The copy is what stands between the product and the money. that’s why copy is the greatest skill of ‘em all.

Many have told me that marketing and advertising is one area you don’t want to skimp but I really have no choice. There must be low cost or free solutions that work at least a little bit. I’m convinced of it. So my adventure begins….

I’ll do my best to help out.

1. No one, not me, you or Kennedy hits a home run every time. Most marketers should know this.

That’s why I don’t write for clients who are up and coming… Because if they’re taking out a second mortgage to cover the copywriting fee that’s too much risk for them and too much stress for me.

Second, I’m really picky about what I’ll write for. I turn down a lot of work just because I’m not comfortable with it. FYI, the worst performing letter that I ever wrote (to my knowledge) was in the dog health niche. That’s just a tough market, the buyers aren’t desperately looking for a solution.

I know the feeling when a letter bombs, it sucks. But as you know a lot of factors come into play, traffic, the offer, the client editing our work, price points, a dead market, whatever… And no matter what the problem really is, they’re going to blame the copy.

I had a really high profile marketer contact me awhile back. He showed me his product, and I didn’t think it would sell. It was in the video game niche. He approached me, said he liked my work, and if I could knock it out of the park on this project he could keep me busy full time.

I told him “I don’t think this will sell very well”… He disagreed. And he’s a self made millionaire, I’m not, so I went ahead and did the copy.

I turned it in, he loved it. I contacted him a week later, and it wasn’t totally bombing, but it was only converting at about 1%… I think he expected better, because I’ve contacted him a few times and he’s never hired me again.

What I like to do now is work with clients who I’ve worked with in the past, in niches that I’ve always done well in. I tend to do well with SEO, SEM, financial, self help and a couple of other niches.

My best clients will approach me before they create a product. Right now I’m finishing up the copy for some software that’s still being developed. But I consulted with the developer on the concept before he started working on it… I’m confident that it’ll sell.

So really, as easy as it sounds, work with people you work well with and only sell stuff that people want to buy. That’s my trick to keeping everyone happy.

2. As for the research, I’ve got an awesome library in town. If I need to do a lot of research I’ll hit the library up for a couple of days… Gets me out of the house and it’s a great place to research stuff.

Amazon is great for figuring out why people buy or don’t buy. If you haven’t seen Jay Abraham talking about it Paul Hancox did a great write up about it on his blog…

http://copysnips.com/copywriting/how-to-transform-poor-great-copy/

For specific information like bullets and the USP I look at the product itself.

And to cut down on research, again, I usually try to stick to markets I already know well. I know PPC inside and out. Same with SEO.

I’m not afraid to branch out into new markets if it’s a product that interests me, but most of my work is in markets that I’m already familiar with and have had success with in the past.

Thanks for the comment Nick.

-Scott

I’ve just started reading your blog and this post in particular is like a page ripped from my own diary describing the last two years of my life, even your attitude is a carbon copy of mine!

Although I now work full time as a copywriter, with good testimonials and slowly raising my prices, I still have a couple of problems which I’d love to hear your personal feedback on if possible?

They are:

1. Although some of my copy produces decent conversions (5% in some cases), other copy I write in niches like pet dog care, seem to suck at converting. When the client asks why it’s not converting, I look at the page and can only ever see a few possible reasons (usually lack of testimonials). I ask where the traffic comes from, and they always say “targeted keywords, reputable JV partners” etc etc.

This KILLS me man, as I start to doubt my abilities – yet, I must know how to sell, if I’m able to get results for others.

Have you ever experienced this, and if so, how do you handle it?

2. There’s always something missing from most copywriting books (even in work from Caples and Kennedy’s ranks), which is, the methods for researching your market. Perhaps this is where my niche copywriting could be struggling? You say you spend 40hrs just doing research, could you be kind enough to share where you spend your time researching? I use forums, amazon and competitor products as a starting base, but perhaps I’m missing something?

Thanks Scott, love your work so far…

Nick B

That comes from having massive email lists, JV’s, etc…

I don’t mean to take credit for ALL of the money… I don’t have the resources that these big marketers have yet…

Copy is part of the equation… The product, offer and traffic are all more important.

To be completely transparent here, if you throw enough traffic at almost ANY page it’ll make money…

The trick is making maximum money off of the traffic.

Also, if you missed the last part of the post, I’m switching the focus towards more of my own stuff and less client work.

Thanks,

-Scott