So many people are asking themselves — how exactly do I make money online?
The answer to this question can go off into many different directions. However, all the directions stem from practicing and perfecting one specific writing skill that many people overlook:
Copywriting
There’s a reason there are so many websites, posts, classes and videos preaching the skill — because it brings in the dollars.
Think about it: you’ve been able to influence a decent sized audience and you’ve leveraged this reoccurring audience into a viable email list; but you still haven’t seen any dollar-signs as a result of this painstaking word.
It’s probably because you expect the content do to the job of the copywriting…
(And no, a greater volume of content does not compensate for a lack of strategic persuasive copy.)
- If you don’t have enough sign-ups for your email list — the answer is copy.
- If you don’t have enough sales for your ebook or course — the answer is copy.
- If you don’t have enough downloads of your weekly podcast — the answer is copy.
- If you don’t have enough clients for your business — the answer is copy.
- And if you’ve been running ads but you still aren’t making money — yeah, you still have a copy problem.
Copy is the transformation catalyst for your audience
Copy is what takes your audience from State A (they don’t know who you are, they grazed over your content and might show some viable interest) and transforms them over to State B (they enrolled into your email list, purchased your product, shared your posts and become a passionate and loyal fan).
Sometimes I get pretty fed up with the internet (and perhaps you get fed up with me) who are talking about the latest and greatest strategies involved in getting people to take action.
I want to let you in on an epiphany I’ve come to realize: all of these strategies actually work!
The rub, however is if you are to enroll and practice all of these various marketing strategies without actually understanding the foundational aspects of copy, it’s like you’re outlining the next great space expedition without first understanding how to get your rocket out of the Earth’s atmosphere…
Instead of looking to first get intergalactic — take a few moments and learn to see the broader picture.
At the most basic level, there are three key facets to all pieces of content you are going to put out:
- Know exactly who the ideal reader is,
- Know what promise you’re making to them, and
- Know your piece contains all the key information required to deliver on the promise.
If you aren’t clear on these parts yet, you might want to take a step back and reevaluate your content generation…
When you understand your audience — it’s time to persuade
Once you truly get an understanding of the people who have been sharing your posts, giving you upvotes and subscribing to your list you can start to think about transforming their State from A to B.
This is about creating transparent, ethical communication that illustrates to your followers how they are going to approach, and overcome the issues you are promising to help them overcome.
This is focused, clear, and respectful communication with a persuasive intent.
In Layman’s terms — Copywriting.
Surefire way to learn introductory Copywriting
In writing this piece I came to the point where I was having difficulty finding the way to illustrate how I honed my skill with copywriting.
SPOILER ALERT: I’m not trying to persuade you into buying something of mine or enrolling into a course.
I didn’t want this to turn into some meta article that illustrated and educated you on copy in order to get you to purchase something from me.
I don’t want to do that with this article.
So in lieu of looking for help in illustrating this education, I stumbled upon an article by the writer and blogger, Mike Kim.
I think he puts it succinctly how I learned to write copy (along with basic classes and copious research). As Kim puts it,
“Here’s what you do:
Grab a notebook
Grab a pen
Find a top-notch sales letter
Copy the entire letter by hand using the notebook and pen
Repeat step #4 five times. That’s right, five. 5x. Cinco.”
I reflected this on my own education.
For almost two years now, in conjunction with creating my own content and helping over 1,200 people learn how to leverage their content writing on their blog into a massive viewership and financial income — I have also signed up for and enrolled in my fair share of education programs.
Through joining those programs, my email inbox receives and constant flow of “pitching emails.”
These emails are coming from other bloggers, content creators, and businesses who are looking to pitch me and persuade me with the excellentcopy in their titles as well as the body of their emails.
I took note on the emails that I actually paused and clicked on.
I figured — shit… I’m a smart guy — if this person was able to convince me to click, surely they are doing their job as a copywriter.
I created a “swipe folder” within my email and collected all of the well written copy I was receiving.
I use this copy as a blueprint for my future articles and emails that I send to my followers.
This — I have found — is a fundamental and basic way of improving your skills as a copywriter.
From there, there are always courses and research you can further do to hone your skills and become a Master Persuader.
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