No one wakes up in the morning and thinks ‘hey, I need a financial newsletter’… So suggested Agora founder, financial newsletter publisher and legendary copywriter in his own right, Bill Bonner. We can go one further: no one wakes up in the morning and thinks ‘hey, I need to read a direct response sales letter’. Not even copywriters. (Hey, […]
Often the first few lines of a direct response sales letter are redundant. Sometimes, even the first few paragraphs are too. Look again at the opening of any sales letter you’re working on and ask if it would not be stronger to start a little further in. You see, when we start writing we are […]
I’ve just published a new book for Kindle… Buy This Now: A Beginner’s Guide to Direct Response Copywriting. Inside I’ve brought together ten simple rules that I recommend you follow when it comes to starting out in your copywriting career. This isn’t abstract stuff. It’s specific advice that you can apply to any copy you’re […]
I blame Dostoyevsky… Even his name is difficult to read. Is that even how you spell bloody Dostoyevsky? Who knows? Who cares? OK. OK. Yes, I accept – he probably was one of the greatest writers that have ever lived… And yes, his novels are deeper than a deep thing that’s very deep. But here’s […]
One of the most fundamental things you can do in a headline is to make a promise to the reader. In fact, it’s probably one of the most often used techniques when it comes to writing headlines for direct response copy. With financial copy I’m sure you’ve come across many headlines promising that if you […]
Are copywriters born? I’m not so sure. I have a different theory. More often than not it is chance – a strange series of events lead us towards the discipline. It’s what happened to me and it’s what happened for freelance copywriter, Alastaire Allday. For Alastaire it was the perfect outcome – having already worked […]
Pictures paint a thousand words, right? But when it comes to using pictures in a direct-response sales letter, a badly chosen image will more likely lose you a thousand sales. More often than not, in my own sales letters I tend to avoid using stock images altogether. After all, when writing long copy you’re really constructing a persuasive […]
When you walk into a classy restaurant you usually notice one thing before anything else… Sometimes, in fact, you don’t even realise you’ve registered it: it’s something that happens on a subconscious level. But the fact is, this seemingly minor detail can have a huge effect on your overall experience. I’m talking about a sense […]
You get an email telling you the good news… If you act in the next two hours, you can claim a £100 discount on so and so’s latest copywriting seminar. That’s great news. But is it the best way to promote that offer? Is good news always a good thing? Not necessarily. When it comes […]
You get an email telling you the good news… If you act in the next two hours, you can claim a £100 discount on Tony Owl’s brand new copywriting seminar. That’s great news – you love Tony Owl. But is it the best way to promote Tony’s offer? Is good news always a good thing? Not necessarily. […]