I’ve watched this video probably a dozen times…

And it fires me up every time. Anytime I feel like I need to take another inch, anytime I feel like sleeping instead of doing what I need to be doing, I watch this video, and I’m right back on productivity mode…

Check it out, and let me know if it inspires you as much as it inspires me in the comments.

By the way, I’m not 100% sure but I think his name is Eric Thomas.

Peace,

-Scott

This is a case study of a project I worked on with Andy Fletcher a few months ago…

Andy and I had never met prior to this project; we were introduced through a mutual friend. Andy had an awesome SEO course that he wanted to bring to market, and he needed some help selling it.

The guy is an SEO genius, the product and software was solid, and it was a perfect fit for me…

There were a few problems… Andy had very little marketing experience and a very tiny list. I asked him how he planned to market it and he said “probably just a WSO (warrior special offer), I don’t expect it to be anything too big.”

I almost dropped Andy right there. A $27 WSO, even if it sold well, would take well over 100 sales to even cover my fee, let alone make any money for Andy… And I don’t take on a project unless it’s going to make me and my clients some serious money.

But Andy Had A Secret Weapon

In certain circles, Andy Fletcher is considered a genius at SEO… He’s always on the cutting edge of tools and techniques that send websites flying up to the top of the search engines…

He’s also got some very influential contacts in the business. Not to mention he’s a genuinely great guy and has a very magnetic personality.

So we devised a plan… We were going to make this thing a hit, and we were going to do it using the power of relationship marketing.

Andy had some major contacts in the industry… So after we decided that this product was going to be HUGE and not just a “little WSO” Andy paid my fee and I went to work.

Little Ideas Go A Long Ways

Andy has a very cool product. You can see it at Backlinkflood.com.

It’s an SEO product about getting your websites ranked higher in the search engines in the shortest amount of time possible.

I coined some terms like “Rapid Link Indexing”, “SEO 2.0”, “Underground Link Ninja”… But more importantly I covered all of the important aspects of the copy. I consulted with Andy about some minor changes to the product that I thought could help sales.

I created several different USP’s to use throughout the copy, from faster indexing of links to how to build “authority wheels” and answered many of the questions that people in this niche would like to know.

To be completely honest, this letter wasn’t perfect  (sorry Andy). It could have used some more punch in the bullets.

I had planned for videos to accompany his software so users could get a quick overview. That never happened…

And even though I tried to convince Andy otherwise, and encouraged him to test, I wasn’t a fan of the price point.

But it does go to show you that there’s no such thing as a “perfect” sales letter… But a “good” sales letter can still make you a nice chunk of money.

The Secret Recipe For Success

Here’s why Andy’s  product was a success…

Andy knew what his market wanted. He knew how to solve their problems.

Andy hired a professional copywriter (ahem) who is familiar with his market to handle his copy… He outsourced one of the most critical components in his marketing funnel, the sales copy itself.

I also wrote some emails for affiliates to use in promotion… Andy did an AMAZING job at making the site as enticing to affiliates as possible…

From the professional design, the professional copy, the tools…

He even offered a 15% second tier affiliate structure so that affiliates would be encouraged for other affiliates.

He worked with MiniSiteFrog.com for the design, they do pretty awesome work.

The REAL Secret To  Success

The real secret to Andy’s success was his ability to go out, create some amazing JV’s and drive some traffic to the offer.

The 10% conversion rate I mentioned? To be fair, it was only a few hundred visitors, and they came off of a previous SEO products buyers list.

You can’t get much more targeted traffic than that, these are people who have shown an interest in spending money to learn more about SEO.

The site did convert around 3.5% on “freebie” lists and 1.5%+ on cold traffic, so overall the sales page did its job well.

He also had other very good JV partners… In fact the product was featured at the top of the Warrior Forum for about 2 weeks.

Andy gave me permission to tell his story, but it’s not my place to tell you how much money this little project has made him… Although I DO know he was extremely satisfied and more than covered my fee.

Moral Of The Story

You don’t need to be a “guru” or have a huge list to make a lot of money.

Andy found a market and created a product that solved a problem for that market.

He spared no expense when it came to outsourcing the essentials, like copywriters (I like to call them conversion multipliers) and design.

He worked like crazy to create an awesome product and to go out and make things happen… He didn’t create the product, have a sales page designed and then sit around waiting for something to happen. He made it happen.

It was a simple product… But because he had specialized knowledge, because he didn’t half ass anything, he worked hard and spared no expense when hiring people who he knew he could count on for a great job, he was rewarded in the end.

Whether he made $1,000 profit or $100,000 profit is irrelevant…  He created something with his own 2 hands, went out and MADE it happen.

And you can do the same. This whole internet marketing stuff isn’t as complicated as it seems.

As a former client and good friend of mine would say “Just F’n Do It”.

Peace,

-Scott Murdaugh

P.S. Stay tuned for an AWESOME interview with one of the world’s greatest living copywriters (who I’ll reveal shortly)… It should be out early next week but you need to be subscribed to my newsletter to be able to hear it.

P.P.S. Do you want your next product to be a success story? Head over to ResultsCopywriting.com and we’ll figure out a way to make it happen.

I’m the first to admit that this is my biggest problem…

A few months into my freelance copywriting career, I became jaded. I had clients falling into my lap with hardly any marketing on my part, and I was earning enough money to be “comfortable”…

Don’t get me wrong, ALL of my clients get 100% effort out of me, but I’d lost some of my drive…

It used to be I’d get a new project and that same night I’d sit down, do some market research, and try to bang out a rough draft… I was EXCITED to be working on any new project that came my way.

Lately, it’s been more like “It’s not due for about a month… I’ve got plenty of time to get around to it.”

I’m not lazy. I’m human.

I’m also 27. I still run around with a lot of the same people I did in High school, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing, BUT it can kill my productivity… Why?

My best friend is a foreman on a roofing company… He makes good money for where we live, and he worked his ass of to get there…  And aside from grabbing a cold beer after work from time to time he’s one of the most responsible guys I know.

However my best friend is the exception… (And no offense to anyone who may be reading this).

Most of my friends are always wanting to go out and have some fun, even if it means staying out until 3am on a Tuesday night…

I love having fun, but my days of treating life like a full time party are over. So I’m going to slowly be cutting ties with a lot of these people, because they’re not helping me to become the person I want to become.

I’ve been doing some serious thinking about where I want to be a year from now, and I’m FAR from it at this point.

Here’s a few steps I’m taking to help me get there…

Identify Your Time Leeches… Here Are Mine..

Television: This is a big one for me. I’m not saying to give up your favorite shows, I have my fair share… I also record them on DVR so I can watch them on MY schedule, not the other way around. So if you’re not game for throwing out the “idiot box” completely, consider using DVR or even Hulu to watch your favorite shows on your time.

Video Games: I used to be an addict. Not as bad as some, but probably an hour or so a day. As much as it hurt to do, I sold all of my video game systems. I miss them, but when I’m at the point in life where I truly want to be, I’ll be able to afford them again… Until then I can’t afford the wasted time.

People: I’ve already talked briefly about cutting ties with those who aren’t helping my life. But I’m taking it a step further… Even for my clients I’m no longer going to be accessible 24/7… I’m not going to jump when my phone rings for anyone (I have voicemail for a reason) or return an email the second I get it… I will still communicate, but it’s on my terms.

Time Wasting Websites: Forums, Facebook, Twitter and others can be VERY helpful for your business… But only if you’re using them the RIGHT way… Browsing forums all day long can be addictive, but it doesn’t put much money in your pocket… For me personally websites like Digg.com and other fun but time sucking sites are on the “block list” on my computer. (To block sites, use Leechblock for Firefox (free).

How To Be Passionate About What You Do.

I mentioned earlier that when I’d get a new project, I’d lose sleep over how excited I was to get started… I think I’ve figured out how to spark that passion again.

Here are a few tips to help “light that fire”…

• Only take on projects, whether they’re your own or a clients, that get you EXCITED… The “I can’t wait to finish this, we’re going to make a TON of money” type of projects.

• Don’t take on more work than you can handle… I’ve been guilty of this in the past and nothing burns you out and kills your motivation like biting off more than you can chew.

• Only work with people you like…  I can’t stand negative attitudes, I want my clients and partners to be EXCITED about their projects… That energy and excitement is contagious.

• Set yourself an ultimatum…  “If I don’t earn $x in the next 2 weeks, I’m getting a part time job as a waiter for a month”… I don’t know about you but going back to a minimum wage job were no  one values your time and people treat you like crap is a pretty strong motivator for me.

• Set realistic goals that get you excited… New car, family vacation to Disney World, Backpacking trip across Europe… Ask yourself what you’d rather be doing more than anything else right now and use that as fuel for your fire.

I’ve been doing a lot of reading, most recently Kennedy’s “No B.S. Time Management” and Craig Garber’s new book “Make Maximum Money With Minimum Customers”… (non-aff)

They’ve both already inspired me…

Mainly, because I have a “magic number” that I believe an hour of my time should be worth… And if I’m not doing an activity that directly contributes to that “magic number”,  I need to STOP immediately and either get off of the computer or get back to work that directly puts money in my pocket.

I find that I work best when I write down specific daily goals on a checklist… I also estimate the time the goal will take, set a timer, and do nothing but work on that goal during the duration of that time.

I personally use The Action Machine (non-aff) but to be honest, aside from the reports and a few bells and whistles  pen,  paper and an egg timer works just as well.

Another VERY cool (and free) tool is Rescue Time… It tracks EVERYTHING you do on your computer, from the apps you have open to the websites you visit, and shows you some neat charts and graphs so you can see where you spend the majority of your time on the computer.

I HIGHLY recommend you grab this… It’s free and the information it provides about your work habits are extremely insightful.

If you can add one more PRODUCTIVE hour per day to you schedule, that’s 5 hours a week, or 20 hours a month…

If you value your time at $100 per hour that’s an extra $2,000 a month, and it’s not THAT hard to squeeze an extra hour of productivity out each day.

Your Time Is Your Most Valuable Asset…

Time is one thing money can’t buy, and you’re constantly running out of it… So you NEED  to use it as wisely as possible…

And if you set daily goals and schedules you’ll be A LOT more productive during your working time… So you can either make more money or spend your time doing something that you enjoy doing…

THAT’S freedom… I don’t know about you but that’s EXACTLY why I went into my business for myself. It’s the ultimate freedom.

Peace,

-Scott Murdaugh

When friends and family ask me what I do I usually give a pretty vague answer… Sometimes I say “I write for websites”… Sometimes I say I “help companies sell products online”… And those answers are true in  a sense…

So this is about what I REALLY do for a living, the good, the bad and the ugly…

I Don’t Get Paid To Write.

If you want people to assume you’re broke tell them you’re a writer.

There isn’t a business owner on this planet that goes to work and thinks “Hey, I’m going to throw a few grand down on a writer today…”

Business owners want to make more money. Period.

They don’t care if I’ve got a Pulitzer Prize (for the record, I don’t)…

They pay me to do one thing and one thing only. Make money.

I Get Paid To Sell.

That means I help with branding products, positioning products, identifying markets, consulting with clients on driving traffic and increasing conversions…

Ultimately I do write the sales copy… But that’s only one of many hats that a copywriter has to wear if they want to be successful.

I personally don’t even like the term “copywriter”… Technically a “copywriter” is a writer who writes sales material…

But a lot of people group that in with writers who do blog posts (This is the only blog I write for), articles, reports, things like that…

And those are two completely different worlds.

A REALLY good “content” writer can make about $50 for a 500 word article…

A REALLY good “copywriter” can pull $3k-$30k+ for one sales letter.

A quote I like…

“I have always believed that writing advertisements is the second most profitable form of writing. The first, of course, is ransom notes . . . .”

Philip Dusenberry, quoted in Eric Clark, The Want Makers: Inside the World of Advertising, 1988, New York: Penguin Books, p. 56.

99% Of People Don’t Need My Services.

I doubt I would have ever fallen into doing what I do without the internet… And my specialty, writing advertisements for online businesses, didn’t even exist until about 12 years ago.

Most small businesses simply don’t have the cash to cover my fee… A lot of businesses have no idea how powerful a winning advertisement can be…

Most people reading this have no reason to ever hire me… I understand that.

But for the RIGHT type of client, my service is one of the best investments that they can make…

I’ve seen, on numerous occasions, my clients go live with my sales copy and cover my (admittedly relatively high) fee with a single email blast… And go on to make hundreds of thousands of dollars using the copy I wrote.

Is Being A Copywriter Right For You?

Only you can answer that, but I’ll give you some things to think about…

Being a copywriter is 95% understanding SALES and 5% writing. I’m lucky, both of my parents are amazing sales people and I was thrown into the world of sales at a young age…

The definition of copywriting is “salesmanship in print”.

That means understanding psychology, knowing how to press emotional “buy” buttons, market research, driving traffic…

Having a way with words helps too. If you’re paying attention there are grammar mistakes all over this post. I use short sentences. Short paragraphs.  I use a lot of …. (which means “keep reading”)

That’s all by design… It makes things flow and easier to read.

There’s a rhythm you have to use to grab people’s attention, convince them to read your offer in the first place, and then ultimately buy whatever you’re selling.

I’ve been obsessed with this stuff for two years now, and I’m still constantly learning.

You Have To Be Able To Sell Yourself.

Before I freelanced for other people, I was selling my own stuff online.

I had proof that I could write a winning advertisement and sell a product. When I first started out, I thought $500 for a sales letter was good money. The thing is, it takes about 40 hours to research and write an effective sales letter.

When I started figuring out what works and getting some experience, I raised my fees considerably. When you watch a guy make $100k in 24 hours off of the sales pitch you wrote, it puts the value you’re providing into perspective.

Most of my clients now either come to me or are repeat clients. But that wasn’t always the case.

There’s a lot of competition. There are guys out there who will do my job for $200 (usually inexperienced copywriters, they’ll generally quit because they can’t sell or raise their fees when they figure out that they can.)

There are guys with years of experience who charge $10k to $100k+ for a single project… They can command fees like that because of their track record.

I fall into the middle. I’ve got a great track record, but I’m not as experienced as a lot of guys.

And you can’t just walk up to someone and say “Hey, I’ll write you a sales letter for $x,xxx…. Deal?” The sales process for copywriting is a very long and involved process.

It usually involves dozens of emails and hours on the phone… And it’s not uncommon to have a client waste hours of your time if you don’t prequalify them first.

You Write Your Own Paycheck.

That’s a double edged sword.

On the one hand, the people who do this job well, the best of the best, can become wealthy doing it.

On the other hand, it’s completely up to you to get clients… And if you can’t sell yourself you won’t make any money. Not having money is no fun.

On top of that you HAVE to put 110% into every single project you take on.  When you get to the level where people are paying you 4 figures or more, they expect sales… And if you don’t deliver word will get out fast.

But if you DO produce results, all you need is a small hand full of clients to keep you busy. Once you make them money once, if they’re putting out another product, they’ll be calling you…

Sometimes It’s Not Much Fun.

I work by myself, 40 hours a week, in my apartment.

I do get to interact with quite a few interesting people… I’ve got marketers who are household names on speed dial.

As I’m writing this I’m chatting with a world famous real estate investor on Skype…

I’ve built relationships that will help me out for years to come, and I never would have had those without being a copywriter.

Sometimes you’ll get a project that seems like you’ll NEVER be able to finish it… A couple of my least favorites in recent memory include ads for a hair care product for women and organic dog food.

Sometimes writing just sucks.

I’m flying through this post because I love the subject matter… But there are plenty of days where the last thing I want to do is sit and stare at a computer screen all day.

There are days where I’ll sit and stare at a blank page for hours and only come up with a couple hundred words of copy.

I’m not complaining though…

I wouldn’t trade this for anything in the world. I plan on doing a lot of traveling over the next couple of years, and although it’s been a long process to get to where I am now, I’m starting to make a name for myself, gain a little bit of recognition, and make some decent money.

The Grass Is Always Greener…

If someone told me a few years ago that I’d be working for myself from home, I would have been ecstatic…

Now that I am, I still think about getting a part time job or maybe a job at an ad agency because I miss the social interaction.

I think I’d go back to freelancing eventually though. Working my own hours is pretty nice, and ultimately I got into this more for the freedom than making money.

So even though I spend my working hours by myself, I get plenty of free time to spend with friends and family.

This Is A Temp Job.

It’s kind of funny.

I quit my job to market online… I never intended to be a freelance copywriter.

Once I started talking to guys who do it, I realized that this is my favorite part of the business… Coming up with the offer, creating the “big idea” that motivates people to buy…

And when I realized I could leave the product creation and all of the other “boring” parts to the client, and I could make a nice living doing the part I enjoy, that’s when I went freelance.

There’s a great deal of satisfaction when you see a client succeed with something you wrote. There’s also a little bit of jealousy… “Wow, he’s getting rich, why didn’t I just hire myself?”

And that’s exactly what I plan on doing this year.

I’m going to cut back on client work and focus on my own publishing company.

If you’ve got the ability to make money for your clients, it only makes sense to hire yourself…

Also, unless you’re charging royalties for your work (which I rarely do), you’re still effectively trading your time for money as a freelancer… You could be setting up automated income streams during that time so you do the work once and get paid over and over again.

Do You Have Any Specific Questions?

Do you want to become a copywriter, or even a freelance writer? Need help getting started? Finding clients? Learning the craft?

Ask anything you want to know in the comments, I’ll do my best to help out.

And if you want to make your next product launch a home run, check out what my clients are saying over at ResultsCopywriting.com.

Peace,

-Scott Murdaugh

With all of the gloom and doom recession talk, it’s tough to keep a positive attitude.

So here’s a little pick me up for you. You can have ANYTHING you want in this world, at least to a certain extent.

How so? Simple. Write a letter and ask for it!

Case in point, the late great Gary Halbert wanted to meet a woman… Not just ANY woman, the RIGHT woman for him…

So what did he do? He wrote full page ad (one of my favorites of all time) and he was flooded with responses, eventually meeting the woman of his dreams.

My dad owns a piano store, and he asked me if I thought I could sell some overstocked pianos via the internet… So I wrote a letter… And they sold.

A friend of mine desperately wanted a teaching job at a specific school. The competition was fierce, she was fresh out of College and up against many candidates who were a lot more qualified and experienced than she was…

So I wrote her a cover letter for free. Not your typical cover letter… A cover letter talking about her unique life experiences, the stuff that she could bring to the table, the enthusiasm and passion that she had for her work.

The result? Less than a week later she was hired.

Anytime I want to make money, I write a letter. Whether it’s selling a product, selling my services as a marketing consultant and copywriter, or selling a car…

If I wanted a job with a large marketing firm (I don’t) I’d simply write them a letter, show them my experiences, and I’d almost guarantee I’d be hired within a few days time.

Do you want to help out people who are less fortunate than you? Write a letter, pro-bono, for the charity of your choice.

And you don’t have to be a great copywriter to accomplish this (although it does help), you just have to understand human emotions and how to stir them up.

So the next time you’re stuck for money, or you want to take a vacation, or you want ANYTHING in this world to happen, write a letter.

The pen is mightier than the sword and the right words can move mountains.

Talk soon.

-Scott Murdaugh

P.S.  If you want an IMMEDIATE boost in your conversion rates check out my FREE guide “How To Increase Your Sales By 300% Or More In Less Than 5 Minutes”… You can grab it at the top right hand side of this page.

P.P.S. Do you  need an instant boost to your income? Head over to ResultsCopywriting.com for a FREE marketing consultation, you’ll be amazed at how much an outside perspective can completely transform your income and your life.