Experiences In Copywriting

Blog absorbing power

noreply@blogger.com (Diana Cacy) — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 15:16:00 +0000

This blog will be absorbed by http://copyconfetti.wordpress.com

Have way too many personal blogs going on! LOL

Social Media and Marketing

noreply@blogger.com (Diana Cacy) — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 15:52:00 +0000

All week, I've been trying to schedule in my social marketing - via Twitter and Facebook mainly, with a little LinkedIn in there. And I've realized one thing. When I have to think about it, it's no fun.

I'm not a social media marketer and there's no reason for me to be one. There are so many people who enjoy analyzing the social sites and how to effectively use them. I think I'll leave it up to them.

Still, I'm going to produce my own personal little report of what the social sites do for me and how I found them useful. I may take another week though on it. There's a few items coming out next week in my product list that I want to announce, and I would like to increase the Christian membership on the Twitter account by another 1,000. I'll explain why in my personal report later.

I was prompted to make this report by Bob Bly - a suggestion by him only in a blog discussion. I think I've learned that I'm more anti-social site marketing than I thought in practice and enjoyment.

Would I allow an assistant to use some payroll time keeping my social site accounts updated during the week? Absolutely. In fact, that's on my list for the future. My assistant would spend about 15 minutes per day listing the announcements I want put up. Then, I would use my break time to the tune of about 1/2 hour a day to personally respond to a few others and add some personal touches to my accounts.

I'm all for using Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and other social sites for marketing outreach. Just not as enthusiastic about it as I thought I was. I think I prefer them for personal reasons...probably the main reasons many of them were designed for in the first place.

For me, the true worth is connecting with others in my field. I live remote. There are no active networking groups around me, and so the internet is the way I reach out to other professionals. When I'm able to travel three or four times a year to meet with other professionals and 'talk shop' in person, I bet my social site activity will increase and be more productive in itself because I'll be more excited about connecting with those individuals again in between travel times. And for letting others know about them.

I haven't gotten into the bookmarking sites. They say I should, but who has the time? Maybe someday I'll get those hooked up. For now, I believe I'm going to stick with four of the social sites - Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Naymz (on which I have a lot to do!).

Squidoo is really becoming popular too, and I started a lens there. But really don't like the limitations of it versus building my own mini-site, and my lens is screwed up. Notified support a few weeks ago and haven't heard back yet. Really isn't worth having something I can't properly maintain. So, Squidoo gets a personal "NO" vote from me.

Wordpress is worth more than Squidoo to use. I have one - it's my main copywriting blog under title of Copy Confetti. I need to sit down and fully utilize the features on that one yet. It'll probably make this one obsolete as I get it on a better schedule.

coffee break!

noreply@blogger.com (Diana Cacy) — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 20:23:00 +0000

Have a cup of coffee!

Making Resource Lists

noreply@blogger.com (Diana Cacy) — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 15:08:00 +0000

I'm gathering information for resource lists for my free copywriting articles, pdfs, etc.

Now I'm working on links for information marketers. Specifically, places to sell your products and tools to help you sell them on your website.

I love clickbank, it's my favorite.

I'm putting paypal as an option, but truth is I'm frustrated with them. I've had to use their buttons a few times, and it seems that sometimes they work and sometimes they don't. Very unreliable. And I've been on the other end of their subscription payment service. Took 13 emails between myself and the person I was buying the subscription from to get my subscription back on track because of paypal's screwups. And she said I wasn't the only one with the problem. So, while I'll list it as an option, I won't list it as a recommendation.

I need to know of other, more reliable, free options to paypal. And options to clickbank, free and paid services. If anyone can help me by telling me their thoughts on any that they know of, I'd greatly appreciate it.

The What If Syndrome

noreply@blogger.com (Diana Cacy) — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 17:26:00 +0000

The "What if" syndrome...

A short time ago, we discussed Bob Bly's The 25 Secrets of Meaningful Success on his blog. His list is excellent and made me think of what I call the "what if" syndrome. It's the process by which we avoid success because of what could happen...the negative "what ifs".

What if I fail in this?
What if I screw up the advertising and make our money situation worse?
What if the market just doesn't respond?
What if I find out my book sucks?
What if I lose my job and can't continue this route?
What if they say no and don't hire me?
What if my copy flops?
What if my computer blows?
What if my story falls flat and bores my readers?
What if my ongoing illness keeps me from succeeding?
What if the economy makes my market go bust?
What if I fail? (always comes back to that, doesn't it?)

These are the negative "what ifs". The thoughts you should NOT be focusing on if you want to succeed in life. In no matter what you do. There are many, many more negative "what ifs" for your personal situation.

When these negative "what ifs" crop up, don't try to completely ignore them. They're an unwanted visitor that comes back time and time again, often refusing to ever leave.

MOLD them into positive "What ifs".

Why would you fail? What would cause you to fail in whatever you're doing? List the specifics of what would contribute to your failure in any given venture.

Let's say you're writing a fiction novel to send out to agents. Things that can make you fail are:

What if you don't finish the manuscript.
What if you run out of ideas.
What if your plot runs out.
What if your characters are lifeless blobs on the page.
What if your grammar sucks.
What if you finish it and then stick in a drawer to forget about it.

Look at those "what ifs" and learn how to avoid them.

Form a daily writing routine and set goals for your novel.
Learn how to plan your novel out by studying successful writers.
Get a few books on plot development and study them.
Get a few books on character development and study them.
Study up on grammar and punctuation. Get The Elements of Style and keep it handy while you write.
Study how to find agents and make a list of which ones accept your type of novels. Make a goal of querying them when your book is finished.

Find a writer in your niche that you admire. Someone who is making a living writing what you want to write. Study that person. Study the writer to the point that you absorb everything you can find on how they are so successful. What is their daily work routine like? What writing techniques do they reveal in books and interviews about their work? Visualize becoming a writer just like that person, and focus on the positive "what ifs."

What if you do finish the manuscript?
What if you have solid, exciting ideas throughout your story?
What if your plot rocks?
What if your characters are so full that it's difficult for the reader to remember these are fictional characters?
What if your grammar is great and the words flow smoothly throughout the book?
What if you finish it and find an agent who finds a publisher and demands more from you?

Imagine these positive "what ifs" coming true and visualize what your life will be like. Breathe into your visualization all those things you want to enjoy from your novel writing career. Don't concentrate on the money. The income is a means to an end. You need to concentrate on that end, and imagine being there. Concentrate on the satisfaction, the fulfillment of meeting your goals. Concentrate on the freedom you'll enjoy from the things you don't like in your life right now.

Use the above technique to cure the What If Syndrome. Use it to help you properly understand the goals you seek in your life and career. Use it to help you retain the positive attitude that will help increase your chances of obtaining those goals.

Negative thinking will cause you to hesitate and you risk going nowhere. Only with positive thinking can you be assured of a true step forward.

Straddling two sides of publishing...

noreply@blogger.com (Diana Cacy) — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 17:51:00 +0000

I was brought into the world of writing through the traditional fiction side first. Then, six years later, I learned about the world of information writing. The online info product world. The two sides just do not agree with one another, and they do not mesh well together either.

I have two groups of friends. One group who believes you're not published unless it's with a traditional publisher. The other group of internet marketers who believes you can create a product and sell it yourself without a publisher. Essentially, self-publishing.

Unfortunately, the two groups do not agree on what's fair publishing practice when it comes to e-books. And I totally understand. Even knowing what I know now, it's difficult for me to think of charging $50 for an e-book that would have sold for $30 in print by a traditional publisher.

There are a few things that dictate what we charge in information marketing...

The information: the niche and what value the information has to the buyer.
The buying response: what price the market responds to.

The value is up to us as the authors and self-publishers. It's our responsibility to make sure the value is a benefit to the buyer - that the buyer gets more out of our product than he or she paid for it. I try to follow Yanik Silver's rule that we should make sure our product will give the buyer a 10, 100 or even 1000 times more return than what the buyer invested in it.

One thing I learned is that we do not have control over the buying response. For a long time, I rebelled against this. I insisted that we must sell our products for less, that to do so was the only responsible thing to do. But my training in internet marketing taught me differently.

You may believe you should sell the 50 page e-book for $10, but you need to understand the market you're selling that e-book to before you offer it at such a low price. In many markets, people just will not buy the product unless you charge $30-50. I know, I still have a hard time grasping this.

We do not control this. The market does. Or, should we say the ones who put out inferior $10 products do. They are the ones who taught the market that you get what you pay for. So, if you charge a lower price, they feel they are getting a lower quality product.

There is a way around this - and we responsible internet marketers have become creative in making sure we give our customers what they deserve. We have the power to tack on bonuses that boosts the value to the buyer, often we'll include a free month's membership to a site with it.

For instance, I offered at one time a 40 page e-book for $20. And I threw in four more extra e-books that helped the buyer with the topic. Now, I felt cheap still. Because four bonuses is low in the group I follow. Tacking on up to ten more bonuses would have been better. But I also rebelled and charged less for the e-book.

It did okay. It didn't do good or great for me because I didn't market it well. That was my fault - not the product. But I saw enough to know that the market would respond to it.

A few people in the traditional publishing group are complaining about an individual who put together a weight-loss e-book. This e-book sells for around $30 at the 60-page mark, with three bonuses.

I'm for and against this complaint.

As an internet marketer who understands how the marketing works on the web, I disagree. I feel there's a lot of bad feelings here because they do not understand what market this e-book is intended for. She could easily charge $10 for that e-book. But if she was to market it to venues like where I do, she'd never sell it. For the reasons stated above, it just doesn't work that way. People in the traditional publishing group just are not exposed to the ins and outs of internet information marketing, where this product belongs, and cannot understand this.

One misunderstanding is how she's telling people to do more of her type of marketing and they'll do better. Because her first week's sale was only one copy. On the internet, your sales may start off slow, or even dead, until you implement the marketing techniques. Then it builds up. This could happen quickly, overa period of days, or more slowly, over the span of a few years. It all depends on how much you know about qualifying and driving your traffic to your sales page.

The complaints also state that she's spent $7,000 in marketing. You can easily do that. Perhaps it's because her market is hot right now and her PPC expense is high. You have to pay a lot per click to get the top spot during the hot seasons. (I googled various words and didn't see an ad for her.) Either she's had massive traffic driven to her site by that investment and has made major money, or she didn't know what she was doing and wasted that amount - I haven't seen a gross income amount from her efforts.

My marketing budget in my fantasy realm where money is not an object for any one product will not come anywhere near that amount. Not even with PPC ads. Don't get me wrong, you CAN spend that much and come out very well. But the fact that she did, and then showed up personally marketing her book at a bookstore, left me with a "huh?" reaction.

Which leads to my approval of this complaint. Online information product marketing belongs online. Traditional publishing (and the physical self-publishing) belongs in the bookstores and the online bookstores. The two areas target two different buying types. They just do not mesh well. They live by different rules.

A traditional publisher is not going to be able to sell the e-book version of the book for a higher price. The information marketer is not going to be able to sell their info product for a lower price. It'll be interesting to see how this changes over the course of ten years, but for right now, this is just how it is.

I feel that an information marketer who is selling their e-book for the higher price to the appropriately targeted markets online, should stay in his or her place. They do not have the right to march into a bookstore and tell traditional writers how to do their business.

Likewise, I also feel that traditional writers should learn the facts fully before judging someone else. To be fair, this group feels that they know the facts. They don't realize there's another publishing world out there that's fully functional and well-loved. It surprised me to find out about it!

I'm still caught in the middle. I love both groups. I'm a member of both. I love writing the information products and the information product marketing. I love writing the traditional writing - fiction and non-fiction - and the prospect of gaining a presence there.

And the traditional side of me still rebels. Something I should sell for $30, I sell for $20. I give my affiliates at least 50%. I tack on bonuses and memberships to up the value. I study different business models, and combine them to create one that works for my target market and allows me to provide more for less.

Does it work? Not enough in yet to make that call. But I'm always thinking of new ways to do things, new offers to make. In time, I hope to have something that combines my two publishing sides together.

Stretching it...

noreply@blogger.com (Diana Cacy) — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 17:32:00 +0000

Did you have one of those mothers who said, "You're taking too much upon yourself and should slow down," ? I didn't, but I knew mothers who did. My former pastor did warn me, "Be careful that you don't overextend yourself in service to the Lord," when I first met him. I had three jobs and a few outside projects. I was, and still am, a workaholic.

A complicated one, at that. I'm still extremely lazy and prone to procrastination. I take on more jobs than I should - most are ones that I self-appoint, for my own ventures. But I make my set deadlines. Usually earlier than I set them for.

The latest family upset showed me how I really was stretching myself too thin since I started freelancing full time a little over a year ago. I wanted to learn everything, do everything, and help others behind me with everything. Never say no, never pass up an opportunity to use my talent here and there.

I've done a lot. I've learned a lot. I love what I'm doing. But when I had to start saying no and pushing many of my ventures back during the family upset, I realized how much I am creating stress for myself and the ones around me by doing too much.

So, I'm slowing down on many things. This falls in line with what my last post said, and will help me reach the three main goals.

Magazine growth is stalled for awhile. Will approach that again over the summertime. Also, magazine work is pushed back until summer time. I rarely am even checking the emails for it. I've posted on the blog and Twitter and FaceBook about this, so people should know. I will get in there once a month for maintenance and updates. This month, I do need to post the guidelines for the summer contests and issue.

I'm doing my own copywriting, and just a few jobs via word of mouth. Unless I need to switch gears to get income in, I won't be marketing myself in that way now. (IF time allows, maybe some catalog writing, since I am quick with it.)

I am going to continue exchanging with the few copywriting buddies I've connected with.

In the copywriting and marketing field, I still have an urge to become a coach. I am exploring courses/mentors in this for later in the year.

My main focus for the next three months is the 12 week membership for digitalchurchsecretary.com. It's not active yet. I am setting up the program, url, member site, and converting the current site and blog over to reflect it.

This is a project that's close to my heart. It's important to me. And it's a strong experience for me. Perhaps a tough first experience. The church market is not used to buying this way yet, and I have to teach them.

I'm a member of Frank Kern's Infomillionaire site, I've taken numerous courses on how to put together these types of information products, and the guides for this site draw upon my own experiences of working for churches of different denominations. I can help others help their churches grow, and that's where my talent needs to be used right now. Too many churches are struggling and shutting their doors.

It's time I concentrated my efforts where God needs me, and where my family needs me.

First week in midst of disruptions...

noreply@blogger.com (Diana Cacy) — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 23:00:00 +0000

This week is the first week of the year. The first week of actually setting my daily schedule in place, and achieving my goals.

So, what are the goals for this year?

To create the solid daily schedule I preach to others and stick with it.
To successfully bring out the four projects I have planned for the year.
To create a sustainable income for my family with the writing business.

The solid daily schedule is coming around slowly. Eliminating the disruptions and getting my energy up is difficult. I'm still going through a particularly stressful time, and dealing with a domestic family disruption at home. It'll be a few months before all is said and done, so I'm going easy on myself.

First, I'm working on my energy level and motivation. Following my own advice and those teaching how to do this. Before I start my day, I exercise, eat a good breakfast, shower, and make sure the house is tidied up. Then I dive in to the work. This part isn't going too badly.

Next, I'm attempting to work in 2-4 hour blocks of time on one aspect. Normally, this is exceptionally easy for me, but doing it now is stretching it. That is due to those disruptions that will not end for a month or two. Still, I'm managing 1 to 1 1/2 hours at a time. Not too bad.

I've started a new mentoring program that will help me with the four projects of the year. I expect great things. The first is not happening today, as I hoped it would. I can't be mad about that. It's due to things out of my control at the moment. But I do plan on bringing it out soon.

The four projects are enough to create a sustainable income. I've studied well on how to promote myself, help others, copywrite for other businesses, and how to grow a sustainable business that will grow and prosper. Sustainable is the key I went for in building my online business. I did not want to get into the trap of having a product launch that booms for ten minutes, bringing in lots of dough, and then falls flat. This would mean scrambling to create another product to do the same process all over again.

In addition, I learned how to make the brick and mortar stores sustainable. Both from experience of running businesses and offices, to learning from marketing masters. This is a benefit I will pass on to my clients.

Finding the right name....

noreply@blogger.com (Diana Cacy) — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 15:33:00 +0000

I have a new fixed-term membership site I want to offer next week. Still not sure I'll make it in time because of family situation that I cannot adjust. I anticipated that and set up January 12th as an alternate launch day goal. Still shooting for January 5th, but it's looking more and more like it'll be the 12th. I'd rather wait another week and do it right than rush it and do a shoddy job.

I have so many things to do for this project:
Write the reports and the bonuses for each week... check, can do.
Copywriting, such as landing pages, thank you pages, etc... check, can do.
Setting up the members forum... check, can do.
Setting up the members only site... check, can do.
Determine the graduating members' presents... check, can do.
Setting up the payment methods... check, can do.

Come up with a good name for the membership package... sigh, having problems there.

It's a package for people who work or volunteer in the church office, each week providing the member with a new guide, along with bonus reports. And the name for it is just not coming to me.

I know I want church office in the name.

For Adwords, I know I'll target church office, church office guides, church secretary, and church office volunteers.

There's not much out there in this field at all that's as popular as in other niches - so there's no good ideas to look at to jumpstart my own ideas with.

The rest of my duties for this site are time consuming. This duty is frustrating me. But I think I'm going to try thinking about it a different way. I'm going to tackle the tag line first, write the landing page, and then see if the name jumps out at me.

I'll let you know how it works...

When Life Upsets Your Routine

noreply@blogger.com (Diana Cacy) — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 14:22:00 +0000

Life is looking up for me. My son was found and our granddaughter came into this world on December 18th. Even though there is a lot of stuff to deal with from the aftermath of our son's situation, and will continue for another month or two, life is promising.

This situation has been a great interruption to my routine, and then the holidays demanded that I pay attention to family and not work. My husband dealt with the same requirement also. Although he is able to hook up and work from home, it's not as easy as it is for me, who works from home for oneself. I saw a new appreciation for self-employment in my husband's eyes through this.

Now I have a few working days in the midst of the ending holiday, and before the next of our appointments with our son. But the routine is blown and the organization of my job is askew. How do you recover from that?

By going back to basics. Don't Panic. (Just find your towel and keep it by you at all times, and you'll be fine... for all the Douglas Adams fans out there.)

Seriously, go back to writing everything down that you need to achieve. Writing your goals down is the first and most important step in achieving those goals. Even the very small ones. Don't keep an inventory of tasks in your mind, write them down.

After you've written down your tasks/goals, check them off as you complete them. You'll be amazed how accomplishing even one item can give you more energy and motivation to move on down the list.

Now, for planned time off, you can prepare this list ahead of time. Work it out the day before your time off and when you come back it's there and ready for you.

Oh...one other thing. DO NOT answer your emails right away. Set aside a specific time for doing those and create a time limit. Emails are dangerous when you're trying to catch up!

Coming in Fast....

noreply@blogger.com (Diana Cacy) — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 16:17:00 +0000

2009 is almost here. My deadline for getting my first site going live is almost here. And we're still in the grip of life upset from my son's disappearance. We hope and pray that he finds out his grandparents are here this weekend, and that he wishes to see his new niece, who will be born this week, maybe tonight yet. Once you know that your kid is a runaway and not a victim of violence, there is a reassurance from it. But the worst stress comes from the waiting to see if he is caught or if he'll return to you.

Hubby has a lot of days off this year for the holidays - an rare event. Yet, without our son, we don't feel free to travel to see family. Kind of sad. For the first time in years, my hubby's siblings will be home together this Christmas. I know it's killing him to not go...but to go without our son will kill him also.

I'm learning a lot about motivation and how to grow it in the face of this ongoing stress. The situation both helps and hinders it. We're more desperate to make sure that the freelancing increases so that we have the choice of staying here awhile, in case he does want to come home. With the economy, counting on the company my hubby works for to not go through layoffs is risky and we need the freelancing to pick that up. And the stress hinders the motivation, the ability to focus, and my energy.

There are things that have helped.

Food - eating better, switching to vitamins specifically formulated for energy, getting plenty of water in, orange juice, and in between all that good, allowing one to have a bit of chocolate once in awhile. We love Mexican hot chocolate. LOL

Church - going to church helps, although it's a place where you risk getting caught up in the emotions of the situation also. Christians are an emotional bunch. *grin* Keeping in touch with one's faith and spiritualism helps maintain a balanced mind, and fosters positive thinking and hope.

Friends - many friends have come to our aid. Many who we didn't really have strong connections with before, we do now. The support of friends helps a lot.

Family - This may sound weird to most but here it goes... Being located out of reach of family has helped us find focus a lot. Normally being with your family helps in these situations. In our case, we benefit from being away. We've maintained contacts by phone and email, but that's all. It's helped because we've been able to skip all the family discussions about the situation. Families have a way of getting together and analyzing the how's, why's, and what if's of the situation.

Opposite Personalities - For my hubby and I, the fact that we're so different has helped create a balance in our household. I'm a person who doesn't show emotion, doesn't go too deep with the feeling, and stays fairly calm and stoic - promoting balance and calmness around me. Hubby has taken this hard on the emotional level. He allows me to be emotional about it when I need to - and I help him regain composure and optimism about the situation. Even though we both are lost at times, this has helped.

Writing - for me, writing is my release. I've taken up writing a book length project about being the parent of a runaway. Not sure if this will become public or just another personal journal for me. It's good therapy all the same. I just have to make sure I'm writing in it when I can devote the full amount of time to each session. Usually all the bad feelings come out at the beginning of it, and I write until I'm able to end the section on hope and optimism. Almost was stuck in an area of despair with one session and managed to finish it anyway on hope. I could tell that it would have defeated the purpose of the therapy to stop at the bad thoughts.

New Weblog Started

noreply@blogger.com (Diana Cacy) — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 19:42:00 +0000

I've opened up a new weblog for copywriters about copywriting and marketing at Copy Confetti.

The first post deals with the four thinking barriers.

I was just experimenting, but I'm starting to really like it, so it's probably going to be a permanent resident to my cyber home. I have a feeling I'll keep this one and make it a more personal copywriting blog to go with it. Or just cross post between the two here.

We're still dealing with our son being missing. http://www.findmikehawkins.com Our daughter is going to have her baby this week, for sure. Doctor's orders are to induce on Saturday if she doesn't get around to it on her own before then. And my parents are traveling out her for the occasion this weekend. It would be great if our son could find his way back before then.

Son's disappearance....

noreply@blogger.com (Diana Cacy) — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 22:53:00 +0000

After we created the website and started passing out the six hundred fliers, we got a call of a possible sighting of our son in Lincoln Nebraska. http://sites.google.com/site/findmikehawkins/ Still don't have this confirmed. Also, not confirmed is that he is heading back to family in our home state of Iowa. Something we were trying to work on making happen for him in the spring. Not sure why he felt as if he couldn't wait.

We truly hope it was him. At least if it's him, he's alive.

The local sheriff is doing a great job, but we're in a small community and they are limited. State patrol said all we could do is wait, basically, and that he doesn't qualify for the Amber-alert system.

Luckily our pastor made that call for us - or I would have said a thing or two. I'm getting pretty punchy and already barked at someone who was being nice to me when she said, "Did the sheriff say we should do this?" I said, "We're saying you should do this!" Hubby said he's never heard me do that before.

Some of the media has been notified so far. Can't get him on the one Lincoln channel unless it's the police calling them. Another had a voicemail. We have more media to call and get him on if this sighting does not lead to him.

Still looking for our son

noreply@blogger.com (Diana Cacy) — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 16:39:00 +0000

Made a website and taking fliers out today

http://sites.google.com/site/findmikehawkins/

Important Matters

noreply@blogger.com (Diana Cacy) — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 03:51:00 +0000

Dealing with a missing son right now. I will be trying to work while trying to find him, but may be absent from blog if searching for him takes my time.

Amazing how using Web 2.0 helps generate leads in this situation. In the last few hours a multitude of people have changed their status to reflect well wishes for us and to encourage help.

Our status - without going into details. Getting closer, but things aren't adding up right, and the aftermath of this could get bad. Obviously, we're very worried about him...beyond thinking he just wants to be away from home.

Gap Analysis

noreply@blogger.com (Diana Cacy) — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 19:44:00 +0000

Getting more than a few moments to work this weekend is tough, so I'm sending everyone over to Michel Fortin's blog where he introduces gap analysis. I love this method. When I first learned of it, I think from Brian Tracy, I just had to use it. Gave me goosebumps to write the copy. I enjoyed it so much!

Ok - maybe you won't be that pathetic, but it's a great technique that I feel all copywriters should learn. See Michel's excellent post on it now...

http://www.michelfortin.com/apply-the-law-of-contrast-to-build-desire/

I'm Done and Back!

noreply@blogger.com (Diana Cacy) — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 16:37:00 +0000

whoo hoo! I'm back in the world of copywriting... LOL Well, I never really left, but I was preoccupied for awhile with the nanowrimo project. And I finished it. Yay!

For those of you who don't know, Nanowrimo stands for National Novel Writing Month. Every November people from all over the world commit to writing 50,000 words for that month. It signifies writing a novel, but most novels are 90-120,000 words.

The true purpose is to challenge ourselves and to also develop the habit of turning off our 'inner editor' and write at speed without editing as we go along. Forget about the typos, the misspellings, not-so-perfect word choices, punctuation, etc. After we're done writing, then we can go back and correct those things.

Most people do this very well. Some people are voracious typers and get their 50,000 within a day or two. Can you say carpal tunnel? LOL I'm a fairly fast typer, but my comfortable speed allows me to type about 1,000 words an hour. Eight hours a day is the most I'll type for - I make sure to get in plenty of rest breaks, as my hands are very important to me. (Not to mention my eyes need the break too.)

For my writing, I can still get that 1,000 words per hour out, but I cannot turn off my internal editor. My editor is already trained to follow me. Now, of course, when a bigger editing thought comes along, I will often just make a note on a slip of paper to go back and fix something later if I can't stop with my current momentum.

That internal editor is important for the copywriter. Bob Bly of bly.com has been finding interesting examples where people have turned off their internal editor while going with a thought.

My internal editor is constantly on the go. We've come to an understanding where my editor gets to do her job and I get to keep my speed up. That took practice to develop. For me, the practice came from being heavily involved in a writing critique group for fiction writers. I would critique five to ten stories and chapters a week. It was great training. Where I would need to revise a story three or four times before it was ready, I started only needing one revision pass. My internal editor starting working at the same time I wrote.

This has carried over to copywriting. When I started writing sales materials, my internal editor joined right in and accompanied me.

So, now my internal editor (IE) and I are back, and we will work on bringing you some more goodies in the promised line up of articles.

Top Internet Marketing Blogs

noreply@blogger.com (Diana Cacy) — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 21:37:00 +0000

Today's a useful resource day for copywriters...

If you're studying up on internet marketing here's a site showing the top blogs and their categories. I've got it bookmarked now.

http://www.winningtheweb.com/im-top-blogs/

Maybe not Time Wasters, but Time Wasting

noreply@blogger.com (Diana Cacy) — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 21:13:00 +0000

Today, I'm wasting time off and on with my social networking, blog, and newsletter reading. Normally, I choose two hours worth of breaks a week, during which I catch up with the social reading. Sometimes on my non-working hours at night I'll do a bit more. While Friday is one of my winding down days for the week, this one shouldn't be. But it is.

I'm still getting my six hours of daily writing time in, but should be pushing it more. I have work scheduled for the weekend and lost time at the beginning of this week for illness. While I'm recovered, I'm not fully there yet. I'm still totally exhausted and can't find the "oomph!" to push myself any harder. Probably a good thing. Better to progress steadily forward than have a rush of productivity followed by an onset of illness again.

Yet, it brings up a good topic to discuss. Our social networking. How much is a good amount of time to commit to it? How much is too much?

I believe the means to finding the answers is in your organizing skills and goal setting. You need to determine at the end of the week your preliminary goals for the next week. Your routine grows out of how you personally achieve those goals.

For me, I set goals for the next week on Friday afternoon. Then, Monday morning I check emails and add to or readjust those goals as information received over the weekend dictates. I've been writing and researching long enough that I have a pretty good idea how long each job takes me to accomplish. You may have to keep track for awhile and determine your times.

Using that information, I can look at my goals and determine how much worktime it will take me to accomplish them. I always adjust a little higher than anticipated for unplanned events or research needs. I also try to schedule just enough work to cover 4 days of worktime, leaving one day open for last minute needs that come up during the week. I always have so many writing projects on hand that it's no problem filling in the gaps when I have extra time.

So what about social networking? Is it a time waster? No. It's a tool to be scheduled within your time schedule, as your schedule allows for it. When you exceed that setting, you're time wasting...or wasting time, to be proper.

Me? Today, I'm wasting time. Body is starting to kick me again and I'm giving in. But only a little. I've still accomplished a lot. I'll have to catch up some this weekend yet. But God willing, the bad snows will stay north so we can have power and my body will continue to heal so I can stay productive.

Sometimes you just have to let it happen. Just be sure to not let it become a habit.

Just a status update....

noreply@blogger.com (Diana Cacy) — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 16:14:00 +0000

Been sick for the last few days. Thankful that I don't have to deal with a boss other than myself for calling in sick. Though, I'll admit, I've been really kicking myself in the butt over not being able to function the last few days. I just keep thinking of lost work time, lost family time, lost personal time ... and how we've had 70some degree weather that I missed out on.

But I'm doing a little of the catching up today. Writing, work, housework, and personal time. And yes... I know it's THAT day and I'm going to do the patriotic thing. Thankful I don't have to go in half-dead for it too! Still feel a bit woosie and unwell, but fairly presentable.

After reading a few of today's notices from my mailings in my email, I've also decided not to read any more of today's emails. So tired of reading about what day it is and what I should do. I had already determined what I was going to do there - and I didn't sign up for the copywriting newsletters to have politics in my mailbox.

Note to self: Be sure to keep my own newsletters on topic!

(sorry, little grumpy - still a bit unwell, with the residual headache and tummy pains.)

November writing...

noreply@blogger.com (Diana Cacy) — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 14:23:00 +0000

Just a word of caution...November may be a slow blog month for me. I've decided to participate in nanowrimo this year. Nanowrimo stands for National Novel Writing Month, and it happens every year in November at http://www.nanowrimo.org. The goal is to write 50,000 words on a new novel during the month - and since I have four to query and one to write for a game story creation, this seems like a good time to try it...again.

November's a bad month for me, and I have only been able to participate in nanowrimo once before. I think I managed 20,000 on that novel/novella series then. But I'm more hopeful this year, since I don't have a day job. Still have copywriting work to get done, but hopefully that won't interfere.

So, weekday mornings will be spent on fiction writing during November. My goal is to get 2200 words a day. I figure I'll lose a week's worth of writing time during the holidays. The weekend times will be flexible - as I can fit it around what the family does, even if it means waiting until midnight and working until 4am. Been there, done that.

I will try to update here at least once a week, but if I don't make, you know why. In the meantime, learn more about copywriting and about yourself. Set a goal of improving one thing about yourself each day, and to learning one new thing each day - about any topic.

And Have Fun!

When You're the Targeted Audience

noreply@blogger.com (Diana Cacy) — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 16:01:00 +0000

I'm working on an assignment for copywriter professionals. In fact, I'm a member of the targeted audience for this product. So, I have to look at what it would take to sell myself on this product.

An easy project you say? Ha! That's what I thought too.

But finding the buying emotion within myself isn't as easy as it sounds. I like this product. I believe in it. I feel that it's worth the money and then some to purchase it. But it's taking me a lot longer to get the copy started than it does with projects intended for other people.

Now, why is that?

Took me awhile to figure this out, but after I looked at my process of profiling the target market, it came to me.

Normally, I role-play and become the reader as much as possible. I call upon my past experience at playing role-play games, my fiction writing, and what I observe police and criminal profilers doing on the tv. (Meditation and clearing your mind first helps with this.)

Then, I "find and identify" the emotions the reader is experiencing at the time. I just let them in and mark them down.

But here, I don't need to role-play because I am that reader. I'm so close to the subject that finding those emotions is more difficult. They're there and I feel them, but I just don't have the right thought process yet.

So, how am I overcoming this?

Walking and talking it out and mind mapping.

Walking and Talking is a common technique I use. I pace back and forth between two rooms of the house, speaking into a voice recorder my thoughts, feelings, and impressions of the character or reader as I try to bring the person's profile out. First, I did about twenty minutes of this. Started with why I'm a copywriter and how my fears, beliefs, and aspirations fit into this career. What can this career give me that others don't. What is negative of this career choice that I could use help overcoming. Get it all out.

Then make notes on the items that are useful to this product. How does this product help overcome the fears, support the beliefs, and help me achieve my goals.

Then I sat down with the Cayra software. It's available for free from http://www.download.com/Cayra/3000-2076_4-10777905.html. I highly recommend it, but please always be cautious when downloading from the internet. If you're inexperienced with this, I suggest getting a professional's help with it to ensure your computer's protection.

I've used the Cayra software in mind mapping for fiction, thanks to the teaching of Holly Lisle, and for creating maps of my pastor's sermons. (Very interesting way of absorbing a sermon's message.)

In the map, I started with the product as the central node.

Above it I branched it off into emotions that users of the product have. Each emotion branches into the problem presented by the emotion, and each problem branches into how the product solves the problem.

Below it, I branched the product out to what I call the "drivers". What drives the reader to seek this product out. For instance, in this career, the need to accelerate in our ability is driven by our distrust. Our distrust is from being able to count on the government and companies for our future. Distrust branches off into the specific areas we distrust, and what we believe will happen in those areas. Another driver is Financial Security. It branches off to show how we want a sustainable income, financial independence, and job flexibility.

The drivers help us understand why the individual is interested in knowing what the product is in the first place. The emotions help us know why the reader needs the product and how the product can fulfill those needs.

With mind mapping, not only was I able to find and identify those emotions that I was too close to find, but also whole blocks of copy were spilling out during the process. Now my thought process is in the right place to write the promotion.

My weaknesses...

noreply@blogger.com (Diana Cacy) — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 16:32:00 +0000

Taking today to catch up on studying marketing and working on fixing my weak areas for my business. For me, it's marketing and time management. I'm good at showing others how to properly organize and manage those areas, but not so good with my own self.

In marketing, I'm a fairly strong person on the phone. Even on days when I don't have it all together and am a bit disorganized, I can pull off a good business telephone conversation. (I suck at personal phone conversations, but that's for another blog...) This is due to my past experiences of managing businesses and being the go-between for the reps and techs in an engineering department. Oh, and dispatching for a time during my service in the Air Force.

Choosing where to send my marketing materials and who to call seems to be my weakness. So far, I haven't found a library with the SRDS (a book to find marketers in your niche) within driving distance to me. I live remote. And I can't pay the hefty fee to use their online site. So, I gather information from various online directories. It's amazing how many of those give you the wrong address or contact person, or the phone number's no longer valid. Even when they are supposedly currently updated.

Also, I suck at narrowing my focus. Always have. It's why I'm slower at this than most...but I must make myself narrow my focus. I believe I'm going to narrow myself to being a publishing copywriter. (Got to think of the title for that.) My past as a fiction writer and editor gives me the strongest credibility in this area.

The other areas are health products, because it's a passion of mine, and Christian copywriting - because it's where a lot of my job experience is, and I write church office guides.

Publishing niche is something that will benefit the other ventures I'm in the most, so it seems the most logical place to focus on first. Some research needed here. Is it as lucrative as the other niches? How easy is it to make the contacts in this niche? And does this mean I cater to both publishers and authors who need to market their own books? And are the fees the same for both? Sounds like I have a homework assignment here.

Sigh. Time management. I rarely miss a deadline. When I do, it's usually if it's the type of assignment where I have the flexibility to miss a deadline. Such as for the magazine that I pay for out of my own pocket. It's mine. I have volunteers that help with it. And the schedule is kept flexible to fit into the staff's lives. This week's issue was a day late. More due to me than anything else. And a complication with the graphic design. But that's usually the only thing I miss a deadline on. Not sure if that counts, since it's not actually a deadline but a loose date range.

But deadlines are important to me and I don't miss them for writing or materials, yet I have a daily schedule that's too flexible. It's one reason I chose to freelance. If something happens to take my morning hours away, well, I just work at midnight and catch up. If I lose a day, I tack on a day that I hadn't planned on working. No problem.

The problem is what I do with my time. It's that whole focus thing again. I have so many things going on at once that I flit from one to another, with no real pattern. It works and I always get my goals accomplished, but feel this is a dangerous way to work. Someday it will catch up with me. I've learned and created techniques dealing with this issue, and they work great, but I don't stick with using those techniques. That is something that I will have to fix.

I'm an introvert and a hermit-type, but when I'm working with others, my organization skills kick into full drive. I should be partnering up with other writers and copywriters on projects - at least one other one. If I could afford to have a personal assistant come to my house a few days a week I feel I'd really do well. Because for a hermit, I work well with people and like working with another individual in a one-on-one situation.

Think about your weaknesses and how you can strengthen them. Don't forget to nurture your strengths in the process.

Believe in Yourself

noreply@blogger.com (Diana Cacy) — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 16:47:00 +0000

Art Burleigh has a quote in chapter 9 "Belief: Why It's So Vital, How to Build It, Who's Responsible" from THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO NETWORK MARKETING

"Belief-- with enough of it, we can achieve just about anything; without it, we're essentially paralyzed, blind, and disoriented, and any shot at success is pretty dim."

After I read that sentence, it stayed with me for a long time. Because it's true. If we don't believe we can do something, we won't. Without belief, it's too easy to give in to life's stresses and take a path away from our dreams, hopes, and desires.

In copywriting, as with many other dreams, stepping away from the path towards success is easy. We're often distracted by pressures all around us...sometimes even other opportunities.

I should have entered into freelance writing full-time years before I did. What stopped me?

Family obligations: I felt selfish and guilty that I wanted to give up a 'real job' to pursue something that had no guarantee of working out.
Friends in Need: Seems that every time I managed to quit a job or that job's time ended, a friend of mine needed help. My friends operate their own businesses. In this way, I ended up with another day job, often turning into many hours when I ended up managing the businesses for my friends.
Bills: Creditors don't wait for you to make the money. They want their payments now.
Lack of Savings: I just kept waiting for our situation to get better so we can have a savings to take over when I didn't make money.

And, of course, all these involve fear. Fear of the unknown. Fear of taking risk. Fear of finding out whether or not I would actually do what it takes. I already knew I had the ability and I knew where to get the training to start me off. But copywriting on the job is a lot different than freelancing. In freelancing, you have to rely on yourself to be all things in your business: CEO, manager, boss, bookkeeper, typist, secretary, file clerk, etc. If things don't get done, you only have yourself to blame.

And when you know your household's future is relying on your success, it increases your stress.

To build the belief in myself that I would actually carry out my obligations as a copywriter, I had to overcome the reservations and realize some things.
There are no guarantees in life. Nothing is guaranteed. Even the most secure day job can up and disappear without warning.
I must learn to say "No". For me, it was saying no to the job offers and keeping on the path I set before me.
Bills are always going to be there. They are never going to go away, so if I let those stop me, I'd never step out and work for myself. My bills were a lot lower than other copywriters had when they first stepped out into their careers. I had to realize that if they could do it, so could I.
Our savings situation needed a change in order to improve. None of the day jobs open to me in our area would allow me to make that change. But making it in copywriting would.

Summarizing how to believe in yourself isn't as easy as I thought it would be. The fears that keep you from believing in yourself and your ability to control the future are numerous. I touched upon a few here that I faced when starting out. Let's touch upon more fears that you may be facing too.

Knowing how to write. I have written all my life, creating and illustrating my first story book when I was eleven. But you may not have that privilege. Understanding and believing that you can write good copy does not come from your writing experience. It comes from how much you are willing to learn. Are you ready to learn how to write a sales letter that will increase sales? Are you ready to learn how to write as you speak? Are you willing to self-study and increase your writing skills as you go along?

Better yet, are you ready to NEVER stop learning?

Even A-list copywriters are learning new methods and techniques for reaching their prospects and their clients' prospects every day. People change all the time and their response triggers change with them. A good copywriter will understand this, and be willing to learn something new about writing copy.

Not sure how to start marketing yourself. This is the biggest fear to get over, but it's also the quickest one to get through once you set your mind to doing it. This is where the motto "Just do it" comes so useful. Still, some people are so immobilized by this fear that they can't get through it on their own. Perhaps you haven't had any telephone experience. Maybe you're an extreme introvert and you need to learn to control that side of you before you begin.

If possible, I suggest getting into a coaching program for marketing your services. If not, don't overdo it. You need to push yourself to market yourself, but you need to do it at a pace that is beneficial to you also.

First, understand what you need to do. Take a course on marketing your services...it may be part of your copywriting course. Go over the instructions until you have them in your head. Read other copywriter's blogs and find out what they do. Join a copywriter message board and get tips from copywriters already in business. Copywriters are a great bunch of people. It's easy to make friends and we enjoy helping one another. Many senior copywriters also give programs or sell products to help new copywriters know what to do and how to tackle the fear of self-marketing.

Second, learn how your future clients' market their products. Study marketing. A copywriter is also a marketing consultant much of the time. It comes with having to know how the project you're hired for will fit into the client's marketing program. Use your resources of blogs, boards, and courses for leads to other resources that teach you the current marketing trends.

I'm a big advocate of self-study. For me, the more I learn, the more confidence I gain, and the less scary my fears are. Once I arm myself with knowledge, I'm able to face that fear.

There's plenty of free resources out there. Use them to get started. Find books that deal with an area you're fearful in and buy them or borrow them from your local library. Make it a habit to study a little each day, even if you can only spare ten minutes. Ten minutes of confidence building will dispel twenty minutes of fear.

Maybe you have no experience at making business calls on the phone, and do not feel good about making them. That's all right. There's a great old saying "practice makes perfect". Well, maybe not perfect all the time, but at least pretty darn good. Study your materials for what you need from a client to do the job and make yourself a flexible script to use on the phone. Some say to read from scripts - I don't; I can't. I can't role-play a call either. But having notes in front of me remind me of what I'm supposed to be covering and what I need to know.

But do what you need to do when you make the phone calls. Just give yourself the confidence to face the fear and believe in yourself. (Personal note: I'm experienced at telephone business calls, yet loathe this part of marketing... And so do many others. You'd be surprised.)

One way of growing confidence and belief in yourself is to talk to others about copywriting. Meet people in the community and talk about how you're a copywriter and what that entails. Meet some business owners. Granted, if you live in a small community like I do, they may not be potential clients for you, but they are good to practice talking about copywriting with. (Later on, I may go through how these people can actually become good clients for you too.)

Even though I could go on and on about this, I'll close with one, extremely important note: You must BE a copywriter. You must learn to think of yourself as a copywriter, call yourself a copywriter, and express confidence in that to others. In order to believe in your ability to make a career as a copywriter, you must believe you are a copywriter.

Do not say 'aspiring copywriter' or 'I'm learning how to copywrite' or 'I'm becoming a copywriter.' It's I AM A COPYWRITER.

From now on, when you wake up in the morning say "I am a copywriter." I don't care if you've just started to learn what a sales letter is. Start now, and it'll give your belief a boost.

I am a copywriter. I am a copywriter. I am a copywriter.

Establishing Faith

noreply@blogger.com (Diana Cacy) — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 19:36:00 +0000

I had a book manuscript to prepare and some articles to build, so my blogging has been neglected. I know, I have to stop that. I'll work on that ...

In a recent five-part article series I introduced my idea of the B.I.G. attitude.

Basically, it's my idea of how you have to approach this career field in order to stay on the path when you first start out. You're up against a lot of roadblocks to your success. Starting a freelance writing business of any sort is not easy for many. Family and friends don't understand the need to work this way, and they don't understand that you CAN work this way. There's not a whole lot of belief in being able to make a living by staying home and working on your own schedule - in some cases, only a few hours a day.

I guess that means for you to adopt the B.I.G. attitude, you first have to find faith. No, not religious faith. Faith in that this job field actually exists, that people actually do make a living at it, and that it's possible for you to do it too.

How do you do that?

You learn about the job field. For instance, if you want to start your own freelance business dealing in direct mail copywriter, find who are the top copywriters making their living in direct mail right now. Most have blogs. Most also teach other copywriters. Many of those copywriters take on so much business that actually hire other freelance copywriters to work with them.

Many share little tidbits of information that help you gain knowledge about what type of marketers you'd be targeting. Many publish newsletters that you can sign up for.

Do the research. Find out what copywriters really grab you in their blogs and websites. Sign up for their newsletters. See if they have free downloads available.

To build your faith in this business, there's a few resources I suggest getting.

Master copywriter, Bob Bly, has a book that breaks the areas down wonderfully. It's call THE COPYWRITER'S HANDBOOK. If you're low on money, have your library get it in for you through interlibrary loan.

Go to youtube.com and punch in copywriter names into the search. Look for writers like Bob Bly, John Carlton, and Ray Edwards. There are some pretty clear and informative clips with them that will help you understand what a copywriter thinks about, and what type of help you'll find at a seminar with them.

In addition, check out a few copywriter's message boards. Look at what copywriters talk to one another about and visualize talking with those individuals. Join a few and start meeting these people.

Perhaps you need to check out a copywriting course to boost your faith. You can find courses in low to high price ranges, depending on the teacher and content.

In the low range, I suggest Alice Seba's Copywriting Sweetie course. Her courses are jam-packed with information and very easy to follow. You can get the course without the software for $47.95 or with the software for $77.95 at http://www.copywritingsweetie.com/.

In the high range, I suggest AWAI's Accelerated Program for Six-Figure Copywriting that's available at http://www.awaionline.com/copywriting/learn/make-six-figures/ for under $500 or payments of $39 per month.

(Neither of the above links are affiliate links.)

Alice Seba's course will show you the basics and how to apply them to any sales letter you create. AWAI's course has more master copywriters contributing to it, and will go into more detail. Look at the sales letters on these pages for examples of what you'll learn with their courses.

Building and sustaining your faith in this business, while dealing with the uncertainty of life and skepticism from others, takes positive energy. You need to get that from other copywriters sharing their successes. Sometimes it even takes you being 'overly excited' about being a copywriter to keep the momentum going. If you need to get emotionally supercharged about building your career to keep yourself moving forward and not give up, then do it. Participating with others and learning about all the pros and cons involved will give you this energy. Other copywriters understand this need and will project it to you, even when they suffer a failure. They will project to you how to learn from it and come out even better and stronger - and how to be enthusiastic about the next project.