you come up with… Notice how these hooks lend their way to storytelling, which we’ll be discussing soon. First though, let me give you one more tactic to uncovering the hook… 7 Deadly Sins (and Features V. Benefits) Wrath, greed, sloth, pride, lust, envy and gluttony. Consider the product you’re writing about. Consider how it relates itself to one of the 7 deadly sins. Which one of these does it ultimately fulfill. Notice that as you do this, you’ll also draw on the major benefits of your product. The major ones are greed, pride, lust, envy, gluttony, sloth. Few people aspire to have things that make them wrathful. But make money products? Greed. Pride. Envy too. Seduction products? Lust. Envy too. Push-button solutions? Greed. Sloth. Weight loss products? Pride. Envy. Weight loss without exercise? Sloth! Think of how your product relates to the 7 deadly sins, and you’ll simultaneously uncover some of its bigger benefits. If it’s greed, then benefits are: make you money. From there, we’d elaborate more on what money means to us more vacations, more nice things, more flexibility. If it’s lust, then your product will: get you hot women. From there, we’d elaborate on what hot women mean to us more pride, more fun, more sex. Now that we see how powerful the hook is, and have some ways to help us uncover it, let’s tie that into the art of storytelling… 20 Storytelling, storytelling, storytelling… People love stories. The better a story teller you are, the better a copywriter you’ll be. Why are stories so effective? The art and mastery of storytelling has been studied for centuries. I’ll try to simplify it to the most relevant points pertaining to writing copy. Storytelling is so effective because whenever you can create a tangible image in someone’s mind (what? Isn’t tangible image an oxymoron…), you’re exactly where you want to be. Storytelling gets into the readers’ spatial part of the brain. They aren’t logically or rationally thinking about your words and their meaning, rather, they’re creating a series of images in their head (images of real, tangible things, i.e. a man on his last lengths sleeping in his car, or a woman overjoyed at looking down at the scale and seeing a number 20 lb lighter) – we see these things in our minds. What’s more powerful, we immediately see them. We don’t think about seeing them, we don’t decide to see them, we just see them. Make each and every line a story, when you can. That means, paint the picture. Instead of saying, “I was sad.” Say, “I began to cry and quickly moved my hands to my face to hide the tears.” Wow. These two sentiments describe the same thing, but if I say, I was sad, you may not see that. Sad is an idea, a concept. Concepts are tough to visualize. But I bet you saw me crying and saw me moving my hands to my face to hide the tears, right? This is one method that is as close to mind-control as we can get, folks. Stories get readers and listeners to visualize like nothing else. And that’s been the case for centuries. 21 Metaphors This is also exactly why metaphors are so powerful. They are another perfect example of the fact that: any time you can make someone visualize an image, you’ve got their maximum attention. What’s easier for you to see… A woman so attracted to you, she’s insanely head over heels. Or… A woman so attracted to you, she’s like a baby to her bottle. It doesn’t really quantify the attraction anymore… but it sure sounds like it does ;) Get Hypnotic With It I have to put a plug in with hypnotic writing because it is just so powerful and to me, fun, and part of what makes elite level copywriting poetic and artful. Of course big props to Joe Vitale who is a huge inspiration to this section. To take hypnotic writing in its simplest form, it means assuming the sale. “Once you access this system, you’ll be able to increase your traffic in minutes.” “After you download your software, you’ll have a new blog built in 3 minutes or less.” To take it to a more elite level, though, let’s consider the statement like… “All men know that women are more complex than the Sunday crossword.” What have we just done here? We created a fact. If all men know it, it’s a fact! I made it unquestionable without you even noticing. Now, you probably realize just how powerful hypnotic writing can be. 22 There, I did it again, anytime I’m telling you what you know, think, or will do, I’m hypnoticwriting you. Think about ways you can combine hypnotic writing with the FUGIES… FUGIES: This is my acronym (ok, stolen from a mentor during my door-to-door sales days) for the things that raise someone’s impulse to buy. They should all be self-explainable. F – Fear of loss (scarcity) U – Urgency (you have to act now or that rash will get worse…) G – Greed I – Indifference (if you’re not ready to make the easiest money of your life, you can click the X now and continue searching for something sneaky and tricky, i.e. I don’t care if you leave) E – Effect of jones (social proof) S – Power of suggestion (If you clam up worse than a hard-shell around a smokin’ hot babe, I suggest you read further to see exactly how I can help) The One Most Important Thing To Edit For… By editing I do not mean tedious typo correction. You can outsource that (check the bonus for details), but you must edit your work with a “big picture” outlook, and you must be good at it to be an elite level copywriter. 23 Editing For Overall Flow Your piece as a whole must follow a logical progression. By far (I mean by far!) the most powerful edits I make to my pieces involve taking one whole subsection and moving it somewhere else. I assure you, I did this heavily with this report and it makes 1100x more sense now than when first written! Read your work actively and look for moments where there’s a disconnection in the story – when something makes you scratch your head, when something is left unanswered, or when something feels like “that should be said earlier/later.” Again, the key is practice. If you’re just starting out with this, you can stick to formulas like AIDA (Attention Interest Desire Action) and make sure all your elements fit that flow. Attention: Teasers, pain agitation, and curiosity builders in the beginning (22 year old special ed student mistakenly banks over $35,785.00 in 3 days…) (LOL, do not use that!) Interest: Relates it to your reader, specifically (Wouldn’t you like to…) Desire: Big time benefit sharing (You’ll have all of these wonderful things…) Action: Tell them how and when (now) to buy. (All you have to do is click “Download Now”) As you write, things may pop up at any time. You may come up with a good “action” section early on. Just write it down. Then, rearrange… like a gorgeously intricate puzzle. When you move things around, you can make this process fairly easy by adding some transitional talk. If you decide that part of your introduction gives too much away too soon, and you’d like to save that for the “Desire” part of your letter, you can still leave the tease of it in your intro and say “I promise to tell you more about that in a little bit… But first,” Then continue building anticipation and curiosity. Does that example make sense? Hope so. 24 Final Thoughts Here is your crash course in Elite Level Copywriting. I truly hope it has been helpful for you and that you can use these tactics to improve your writing which will in turn exponentially improve your copywriting. For a very limited time only, I’m hosting a free weekly webinar for anyone who aspires to write better copy or grow their business as a copywriter. Please visit this page to sign up and I look forward to seeing you: I also strongly encourage you to e-mail me any feedback you may have for this report. I nearly always write back. [email protected] I’m sure we’ll talk soon. Laura Catella The Copy Poet
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