The late, Gary C. Halbert, is my favorite copywriting mentor. Not only was he ultra-successful but he could teach the art and science of crafting ad copy like nobody’s business.
One of the things I learned from Gary is the importance of making things easy on yourself. For example, let’s say you want to write an eBook on losing weight.
What should you do?
Should you study weight loss science? Should you spend years doing clinical trials? Should you roam the world looking for the perfect diet plan or diet pill? Well not really. Because there is a much easier way to access the most cutting edge weight loss science, clinical trials and new diet breakthroughs. Without doing all the work yourself. Curious? Then listen to this.
Instead of doing things the hard way, Gary would recommend you go out and buy the top selling books and ebooks on dieting. Then you clam up in your office or the library and read. While reading jot down notes. Lots of them. And take out all of the unique, exclusive dieting tips, tricks and secrets in each of those best sellers.
Then you take all that information and write your own dieting book including only the unique and exclusive stuff from each book. The stuff that does not overlap. What you are left with is a compact book on dieting with all the filler taken out.
Smart.
Gary also taught that you should do the same thing when writing ads. Especially if you’re in a hurry and need to bang out an ad… website letter… or whatever fast.
The technical term for this copywriting technique is called… swiping. And boy does it ever work! Gary even held an entire seminar on copywriting. The bulk of that seminar focused on how to swipe blockbuster ads ethically and legally.
Look, if you don’t want to become a top notch copywriter and don’t have time to learn all the formulas, etc. then swiping is the way to go. All you have do is learn how to do it right.
When you do, here’s what’ll happen as a result…
** You’ll eliminate writer’s block forever. Because now you’ll access a starting point for your ads. You won’t be guessing at what to write. The swipes reveal exactly what to write in your ads to make them effective and responsive.
** You’ll write promotions at warp speed. Swiping allows you to write faster. Again, part of the reason is because you won’t have to guess. You can look at a great ad and almost fill in the blanks with your copy.
** Your copy will be up to 300% more effective. Whenever you model success the odds of success are on your side. When modeling a successful ad you stand a much better chance of writing a winner.
The moral of the story is: start swiping.
Source by John Anghelache
