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Style elements (bold, italics etc)

Using bolds, centering, bullets, numbers, underlines, italics, ……’s You can write however you want, but here’s some practices I personally use with success:
  • The more like an editorial piece, the better (like a newspaper column)
  • Keep the text width really small. 550 pixels-wide maximum.
  • Use bolds or underlines if you would SPEAK something with emphasis.
  • Use centering to exaggerate something.
  • Use quotes from famous people that relate. Center and italicize them.
  • Use bullets to show lists of interesting things.
  • Max 2-3 sentences per paragraph to keep it reading fast.
  • For page flips….say stuff like, “Ok, but that’s not the best part…..”
  • Use P.S. and P.P.S. to summarize or make sure they take an action.

Subject Lines (3 methods)

Subject lines are used to get your prospects attention.
It doesn’t matter if you have great copy if they never OPEN the email or READ the first sentence. Grab them in with a catchy subject line… ….but CAUTION: Don’t use a totally random line that doesn’t relate to your story at all. If you say in an email subject line, “YOUR MOM JUST DIED” ….they will click it, but get very angry and turned off when you start saying, “Do you need new email marketing software??” Here’s three different ways to write good subject lines (pay particular attention to the last one):

“Heard it off the street” Method

Step 1) Make a chart like this on a piece of paper:
Step 2) Under the “Something you heard” section, brainstorm some things that if you heard them passing someone on the sidewalk, you’d stop and go “Errrgghh!!??” Examples:
  • I dropped $700 like 10 feet from here….
  • My dog shat out a $100 bill today….
  • I couldn’t believe my daughter made $300 from her phone today….
  • My brother was bald but then his hair grew back…..
Step 3) Under the “What you’re selling” section, write what you’re selling. Example we’ll use: Selling an HTML5 programming course Step 4) Take the best lines, and pair them together:
Step 5) Combine them together to make mini-stories (watch the video for examples). Step 6) Use your new-found “catchy-mini-stories” as either subject lines or opener lines to get people’s attention.

Short Copy vs. Long Copy?

Which one to use?

Let’s write a REAL letter!

You can watch in real time as I create a full email. In my opinion, watching me write this letter is fascinating AND boring at the same time. Watch as a full (high-converting) sales letter is created in 10 minutes. I’d suggest watching in full-screen, perhaps skip-around if too slow for you: So in about ten minutes we created a real sales letter here in real time! Cool huh! Here were the steps taken:
  • Go to docs.google.com (here’s a sample template to follow)
  • Create a new Document
  • Make a 500 pixel-width table (roughly)
  • Make everything size 12 Arial font
  • Write out 4 subject lines
  • Write out ATTENTION INTEREST DESIRE ACTION
  • Fill in the table with the AIDA material
  • Add some P.S.’s if necessary
Here’s the exact text we ended up typing out together: Subject 1: Need to write better? This KopyKourse will help.
Subject 2: Does your writing suck-butt? If it does, this will help.
Subject 3: Good copy increases conversions by 110% in this example….
Subject 4: Groupon relies heavily on WORDS. Learn the tactics they use.
Do you write plain-as-vanilla boring copy? You know you do if…..your email list barely responds, or doesn’t buy. Are you guilty of Krappy Kopy? This kopy kourse has taught hundreds of people how to write better…..and by BETTER, I mean MAKE MORE PROFITS FROM EMAILS. Here’s how it does it: Teaches you that writing “plain” copy….SUCKS. Even writing expletive-filled and sexual innuendo copy will outperform the best BOROOOOROORORROING copy. (Ya see how that got your attention)? By the end of this course, you’ll know some of the deepest-darkest secrets of good copy, like these:
Short copy vs. Long copy. Which one’s better?
Should you use curse words in copy?
Where you should use bullet points….that entice people to buy.
Why 90% of people writing copy SUCK AT IT….even if they have an English degree. So if you have a website with an email list…..or send emails to ANYONE…..or even write copy for websites, read my Chapsticked lips: THIS—-COURSE—–IS——4——-YOU You will become a KOPY PRO within 15 short videos. This kourse kondenses all the materials learned from the top copywriters since the 1920’s direct mail era. The technology has changed, but the principles have remained the same. You’ll be writing emails that convert at least 50% higher (and most of my tests have usually been MUCH more). So this sounds up your alley kind fella? Then here’s whatchya do to start taking this Copywriting Course:
  1. Click the “buy now” button below.
  2. This will take you to a PayPal payment page.
  3. Enter in your credit card details and press “PAY”
  4. PayPal will confirm your purchase for $197.00
  5. You will immediately get an email from us with your personalized password to the members area.
  6. You start getting better…correction…OOMMGGGG SSOOOO much better….at writing copy.
BY THE WAY…this course is closing THIS MONTH on the 19th….after that, kiss it goodbye Johnny. So hurry and get it now! Sincerely,
Neville Medhora – Kontent Kopywriter P.S. If you’re having second thoughts about paying $197…..I offer a full 90 day money back guarantee. If FOR ANNNYYY REASON you don’t like the course. Email me with the subject line “Return” and the money will be promptly refunded back to your account the next day. P.P.S. If you consider how much money you will make from the improved conversion rate…..$197 is such a tiny drop in the bucket.

A real life example

The great Andrew Warner (of Mixergy.com) asked me to show some real examples of taking boring copy and making it GOOD copy: Transcript from video:
You did it. But here’s WHY you registered for Stem…maybe you can relate to this situation: I was shooting an email to a prospective client. I barely know this guy. I’m not even sure if he’s married or has kids. I needed SOME way to get a “hahahaaa!” out of him because he gets a bazillion emails a day from guys just like me…and I really need to grab this guy’s attention. My boss is two inches away from bitching me out if I drop another potential. I just installed the STEM App on my email, so I clicked it. Right there it pops up the weather in this guy’s time zone…it showed I’d emailed him twice before a year ago…it pulled his Facebook info and showed me his picture with his FAMILY! He does have kids! I banged out a a great email that grabbed his brain because it was about HIM…and he must’ve thought we’d met in the past because he was like, “Ooohhh, hey man. Good meeting you before…was it at a conference?” HAHAHA! Stem saved my ass in this situation simply because I “kind-of” knew enough to write something interesting. And this is ONE example of how I cashed in directly from Stem. Watch this 2 minute (literally) video of what else you can profit from right away by using it: See the 2 minute video showing how to turn “I-barely-know-you’s” into clients HERE. Matt Reed, Founder P.S. Since you such an early-bird to Stem…I’m giving you 20% off the first YEAR. Use coupon code ‘miraclegrow’ on the signup page. The code expires in 4 days, or whenever 100 people redeem it (which is gonna be pretty fast)…so use it now. First come, first serve!

Another real life example

This is an email my friend was sending to reporters, and how a little “sprucing up” and “changing his mentality” about what he wrote completely changed the results: His first email:
Hi so so and so, I just read your fantastic article, “Treats without calories? Imagine that,” and I wanted to introduce myself to you, and my company, because based on your experience, I think, you might also be interested in what I do. My name is Adam Gilbert and in January of 2007, I quit my full time job to pursue my passions of health and fitness, helping people and married it with entrepreneurship to create my dream company; MyBodyTutor.com. My belief is that the key to getting the body we want is about 3 things. Eating right. Exercising. And doing those two things consistently. Unfortunately, it’s the consistency part that’s so hard. It’s just too easy to make excuses and even easier to rationalize those excuses. What makes MBT so special is that not only do we tell our clients exactly what they need to do to get the body they want – but we make sure they’re actually doing it day in and day out via our service. After all, what good is ANY diet, even if it’s the “perfect” one, if we can’t stick with it? MBT helps our clients actually stick with it! Every night our clients are required to log on to our website and tell us what they ate and did for exercise. And then every morning, our clients get expert personalized feedback with a critique, suggestions and encouragement from their very own tutor to make sure they’re sticking with it. Our proven program and methods have helped 100’s and 100’s of people throughout the US and world of all ages, sizes and shapes. And it’s extremely exciting because I truly believe (and know) we can help anyone! I’d love for you to check out MyBodyTutor.com. to see all of our success stories and learn more about what we’re doing. I’d also like to invite you to try out my service because I think you’ll immediately see how powerful daily and personal accountability can be. I look forward to hearing back from you! Thanks, -Adam —
Adam Gilbert
Chief Body Tutor
MyBodyTutor, Inc.
Here’s a draft I wrote for him (notice the whole shift in mentality):
Hey sexy Christy (I saw your picture from the NYTimes article….DAYMN)! I can see why you write fitness articles ;-) I don’t normally do this, but I have a major problem with your article. I’m going to call you out and say it was misleading. I know “Treats without calories” makes a good headline and the editing department “geniuses” probably had something to do with it…. ….but do you think it REALLY helped anyone? I bet all the overweight women who read this article probably thought, “OMG I can eat all the sugary-sh*t I want and still lose weight!” I used to write articles for news outlets too…and I understand the weird ways your article gets morphed into this kind of crap. Let’s be honest, these articles often don’t help anyone. BUT…..enough dissing you Christy, I wanna help. Ms. Sexy Christy, what do you say I help you write an article? You can even take full credit for it. I want to give my writing muscle some exercise. I’ve got 3 articles 98.5% done, all which use my 1,200+ successes of making fat people thin. I’ve got a few articles ready which you can write about….see if any give your brain a boner: -"Why your fat friends HATE when you lose weight" -"3 tips to start controlling your weight by TONIGHT." -"My mom lost 32 lbs without going on a diet". Email me back and I’ll send you the full article of your choice. Use it any way you want. Thanks for your time Christy
-Adam P.S. If you take me up on this, I will skip my mother’s birthday to have it ready by ANY TIME YOU ASK (Ok, I won’t skip her birthday….but It’ll be done really damn fast) :-) P.P.S. If you want to talk instead of jib-jab over email, give me a ring. Adam Gilbert: xxx

OK smarty, but what if my company doesn’t let me “write funny”

Here’s some examples of “non-funny” writing that STILL gets the point across much better. Think Williams Sonoma high end cookware can’t be interesting? Think again. An Eddie Bauer wrinkle-free shirt? Once again….it can definitely be made interesting without “writing too wacky”. FYI, here’s the little javascript trick I used to edit the browser.
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