Category: Copywriting

THE BEST BLOG POST YOU’LL EVER READ

Posted on by Alastair Walton

A quick piece of writing advice:

The other day I saw an ad which claimed it could help me get a “better” body.

This really got my attention. You see, in this type of scenario, most copywriters would use the word “best” i.e. get the best body of your life in under 90 days, or something like that. But the reason why better is so much better, is because it’s honest and credible. Along with that, it sounds a lot more believable. After all, it’s a far easier to believe you can make something a little better, isn’t it?

Basically this claim seems possible and realistic.

The word better also sets up a comparison between your new and current body.

It creates the idea that by putting in the effort you can improve your body, and that this is actually achievable (by comparison, getting the best body isn’t necessarily under your control.)

The word best also has other issues.

For example, it’s difficult to prove.

(After all, how do you define or measure if something is actually the best – in a lot of cases you can’t.)

The word best also triggers skepticism. Why? Because it makes you sound arrogant. If I told you I was the best copywriter in the world, would you believe me? Probably not. On the other hand, if someone else said I was the best well…

…you’d at least consider it a possibility.

Alastair Walton

P.S. One more tip before I go. A lot of people use the word “most” without really thinking. For example, you might find yourself writing, “most people do X” i.e. most people brush their teeth at night. The problem is that you have no way of knowing if most people do actually do X. There’s no real way of proving it, is there?

This is why it’s always better to use the word “many” instead of most. There’s a simple reason for this. Many is a lot more believable, and also credible. Something else you should watch out for is the word “everybody.” i.e. everybody does X – obviously this isn’t true. Bottom line: avoid making statements that are difficult to prove and you should be okay.

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THE GREATEST COPYWRITING LESSON YOU’VE NEVER HEARD OF

Posted on by Alastair Walton

Today I want to give you one of the greatest copywriting lessons I’ve ever learnt.

This lesson is so simple, it will astonish you.

At the same time it’s so powerful, it could make you one of the most persuasive copywriters on the planet.

(This might be something you already know, in that case this will serve as a reminder.)

On the other hand, if you’re new to copywriting, this will make a great introduction.

This lesson is basically known as the direct response 40/40/20 rule. It simply states that 40% of your success is your offer, 40% is your list, and 20% is your copy. This is something that most newbie copywriters struggle to understand.

They think that copy is magic.

That becoming a word wizard is the key to success.

That it’s all about becoming the best and greatest writer of all time.

While this is true to a certain extent…it really isn’t the full picture.

You see, as I’ve just mentioned, the copy actually accounts for very little. What’s a lot more important is having a great offer that goes out to a great list. Get this part right and the copy really doesn’t matter. Even substandard copy will convert.

On the other hand, even the world’s greatest copy can’t help a bad offer to a bad list.

And that’s really the point I’m trying to make.

You see, no matter what you’re selling your prospects are buying your offer.

The better the offer, the greater the chances they will buy.

It doesn’t matter whether you’re selling tee shirts or a newsletter.

The offer is everything.

Here’s a great example of this:

I once read about a copywriter who was hired to sell a stock advisory service for an investing guru. This service combined subscriptions to all four of the gurus newsletters, plus additional stock picks and portfolio allocations. This service was going to be extremely expensive – $6776 a year! The copywriter came up with a brilliant offer. You see, the list they were selling to were already subscribers to one or more of these newsletters. So they decided to credit these people for these subscriptions. This is where the magic came in. If someone was already subscribing to these publications, they would get a credit of $11,294! As you can imagine this was a great hook. And this hook was used to great effect in the headline. Which turned out to be:

“Get $11,294 to cancel your subscription PLUS these services FREE”

I’m told this offer worked like crazy…and brought in millions in orders.

And it was all thanks to this great and believable offer.

That’s another important thing I want to stress.

The reason this worked so well is because people believed in it. What you have to understand is that no one buys unless they first believe. And boy did they believe. Readers could clearly see how it made sense to cancel their subscriptions…

…and get all 4 newsletter for FREE, just for joining this new service.

This was really the ultimate win-win offer.

And with an offer like this how could the reader possibly say no?

They couldn’t.

Alastair Walton

WHY ACTORS CHANGE THEIR NAMES

Posted on by Alastair Walton

Need help choosing a pen name?

Here’s some advice:

You see, Game of Thrones frenzy is sweeping the world again…

With the release of House of the Dragon millions of people have returned to Westeros.

I binged watched this series a couple of weeks ago and believe me, it’s worth watching (Far better than the abysmal final season of Game of Thrones.) After watching I started reading up on the actors and while doing this discovered something you might find interesting. One of the most compelling characters is Corlys Velaryon otherwise known as the “Sea snake.”

He’s played by British actor Steve Toussaint.

While reading his Wikipedia entry something jumped out at me.

Like many actors he changed his name after getting into the industry.

The reason why is simple.

The last thing you want is another actor with the same name as you.

(Which is basically what happened in Steve’s case.)

If this happens…well…it could cause a lot of confusion.  

And this contains a valuable lesson for marketers.

If you’re planning on writing a book, or starting a “guru business”, then it’s a good idea to check if anyone else is using your name. This is something you should always do…whether you’re using a pen name or your real name. Not doing this could cause problems down the road.

A good example of this is social media accounts.

If there’s a dozen people with your name and they all have Facebook accounts…well…that’s something you want to avoid. Not only that, this is especially important for SEO. Does someone with your name have a website which uses that name in the URL…are they ranked in Google? This could make it harder to hit the top of the search results.

Now, this might sound extremely simple, but it’s a big mistake which a lot of people make.

(Myself included.)

So, when choosing a pen name, make sure to first check if anyone else is using that name…

…and if they are, then pick something different.

See you later,

Alastair Walton