The Tale Of Web Copywriting – Part 2

Posted by admin

June 9, 2009

I have been busy reading and reading and more reading about copywriting. Now I am beginning to understand copywriting more and more and what it entails to become a copywriter. Like most copywriters, once you get into it, you can’t really stop.

Then you start to follow a guru style that you like best. For me, it was obvious : Jo Han Mok was one of the best I known. After going for one of his workshop, it was clear that this man is not only the real thing but he truly is creative and can write to save his life and everyone in his life perhaps… I think it was a worth every penny spent to have gone for his copywriting workshop. And the great thing is that he really really shared everything he knows. He has no secret little method that he won’t tell anyone… if you ask, he’ll tell you. It was from him that I knew about Dan Kennedy and some of the other great copywriters ( mostly from the direct marketing arena in the States ).

One important thing I learnt from all the reading is that you have to READ! A lot, every kind of books ( yes, even unrelated to your own industry ). Make your own swipes of good ads so that you can keep referring to them when you need to write a salespage or content etc. These swipe files really make it so much easier to write. It helps to trigger ideas too in my mind. To create this stock pile of useful swipe files, what I do is this :

1. Cut out those interesting ads and keep them in a file. I use a highlighter to highlight the parts I like. I try to categorise them based on niches like Weight Loss, Skin care, Hair, Cosmetic, Furniture etc.

2. I also create online swipes by using this great little Firefox add-on called : ScrapBook. It does what basically the name says, making scrapbook copy of webpages. ( it duplicates the entire page including the images etc ). This is good for keeping a copy of very good salespages, thankyou pages, squeeze pages etc as most of these pages won’t always be around all the time.

3. Buy collection of swipes from copywriters like Johan. Try signing up for his recent product called Swipe This Letter Membership of which he shared his vast collection of all his personal ads with members. Plus the cool thing is that you can sign up for a mere dollar for a full 30days. Believe me when I say this is worth every penny – some of the ads he shared are literally no longer found anywhere. Do check it out, it has prove quite valuable to me so far.

Here’s a list of great copywriting related books that I have read or am reading now :

Do share other good copywriting and marketing books with me too!