How to be a copywriter – A newbie guide
26 Nov
Sooo many people want to work at home, and they immediately start searching for “business ideas” or “consulting ideas” they can do.
One of the highest paid and easiest (in terms of equipment needed) services you can do is copywriting.
Essentially you type out words on a laptop from anywhere in the world….and people pay money for it (often A LOT of money since you’re helping improve conversion rates of businesses….which obviously makes them a lot of money).
Copywriting is useful for consulting, but it’s ESPECIALLY useful (and profitable) if you already own a business.
You can see my 1st success with copywriting here.
Password is: MonkeyWhale
So after becoming a Q-level celebrity from my 1st KopywritingKourse, I get this question allll the time:
How should I begin learning about copywriting??
If they have money…. I tell them to first watch my KopywritingKourse.
If they’re poor….. I give them this free advice:
I always give people these two pieces of advice to get started. It’s certainly what got me on the right path.
If they ever ask me follow-up questions about copy, I immediately ask if they took my advice.
If yes, I’ll try to help.
If no, I tell them to go back and do it. It’s a waste of time for me to personally re-teach them this stuff….especially if they haven’t even taken the effort to learn it themselves.
Watch the video, and take the advice. It’ll be good introductory material for you to start of 2013!
Sincerely,
Neville – A Kopywriting Kelebrity
By the way…..if you have a friend who could use this advice, can you send them this video also? Thanks!
Great advice Neville. I’m hand writing performing ads now and I own the book by Sugarman. Will definitely print the Boron Letters soon. Thanks man. Keep rockin’ !
Definitely print them out….I’ve got a huge stack of them next to my bed!
Hi there–this is just what I needed! Thanks so much.
Big project to complete tonight so I’ll be printing “The Papers” tomorrow morning first thing.
Read the Boron Letters slowly and take notes. It’ll likely take more than one night!
Kick Ass advice, I’m going to follow it and take over the world with mad copywriting skills.
Nice, good luck New Overlord!
Another Awesome post Neville! i’ll go print them out today, i have a bunch of swipe files of Gary Halbert’s ads and sales letters on my google docs and hand wrote them out on paper for 21 days while reading Scientific Advertising by Claude Hopkins 7 times. all documented on my blog. thanks for the recommendations Neville!
Excellent…..now make sure you’re also writing your OWN stuff too. Learn from the masters!
Great post! I have studied copy writing off an on for over 20 years now – Dan Kennedy, Jay Abraham, etc. and I really enjoyed your post. I had heard of Gary Halbert but had not read much of his writings. Upon your recommendation, I read all of the Boron letters. They were not what I expected but I really enjoyed reading them. I loved the fact that he was passing on his wisdom and life’s knowledge to his teenage son. You are so right about these letters. They are a gold mine of marketing and business wisdom. I am going to go back and re-read them again with a highlighter. I already found some immediate applications in my business. Have you read the secret Mr. X book about Jay Abraham and his marketing wisdom? It is a marketer’s dream textbook/bible. Keep up the great work Neville. I have read most of your blog posts and I am extremely impressed. You are also a great public speaker. Cheers!
I have actually skimmed through Mr. X……but currently I’m reading Jay’s other book “Getting all you can out of what you’ve got”
….pretty damn great so far. Taking lots of notes and getting ideas left & right!
Thanks for reading, and let me know if I ever start to suck :-)
When I get suggested something more than a few times, it means I DEFINITELY should try it.
Me vs The Boron Letters. It begins tonight.
Thanks Nev
YES….you won’t regret it. You’ll learn about life, business, and copy. Definitely won’t regret wasting the paper & ink cartridge on it!
Hey Neville, as usual top notch stuff!
I have a question… How would one start emailing a list of 9000 people who opted in during checkout but have never received an email?
I know thats a loaded question! Sorry! Im just getting my first copywriting gig because of your kourses! :-) Im just nervous about sending out the first email this weekend.
Best,
Camron
….you just start emailing them with great information or new offers they might like. Don’t be too nervous about that part, just send em something!
Thanks, will definitely check these out!
I gotta say, I think you’re video persona is even better than your writing persona. After a week that video has about 1500 views, but I won’t be surprised if you get a lot more.
You definitely need to be YouTubing more!
Thanks again!
Thanks Mike!
I actually have a lot of fun making the videos…..and I think they engrain the lessons in people’s head better.
Thanks for the ego boost :-)
Hey Neville, first of I’ve watched every video of you and noah at least 5 times each, you guys are everything I aspire to be – serial entrepreneurs who have a zest for life and fun while creating things people really value. I just printed the Boron letters soak them up as best I can. I’m trying to cut my book spending down so Im going to hold off on buying sugarman’s book but I have the free pdfs of Breakthrough advertising, Scientific Advertising, Jay Abrahams Stealth marketing and a few other ebooks. Can I get away with reading one of these instead or should I purchase Sugarman’s book? Also I have been a wantrepreneur for 2 years now I’m hoping I can finally graduate to entrepreneur after studying up on this. Any help is appreciated I follow your advice like pastors follow the bible
disregard the latter, your vid was kick ass and Ill just read scientific advertising then breakthrough, Ill get sugarmans book for christmas :P
Wow, this is FANTASTIC ego-juice for me :-)
I’ve been in reactive mode for nearly the past two years just hoarding every book blog and video I could find that ranges on a numbers of topics from personal development, to psychology, finance, and now copywriting. By far copywriting seems to be the most useful skill I could ever begin fostering.
My problem is ideas. In the Boron Letters Gary advises his son to become a student of markets and learn what others are buying. He tells his son to go through the SRDS for ideas and comes up with some ideas on the fly for and info product for real estate investment. This just seems too easy.
I don’t know what I can do proactively to be a student of a market, listening to what problems they have and coming up with solutions that way. Noah advised go on craigslist and amazon for ideas which I’m doing but nothing has come of it yet. I don’t mean to rant, I just feel like I’m in a rut and not making any real progress towards a business when you and Noah talk about all these little things you started in college. Maybe all this stress is limiting my awareness to opportunity and creativity to come up with solutions to problems.
Sorry if this is vague, I’m just in a place of desperation.
“This just seems too easy”
….what are you talking about??
Have YOU gone through and done it yet? If not, don’t call it “too easy” just yet!
What have you done on Craigslist? It’s hella easy to get gigs there…..show me links that you’ve put up.
I advertise my own detailing service on craigslist from time to time so I can’t honestly say I’m plowing through the ads on there looking for the quick bucks. I want to build web apps. If your saying I can find ideas for web apps on craigslist then I’ll milk it for all it’s worth. I want to create a product so i don’t have to go give my time to some gig. Products are more scalable obviously. Is there a way to eliminate the guess work in finding what people are having issues with that I can create a product to help with (be it software or an info product; as long as its solving the problem). Steve Blank says to go talk to your customer (im currently emailing home integration businesses) which is probably the best advice I’ve heard but neglected to act on with as much gusto as I’d like.
Idk, I’m sorry for rambling on. I’ve sunk so much time into learning I haven’t done anything proactive to find a need, something unique. I just paid $1800 for a membership to The Foundation so I’m hoping that lights a hot enough fire underneath my ass to get me moving.
Having read some stuff from Kennedy and of course having gone through your Kopy Kourse, going through the Boron letters is amazing! I get to see how one of the legendary masters constructs a letter that is effortless to read and gets you convinced to take action after reading it!
Here’s a tip. I was able to print them off, duplex, on my printer. Took the print outs to Staples and was able to get them spiral bound with a clear front cover and black backcover for only $5. It is literally like a book now.
I can hardly wait to get started on the Sugarman book! Great advice Neville!
Just printed out all 25 of The Boron Letters! Probably killed a baby tree with this huge stack of paper!
Thanks for the recommendation Nev, as soon as I’m done reading this I’ll go grab the Advertising Secrets book too!
cheers!
- Chris
I’m only half way through my first reading of the Boron Letters and I’ve scribbled on most of the pages. Best “Newbie Advice” I’ve seen.
But… I don’t recommend anyone read these letters before they go to bed.
I’ve just read half. And it is time for my bed now. But I’m writing Neville this “thank you” comment. And I have some other ideas I need to jot down based on the Boron Letters. So I can’t go to bed yet.
Do read these letters. Just don’t expect to go to sleep on time.
Thanks Neville. Great advice.
Alan
HA! You’re right……when I 1st started reading The Boron Letters I couldn’t sleep till about 6am everyday because I was so a-buzz with ideas!
Every markerter and or copywriter especially those in direct response (Online or otherwise) should also read Cashvertising by Drew Eric Whitman, by far the best IMHO.
Good video Nev.
Gary Halbert was a terrible guy who was thrown in jail for stealing (he took orders, but never shipped the items).
He actually wrote the Boron letters from jail. Why would anyone listen to this guy?