Tag Archives forCopywriting

Can Bonuses Actually Hurt Sales?

I spent the first half of 2017 on a massive project: Launching The Complete Software Developer’s Career Guide, written by my business partner, John. Overall the launch went great—we hit #2 on all of Amazon for non-fiction (actually it was #1, since we only lost out to a John Grisham novel that was *ahem* completely […]

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The case against testing headlines

Recently I shared the results of an interesting study. A group of researchers looked at hundreds of A/B tests for ecommerce stores, and basically validated what experienced copywriters have said for generations: Don’t waste your time fiddling with cosmetics. Test big things like your guarantee or adding customer testimonials. In response, reader Karl points out […]

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7 Questions For Copywriting Client Interviews

Whenever I start a new marketing project, whether it’s a consulting gig, a project for a client in my freelance days, or sponsorship or affiliate deals for Simple Programmer, step 1a is: Conducting an interview. Preferably with the founder of the business, or else someone who has day-to-day contact with customers. I used to get […]

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Do You ‘Need’ A Different Sales Funnel For Each Product?

I’ll be the first to admit it— The way I run the email list for Simple Programmer is WAY more complex than most businesses need. Multiple email courses, behavior-based automated triggers, segmentation… Most people would do much better to take a simple approach. Just how simple? That’s what subscriber Javier is pondering: If you have […]

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Confessions of a Compulsive ‘Word Hoarder’

In college I had this problem whenever I went to write a paper. The professors would always assign some arbitrary length—”10 pages, double spaced.” Invariably I’d be working on my draft, and around 8 pages in I’d slam into a wall. I’d covered all my points, said everything I wanted to say. Where on earth […]

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5 Tips for Writing Emails When You’re Short on Time

Subscriber Chad recently took the plunge and signed up for CopyHour (excellent decision—I’m sure he will not regret it). However… He now finds himself in a time crunch: Josh — Loving CopyHour. But, my daily email efforts are a mess now. I’ve got ideas whirling and I’m off message and letting too many typos slip […]

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Away From Pain Or Toward Pleasure: Which Is Better?

One of the most frustrating things when you’re learning a new topic is all the conflicting information and advice you hear. Occasionally the conflict arises because the information is just BAD. Based on myths, junk science, political agendas, what have you. More often though, the problem is that a particular piece of advice works SPECTACULARLY […]

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How to Capture Attention with a Winning ‘Sales Argument’

I just wrapped up a product launch at Simple Programmer. This project had a couple of unique twists to it. For one thing, I was NOT the one writing most of the copy. Instead I was “copy chiefing” a software developer and (relatively) new copywriter named Dan. Then there was the topic of the course […]

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From Reluctant Marketer to Confident Copywriter

This is a story about my longtime buddy Derick. Like me, Derick is a software developer and entrepreneur. He runs a website called WatchMeCode, where he sells screencasts about software development. There’s something you should know about Derick: He is without a doubt the most RELUCTANT marketer I’ve ever met. When I first got to […]

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Avoid this ‘Email Neutering’ Mistake

Continuing yesterday’s theme of “pummeling my best students”… Here’s another tip I gave Jason on his “learn to build 3D games” course launch emails. (Jason’s officially at least a brown belt at this now, so he can take it.) The fourth or fifth email in his launch series tells the “origin story” of his product. […]

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Avoid This Common ‘Dead Fish’ Email Opening Line

Check this: One of my students from the 4-week email copywriting workshop I taught last fall, a software developer named Jason, is launching his first product now (a course on 3D game development). He’s been giving me blow-by-blow updates, which I’ve enjoyed immensely. He’s kicking butt with his launch emails too— Until, that is, he […]

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Should Your Copy Skew ‘Negative’ or ‘Positive’?

Nobody likes a Debbie Downer, amirite? So why, asks subscriber Ant, did I often use a negative angle in my copy? Quoth he: When you created the ‘5 Learning Mistakes’ email course, did you think about making it positive rather than negative and if so, what was the reason you went with negative? i.e. 5 […]

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How To Stop ‘Sales Page Skimmers’ Cold In Their Tracks

Circling back on something I hinted at yesterday: There are a couple of techniques you can use to keep people from “skimming” your sales pages and emails—encouraging them to read every word instead. Last week I spent an hour or so watching screen recordings of prospective customers reading one of my sales pages. Multiple times […]

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6 Lessons From A Sales Page ‘Peeping Tom’

Earlier this month I flew out to balmy San Diego for the Traffic & Conversion summit, put on by Digital Marketer. I returned with a mild sunburn, and a hefty list of ideas and to-dos. One suggestion I had to try out right away came from marketing whiz Perry Belcher: Make screen recordings of your […]

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Why I Don’t Do ‘Autoresponder’ Emails

Another question from last week’s multi-email “half-marathon”: Josh – is this email part of a campaign or do you write broadcasts? Also, do you batch write your daily emails? Or write daily? I get this one a LOT, often from subscribers who’d written in with questions and were excited that I’d answered them “on the […]

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Should You Use Multi-Part “Soap Opera Sequences” In Your Email Marketing?

Last week’s 4-part “mini-series” on outsourcing your marketing generated some fun reactions—including several good questions that I’ll tackle over the next few days. Here’s one from a reader named Dana: Oohh…The suspense. Loving this email series. Because I totally resonate and agree with what you are saying. Some other “experts” are always saying to outsource […]

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What Types Of Stories Should You Tell In Your Emails?

Got two emails recently that I wanted to share. The first email is about a sales page I wrote where I told a story about a frustrated developer that I called “Mike”: I told a friend of mine about what you guys were doing. So they checked out your site and your “learn anything” product. […]

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From Frustrated Rookie to Competent Copywriter

One of the quirkier hobbies that I’ve gotten into over the years was hand-crafting knives and straight razors. (Yes, the kind you shave with.) When you ask an experienced “bladesmith” how they make such beautiful razors, you’re likely to get the following response: Well, you start with a hunk of steel, and you grind away […]

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