If you looked at the millionaires of the future right now do you think you could spot them?

Could you see them in there small jobs, scraping together a few pennies to pay bills as they dream of a better life? Could you see them living in small houses, buying the cheapest clothes and holding their lives together through sheer willpower?

Granted not all future millionaires start out this way, but hundreds do. They scrape together money and sleep in their cars to go to events they know will change their lives. They give everything to achieve a dream, but first they have to wade through hell and come out the other side.

The next millionaire isn’t hard to reach. There are blueprints to make it to success. It’s like any other profession. If you want to become a doctor you go to school for years and study so you can spend your life in a hospital learning on the job. No one asks a medical student to operate on someone the first time they enter a classroom.

Then why do people expect to get rich the first time they try something that could make them a millionaire?

They need to study, to learn what the path is and even then there are times they will fail. 9 out of 10 businesses fail within the first ten years. Of that last ten percent most won’t be millionaires, but one will. There’s a reason there’s one percent in our society who holds most of the money. These are the business owners. The people who waded through the crap and put every ounce of energy they had into building their business. These are the people who were willing to do what was necessary to learn the skills they needed to grow their business.

It isn’t an easy road, but it is doable by everyone. . .

If they’re willing to believe in themselves.

So do you want to be a millionaire? Of course!

The real question is what are you willing to go through to get it.

A while ago I went to an event where David Wood was present. I had no money to pay for anything so I hitched a ride with a complete stranger all the way to Las Vegas. I slept in a room with another stranger and ate the cheapest thing I could find – the funny thing I wasn’t even a member of any of the organizations at the event.

It STILL changed my life.

The information I learned at this event pushed me forward. I built sites, learned marketing, spent dozens of hours walking the path that I needed to follow to become a millionaire.

Am I there yet? No.

No lying. I’ve still got a long ways to go, but I don’t regret a step of it because it’s opened doors I never even imagined existed.

You have to take the time to invest in yourself and your future if you want to succeed. There are no overnight successes, just marathon runners.

Caught your attention with that title didn’t I? For some reason falling on your face seems to draw attention. I don’t know how many times I watched it on Funniest Home Videos growing up. Maybe because I’ve done it myself so many times I can’t count them, figuratively and metaphorically. Most people have at one time or another, and it connects us. We have done the exact same thing. We’re just happy no one caught it on tape.
In several previous posts we’ve talked about how to do copywriting, about finding the story behind the product and using that to CONNECT with people.
Does it work?
Definitely.
Could it work better?
Definitely.
Getting people to even read sales pages means you have to get their attention…
The attention of people who don’t know about and may not really care about your product even if they do need it…
The last time you turned on the TV did you do it because you wanted to watch the commercials or was their some show you wanted to see?
I’ll admit that I’ve turned on the TV just to see commercials so I could study how they put them together and increase my copywriting skills, but even for me that isn’t the norm and if there isn’t a show I want to see on I don’t stick around for long even when studying commercials. I’d rather go to the internet and look them up there. (There’s some amazing old commercials out there that are well worth the time.)
The thing is people watch TV, go to video sites, and read stories to be ENTERTAINED. They don’t care what you have to sell for the most part. They want that entertainment value. The cute dog, the falling person, the hilarious little things that keep your attention on a page.
This is the majority of people online and in the world, and if you intend to get your product in their hands you have to keep them interested.

The other set is actually looking for solutions. They have their wallets ready and are willing to buy anything as long as it fixes their problem. Being entertained while they do it is just a perk.
So when you write your copy, your blog posts, tell about your product, etc. keep in mind that if you can do it and be funny, interesting, or riveting you’ll end up with a lot more sells than simply telling the facts. People get bored with facts. Connect, tell the story, entertain them and they’ll keep reading and praise you for solving their problems as well.

And as promised people falling on their faces.

51 Best Kid Fails

For more tips that will make people want to buy from you click HERE.

People only ever buy for their reasons – not ours.

We give them all the details, benefits and compelling reasons to buy with an irresistible offer, and put a time limit on it. Proving beyond doubt everything we say. Helped with glorious testimonials from delighted customers. Backed up with a long no questions asked guarantee.

Then we ask them to buy.

And around 94% say “No” – based on a 6% conversion which is OK, but not fantastic.

So why are there so many “No’s?”

Because we asked them to buy for all our reasons.

Think of it like a circle. On the outside is the what. Inside that is the how, and at the very center is the WHY.

Most people work from the outside of the circle in, but the truly inspiring communicators the ones that know exactly WHY they do something speak differently. They work from the inside, from their WHY. In fact they do this with such passion that people ache to be part of it and jump on board. People don’t buy what you have, they buy Why you’re doing it.

If these people were like the rest of the world they’d come straight out and tell you all about their product and it’s features then ask “Do you want to buy?” but that isn’t how they do things. They share their dream, their why, and people who agree with their why make it their own and buy everything they have. They don’t do it for you, or their neighbor. They do it for themselves.

The truly great copywriters understand that they aren’t selling a system to make money, or a way to get trim. They are selling a dream and it isn’t their dream. Writing sales copy isn’t about you. It is all about the people you are serving and what they want.

Sure you can go through and tell everyone how great your product is and you will likely get a few buyers, or you can ignite within them a passion, a dream of their own and see your system or product in the hands of more than the few.

Usually people forget what they are actually selling.

You aren’t selling E-Books. You are selling an escape from the 9-5 job.

You aren’t a workout. You’re selling the fantastic body they always dreamed of.

Always ASK “What am I REALLY selling?”
People may or may not believe what they are told but never doubt what they conclude.

So, you’ve got to make sure customers absolutely believe it is their decision to buy.

Which is why I always say something along the lines of-

“It’s your decision that counts…”

“Thanks for reading this Ad but now it’s entirely up to you…”

“I hope I’ve proven all the benefits… but now you’ll decide”

“All that matters is your decision….”

And so on. There are stacks of ways to do this.

Just make sure the customer knows they have all the power (everybody needs to feel a sense of power – so, it’s one of the most compelling things you can give to customers)

They will buy for their reasons and their reasons alone, and the more in control they feel the more they will follow you around, hanging off your word and advice because they trust you and know that for you it isn’t about the money, the trips to the Caribbean, or the thrill of exciting adventures. For you have a WHY a dream that they know and follow because it’s their dream too.

If you’ve looked into copywriting for any length of time you’ve heard of something called a Swipe File.

But what exactly is a swipe file?

Basically it’s a collection of clippings you can use that inspire you to write similar copy. These points speak to you in some way that makes you keep reading.

The truth is most people don’t have what it takes to be a copywriter and yet anyone could do it. The process to get there is actually quite simple.

Let’s see if you’ve got what it takes.

Go get five hundred 3×5 index cards. Go to a big newsstand and get dozens of magazines. (If you’re strapped for money, you can do this in a library for free.) Only get those magazines with lots of teaser copy (“bullets”) on the covers. Cosmopolitan is just about the best when it comes to this. Write one bullet on each index card. Try to pick out only really “Hot Bullets.” Keep at it until you have 500 cards with 500 bullets.

What will you get if you do this? Most importantly, you’ll get a neurological imprint of writing good bullets.

Unfortunately, there are no shortcuts.

How do you recognize a “Hot Bullet”? Well, until you get some experience, it is somewhat based upon what catches your eye and makes you think you’d want to read that. However, here’s some help: What follows is a collection of bullets on different subjects. Each of these was written by John Carlton and nobody is better at “bulletizing” than him. Start by writing each of these bullets on a separate 3×5 index card. Then, when you “have the feel” for it, you go out to the magazine stand or library and do whatever’s necessary until you’ve got 500 more.

Sucks, doesn’t it? Can’t say as I blame you if you don’t want to be bothered with this… but… just in case you’ve got the stuff, here’s John’s bullets to get you started:

• The 58 most important questions you need to ask yourself before you can really start to pile up the profits in your business!
• The 7-step formula that even an illiterate drop-out can use to write advertising copy 100 times more potent than the best Madison Avenue ad agency!
• How the 3 Basic Elements found in every single successful (multi-million dollar) television infomercial can also be used to boost the profitability of your newspaper ads!
• Why your “back end” may be 1,000 times more profitable than your initial sale… and what to do to take advantage of it now!
• Tips from trouble-shooting experts on how to spot problems hurting your business and the triple-step technique they use to solve them fast!
• The 10 easiest markets “rookie” copywriters can tap for maximum profit with minimum risk!
• “Insider” tips from the world’s savviest (and richest) businessmen on how to shortcut your way to obscene riches and success!
• A truly “no brainer” (yet usually overlooked) way to bump the amount of your average order by 100% or more… automatically!
• The absolutely essential First 3 Things you must do before you attempt to sell anything to anyone!
• How to find — without spending a red cent — the perfect magazines and newspapers (with the most rabid and eager-to-buy readers) to run your ads in all over the world!
• Why you’re already sitting on the best possible “bonus” you could ever offer — and how to use it to make your sales soar!
• 20 Guaranteed Ways to increase readership and response to your sales letters and ads… without touching your current copy!
• The single most important element of any sales message… and how to exploit it for maximum sales!
• The Real Reason people choose to buy anything — the secret truth long known by master salesmen, sociologists and “con men” finally revealed!
• How to put on your own seminars without nightmares… including how much to charge, how to structure the daily sessions, and how to write the all-important sales letter that puts the fannies in the seats!
• Exact word-for-word samples of sales letters that brought in millions… and how to adapt those same letters for your own business!
• Tested appeals and “grabbers” that guarantee readership… and tested “closers” that almost force people to send you money!
• Why having money or a nice car is 100% irrelevant to having a great love-life! (And the 3 “basics” that are relevant, but ignored by nearly every lonely guy!)
• How to “read” the signals of women who are dying to date you right now! (They think they’re being obvious, but I’ll bet you’re blind to these signals. Just learning this one secret — how to “read” women — will boost your “romance potential” through the roof!)
• Proven ways to get women to initiate “accidental” dates that are pressure-free!
• How to easily “position” yourself so women actually compete for your attention!
• How to turn everyday items in your pocket (or your wife’s purse) into vicious weapons that will (1) show you mean business, (2) instantly frighten anyone with an ounce of common sense, and (3) allow you to dominate any situation with a single blow!
• How to maintain the “right” kind of peak sexual energy that excites women! (Most guys worry — unnecessarily — about “performance”… but you won’t, anymore!)
• The one huge mistake all inexperienced fighters make in their head that guarantees they will be turned into victims… and how to “parlay” it into an advantage that will give YOU an instant 200% increase in your chances of winning — even if it’s your first fight ever!
• Why your weight, strength, speed and agility are the least important parts of winning a street altercation! (And why the one simple secret that is important will give you an immediate and enormous advantage over any other fighter you meet!)
• How to automatically avoid the blunders that get even nationally-ranked karate masters demolished in street fights! (It’s called “Stress Shock Phenomenon”, and once you’ve stored this knowledge in your nervous system, you’ll never “freeze up”  or panic when your adrenaline starts to flow and the dirt hits the fan! Yet there isn’t a karate studio in the country that knows how to teach this crucial part of winning fights!)
• Why your fist may be the absolute worst weapon you can use in hand-to-hand combat! (And exactly how to strike so you won’t damage any part of yourself!)
• Simple fight-ending moves that require no strength whatsoever! (I know of arthritic 80-year-old grandmothers who have knocked young male attackers senseless!)
• The “voice tool” that will immediately change your attitude from calm to dominant in any surprise situation!
• How to use a little-known “positioning secret” to completely cancel out the superior size or experience of your attacker! (Size and strength are meaningless when you know this secret!)
• Why a simple “mock” submissive action will always fool a larger opponent… and set him up for quick, easy fight-ending moves!
• How to gain an immediate “Psychological Edge” when someone pulls a knife on you… and how to spot the 4 most common methods of knife attacks so you can win with a minimum of fuss and blood!
• How to “set up” the perfect sexual encounter with your lover every time!
• The clumsy mistakes 90% of all men make during lovemaking… and how to quickly learn the “inside” secrets of the most satisfied 10%!
• The NUMBER ONE rule that absolutely must be observed for women to have a truly mind-blowing orgasm!
• The secret “reward” for men who give their women the “fuel” for feeling in love all day long, every day! (Not one man in a thousand understands this “fail-safe” secret of excruciating happiness… and those who do almost never share it with even their closest friends!)
• How to guarantee every thought your lover has of you is super-charged with pleasure, excitement and white-hot anticipation!
• The 20-minute secret that can turn your sex life around overnight! (It’s so simple, you’ll kick yourself for not having thought of it yourself!)
• How to “touch” a woman to guarantee mind-altering sex… a technique so simple it’s astonishing that nearly 3/4′s of all women never learn it themselves!
• Why smart men know how a simple “secret” non-sexual act at home can — when handled correctly — take on the “charged” quality of a warm, sexually-satisfying feeling for many women! (It’s so simple it’s almost like “cheating”!)
• The specific secrets of “over the top” fabulous sexual technique! (Have you ever “blacked out” from pure sexual pleasure before?)
• What women really want from a man! (Nine out of ten men are absolutely floored by this secret!)
• The amazing reason why Prozac is so popular in this country! (Almost no one understands the startling sexual implications!)
• How to start having explosive sex tonight… with the simple basics of great, world-class love techniques!
• The secret of finding the most efficient aerobic program for burning off fat with your specific body type! (Leo researched for 7 months with professional bodybuilding stars in the U.S. and Germany to discover the key to this “inside” secret!)
• Details of the all-new “Eat Everything You Love” diet that frightened the professionals… until they saw Leo change into the leanest, meanest muscleman they’d ever seen! (It’s the easiest, yet most potent diet you’ve ever seen… one you can live on happily for the rest of your life! Leo was gobbling banana milkshakes, carrot cake, soda pop, ice cream and “Mama Juanita’s” super-grande burritos on “carb-days” throughout his training!)
• Why the “experts” you read about in the muscle mags are just dead-wrong in much of their training advice for you for maximum growth! (Even though a technique may have worked for them, it might not work for you… especially if you follow the advice of juice-heads who have spent most of their lives training on steroids!)
• How to handle the “side-effects” of your increased sexual energy you’ll get on this program! (A real unexpected bonus!)
• How a “secret” 5-inch change in your hip placement translates into massive power for your golf stroke! (Not one pro in a thousand even suspects the potency of this simple adjustment!)
• Why the new “lag” in your swing will cause your buddies to shake their heads… until they see you consistently out-drive them by 40, 50 and 60 yards off every tee! (I guarantee they’ll make you play with one of their balls, just to make sure you aren’t cheating somehow!)
• How to use the secret of “choking down” to master any club in your bag… no matter how horrible you were with it before!
• The single most important move you can make in any altercation — it’s what your body wants to do, but what most people panic about and refuse to allow themselves to do! (Yet it will save your life!)
• How to use a simple “cat-like” move to instantly position yourself to deliver the easiest knock-out blow imaginable — a strike so natural your grandmother could pull it off against Mike Tyson!
• How to instantly “shut down” an attacker’s testosterone levels, using your body’s own built-in “brick”. (Even a 90 lb. woman possesses this amazing rock-hard weapon!)
• When to use the most simple strike you’ll ever learn… an unstoppable natural move so effective in ending fights it’s not allowed in full-contact karate tournaments! (Instant disqualification — it’s also a move that 99% of the most brutal street fighters you’ll ever encounter have never seen before… and don’t know how to defend against!)
• How to use the “hip-swinging secret” soldiers use to drop opponents instantly — no speed or strength required, yet it’s like driving a 160 lb. bar of lead into the bad guy’s belly! (It’s so effective, you don’t even have to come close to hitting your “target” area… even the sloppiest attempt by you will bring him to his knees!)
• How to use a super-effective, completely unexpected technique straight out of the “Three Stooges” to cause any attacker to automatically (1) back up, (2) raise his hands in defense, and (3) blink rapidly… all of which instantaneously reverses the tables and makes your attacker suddenly vulnerable to a fight-ending blow you can deliver in your own sweet time!
• Why all elite soldiers are given “permission” to use the one street fighter’s Secret Weapon we are all taught from kindergarten not to use… and how you can use it to quickly remove yourself from any situation where you have been surprised from behind!
• How to use the other “dirty” street-fighting tool not allowed in any civilized boxing or karate match… because of it’s immediate ability to disorientate and topple your opponent! (It also works when you do it incorrectly!)

Hey, that was fun reading, wasn’t it? However, let me remind you once again: YOU CAN’T WRITE LIKE THIS WITHOUT PAYING THE PRICE!

Get those index cards. Write out those bullets. Then write out 500 more. Give yourself the gift of a “million dollar neurological imprint”!

It will serve you well the rest of your days.

Copywriting is all about people.  You can learn every technique, every trick in the book, but it boils down to what you can do to attract the attention of REAL people.

You can of course give all the facts, but that will not sway people. People aren’t rational or logical. Sure they have those aspects to them but those are not the parts of a person that makes someone buy something.

Think about a store. Placed right before the registers are shelves filled with candy and small items to attract the impulse buyer. It’s the only reason those shelves are there.

Of course online you can’t wave something in front of someone saying “You want this. You need this.” Instead you need to connect with them in a different way.

People are beings of emotion. They buy when they FEEL it will benefit them. If a doubt enters or you throw in too many facts they start to zone out, get bored, and move on.

You have to inspire.

If you’ve ever gotten in to an MLM or even heard their pitch you know they don’t sell their product or service. Instead they sell a dream. A dream that provides freedom and wealth, and solves the dozens of problems everyone has. They sell this dream through testimonials, personal stories which show successful people in their business LIVING that dream.

Stories are inspiring because they touch something deep inside of you, a longing to be that brave, encouragement to continue on, a wish to live as someone else. It beckons you to reach for it, after all if someone like that can accomplish the dream why can’t you?

The truth is there are few willing to go through all of the hardship that creates those successful, and the few who do struggle sometimes for years before they make it. They struggle because that is where you learn and how you grow. It is in these down moments that stories are created.

We’ve all had down moments, times you struggle through to make it. Things that change your life course. Epiphanies.

Look at these moments for the story that will truly reach out and grab people’s attention, then shape that story into something that will make your customers FEEL as if they can do what you did and reach their goals and dreams with your products help.

No one who stays in their comfort zone will succeed. To create waves, you have to get in the water.

I’m always impressed with copywriting that makes people stop with just a few words. Some of the best I’ve ever seen was not on a business sign, in an email, or anywhere online. It stood on a corner, written on a piece of old cardboard.

Have you ever taken the time to read what’s on the signs of those people who stand on street corners asking for money? Some of them are very clever and make you want to stop and hand out the cash to the person.

Often you see someone with a sign saying they’ll work for food. In my city over the last few years these people have gone from one or two to dozens. There is nearly always someone sitting on a specific corner I frequently pass and it’s rarely the same person. I always slow to read their signs, impressed with the ones who do something original and clever.

Tonight though, I saw something different. I was driving in my car and noticed two men on opposite corners. One of them had a sign that said Homeless, Please Help, God Bless, a normal boring sign that may get him a few handouts but certainly isn’t creative.

The other was far different. Instead of being scruffy, his clothes ragged, he stood in a suit with a bottle of window cleaner and paper towels at his feet. On his sign it read Single Father Trying to Feed My Kids. Will wash windows for $1.

Instantly I was more drawn to him than the other man. In a few simple words he’d reached out and told me all that I needed to know. He’s a father. I don’t know what’s going on in his life but it’s obvious he is desperate, willing to do just about anything to keep his kids fed, clothed, and with a roof over their head. And most of all he isn’t a beggar. Instead of saying he’d work for food he came up with a plan, a plan which would give him the money he needed.

It amazed me how clearly he’d conveyed his message in so short a space. I stopped to watch for a while, seeing the competition between these two men on opposite corners. The scruffy one had the better corner, but time and time again I watched people go out of their way to let this other man wash their windows, giving the scruffy man little, or nothing.

As copywriters you need to be able to do that. You have to take your message and boil it down into something tight that grabs people’s attention and even if there’s no explanation to follow makes them want to stop and hand over their money.

Like the beggar who sits on the corner alone you’ll get a few hits with enough people passing by, but when the other person moves in, offering something more valuable, revealing who they are in nothing but a few words, your customers switch.

I don’t know how many people stopped to get their windows washed, but as I watched this play out I knew more were stopping by him than the homeless man for he had instantly given more worth to the offer. He was willing to work for it.

The world is constantly changing, some things stop working and new ideas are thought up to reach prospects. Perhaps you have come up with one of these brilliant ideas, but more often than not someone else comes up with them and you catch on too late to take real advantage.

There is a solution for that…

Some time ago I was working on a new project. It wasn’t as wildly successful as I’d hoped it would be, in fact I was having a very hard time getting it to do anything. The old ideas weren’t working, and the supposedly new ideas were being used by so many people they were flooding the market, diluting the pool and becoming pretty much useless in a matter of weeks.

I knew the product was good. I’d used it myself multiple times and found it helped in more than one area, but that didn’t seem to matter to anyone. They just weren’t buying this fantastic product.

So I started thinking. Somehow I had to change the way I marketed, and if the old ways weren’t going to work for me than I had to come up with something new, something that I could grasp hold of BEFORE everyone else realized what was working.

I landed on a very simple system that I’m going to share with you…

Some people are wildly successful with copywriting only because they’re using a big name. Everyone knows them and wants to work with them. Others are quietly successful. Now in truth they are no less successful than those big names, they’re just not as well known, but they still make money every day, they still could take that vacation to the Bahamas on a whim, and they still have all the perks. Finding them is a bit more difficult, but their name will come up, they leave ripples behind them.

It is these people I want to tell you about. They frequently come up with brilliant strategies for marketing, changing the game for everyone else. They’re at the front of the wave and by the time everyone else realizes what they’re doing and jumps on board they’ve moved on to something else.

If you can’t be the first in line make sure you’re the second.

I obviously am not going to come up with every brilliant strategy in the world, so instead I chose to pay attention to the leaders and now I’m going to share how.

Step 1:

Everyone has heard of studying the masters. That’s exactly what I did. They all have email lists. JOIN THEM.

Step 2: Read the emails. You have to pay attention if you’re going to know what’s working now. Set aside time each day to read the emails of these masters. As you study the work they do you’ll notice how they trigger the impulse to buy.

Step 3: Follow the leaders.

When you study the marketing campaigns of leaders you’ll be able to implement those same campaigns in your business and stay ahead of the pack.

Research is the copywriter’s best friend. Even those who’ve been copywriting for decades still do research. They have to find out who their audience is, get inside their head, and give them what they’ll be interested in.

Luckily for you the research doesn’t  take nearly as long as it once did because there are many tools out there that now give you the numbers, the keywords, and provide answers quickly and easily.

Personally I don’t look at these until after I’ve written something. I don’t want the keywords getting in the way. That isn’t to say I haven’t done a fair bit of research in the market in the past, so placing the keywords after is nothing more than replacing a few words. If you haven’t done previous research I highly suggest doing all of it before even getting started, just don’t worry about packing your articles or sales letter full of keywords to begin with. It will show in the writing and the value of those pieces will go down.

Now on to these valuable tools:

1. Google’s Keyword Research Tool: This has more functionality and is more accurate than their External Keyword Research Tool. But if you just want to play around, go here:

   https://adwords.google.com/o/Targeti…AS#search.none

You’ll start to get a feel for it.

1. Market Samurai: This research tool focuses on RELEVANCY where Google does not.  You can get it here:  Keyword Analysis Tool – Market Samurai
2. WordTracker:  The sole purpose of this tool is to see what prospects are searching for as it relates to the natural questions they have about the subject. It’s essential as a part of my overall research.
   You can find it here:   keyword research tools for SEO, PPC, link building and blogging | Wordtracker
   
3. SpyFu.com: SpyFu
   
   What’s great about SpyFu is you can see (semi-secret) competitor AdWords campaigns and which words they are focusing on and which are converting for them. It’s a blessing in ultra-competitive markets.

These four tools can make all the difference. Whether you use one or all of them is entirely up to you.

Here’s one more thing to think about. Sometimes, it’s not the number of clicks which determines which keywords are “bell ringers”.

Sometimes, it’s finding “buyer keywords.”

For instance, a Client’s product may only be searched a few dozen times a month, but that’s a buyer keyword for sure. There may be less searches but the quality of the click is more relevant, and your conversion percentage goes up dramatically.

Again, the sole purpose for all these keyword tools in copywriting is to find out what prospects are searching for and the questions they have when they are searching.

Those questions will tell you what’s relevant.

Once you have this information, start to make long lists of words and phrases that will ring their bell. Then integrate your learning into writing the copy using the exact words your prospects would use.

Just remember, RELEVANCY is a big part of the copywriting, and when you’re using relevant research the sales copy almost writes itself.

It seems to be the trend lately to use videos in copywriting or in replacement of the sales letter. In many ways I can see why this is. You get the attention of those who would rather not read, and you bring more than a single sense into the selling process, which is good. Videos allow you to connect with people in a way that only being in person and speaking one on one can replace. They can also entrance you and make you listen for longer than you might read sales copy for.

I’ve found myself a few times sitting before one of them watching and wondering what it was about for nearly twenty minutes before they actually got around to telling me what the product was. They’d spent all that time telling me how the product could change my life.

Is it any wonder there are so many people watching them?

Videos don’t have to be nearly that long. Many times a short video introducing you allows them to place a face with a name and makes things more personal. These videos are no more than small clips that last no more than 2 minutes, and that’s on the long side, but they’re not going to sell your product. The sales video is.

Now I visit forums often and this very subject has come up many many times on different threads. The discussion generally goes something along the lines of “I hate sales videos.” When asked why they reply that they can’t skim through a sales video, which is kind of the point, and they don’t want to spend a lot of their time on something unless they know it’s actually going to be worth it.

To that I say they have a point.

Sales videos are a double edged sword. You’ll lose those who scan first then go back and read through the whole thing, but you may also gain those who would rather not have to read through a long letter. Think about it. When was the last time you actually read every word in a sales letter? Did you read it because the subject was interesting and helpful, or were you studying copywriting?

I’ve seen an ingenious way of getting around this sword, but I haven’t seen it done on many sites. The moment someone goes to the page their video begins playing, but just below the video there is the sales letter with the exact same wording as what they’re saying.

Of course the key is testing. What works for one product may not work for another. Test your pages, see which one sells more and go with that one.

Videos can be very useful and they often boost conversions, but not always. Finding out if they work for your product is up to you.

So many new copywriters and even some of the old ones run into a major problem that not only destroys their copy but makes it near impossible to make money. That problem is CONFUSION.

I can picture you at your desk, books and papers scattered over the surface, pdf files open and you begin to write your headline. You go through your notes, your swipe file, and look for something to borrow.

Then you go to the body of your copy and follow the same procedure until you have a piece meal work that doesn’t actually fit together and it SHOWS.

I can almost picture you sitting there OVERTHINKING every word, trying to put in every tip and trick you’ve ever heard about from your mentors, courses, and gurus.

STOP!!

You are already in copywriting overload. Putting together copy this way not only leads you to having copy that frankly looks like Frankenstein’s monster, but it leaves your reader confused and a confused mind always says no.

Calm your mind for a moment, stop thinking about everything that could possibly go wrong and think only of your product. What does it do? How does it help people? Why would they want it? When you know your product, or your clients product, as if you were a consumer then you can begin to write.

Forget about the tricks and just start writing as if you were talking to a friend. Everyone has convinced someone of how great a product is. It isn’t difficult. You recommend things to your friends all the time and they say “I’ll have to try that.” With copy it’s no different.

Do your thinking BEFORE you write and then GET OUT OF YOUR WAY.

Over analyzing the material while you’re writing will only slow the flow of the words and stop the progress of your sales letter.

Here’s 5 tips for writing successfully.

1. Writing is like building; lay the foundation then one brick after another…
2. The best writing is conversational…
3.  Connectors are crucial in eliminating confusion…
4.  The number of ideas that need to be in a paragraph should be an odd number and three is too much…
5.  The more you write the faster the confusion disappears from your writing.

Your first letter may not be stupendous, but it’s a beginning and everyone has to begin somewhere. If you are always analyzing you’ll enter analysis paralysis and never get anything done. You’ll never even start, and that is where the major problem lies.

Trust yourself to write. You know the product, you’ve done the research, you know WHY someone would want this product in particular. In essence you KNOW what you’re doing. Trust yourself to do it and you can take the raw talent and transform it into a masterpiece.