Saturday, January 31, 2009

Simple Copywriting Trick

By John Anghelache

The late, Gary C. Halbert, is my favorite copywriting mentor. Not only was he ultra-successful but he could teach the art and science of crafting ad copy like nobody's business.

Gary was all about leveraging resources to make life easy. For instance, imagine you decide to write a book about getting healthy and fit.

What's the best course of action?

Should you study weight loss science? Should you spend years doing clinical trials? Should you roam the world looking for the perfect diet plan or diet pill? Well not really. Because there is a much easier way to access the most cutting edge weight loss science, clinical trials and new diet breakthroughs. Without doing all the work yourself. Curious? Then listen to this.

Rather than doing things the old school way, Gary might tell you to go out and get the best sellers on health and fitness. Take all these books and start reading them. As you do so, write down notes in a notebook. Make sure to extract all the really juicy stuff readers would be hot read about.

Armed with this research you write your version of a health and fitness book. Only this book has all the great info from the other books you read. The exclusive details that bring value to your book. The end product is a book filled with the very best information on health and fitness.

Easy does it best.

This lesson applies to crafting promotions. You can shortcut the entire process and create great space ads... websites... and... other forms of advertising quickly.

The formal name for this strategy is... swiping ads. And it really does make it easier. Back in 1996, Gary taught a little bit about swiping during a seminar in Florida. The main focus of the seminar was on swiping great ads for your own promotions.

Look, if you don't want to become a top notch copywriter and don't have time to learn all the formulas, etc. then swiping is the way to go. All you have do is learn how to do it right.

Do that and you'll experience these benefits...

** Thing's like writer's block will no longer plague you. Everything you need to begin writing a great ad will be there in the swipe. Blundering your way through thinking about what to write won't be a problem either. The swipe contains everything you need.

** You'll crank out ads in record time. The swipe ad is there to help you write faster. You no longer have to figure out what to say to a prospect. Everything is there for you in the swipe.

** Your copy will be up to 300% more effective. Whenever you model success the odds of success are on your side. When modeling a successful ad you stand a much better chance of writing a winner.

So the idea is to build a swipe file and use it when creating ads. - 15275

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