Here are some quick guidelines for choosing good copy:

1)It must be presenting benefits, not product, services, or the person.

2)It should identify the target audience. (This should be the first thing you see)

3)It should have a measurable “grabber” line, bold, highlighted if not at the top, very near the top. (This should be the 2nd thing you see).

4)It should identify the key objections their aud

Are We Heading Towards Another Dot Com Failure?
The "dot-com bubble" was a speculative bubble covering roughly 1995–2001 during which stock markets in Western nations saw their value increase rapidly from growth in the new Internet sector and related fields. The period was marked by the founding (and in many cases, spectacular failure) of a group of new Internet-based companies commonly referred to as dot-coms. A combination of rapidly increasing stock prices, individual speculation in stocks, and widely available venture capital created an exuberant environment in which many of these businesses dismissed standard business models, focusing on increasing market share at the expense
Can you learn to paint like Rembrandt without experiencing how Rembrandt did it? The same goes for learning marketing and sales techniques that work.

I’m always amazed by the responses I get from many of my business coaching clients, and sales and marketing clients when I ask them to keep copies of the best and the worst ads and websites they’ve seen. I don’t think I’ve ever found a client that had been doing it before. And when asked them to start keeping copies and learn from what they see they are afraid of “copying.”

Let me take you back to my childhood. I can remember setting through art class year after year, and never getting any better. I never felt I had learned anything.

For the most part, I tried to learn from scratch, to do everything uniquely. That is what the art teacher kept telling me. However, one day I was watching TV and saw a program that was teaching how to copy some really good prints. They taught how to duplicate the strokes exactly as was on the print. We learned how to do a tree, a house, the grass, mountains, in “that style.” The next week we started with another print and another style.

Before that I was taught to never copy. I had a total fear of having anyone think I might be doing something like someone else. Once I broke through that fear, I started using a light table, tracing over the original prints. Suddenly I was able to understand what kinds of strokes and colors worked. Only then was I able draw and paint, and not too bad at that. This progress happened in a matter of weeks. It had taken me years to get to this point, but weeks once I caught on.

The best way to learn to paint, or to write good ads and marketing material is to study the masters. And the best way to do that is to learn to copy them first. Once you understand what it takes to make something look somewhat similar to their style, and understand why they have done it that way, only then can you start to develop your own unique style.

Even the best marketing experts and copywriters keep a SWIPE file. They save copies of the best and the worst examples, sometimes with notes on them helping them understand why they filed it. Some are filed by the marketing style, some by an industry. When they get ready to write their own marketing copy they go back to the files to remind themselves what the best of the best looked like, and what they should avoid among the worst.

As you build your own SWIPE file you will discover that you will be finding better and better copy, and probably will start to throw poor copy out and keep only the best. That’s how you’ll learn to get better. As you get better and start learning the intricacies of what makes good copy you’ll see that some of the copy you saved wasn’t really that good, but now you’ll be looking for copy that meets that new standard to replace the existing stuff.

Here are some quick guidelines for choosing good copy:

1)It must be presenting benefits, not product, services, or the person.

2)It should identify the target audience. (This should be the first thing you see)

3)It should have a measurable “grabber” line, bold, highlighted if not at the top, very near the top. (This should be the 2nd thing you see).

4)It should identify the key objections their audi

Why Good Franchisors Do Not Sell To Hostile Franchise Buyers
Having run a franchising company for a decade and then retiring I always thought that it was quite interesting when a franchise buyer was completely hostile and combative during the application and approval process. You see in franchising it is not about selling franchises, it is about choosing the best candidates to promote your brand name. If you get a loser in there and they are hostile, renegades or mean to customers they ruin your image, team spirit and you just end up with too many problems or litigation down the road.I use to ask these hostile types; “Do you really care about a win-win situation that can be achieved in
I never felt I had learned anything.

For the most part, I tried to learn from scratch, to do everything uniquely. That is what the art teacher kept telling me. However, one day I was watching TV and saw a program that was teaching how to copy some really good prints. They taught how to duplicate the strokes exactly as was on the print. We learned how to do a tree, a house, the grass, mountains, in “that style.” The next week we started with another print and another style.

Before that I was taught to never copy. I had a total fear of having anyone think I might be doing something like someone else. Once I broke through that fear, I started using a light table, tracing over the original prints. Suddenly I was able to understand what kinds of strokes and colors worked. Only then was I able draw and paint, and not too bad at that. This progress happened in a matter of weeks. It had taken me years to get to this point, but weeks once I caught on.

The best way to learn to paint, or to write good ads and marketing material is to study the masters. And the best way to do that is to learn to copy them first. Once you understand what it takes to make something look somewhat similar to their style, and understand why they have done it that way, only then can you start to develop your own unique style.

Even the best marketing experts and copywriters keep a SWIPE file. They save copies of the best and the worst examples, sometimes with notes on them helping them understand why they filed it. Some are filed by the marketing style, some by an industry. When they get ready to write their own marketing copy they go back to the files to remind themselves what the best of the best looked like, and what they should avoid among the worst.

As you build your own SWIPE file you will discover that you will be finding better and better copy, and probably will start to throw poor copy out and keep only the best. That’s how you’ll learn to get better. As you get better and start learning the intricacies of what makes good copy you’ll see that some of the copy you saved wasn’t really that good, but now you’ll be looking for copy that meets that new standard to replace the existing stuff.

Here are some quick guidelines for choosing good copy:

1)It must be presenting benefits, not product, services, or the person.

2)It should identify the target audience. (This should be the first thing you see)

3)It should have a measurable “grabber” line, bold, highlighted if not at the top, very near the top. (This should be the 2nd thing you see).

4)It should identify the key objections their aud

Blogs - Money Making Tips
Do you have a blog? Maybe you have more than one. It may just be a vehicle to publish your personal views. Or you may have set up a blog to make money.Maybe you don't have a blog yet. You've been thinking of starting one because it's all you keep hearing about and you want to get in on this cultural phenomenon. You just are not sure how to go about setting a blog up. After all, it wasn't too long ago that you didn't know what or who a "blog" was!Either way, I've noticed bloggers seem to take advantage of AdSense. That tells us the blogger wants to receive payment from Google. Who among us can say NO to having our income
a light table, tracing over the original prints. Suddenly I was able to understand what kinds of strokes and colors worked. Only then was I able draw and paint, and not too bad at that. This progress happened in a matter of weeks. It had taken me years to get to this point, but weeks once I caught on.

The best way to learn to paint, or to write good ads and marketing material is to study the masters. And the best way to do that is to learn to copy them first. Once you understand what it takes to make something look somewhat similar to their style, and understand why they have done it that way, only then can you start to develop your own unique style.

Even the best marketing experts and copywriters keep a SWIPE file. They save copies of the best and the worst examples, sometimes with notes on them helping them understand why they filed it. Some are filed by the marketing style, some by an industry. When they get ready to write their own marketing copy they go back to the files to remind themselves what the best of the best looked like, and what they should avoid among the worst.

As you build your own SWIPE file you will discover that you will be finding better and better copy, and probably will start to throw poor copy out and keep only the best. That’s how you’ll learn to get better. As you get better and start learning the intricacies of what makes good copy you’ll see that some of the copy you saved wasn’t really that good, but now you’ll be looking for copy that meets that new standard to replace the existing stuff.

Here are some quick guidelines for choosing good copy:

1)It must be presenting benefits, not product, services, or the person.

2)It should identify the target audience. (This should be the first thing you see)

3)It should have a measurable “grabber” line, bold, highlighted if not at the top, very near the top. (This should be the 2nd thing you see).

4)It should identify the key objections their aud

Ebay - When my Dispute went Wrong!
I decided to write this article to warn everyone using ebay, what can go wrong for the buyer when the goods do not turn up. Recently i won an auction on ebay, which luckily for me was at a low price and what a relief that was after what happened next. After a week had gone by and no goods turned up, i contacted the seller by email, a few days passed and no reply so i wrote another email a bit stronger this time to hopefully get an answer.Another week passed and still no answer, so i decided to file a dispute under ebay policy. Ten days had passed since i had paid which was required, i stipulated in my dispute that i had cont
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Even the best marketing experts and copywriters keep a SWIPE file. They save copies of the best and the worst examples, sometimes with notes on them helping them understand why they filed it. Some are filed by the marketing style, some by an industry. When they get ready to write their own marketing copy they go back to the files to remind themselves what the best of the best looked like, and what they should avoid among the worst.

As you build your own SWIPE file you will discover that you will be finding better and better copy, and probably will start to throw poor copy out and keep only the best. That’s how you’ll learn to get better. As you get better and start learning the intricacies of what makes good copy you’ll see that some of the copy you saved wasn’t really that good, but now you’ll be looking for copy that meets that new standard to replace the existing stuff.

Here are some quick guidelines for choosing good copy:

1)It must be presenting benefits, not product, services, or the person.

2)It should identify the target audience. (This should be the first thing you see)

3)It should have a measurable “grabber” line, bold, highlighted if not at the top, very near the top. (This should be the 2nd thing you see).

4)It should identify the key objections their aud

Confessions of an Ebook Junkie - What to Do With Them After Collecting Them
How It BeganYes, it is true, I am addicted to ebooks! It does not matter what kind, what the subject matter is, how old, I am addicted! How did I come about this obsession? There is a simple answer.A few months ago, I decided I wanted to write ebooks like so many of my mentors were doing. I did not know the first thing about writing, so I had to research. One book led to another and another. I read about writing articles, creating a website, how to draw traffic, how to attract Google to your website, (as well as other search engines,) health issues, anything that was in print!Was the information helpful in teachi
t better and start learning the intricacies of what makes good copy you’ll see that some of the copy you saved wasn’t really that good, but now you’ll be looking for copy that meets that new standard to replace the existing stuff.

Here are some quick guidelines for choosing good copy:

1)It must be presenting benefits, not product, services, or the person.

2)It should identify the target audience. (This should be the first thing you see)

3)It should have a measurable “grabber” line, bold, highlighted if not at the top, very near the top. (This should be the 2nd thing you see).

4)It should identify the key objections their audience has and deal with them.

5)It should have some testimonials. The testimonials should

a) backup the measurable benefit in the grabber line b)overcome the objections

6)It should downplay or not use graphics. Graphics should only be used to support the grabber line. Far too often, the graphic becomes the center of attention instead of the grabber line. Graphics doesn’t sell, words do.

7)Make a very clear offer, and ASK for an action, don’t assume an action.

8)Have ONLY one clear action to be taken, not multiple. The more choices your reader has the less likely he will choose any one of them. You’ll actually lower your response rate.

9)Develop a sense or urgency around your offer. People are procrastinators. Give them a chance to say “Yes, I need to respond to this, but I’ll put it on my desk and answer it tomorrow,” and it will get lost in the pile and never answered.

Give them an offer they can’t refuse and tell them it is good for only ... days, or for the first 10, etc. I hear the rumbling from the peanut gallery whenever I say that. Everyone fears that they are reducing their responses by not letting everyone have time. Let me say it again, “People are procrastinators.” They will put it down to do it tomorrow and never do it. Your response will be low to nil.

Use “Call me TODAY I will only take X number. Last month we filled in 3-4 days. SO CALL NOW!” and that will become a self-fulfilling prophecy. It will be gone in 3-4 days. Just make sure to live up to your limit or people won’t believe you next time.

Use these guidelines to review the ads and websites for your SWIPE file. Start keeping the best and the worst. Then use the ideas it generates to write your own ads and your own website the next time.