Experiences In Copywriting

Blog absorbing power

2009-04-30T08:16:00.000-07:00

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

Have way too many personal blogs going on! LOL

Social Media and Marketing

2009-04-03T08:52:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-03-05T12:23:00.001-08:00

Have a cup of coffee!

Making Resource Lists

2009-03-02T07:08:00.001-08:00

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

2009-01-21T09:26:00.000-08:00

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...

2009-01-13T09:51:00.001-08:00

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...

2009-01-12T09:32:00.000-08:00

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...

2009-01-05T15:00:00.000-08:00

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....

2008-12-31T07:33:00.001-08:00

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

2008-12-29T06:22:00.000-08:00

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....

2008-12-17T08:17:00.000-08:00

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

2008-12-16T11:42:00.000-08:00

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....

2008-12-03T14:53:00.001-08:00

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

2008-12-03T08:39:00.001-08:00

Made a website and taking fliers out today

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

Important Matters

2008-12-01T19:51:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-28T11:44:00.000-08:00

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!

2008-11-21T08:37:00.001-08:00

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

2008-11-10T13:37:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-07T13:13:00.001-08:00

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....

2008-11-04T08:14:00.000-08:00

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...

2008-10-31T07:23:00.001-07:00

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

2008-10-29T09:01:00.001-07:00

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...

2008-10-27T09:32:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-24T09:47:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-17T12:36:00.000-07:00

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.

Keeping busy during economic mess ...

2008-10-14T06:59:00.001-07:00

So, how are you dealing with these economic times?

My copywriting business is good. But that's really because I'm using it to help others. While they pay me, it's not enough to afford me a full paying copywriting business. That sounds like I'm selling myself short. It's not. The ones I'm helping are ones that I've chosen for personal reasons, such as helping my church to survive during these times - and a friend who's given me complete freedom over the materials and agreed to be my guinea pig.

I haven't picked up on the marketing, mainly due to the fact that I've been suffering from a cold for the past few weeks that settled into my throat. I'm better now, although still with a few side effects. I have applied for a few jobs, but those companies are still going through the copywriting applications. And I do have some spec jobs that I'm working on.

I have a lot more latitude with how I direct myself than many people. My hubby has a good-paying job that will probably not be affected by this economic time. So, if one section is slowing down for me, I can move to another without worrying about whether or not pay will be coming in. Not that it's all roses... I have thought about taking a day job again (eww!), just to pay down some extra expenses and allow some breathing room. But that's just a time waster, really, when I have valuable information and services to market. So, I am definitely picking up on the marketing, now that my voice has returned.

I'm leaving enough time for my fiction work though. While my voice was out, I got through all the proof pages for book one in the SR series. Just have a few corrections to type into the file and the manuscript file is ready to send to the publisher. Still have to write the synopsis and book jacket yet, but that shouldn't take long, especially since I already have the extended synopsis done. Then, it's be patient and wait to hear back from the publisher about whether or not they will buy the book. That's a process that can take up to a year, depending on the publisher's schedule and workload. This one is 2-6 months.

While waiting, I've lined up more information products, and figured that I can take on two more copywriting jobs. There are some people who've asked me for help - copywriting students - and I've made them wait way longer than I expected(dratted cold!)... I really should get involved with the student board again. This is the tough times when upcoming copywriters need all the encouragement they can get!

And I've got to go through my notes from my down time. I have tons of good stuff for here now.

Creating the Writer's Life

2008-10-07T09:47:00.000-07:00

Being a writer among non-writers is not easy. In most instances, the writer does not have the person space and freedom to pursue the writing career right at the start. Often times, there are small children involved, or a small house set up.

This can be overcome, however.

The writer must set down the ground rules for the family. Allow time to be with the family, spend time with the kids, but also block off times of the day for writing. Some writers overcome this hurdle by choosing to write before other members of the family rise in the morning or after they go to bed.

Non-writers do not understand this need. Nor do they like it. Kids want attention when they want it, not on anyone else's schedule. Spouses are tolerant, sometimes to say the least. And this will not change. Well, with some it'll change when the paychecks come in or with the notoriety that comes with being married to a professional writer.

Once a writer reaches this point (actually before, if possible), the need for one's own writing space and time is crucial.

First, write down your goals as a writer. Make a list of the tasks needed to reach those goals. Mark how long it will take to complete those tasks.

Make it realistic. Allow yourself extra time in there to deal with unplanned instances. Then take those figures and see how much time you'd need to make those accomplishments.

If you're not working a full-time job and don't have kids, being able to write 8 hours a day is realistic. If you have a full-time job and kids, you will have to cut this down dramatically.

And then sit with your family and explain the situation to them. Let them know your times that are reserved for your writing, and ask them to respect your space and needs. They'd certainly would ask the same of you for their needs and wants, so don't be afraid to stand up for yourself. At this point, you will also want to explain to any other family members and friends that you are not to be interrupted at these times.

Even with a busy life, a writer needs to get into the routine of writing. This not only includes the self-control to write at the allotted times, but also the writer must nourish the mind.

Health is a big factor. Pay attention to your heart, weight, and other areas. Be as healthy as you can. Take your vitamins regularly. Drink plenty of water. Keep a glass of tea or water available to wet your throat as you write.

Exercise. Whether it's a nice leisurely stroll in the morning, aerobics, dance, or serious weight training, get that blood flowing. Keep your brain and muscles supplied with fresh oxygen. Sitting for hours at your writing table or computer can wreak havoc on the circulation.

Clear your mind of troubles. You don't want to be thinking about the creditors, the broken washer, the mounting hospital bills for a sick family member, or the ailing friend while you're writing. Unless you're writing about those topics, of course.

Guilt often keeps the writer from having a clear mind. If someone we care about is suffering, we feel guilty at pushing that aside for a few hours. Clearing your mind does not mean you forget those you love. In fact, doing this often helps you when you do have to return to the trouble at hand.

Everyone has their own method of clearing their minds. The exercise can do it for some. A morning coffee or tea while watching the sunrise is refreshing. Meditation and/or yoga helps many. Find what works for you and do it. Sometimes playing a mindless puzzle game on the internet for a few moments helps reset the mind.

Limit your indulgences. This doesn't only refer to sweets, but to other things also. Don't drink gallons of pop or stuff a whole box of truffles into your mouth as you write - that's not healthy. Don't miss your writing time by spending hours on civilization games or role-playing games and try to pawn it off as world-building research.

A clue: even non-writers know that's a tall tale.

Create your atmosphere. Yes, I know. Not every writer has a desk all to themselves or an office. But you can find a place that's comfortable to you and create with medium your comfortable with be it a pc or pen and paper. If you're more comfortable creating the first draft with pen and paper, by all means do so. It doesn't mean you’re archaic. You really don't have to have that perfect printed draft until it's ready to go to the marketplace you're working towards.

Sound is important to your atmosphere. If barking dogs disrupt you, don't have your writing area at the window next to the neighbor's dog. This goes if kids bother you. A window on the side of the house facing the neighbor's yard when kids are playing isn't a good spot either. If you need library silence, then create the atmosphere that gives that. Or go work at the library.

Music is the most used sound element in a writing atmosphere. Different writers are motivated by different music. If opera spurs your mind to kick out the next best-seller, by all means play it. Same with any other like country, rock, Celtic, new-age, inspirational, rap, etc. If you're in a small space of your house, use headphones. This is also great for blocking out noises of family life if you can't get out of range to create.

Plan your space and routines, stick to those routines. Non-writers may not fully understand the need for them, but after you implement them and stick to them, they will get into the habit with you.

Life is hectic. Life is impossible to handle at times. Make your writing a routine, and you'll be able to focus through life's chaotic and blessed moments alike.

Finding resources...

2008-10-06T11:07:00.000-07:00

I'm still fighting this nasty cold, so my time at the computer is limited.

In the meantime, if you're a new copywriting student or anyone looking for tips on improving your sales copy, join Twitter. Many A-level copywriters and marketers are members and provide links to useful resources in their posts.

Just make sure you read Twitter's TOS. They've been fighting spam recently. Especially their 'impersonation' violations. Don't sign up as a character's name and role play as that character. It falls under that category.

I like Twitter. My schedule is hectic, and its linear style makes it easy to keep up with the postings.

Updated Profile....

2008-10-04T19:57:00.000-07:00

Been down with an illness. But I've built up some information for a pdf I'll offer as a download here.

My profile has been updated to include a link with it. I've had people ask me my experience, how I got into this profession and yada yada. After spending so long making each answer out, I decided to make a webpage for my background and vision outline. Right now it just has short-term goals on it for the end. I'll had more for long-term goals later.

Video Marketing

2008-09-29T07:12:00.000-07:00

I'll build posts expanding on my thoughts about the topics I covered in the previous series, but I have to digress for a moment.

My top internet marketer of choice (out of three or four I try to learn from) is Armand Morin. I love his take on what we need for a sustainable business structure, and he's great at releasing information to people about his findings. I'm sure he's an awesome one on one coach, and I hope to get money together in time to take advantage of his coaching in the future.

He offered a series of interviews leading up to the "Big Seminar 12" that happens later this week. His latest one dealt with his ideas about internet marketing.

I agreed with everything except why people use Youtube for their businesses. Okay, I don't know enough to be able to speak for everyone here, so maybe he's right about the majority. But he's not right about why I would use Youtube.

His whole take was why you'd use a free video service when you could pay for a good one. I've watched videos placed on both youtube and one paid services (usually the ones I see are using camtasia to build the videos with ... not sure about the others).

First, where I do agree - when it involves the longer videos for training purposes (that often lead to a marketing message too) ... as far as I can tell, you're limited on time with Youtube down to about ten minutes. Possibly with a paid service, you get more - and most training sessions do take more than ten minutes.

Now, I disagree why I would use Youtube on two accounts:

One is the bottom line - for me, if I have a choice between using a free service or a paid service to present the same information, and they both work with the majority of browsers ... I'm going for the free service. As long as they are both reliable.

Second is for catching new marketers/copywriters/writers coming into my field. They know that seminars segments are often posted to Youtube and go looking there when they can't afford to buy the seminar tapes or attend a seminar. I want to have my information there where they can find it too. Not for my product, as I don't feel that I'd get a lot of sales from this, but for their benefit. I've benefited a lot from the Youtube segments and I want to give others that same benefit. And it never hurts to have your name in another place to help people remember who you are. So there is an added future benefit for myself.

That being said, "No", I haven't started using video marketing. It is in my future plans though to offer some sort of video products. Will Youtube fit into my picture? I don't know. I've thought that maybe it might, for blogging purposes, or for giving sneak peaks into the full video product.

Closing Article in Series

2008-09-26T06:43:00.000-07:00

Article 5 of 5 for series "Setting Your Goal of Becoming a Copywriter"

In closing ...

This is just a minute step into the world of copywriting. Hopefully, it's helped you decide whether or not going for a career in copywriting is right for you.

Your attitude towards copywriting and your goals will help determine how successful you are.

Writing is often a wonderful profession. You get to explore so many topics, learn so much about the world and the people in it, often helping others better their lives through knowledge of a product or service.

But that doesn't mean that it's easy. You have to be willing to make mistakes and to learn from them. Mike Masterson calls this 'accelerated failures'. Every copywriter out there will try different things and will experience both successes and failures. You must be bold enough to push through the failures, find out what went wrong and make the steps to do better next time.

As a freelancer, you often work in solitude. If you're an introvert who prefers to be by yourself, this won't be so bad. But for some it can be darn nerve wracking. You need to understand this will happen and pattern your work habits to minimize this possible stress. Schedule time for a luncheon date a few times a week. Make sure you visit your gym regularly or take long walks. Make time for your family. Don't feel as if you must isolate yourself from the world in order to do your job.

People don't understand that you can make a living at writing. So, before you do make it, they are likely to suggest you try something more conventional, like McDonalds. It's up to you to keep your goals in sight and to learn positive thinking.

If you have a supportive spouse who believes in what you're trying to achieve and supports you, great. That's definitely a keeper! Nurture your relationship with your family members. You need their support, whether they understand the potential of freelance writing or not. My mother is one of those who believes you need to work for someone and then hold on to that job no matter what. But she's also one of my biggest supporters. Of course, I get more latitude with her because I have a husband who works to make the bills while I quit my job for copywriting (wonderful man) and she's old-fashioned, so it's okay for me to play because I'm the woman. But still... she is great about her support.

Soon, you're really making your paycheck at the writing, working a flexible schedule that allows you to take time off when you need family or personal time, and able to afford it. Then, people will believe in your writing career, and you may find a few curious enough to explore copywriting and decide to try it too.

If you're sure you want to be a copywriter, then you need to adopt the B.I.G. attitude.

B - believe in yourself.
I - invest in yourself.
G - go for it!

Have fun!

Starter List of Resources

These copywriters put out good products, posts, and newsletters about copywriting and marketing:

Clayton Makepeace - http://www.totalmakepeacepackage.com
Bob Bly - http://www.bly.com
Ryan Healy - http://www.ryanhealy.com
John Carlton - http://www.john-carlton.com/
Carline Anglade-Cole - http://www.carlinecole.com/
Armand Morin - http://www.armandmorin.com/ (internet marketer)
Michael Stelzner - http://www.writingwhitepapers.com/blog/ (White papers, but goes into other areas too and provides good leads to other sources.)
Michael Masterson - http://www.michaelmasterson.net/

Those are just a few, but they will give you plenty of fuel to get started with.

My suggested source for copywriting courses is AWAI at http://www.awaionline.com
Also look at professional copywriters. Many have taken the role of mentoring seriously and offer their own courses or events throughout the year.

Sign up for Early To Rise's newsletter at http://www.earlytorise.com Loads of valuable information.

Good selection for starting your library:
The Copywriter's Handbook by Bob Bly
Ready, Fire, Aim! by Michael Masterson
Zig Ziglar's Secrets of Closing the Sale by Zig Ziglar
Secrets of A Freelance Writer by Bob Bly
Selling Your Services by Bob Bly

Get your free copy of Scientific Advertising by Claude Hopkins at http://www.scientificadvertising.com/

See what you'll be writing as a copywriter at http://www.hardtofindads.com - this site has plenty of copywriting examples to study and learn from.

Starting out can be scary. Just remember, adopt a B.I.G. attitude and you'll get there.

"I'm so optimistic, I'd go after Moby Dick in a row boat and take the tartar sauce with me."
Taken from Zig Ziglar's Little PDF of Big Quotes ( http://www.ziglar.com/index.php )

Can You Be A Copywriter?

2008-09-25T14:34:00.000-07:00

Article 4 of 5 in series "Setting Your Goal of Becoming A Copywriter"

Do you have what it takes to learn copywriting and become a good copywriter?

The copywriting field is easy to stumble into. Every sales piece we hear, see, and read was developed by a copywriter. Some are great enough to keep us awake at night, thinking about the product and how we must get one. Others leave us bewildered, wondering what in the world the ad was selling in the first place, like a bad cartoon we don't understand.

Those are your study materials for becoming a copywriter. Study them. See what works, what doesn't. Look for each technique and part of the sales piece as you learn about them throughout your training. Why did those great pieces keep you awake at night? Why did the others not work, and how can they be improved upon? The more you attempt to find the techniques, sales components, and methods you learn about, the quicker you'll find yourself learning to write them yourself.

Now, I'll cover what you'll need from the inside of you to make it into copywriting.

1. You must be willing to invest in yourself. Don't just dive into being a copywriter without taking the time to learn what being a good copywriter means. You'll still get jobs without learning the secrets of the field, but you won't gain the reputation of a good copywriter who produces results. And you want results. Not only can you make money up front writing a piece, but you can eventually earn royalties on direct mail pieces that are used in future mailings.

Investing in yourself does cost money. The course you'll choose will cost a penny or two. Every book or program you purchase will cost you. Trust that you are worth investing in and do it.

I'm not saying to go out there and buy every program that promises to teach you copywriting. Heavens no! There are some really worthless programs that will lead you down the wrong path, or nowhere at all. I recommend starting with AWAI's courses. I am not an affiliate with them, but I am a student with them, probably for life. I seem to move from one of their courses to another. Their copywriting courses even have convenient monthly programs for those of us with limited finances.

When you do have a buck or two to invest in yourself, do so. But study those who have proven their integrity and results. I will include a starter list of current master copywriters and specialists to check out online.

Don't forget to willingly invest in yourself with something that doesn't cost money. Time. Make your study and self-improvement time a priority in your life. Until you can get the money to invest in those things that cost, find ways to study that are free ... newsletters, seminars, youtube presentations, audio clips, etc. Borrow books at library or through the inter-library loan system.

2. You must be willing to set daily goals for yourself and stick to them, no matter what happens in life. If you determine that you're going to set aside an hour a night to studying, then do it. You may find that you have to take a night or two off. If you make it one hour a night, for a total of six hours a week, you've allowed for a night off. If you get sidetracked and lose a few nights or even a week, just do 1 ½ hours a night until you're caught up. But you must develop the discipline to stick with your training because life is rough - there's always something that will happen to stop you, if you let it. Decide right at the start to not let anything stop you.

3. With number 2 you must adopt the ability to forgive yourself when you do deter from your daily goal. Don't give up on yourself. Just pick yourself up and get back to it. Even if something really discouraged you and derailed you for a long time. I took a year break because I let life get to me and derail me. But I forgave myself for that and set my mind to making it happen, and never looked back. Everyone deserves a second chance. That includes you.

4. Recognize your worth as a copywriter from the beginning. Set out to be a professional from the start, not a "beginner" or "aspiring" copywriter. Once you get through your initial training, you must present yourself as a Professional Copywriter. You will not "beg" for jobs. You will market yourself as a professional. Nor will you accept "measly payments" for the jobs you market yourself for. Your time and expertise is valuable.

Being a copywriter is an ever-growing process. You will never stop learning in this field. Every day you will learn something new about yourself, your writing, and about subjects you write about that will help you make your next sales material even better. This does not mean that you don't become a professional until a certain level. Rather, it means that you are a Professional Copywriter who is always on the lookout for ways to improve your client's sales response.

5. Understand that you also must become a marketer. A copywriter is not only a writer, but a marketer. When you put together sales material for your client, you are writing that piece so that it fits into your client's marketing plan. You need to understand how that piece is marketed, what other pieces will be used with it, and what other methods of marketing are available for your client to use with that piece, and others.

You will have to learn how to market yourself. Somehow you need to let potential clients know you are available, and that you know how to help them increase their sales results.

Think about what I said. Enjoy! Tomorrow's closing post will introduce the B.I.G. attitude that will make you succeed.

Quitting the Day Job

2008-09-24T07:30:00.000-07:00

Article 3 of 5 in series "Setting Your Goal of Becoming a Copywriter"

So when do you feel safe enough to grab that goal of quitting your day job?

That depends on factors only you can determine, such as:

Savings - Do you have a savings that allows you to quit at the 6 month mark?
Household Income - Is there a working partner in the house to keep the bills up for you?
Boldness - Are you bold and confident enough to jump into this and make it work straight away? Or do you need to ease into this, little by little?
Health Insurance - Do you have a partner to carry health insurance for you or do you need to wait until your copywriting income is producing X amount of dollars to handle the bills plus self-employment health insurance?

Whatever time frame you decide on, make sure that you fully understand the techniques and strategies that make you a good copywriter. This includes the mechanics of writing a sales letter, how to persuade the reader to make a purchase, the uses of a sales letter, and how you can help your client efficiently use the promotional materials you build.

If you know that you need a savings account before you can feel safe quitting your day job, figure out how long you need to keep working. Determine how much you can save per month from your day job paycheck. If you're working part time on your copywriting, figure out what you can save from the jobs you do per month. How much savings do you need in the bank to feel safe about quitting? Take that figure and divide it by the amounts you're able to save and that will be how many months you need to keep working.

Are you feeling bold enough to step out on your own? Do you need to save money up first to join a mentoring program or attend a bootcamp for that extra push? If so, figure in time for you to achieve this side-goal. I've seen people add a few months to their plan to a year, depending on how quickly they can get hold of the money for this.

Perhaps, you're confident about the copywriting, but not the marketing. If you're an introvert who's not used to dealing with people, this could be a consideration. In this case, figuring in time to learn from a marketing expert through a mentoring program or a bootcamp is a good idea. Often the programs and bootcamps will combine both copywriting and marketing skills so you can advance in both.

Tomorrow I'll touch upon what it takes from YOU (on the inside) to learn copywriting.

Article Two: Your Career Start-Up Timeline

2008-09-23T06:26:00.000-07:00

Article two of five in the series "Setting Your Goal of Becoming a Copywriter"

You've chosen your reasons and motivations to become a copywriter. Let's tackle what goals those items generate for you.

For instance, let's say your first reason involves being able to leave your current day job and work for yourself.

Creating a timeline for your goal involves three things:
1. How much time you are able to commit to achieving the goal.
2. Your drive - how truly ready you are for this goal to happen.
3. The steps it takes to make that particular goal come to life.

Unless you've been working as an in-house copywriter already, the time to meet the goal of being able to leave your current job isn't dependent upon your experience. Rather, how much time and energy per week you're able to comfortably commit to learning copywriting is the true factor.

As a guideline, the average individual, with or without sales experience, should be able to initiate a copywriting business in six months while working a day job. This involves being able to commit at least one hour per day.

Now there are personal variances, based on other goals you set for yourself and your business. They could change this or they could not. This assessment is based upon what it takes to enroll in a copywriting course, such as those offered by AWAI, read books on the topic of copywriting, and study the master copywriters out there now and the ones who are the forerunners of this field. There's a lot available out there. You must be willing to take the time to see who the masters are and why they are masters.

Everyone learns at his own pace. Some are faster than others, some are slower. When you set your initial training timeline, be flexible. You may find out a few months into it that you will need more than 6 months. Or maybe you'll only need 4 months. No problem. As long as it's right for you, it's all good.

Now, let's say you've determined you will need this 6 months period to learn how the copywriting techniques. Next you'll need to set a time frame for your copywriting business to make money. For this step of the goal, you need to network and market yourself.

The networking is something you can work on as you train. Join copywriting boards, participate in internet discussions about copywriting, join business groups in your area and attend the meetings. When you learned enough to start marketing yourself, join in on more advanced discussions and meetings where you can "talk shop" and make the connections that will get you referrals.

For marketing your copywriting business you should do a few things:
• Develop a list of potential clients to contact.
• Adopt a strategy for presenting your copywriting services to those potential clients.
• Be brave enough to market yourself.

Will you mail a sales letter or post card to your potential clients? If so, are you prepared to face your insecurities and hesitations to follow up your mailings with a phone call?

The more aggressive you are about marketing yourself, the quicker your business will begin to provide you with an income. (Further help on this attitude is forthcoming in a future post.)

Whether you're visiting local companies in person to market your services or using email and snail mail, look at the steps involved in your marketing strategy. Figure out how long it will take you to gain jobs. If you're taking a quality course and following what the masters put out there for you to read, you will gain insight on methods that will work for you.

In my opinion, if you're timely in getting your name to potential clients and do follow up with repeat contacts with them, it's reasonably safe to say that your business can be earning an income within 4 months. So, in 10 months you can see your copywriting business producing a paycheck for you.

Honestly, this is a very SAFE timeline. For many, once they start studying copywriting they build momentum from the excitement of what they are accomplishing and the business comes to life before they expect it to. But you may be someone facing health, time, or family issues that bring you closer to the 10 month mark, or even takes you to the 12 month point. That is OKAY.

Tomorrow's Article "So When Do You Feel Safe To Quit Your Day Job?"

Article One: What do you want from a new career?

2008-09-21T23:10:00.000-07:00

Article one of five in the series "Setting Your Goal of Becoming a Copywriter".

We all know the things that we need to survive and be healthy without having to really think about it. Food, Air, Water, Sex (for survival of the species), Shelter, Rest, Exercise, etc.

But when beginning in a new direction for your career, you also need to know what you want as a result of obtaining that career. This takes a little thinking, internal exploration, and honesty.

So, you want to be a copywriter ... Let's work with that dream.

First, be realistic with yourself. Why did you choose copywriting? Take a pen and paper and list your reasons why you want to be a copywriter.

If your only reasons are "to be rich" and "to not have to work any longer", stop here. Becoming a great, or even a good, copywriter means you must be willing to work for it, and you will need more motivation than just the money.

If you can come up with other reasons to desire a career in copywriting, then let's have them on that paper.

Some common reasons for seeking a career in copywriting are:

You enjoy writing (or would like to learn how to write better) and would enjoy doing it daily as part of your job.
You wish to work for yourself and you are tired of answering to 'the man' for every little thing you do.
You desire a flexible career that can survive economic turns.
You desire a career that helps people find the things that can make their lives easier.
You love working on a variety of subjects instead of the same thing over and over.
You know you're worth more than what you're being paid and it's high time you claimed the recognition you deserve.
and on and on ...

Your reasons may also include your motivations:

Workplace stress is endangering your health and sanity.
Money is tough to come by and you're tired of living from paycheck to paycheck.
Your job is becoming obsolete.
You're faced with the prospect of having to work from home and need an income capable of maintaining your lifestyle and schedule.
A family member has fallen into ill health and you need a career that will allow you to pay for and deal with the situation.
You're experiencing dissatisfaction with life and work, and desire to take a different direction that works for you.
You desire to make a living helping your favorite charities with fundraising copywriting.
You have a passion and wish to copywrite within that passion's niche to help people find those products and services. (Think finance, health, medical, etc.)
And so many more possibilities...

Write down at least 5 reasons you choose copywriting as your career choice, and 5 motivations in your life that influences your decision.

Tomorrow's article "Creating a Timeline For Achieving Your New Career in Copywriting"

New Five-Day Series

2008-09-20T07:11:00.000-07:00

I've put together a five day article series "Setting Your Goal of Becoming a Copywriter" (edited for title change). It's geared towards helping give people a jumpstart into setting their career goals, and how to tell if they really have set the right goal for them. I could write a book on this, and I might. To keep this series short and on a common topic, I approach setting the goal of quitting your day job to become a copywriter with the articles.

This is an introduction to an ongoing series of projects I have planned that are aimed to help other copywriters make it into the world of copywriting also.

My first article will be posted here on Monday, September 22nd. If you don't quite understand what a copywriter is, go to my article "About Copywriters". (Sorry about the formatting issue on my lists - I will be redoing the webpage soon. I believe you can still read the lists all right in the meantime.)

Sorry for Absence

2008-09-18T07:40:00.001-07:00

Things were a little overwhelming for me lately, and I've been dealing with only being at the computer in short bursts. Not long enough to keep up on my blogs. I haven't forgotten my obligation and duty to them though.

My blogs are going through an attitude change. They are going to be geared at helping those climb up behind me - and to give some a little push if they need the courage to climb further up than me. I've come to realize while I have problems, fears, and lapses of courage, so does everyone else. I'm facing mine and I can help others face their own - to achieve their dreams.

I have life stresses - they are pretty normal. I have confidence issues like everyone else gets. I'm worried about how the economy is going to affect us, just like everyone else.

The more unique issue is dealing with concentration issues. Lately, my ear ringing has been really bad. I don't have Manier's disease (forgive the spelling - not sure how to spell it), but I have low level symptoms like it. Ear ringing like crickets, headaches, nausea ... makes it tough to concentrate. I worked on a sales letter yesterday. Thank God for being self-employed. It was work for ten minutes, lay down for ten minutes, work for ten, lay down for ten. Couldn't do that at a physical job site.

I've been doing massage techniques, hot compresses, ear treatment, etc. Thought about going back to the doctor again, so I researched it. There's not a lot of advancement in this area. The doctor will just tell me the same thing as always. I have the type that is life long, that you have to learn how to manage. Partly because of structural problems with my neck and my sinuses causing the muscles to tighten.

Then I have a few other conditions that are life management treatments. Weird, I have a knack for those.

Anyhow, the point is this. I'm facing this situation and carving out a career for myself. It's not getting me down, although I do have my moments. I am human, after all. But I've learned ways to not let it get to me. I can pass that on to others who are facing issues of their own in life, and help them achieve their goals. That is what I'm going to do from now on.

Web 2.0

2008-09-15T12:39:00.001-07:00

I've been playing around with learning how to use Web 2.0 venues to gain traffic. Just checking all the possibilities and the ways they can work is very time consuming. NOt sure how much of it I'm going to get into.

The blogs will stay for sure. I like those. Eventually I'll get those optimized, maybe switch to wordpress for them.

The community sites will stay, but will have to be a little creative about them. My Facebook site is a bit of a mixture of me, my writing, my friends, the fiction, and the creativity side. The Twitter account I have now is a copywriting/me mix. I think I'm going to start a specific one for the Digital Church Secretary as a tip site. Maybe another copywriting/marketing/graphic design tip specific one too.

Love the blogs. Facebook and Twitter are interesting, but they are a strain. Facebook is distracting and confusing sometimes. Twitter is interesting and more linear, which is great, but I still prefer longer posts than what either one allow.

Haven't managed to understand the social bookmarking sites yet. I may choose one to play around with. But not sure they are for me either.

I have a list of about fifty websites to check out for Web 2.0. I'll probably choose a few I like and start those up.

But of all the marketing methods, I like article writing and email newsletter writing the best. I think those are going to be my strongest methods.

Remember again ...

2008-09-11T20:29:00.000-07:00

Click a candle in the water
http://www.worldtradecenter.com/

Remember ...

2008-09-11T07:58:00.001-07:00

A great tribute:
The USS New York

2002 Time Issue:
Time.com September 11, 2002

BBC News:
BBC - September 11, 2008

Morals in Advertising ....

2008-09-02T13:34:00.000-07:00

This came from advertising legend, Bruce Barton. I made copies of it months ago and keep it in my datebook and traveling folders for when I'm out scouting for copywriting work.

"Do not venture into the sunlight unless you are willing first to put your house in order ... no dyspeptic can write convincingly of the joys of mince meat. No woman-hater can write convincingly of love... unless you have a real respect for people, a real affection for people, a real belief that you are equipped to serve them, and that by your growth and prosperity they will likewise grow and prosper, unless you have this deep-down conviction, gentleman, do not attempt advertising. For somehow it will return to plague you."

"I believe the public has a sixth sense of detecting insincerity. We run a tremendous risk if we try to make other people believe in something we don't believe in. Somehow our sin will find us out ... the advertisements which persuade people to act are written by men who have an abiding respect for the intelligence of their readers, and a deep sincerity regarding the merits of the goods they have to sell."

Translation: "Be genuine."

Be honest. Be sincere. Be genuine.

checking in ...

2008-08-30T11:13:00.000-07:00

Will gather a topic for here soon. Been a bit swamped with reading fiction chapters for other writers, writing, organizing a huge mess, arranging family leave trip, and some other stuff.

I'm on facebook under Diana Cacy Hawkins if any is interested. Also, twitter as dianacacy. And my information is available at Linkedin now. I may also set up a place for Namyz (not sure that's spelled right) this weekend under my full name.

Just for fun - wordle

2008-08-26T13:14:00.000-07:00

Wordle is a toy for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text. You can tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes. The images you create with Wordle are yours to use however you like. You can print them out, or save them to the Wordle gallery to share with your friends.

http://wordle.net/gallery/wrdl/142824/Experiences_in_Copywriting

The site's mainpage is http://wordle.net

Websites ...

2008-08-22T14:14:00.000-07:00

So, in the training materials I've scrounged up for information marketing, they say in the process of producing your web marketing to get a site for your product. Not "add the product's page to your existing website if you have one". I always wondered why. None of the materials I have specified to get a separate host for each product's landing page.

Might have figured out why. I have a bunch of domains tied into one hosting. The updates take a bit to become effective on certain pages because of that. Rriiighhht! Got it now.

I've been looking at 5 Dollar Hosting for awhile and recommending it to people I've been helping. Eventually, I'm going to have my product's landing pages on their own host site with that service (unless I find a better one for the price in the meantime).

There's a few pages that may be my fault - maybe have something wrong with the domain redirect, but bottom line is that this process adds a little more time to setting up the product pages. When you already have to figure in the time it takes to set up an account through your payment service, and to get your articles dispersed to drive traffic, it's another thing thing to add to the list. And can delay income potential.

Marketing madness ....

2008-08-21T13:45:00.000-07:00

My head's swimming with all the marketing information I've absorbed this past week. It's amazing what the top writers/marketers put out for free to lead people to their big products. Ok, I admit it. I'm a freebie seeker. But I'm a freebie seeker with goals. If I get a sneak peek at something and it's really good, I put it on my list to invest in for the future. If you're giving a freebie to something that's coming up really fast, and won't be available again ... then I'm not buying.

See, I've used up all my resources. But I'm marketing myself pretty hard now and have some really good leads. Can't say right now if I'm a good fit for these companies, as I don't have an actually face to face yet. Well, I did one. They were happy with me, but they don't have anything going on right now. So they asked to keep my samples on file.

I had an internet marketing lesson, about making your business work not only today, but also in the future. Got a lot of reassurance that I'm on the right path for Digital Church Secretary dot com. I've got the long-term strategy right. Loads of plans for it and long range goals look very promising. I need to pick up on the in-person networking, and figure out what membership style of site I'd like to run with it next year. Those two things I'll need help on ... start with my personal contacts and move out. Not sure what Christians really need in a membership site that's not out there already and worth it for them, but I'll figure it out eventually.

Dealing with the 'bad' stuff ....

2008-08-19T08:28:00.000-07:00

Poor John's having a bad start to his day.

He talks about his policy of getting the bad calls out of the first thing in the day. When I'm really disciplined, I try to do just that. If bills need taken care of - do that first. If there's not enough money to go around - get the budget and list all detailed out before the day gets going. When we're close or over limited on accounts or credit - get the information down first thing... or as close to it. Some of my online checks can't be made until after 10 am in the day.

I'm fortunate that I don't have these problems that often. Do have a bill paying day every few weeks though, so that has to be done. It's never a happy event when you see all your hard earned money go bye-bye because of rate increases and rising gas prices.

Oh, and a new one this year of a kid in college. Still getting the hang of coaxing that monthly expense out of the budget.

Still, I'll admit. It's easier for me to ignore things and let them fester, hoping they'll go away, even though after years of experience I know better. It's a constant struggle with me to not do that.

I'm a bit backwards in my daily schedule. Many wait until the end of the day to do anything personal because they are most productive in the morning. I do it the other way around because I'm most productive in the afternoon. The afternoon is my heavy writing period. My mornings are spent on maintenance duties, research, and smaller writing needs ... two days a week, meeting with friends for a few hours in morning, and one morning with church duties.

Yesterday was a good writing day. I sat down to write what I thought would turn into four or five articles. Instead, the first article got me. I ended up with a freebie report for Successful Church Secretary News members instead. I accomplished one of my goals. Just not the one I thought I would.

Taking too much on ...

2008-08-18T07:55:00.000-07:00

Have you ever been in the situation where you've 'taken a bit too much upon yourself'?

It's easy to fall into that in the copywriting business and it can cause you to sink. At some point, you'll get to where you have to start turning down jobs because you're too busy to make another deadline.

I haven't had that yet in copywriting jobs, but I do have an issue of this sort.

In my schedule, I have so much time blocked off for studying, so much for copywriting work, and so much for the other writing. It adds up to a lot of time - as much as going to college full time and working a full time job.

But even with the schedule, I'm growing short on room for all the studying. I have room in the copywriting side, but I fill that in with writing. Kicking out the product is the priority right now. And I've taken on so much studying that not getting it all in, isn't that bad.

I did drop a membership building program last month. Thought that would help, and it did. But I find that I'm still not getting enough time to get to at least one of my study items. That's ok. I've backed off of one non-essential course and now I have enough time. Still taking four very busy ones now, and that's probably the number I'll have to keep down to.

I am behind in my master copywriting course from AWAI (one of the four I'm keeping). I should be able to catch up by the end of September though and be back on the schedule. They may have given me a break too... it's fallen off of my membership site, and I noticed my credit card is full. Got to get the payments to the cc lined up with the payments being taken out of it. Strange, I didn't get an email from billing though ... they usually do send one. I'll wait until just after my next cc payment to tell them to start it back up ... that way hopefully those ins and outs will start processing in the right order.

Expecting the dream to happen ....

2008-08-14T08:30:00.000-07:00

I've noticed something about buyers of copywriting programs lately. They are either desperate or just anxious for the materials to work for them and give them the new career they are looking for. It's understandable - I was definitely one of those people when I first started the AWAI copywriting course.

But on studying copywriting and absorbing all that I can, I learned something valuable.

I learned that this is not a "get rich quick" scheme. This is a "we'll give you the tools you need and if you're willing to apply them in your life, you'll achieve your dreams" type of education.

And, in some cases, what you're looking for is going to take more than one source of tools for you to achieve your goals. This isn't to say that the course or program you started with isn't worth its cost and then some. It means that there's a wide, wide world of copywriting out there at your disposal.

I should note that if you do take one course, like AWAI's Seven-Figure Copywriting Course, you will have the tools you need to build a career, get clients, and do a great job. If you apply what you learn, it'll pay off for you.

But what should happen if this career is the right path for you, is that you find out that you have a passion for the copywriting field and just reading and learning from that one course isn't enough for you. You find yourself moving on to the Masters course - going into the Online copywriting course or one of the niche courses - or even taking the graphics design course.

And learning from other master copywriters from the materials they make available.

When you're passionate about copywriting, you not only become a copywriter, but a marketer, designer, and teacher. These are the ones that truly get to the seven-figure goal. It's not easy - it's a lot of hard work and takes time - sometimes you experience a lot of failures that you have to learn and emerge even stronger from - but in the end it gives you a great career that you can love until the day you die.

Learning and growing

2008-08-12T10:00:00.000-07:00

Things I've learned this past seven days ....

People respond more positively to the items in the upper right of your pages.

Some items are just not searched for online much at all. (surprised me. I thought everything was searched for extensively, but did key word searches for five different items, and one was nearly dead while another was a hot item.)

Thus, I learned that definitely YES, there is a need for direct marketing and old-fashioned print advertising still.

Target your marketing according to what your audience responds to ... Okay, I knew this already, but I didn't KNOW it until I experienced it.

The direct approach in copywriting does really work.

Links:
Frank Kern http://www.masscontrolsite.com

10 Conversion Secrets http://www.10ConversionSecrerts.com

Free Keyword Tracker from Wordtracker http://freekeywords.wordtracker.com/

Constant Learning ....

2008-08-08T16:38:00.000-07:00

While I have the tools I need to make my business work, I see the need to learn more. Where I'm doing well: the SEO writing (basic level), the autoresponder, the sales copy, the direct mail marketing, and the word of mouth. But I'm still not getting the results I want. PPC would help a bit, but I can get the results I'm looking for without using it. I'm saving that tool for later projects - and I may outsource that if I still don't have time to learn it for myself.

But I need to get the marketing to grow. I have the basic knowledge down. While I have some improvements to make, I know where to do them at. But I still need to acquire advanced knowledge to get where I want to be. It's not going to happen right away. The knowledge I require is in demand right now and very expensive because of it. If only I had some collateral, I'd get a small loan for it.

I have to be gone for 4-5 days now, but when I get a few moments, I think I'm going to research and see if I qualify for any small business grants. Perhaps I can accelerate my business that way.

I have started actively seeking copywriting work too. I've sent out information packets, gathered a list to mail to next week, and applied for one job online. Also, found one to apply for next week also when I return.

Michael Cage - Information Products

2008-08-01T06:25:00.000-07:00

Just when desperation and lowered confidence was hitting me over the coaching programs being too out of reach for me, literally, right now....

I listen to telephone seminars and one with Michael Cage was last night. I love this man. (Not in that way ...LOL) I love how he is helping others with the marketing of information products and with their copywriting.

His teleseminar was really incredible for me. Not because it brought out an eureka moment, like he was aiming for. But because it affirmed my choices in this business. My confidence was wavering, as to whether I had chose the right mentors, the right products, the right direction for my business. But he put all of that to rest and gave me so much more confidence to keep pushing forward.

His mentality is similar to mine in that he was in love with being an entrepreneur from an early age. Big difference is that he strove to make it as one, no matter what, and never stopped trying. While I, like most, "took care of family" first before taking care of myself.

This passion for working for myself led me to some wonderful jobs. I was able to take over an 'Unit Advisory Council' position as an airman in the US Air Force and get improvements enacted for our squadron, plus lead some fundraisers. I qualified for more positions in the Post Office, plus turned down some offers before getting into the Post Office. I was able to head and improve a no-kill animal shelter's situation. Even in a plant job, I was able to procur a job situation and work with the plant manager. That situation also led to me being screwed over numerous times before I finally quit - but that's another story. I managed a coffee shop - and took a church secretary job (that's actually a church office managerial position in duties.) All these jobs allowed me a level of freedom that normal jobs don't give you normally - many allowed me to work my own hours - deciding for myself, just as if I did work for myself.

In between all this, I was raised in a home business (seamless guttering and home repair), and it continued. After the Air Force, my brother and husband and I teamed together to keep the business running for the months my parents were preoccupied with my mother's health condition. A few years later, my parents turned the business over to my brother and I. In spite of being raised in the same environment, my brother didn't like being an entrepreneur and chose to dissolve the business and work for others again. (Since guttering wasn't my thing and my husband was trading in his hammer for a keyboard, I didn't keep it for myself.)

Within Michael Cage's interview, I found that this spirit is okay. And that the way I'm going about it is okay also. Now, I'm not disillusioned after listening to him and think I'm going to hit the six figure mark this year. I'd have to be selling a higher ticket item than that. But I did find affirmation in my choice of market, how I went about it, and in my future goals for it - that also involve higher ticket items.

I was also in danger of stepping into the realm of planning and thinking that would lead to my unhappiness and failure. Lack of confidence was making me susceptible to those who tell us to market to where the money is, in spite of where our passions lie. Thankfully, I'm no longer inclined in that direction.

What I truly love Michael Cage for is how he's offering an 8 week program for the listeners to last night's teleseminar. For a very, very reachable price on even the tightest of budgets. Even offering a three month plan that has me chomping at the bit.

Unfortunately, I looked at my sources. I'm about forty dollars shy of being able to put that first payment together, give or take. Might as well say a hundred dollars shy ... cause I can't squeeze anymore out of my sources this week, so to get it on one source, I'd need the full hundred. Next household paycheck is on the 14th, and I don't get paid from my sales or clients until the 15th. A few days too late to take action on this offer.

BUT I'm rejuvenated by this. I was beginning to think there wouldn't be anyone who would offer a deal such as this, and Michael's proved me wrong. He's proved that in the toughest of times, there's hope yet.

I do have the tools to make things work right now, if not pay for his help in the marketing at the moment. But I will. Maybe by the time I get a higher end product together, he'll have a coaching deal and I'll be able to afford it.

Check out Michael Cage at http://www.michaelcage.com if you're into info products or thinking about it. He's great for finding the right path to success and for the marketing!

Daniel Levis at http://www.daniellevis.com is the wonderful copywriter who got him to do the interview.

Investing in myself crap....

2008-07-29T13:16:00.001-07:00

Sorry, this is a rant of sorts....

I quit my day job 8 months ago to devote to my training and to make those investments in myself. I also have a number of newsletters I read weekly to keep in touch with new developments, teleseminars available, courses, programs, and books.

I have targeted two new developments I want to purchase. One is a coaching program and another is a huge resource for copywriters. Both terrific investments and worth every penny.

The downside is that one is about $1500 and the other is about $3000.

I may have to unsubscribe from a few newsletters to avoid frustration. They continually say stuff like "If you're not willing to invest in yourself, how can you expect a company to be willing to invest in your services?" It frustrates me because I'm more than willing to invest in myself - I've committed to more than three or four thousand of investment since I quit my day job. My problem is that I have no more resources to invest in myself from.

I'll get the resource once I get enough jobs under me to cover my initial investments and a few bills - hopefully by the end of the year. Hoping they'll have a Christmas deal I can get in.

The coaching program is a marketing training program - designed to fill the 'next step' in my learning process. Oh, I'll do it without the program - and I'll do well. I have a lot of tools at my disposal. It's just I'm missing the chance to learn from someone I admired, who's just a few years ahead of me in this business, and it'll take me a little longer without a teacher to guide me through the tools.

Still, I'm 'chomping at the bit' for it, and those words just frustrate me. I think it'll be wise if I just delete those newsletters for awhile and not read them until I'm further into my marketing plan. I have a decent plan for the copywriting in place now, thanks to the tools I have - and my information product plan is starting to pay off slowly. I'm not using PPC advertising so I have to wait for things to get into systems. Patience will pay off...

(Note: not using links in this on purpose since it's a rant. Sometime I'll talk about tools and resources and provide links then.)

First Information Product is out ....

2008-07-28T12:26:00.000-07:00

The Digital Church Secretary at digitalchurchsecretary.com is live now.

My first information product through this adventure is The Church Newsletter Toolkit, a complete instructional system for writing your church newsletter, using the basic software that comes with your computer.

I really enjoyed putting this package together and building the sales tools for it. It copies my own methods I used during my employment and volunteering as parish secretary. I hope it helps others too.

Up next,
* writing more articles to go with the package and to let people know about it.
* getting the first two-hundred direct mail sales letters out.
* preparing the next report on building church worship folders.
* finalizing the coffee report.
* starting the wine report.

Still working, learning, moving things along

2008-07-21T07:19:00.000-07:00

My first info product is done ... just waiting for things to be processed so I can announce it. Hopefully tomorrow.

I like to write, and I've always had a knack for business letters and motivating people through words, so becoming a copywriter is fun and fulfilling for me. And that means a lot, considering I haven't been in it enough to say that I'm making money at it.

Marketing and list management are two things I could use help with. I've been gathering what I can on the topics, and I'll do well, but I'd feel better if there was a mentor for me to talk to about it. A coach would be great.

And I've found a few programs I'd love to join in on, but ...

It's that vicious circle. I need my copywriting to make money for my family. And I need a mentor to help me a bit. But mentors sell their coaching programs for a lot of money. Money I can't get.

If only we owned our house again instead of renting, maybe I could convince someone to give me a small loan for it. As it is, I have nothing to use as collateral, and no reserves left.

Oh, I'll make it. I'm wired that way. The only area I tend to fail in is the timing of things ... as long as I make it in time for my family it'll be all right.

It just brings me to that other point ... the aloneness. I'm an introvert, bordering on being a severe hermit. Yet, I like having a partner. I like being with people to some degree. It must be why I liked managing small businesses so much. I could work with my 'partners' and yet, retreat to my office alone to do the managing duties when I needed space.

Yep, I'll make it. No doubt about it. It's in my blood and there's no getting rid of it now. But I can see in the future that I will connect with another copywriter and become a partner. (Now, just what aspect of the business we partner in still remains a mystery ...)

Busy-ness

2008-06-25T10:55:00.000-07:00

I'm hip-deep in info product X. Projected publication date is July 7-10th area. I had to schedule it that far out because there are a few systems that need to be kicked in, a few pages needing coding yet (ones that will be used over and over again for the series as a whole), and I need to have someone who's gone for a week look at it (who's also supposed to write the foreword for it too). Fitting that in also means allowing for the upcoming three-day weekend I cannot skip (wedding anniversary at same time).

The other project is the client's website and materials work. We've worked the first proofs, just have to finish the pages and add in the last of the materials. Deadline on that is the 30th.

Still, I have room that I can take on a few more clients. So I'm also working on getting those.

Taking away much of my time from the message boards, but that's to be expected. Maybe one week of the month I can participate more. I plan on making one week a month a lighter one than the others, when possible. Large projects that take more than a few weeks, will cause me to adjust this.

Probably should stay away now. My post on one board last night brought on a counter-post letting me know my assumptions and impressions are wrong. I might be. Dunno. My thoughts were not based on any scientific research whatsoever. Perhaps a copywriting specialist who has that scientific research may come in and make a post letting us know. For now, I'm too swamped to analyse the response. Only thing that bugs me is that I wrote it after writing for long hours and was a bit tired ... I may have used some of the wrong wording. Lesson to learn there.

During my next lull time, I will mull over the thoughts presented and reanalyse my own impressions.

In the meantime, I'm working on these projects and working more on getting the non-fiction out. And I've started another novel.

Mentally "At Home"

2008-06-18T09:24:00.000-07:00

Working out of the home is both a dream and a problem at the same time. Even when you respect yourself as a business person, others don't see you as such. Especially when you're a woman. You're a "housewife".

For me, it's the kids mainly bugging me. They're older, able to fend for themselves. But my office is close to the tv and kitchen. They think nothing of blaring the tv and the one jabbers constantly ... usually to oneself or the tv characters. A lot of my work is difficult to do with the tv blaring and no one doing any chores. That's significant. In our household there's chores for everyone to do... unlike many of the other households I've observed. Another topic for another blog...

Recently we were instructed to get into the right mindset for success and stop thinking of our workspace as a 'home office.' That's never been a problem for me, but with the distractions, like above, 'home' is starting to make its way into the description. If I had a big house where the office was in its own room, I don't think I'd have this problem. But I do, and now I have to handle it ... at least until August when the one leaves for college. And the other goes back to school during the day.

Another thing I haven't had a problem with is being a copywriter. Many just say they are learning to be a copywriter or something. When they are already doing it. Just because you still have a lot to learn, doesn't mean you don't deserve to be respected as a copywriter. Even master copywriters keep learning.

Actually I've been saying something else, other than being a copywriter. Because when I do say that, it's usually to someone who responds with "what's that?" So, I have started saying that "I build marketing materials that help businesses sell their products and services." It's longer, but shorter than explaining it.

I also have a card with my contact information that I staple to an article I wrote on what a copywriter is and how a business works with one.

While I'm busy ...

2008-06-17T15:07:00.001-07:00

I'm busy with a huge project right now, so here's an important off-topic post for everyone, thanks to an email from my aunt and uncle.

Everyone needs to read the story and hear the tribute to our veterans of WWII and the Korean war. These veteran's are dying at the rate of 1000 to 2000 per day. It's time to pay them a tribute "Before You Go"

Read the story and then click on the left menu to listen to and watch the tribute video of "Before You Go".

BEFORE YOU GO

Traveling and Brainstorming

2008-06-11T13:08:00.000-07:00

When you're traveling, paying attention to the taglines on business signs is a very good way to think of new headline ideas and word usage.

Compact apartments can attract more renters if you call them 'efficiency studios'.

An amusement park is not as appealing as an amusement resort.

Neat gimmicks can even show off the product. For one, a farm equipment manufacturer has a pyramid of the product outside. One replica of the machine stacked on top of another, each one smaller than the one below, until they have a pyramid built out of about twenty replicas. Looked really cool.

Them's my thoughts while I'm catching up after being gone for so long and trying to get my routine back for the week.

No time ....

2008-06-05T18:18:00.000-07:00

The storms have been making their rounds through here again and again and again and again... Getting pretty sick of it. But we're gone for a few days over the weekend visiting family. I haven't updated blogs in the past week very well due to being so busy getting ready for this weekend. It's also a business meeting with a client and I needed to get a lot of extra stuff done for her.

Doesn't seem as if there's an end to all these storms for as long as we can see, so don't be surprised if I'm not back for a week.

Time management

2008-06-02T12:08:00.001-07:00

Managing my time, multi-tasking, and getting things done is easy for me to do, and easy to help others do. But today is a challenge for me. I'm dealing with a very depressing situation and it's zapped all my energy. As normal, for me, in this situation I went and got a large candybar and pop. So not like me, but I get to the point where I just "don't care" ...

When I'm like this a period of quality alone time helps, but it's impossible on this day.

So what do you do when life kicks you in the butt and something zaps the energy right out of your motivation?

I could kick back and work on copywriting projects that I risk not doing the best job on ... or take it in stride, so to speak. I'm working - just not on areas that will jeopardize my performance. Instead of the heavy writing I had planned today, I now am doing some research for someone on protein and muscles, typing in a fictional piece that I only had a hard copy of, doing a few chapter readings for friends, and listening to some audio lessons for the writing. Maybe even work on a website - one that the code is already there and I just have to switch the text and graphics over to what I already have available. Stuff my mood can't screw up and still give me a productive day.

Close....

2008-05-29T09:06:00.000-07:00

I've got three info products almost ready to close up and make available. I'm brainstorming the newsletters - two for starters. Picked out four more templates for websites and affiliate sites. And three big projects in the works. Plus the two assignments almost together so I can put them in the portfolio.

Seems that a lot of copywriters ask about the use of colors in the sales copy - the emotions it encourages and the effectiveness of sales. It's also something good for newsletter builders to understand. I'm adding that into the church newsletter module and making an article for the e-newsletter series on color.

It's obvious that knowing something about design is necessary to market your own products. What's not so obvious to new copywriters is that they should understand the basics of design also. Graphics designers and copywriters often work together on making good sales material. And they should. A copywriter can write the best copy ever and it can flop if the design doesn't enhance the copy and causes the reader to lose interest.

I'm getting into design for my own products. My daughter works at helping ranchers with their designs. I've decided that I will branch out later this year and offer both the copywriting and design for projects.

Not really a weekend off...

2008-05-27T09:11:00.001-07:00

I didn't work this weekend, but I didn't take it off either. I've gotten a multitude of items to study with my course and other resources. I spent most of the time reading and learning those.

I've settled into a routine where I copywrite in the afternoons. Major projects may take up whole days at a time, but I've gotten the system down where I can free write for an hour each day, study for an hour, catch up on odds and ends for an hour, and then get into the heavy work for the day.

Right now I'm working on two major projects - one for a small business and another for an informational product package. That means I'll work the afternoons on the writing ... and the night on follow up work preparing for the next day's writing.

AWAI is awesome

2008-05-23T09:40:00.000-07:00

The people at AWAI are awesome. They really care about their students and want them to succeed.

For awhile, a few of us started responding to new students coming in on the member's board. Guiding them, encouraging them to go through the paces, and trying to show them how it all comes through for them in the end. It gets to the point where some new students look to us for coaching guidance on the board also.

The moderators picked up on that. Some companies would just let the members 'play' on the board and not step in. Not AWAI. They opened up another section. Gave us a guide to assist us with helping the others. And now brought in some seasoned copywriters as volunteers to crit us.

Not sure, but it may replace the system where we send in our assignments and wait forever for the answer. I hope so, cause this works so much better. We get an instant response to our letter, allowing us to pinpoint the weaknesses right away and fix it.

And we can still contact them privately if we need to. What a great deal all around!

(Now if I can just get my mail a little quicker ... anxiously waiting for the next assignment in my master's course. LOL)

Too funny, then not so funny...

2008-05-18T12:14:00.000-07:00

Watched a movie on TV last night. Being a copywriter, details about the ads stand out a lot more. Twice the ad for the yummy Dairy Queen Waffle Bowl Sundae came on. Both times I laughed because of the placement of their ad.

The first time the ad was followed with "If I lost the weight I could..." lapband ad.

The second time the ad was followed with "If you could eat 30% less each day..." dieting ad.

At first it was funny. Then I imagined being the copywriter who worked hard on the commercial and I imagined the frustration at having the ad's success jeopardized by the ad's location.

On Mentoring

2008-05-16T06:32:00.000-07:00

I have a peer group to exchange work and ideas with, but no mentor. Not a "person" anyway. I have the courses, the books, the subscriptions, etc. But they don't really talk to you - they don't offer advice based on the unique piece you've created or the odd question you come up with. Peer groups are great for that, but sometimes a more experienced individual's attention is needed.

Came across that in one peer group this week. I posted a salesletter and someone new critted it. Pretty much said it didn't work at all the way I approached it. My controversey was that I finished the course this assignment came from and built it based on what I learned. And it was revised based on what others told me. So it was very confusing. Then I went to crit others' letters and found that they were really letters, not built up into salesletters. So I was really confused. Had I got the course teaching all wrong?

I felt sure of myself and comfortable with my writing, yet I still had some doubt as to my own interpretation. In the end, I figured I had to go with what I felt the courses taught me and what the other copywriters taught in their products that worked. And still encourage others. So I did.

But finally a more seasoned copywriter stepped forward on the peer group and started posting comments on people's salesletters. It showed me that I'm on the right path with my writing, and I do understand the teachings right. Thank God that person came forward. I've still got a lot of learning to do in this field and I needed that little push to keep momentum.

It's better

2008-05-14T07:40:00.001-07:00

Yesterday was rough ... at least getting into the working mode was. I thought at one time maybe it was because of the time off, but that really wasn't the reason.

I need something vital to be productive, and that is quiet alone time. For me, that definition is to be at home, alone, with the neighborhood quiet, and to listen to one of my favorite shows in the background or listen to music.

I hadn't had that in five days. My parents visited. And my father has the tv blaring all day. It was a very busy time because our daughter graduated and we threw her a grad party. I listened to no music.

And I had no pbs time. Yes, that sounds weird. But for me, I have a few pbs British shows I watch at the end of each week. I didn't get that. They sort of work like a recharge with me. So I put in the dvd of one yesterday afternoon, and relaxed with it next to the open front door. It helped a lot.

By late afternoon, my productivity was back. Not full force, but there. Still took it slow and really sat with a sales letter while watching tv last night too. I know most people can't do that, but I grew up writing while I watched tv. Or in class. LOL It would get me in trouble every now and then. The teacher would call on me to answer a question she was sure I hadn't heard, but was surprised when I did hear through the writing and answered it. She would then just ask me to put it away anyhow. Call me strange.

Nice day out - I think I'll work outside in the afternoon. Now I just have to decide which of two projects I want to work on next.

Vacation can be bad too

2008-05-13T08:01:00.000-07:00

This is the first day I'm back to work after taking five days off for family time. I've tried reading and listening to a few things to get my mind back into the business groove. But it's slow.

I'm an oddball. My most productive time for writing is in the afternoon hours. It's still morning, so I'm sure that after lunch I'll have no problems. But I have some now.

Plenty of motivation though. And read about another way of marketing oneself that I want to work with. It's publishing free articles to generate leads. I'm familiar with the method for information products, but evidently it works too to market your copywriting services. Gonna look into it.

The Reports

2008-05-05T10:11:00.000-07:00

Fitting work in during this time is tough, but at least report writing is something I can do while on family time. With pen and paper, I can write about things that are second nature to me. Things I've done myself through the years. Things others may wish to know about.

I'm working on a big series of reports created with the knowledge of jobs I've had in the past.

I took Jimmy Brown's Small Reports course, and am incorporating his methods into my own - streamlining the process a bit.

Can't stay long and I'm cramming this week - family on the way in, a graduation party to plan, a banquet to fit into the schedule, plus some. SHOULD have an easier time after next week.

But once I get it all situated and the first report offered online, I'll be sure to post it here, along with a review of Jimmy Brown's coursework. Links will be included.

The internet marketing thought

2008-04-30T06:47:00.001-07:00

Copywriting involves a lot of duties, spans a lot of categories. You can specialize in creating salesletters for a particular market, offering a direct mail package. You can specialize in white papers, annual reports, brochures, whatever.

Natural progression of searching for your copywriting goals is to find out about internet marketing. Especially for me because I want to get into the ghostwriting scene as a major part of what I offer.

There's E-commerce where you sell physical materials online. This entails investing in stock to mail out from your location, and/or dealing with drop-shippers to mail the products out for you. Lots of co-ordinating with the suppliers and drop shippers.

I thought about E-commerce. I once belonged to a company's membership that would allow me to do this quickly and efficiently, with low overhead. But those companies sometimes fail you too, and you're dependent upon their performance for your own. I didn't like that. If I get to the point where I decide I want to set up an E-commerce (mail order, if you prefer to think of it that way), I think I'll do it with a store front.

Information Products appeal to me more. One, since I want into ghostwriting, this would give me credentials to get jobs on the freelance writing side of the business. And two, I'm selling immediately useful products in a convenient format for people to buy. They are quick to put together, quick for the buyer to purchase, and immediately accessible to the buyer, giving the person the information they need when they need it, not in the mail a few days later.

Information Products are more difficult to maintain. You have to keep coming up with the new information, mold it to the niche you're sellling to, and properly market it. You do with E-commerce too, but Information Products take a certain personality to keep up and not burn out within a few months.

I suggest gathering information about both business methods, learning about the daily - weekly - monthly work involved in each, and see which one fits your personality.

Finding Free Training

2008-04-27T08:16:00.000-07:00

When you're on a budget, in particular, a nearly non-existant budget, for education in your chosen profession, getting the training you need can be difficult. Luckily, it's a lot easier for copywriting.

Giving away free how-to-do-this products is a great advertising ploy that copywriters use to sell their products and services. It allows a potential client to see that the copywriter does know his or her stuff. When it is for introducing the potential buyer to a larger informational product that's being sold, it serves as giving that person a sample of what the main product will teach them. This not only cuts down on returns by allowing the person to see up front what is being sold, but also affords the seasoned copywriter a way to help the newbies out. And perhaps make a future buyer out of them.

I take advantage of these free-bees. I have everything from mp3's to pdf's saved to study on my own. I've watched countless online videos and continue to look for more. It's a great way to stay motivated.

Self-discipline is the key to this too. Bob Bly of bly.com, one of the most successful copywriters suggests training should take 25% of your time. He suggests no more than that. Otherwise, when are you marketing yourself and getting the work out?

So, check out the boards and see who the top copywriters are. Be sure to pay attention to the areas that you're interested in building your business up with or in. White papers, newspaper ads, information products, list building, etc. Find something you need to work on in your business, see who's experienced at it, and see what free-bees they have to help you with on their sites.

Have fun!

Your targeted market

2008-04-21T11:30:00.000-07:00

I've had a delay in postings here. Swamped with some unexpected family issues that took hours of time to deal with, plus a major website upgrade that took quite awhile. Now I have three major projects in the works and have to keep those moving forward so I can still have time to take in more jobs. I want to be swamped with work. I NEED to be swamped with work actually.

I've been narrowing down my markets during this last week.

For copywriting, I want to do newsletter jobs and direct mail for companies in natural health, nutritional products, and food. When I'm not too busy, I'm also putting myself out there for smaller businesses and start up business materials. I love helping someone grow their business. Especially in the sole proprietorship phase. I've been fortunate to help two so far and loved it.

For information products, I'm going to concentrate on the areas I know and my target markets for the copywriting. The areas I know are animals, church, writing, business, art, and a few others.

Need a few physical products, but not sure what yet. I bought into a company a long time ago, but their reputation has went down the drain, so I'm going to do something else. In the meantime, I'm looking into selling my artwork.

The local ads

2008-04-09T10:56:00.000-07:00

Remember those local ads I talked about before? I gave a few to the businesses I mentioned. Didn't get any new jobs from it, but the new ad paper came out this week.

The one ad that I thought really sucked is used again. But this time it's jazzed up. Used the same boring graphic in it, but this time it worked. They cleaned up the writing, changed the font a little, and took out the repetive wording. Then the paper editor also put their ad right under the headline for the section.

The new location and the minor changes they did to the ad itself really makes the ad work now.

Even though there wasn't a sale from it, I feel really good about it, and more confident in myself. And I learned something new about ad placement. If you know what decorative headers the paper editor is going to use ahead of time, that can work to your advantage in building the ad to coordinate with the page design itself.

Motivation and Keeping Productivity Up

2008-04-07T08:22:00.000-07:00

Right now is a very distracting time for me in my family life. Trying to concentrate on my writing goals and assignments is difficult. I keep thinking about how Holly Lisle motivates us, and how she kept productivity up through a lot of crappy days in her life.

I've used a couple of her writing products myself and highly recommend them. I haven't used this one yet, but she's talked a lot about the book. It sounds exactly like what I could use right now for motivation. Perhaps you could too, so I'm recommending it now.

The confidence factor

2008-04-04T07:12:00.000-07:00

Sometimes business is slow and jobs don't happen as often as you would like. I have jobs that I'm working on right now. Nothing paying though. And I'm feeling the pressure to get something in this month. Life circumstances dictate that I make money, and I have to kick out the product to do that. But Life also gets in the way of accomplishing that feat. There's so much going on right now that it's discouraging. Sometimes I wonder if I should have just studied for a few more years and waited for those life circumstances to be done with before starting this full force. And then, I remember that with patience, this will get us ahead even further. Still, it's tough not to give in and work for someone else for awhile again. I'm fighting the urge to become a "chicken marketer".

How to fight that? Market and produce even more! And learn, learn, learn. Tough to do with no capital to pull from, but I'll do it.

Been studying google adwords. Seems like a good tool to use in getting your site out there on the net, but not right for me at the moment. People are spending 1 to 50 cents per click through, depending on their word choices. And it works in bringing the returns, but I just don't have the capital to invest in that stragedy right now.

So how am I going to get my affiliate sites out in site of people surfing the internet. Trying some SEO work and researching ways the 'broke marketer' can do this.

Selling Online - Gimmick Sites

2008-04-01T07:29:00.000-07:00

My brother put his information in for three websites a long time ago. Hasn't heard back from them at all. He doesn't even own a computer, and NEVER goes online. Naturally, he knew nothing of the websites and nothing of how to make websites work.

On our weekend visit, I took the addresses and said that maybe I could look at them and make him landing pages for them or something. LOL They ARE landing pages. It's a gimmick, giving away these landing pages for free reports that show people how to make money on the internet. I found a site - not my brother's - seems his are gone now. The reports do work, but I didn't read any of them. I'm a bit uncomfortable with the set up.

They duped my brother into this affiliate type of situation with the promise of good money for the sales generated from his website. Only thing is, my brother knows nothing of how to get exposure for the sites online. And they don't bother to teach it. A shoddy operation if you ask me.

There's a key point to make here. You can have the most wonderful, inspiring website online that people would love to read and buy products from. BUT that means nothing if you do not market that site. The site will be lost in the cybersphere among thousands of millions of other sites and no one will ever see it.

Research online marketing. Not from me ... I'm still building that introductory report. Research google adwords, seo writing, domain name marketing, list building, and much more. Get your site in front of people and you'll reap the rewards.

In the meantime, I'm working on that report and getting my brother started in a true affiliate marketing site that will generate money for him.

Website Building

2008-03-24T08:03:00.000-07:00

In today's world, the internet is important. Many of us have decided to have our businesses based on the internet.

I can't stress enough how important it is to have content on your site. Good, usable content. It's good for SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and it's good for your potential clients.

Give the search engine bots some juicy content to troll through.

Give your clients and visitors something to read that helps solve a problem they have in their life. Endear them to you, let them know you care about them and their needs, and they will have faith in your business products or services.

Content building is my goal for this week. It's a short work week with the holidays for me. Leftover of Easter weekend and we take a long weekend come Friday to visit family. Good time for building content.

Local Business Ads

2008-03-19T13:44:00.001-07:00

I bet wherever you are, there's a weekly ad newspaper. Look at it and check out the ads. We have a small one here and I went through them this morning. I found five that needed help. One REALLY sucked.

I took a lined notebook page and taped the ad to the bottom of the page. Above the ad I wrote comments on how to improve the ad. I'm giving the businesses copies of them.

Might turn into a job offer for an ad. Who knows?

Headlines Are THE Important Piece of the Copy

2008-03-17T06:26:00.000-07:00

Your headline is competing for your reader's attention amongst many small promises the reader meets throughout the day. Your promise needs to be bigger to stick out and cause your reader to read the rest of the copy.

Learning how to make good headlines is perhaps the #1 priority of a copywriter. Big promises need to be big enough to get the reader's attention, yet not make the reader turn away because they seem to promise the impossible.

Bob Bly explains about them in his book "The Copywriter's Handbook" and Micheal Masterson teaches about his four U's of the headline in his Accelerated Program for Six-Figure Copywriting course.

Affiliate Marketing

2008-03-11T16:37:00.001-07:00

Part of my business is that I'm an affiliate advertiser. I not only want to help others have good sales material, I want to help them sell their products. This is one way that I can do that.

I'm currently working on a few websites that will provide a place for people to learn about an area of interest. It will include articles I'll write and other articles I'll get permission to post. There will be reports offered that I put together and offers from other people.

This allows me to help the consumer, help the creator of these products, help sell my own products, and put it all in one convenient place. And I get to make sure all the items offered are good buys.

Hours devoted to the business

2008-03-07T09:49:00.000-08:00

As with any home business, with holding down a job, for that manner -- keeping up with a copywriting business is very time comsuming.

Many full-time copywriters start out working their business for 60-70 hours per week. This makes for long days and time taken from other areas of your life. After a while, you'll settle in to your routine and find your writing style. Individual jobs won't take as long as they did in the beginning, and you'll feel like you're accomplishing more. And you are. Still, at full-time, you'll find yourself working an average of 50 hours per week. Often, you'll realize you never really stop working.

While washing dishes, that next feature article will roll its way through your head and you'll scramble to write as much of it down before it's lost afterwards. (Here is where a voice recorder would come in handy if you're able to speak it out as you think of it.)

Ideas will come to you at other times, such as during your kid's sports event, the grocery shopping trip, etc.

The really, really cool thing about copywriting is that you don't have to be a full-time copywriter. If it's a secondary job to you, it can work part-time.

This is why it's important to set your goals early on in the business. Figure out how much of your income needs to come from copywriting, how much that income needs to be, and find how many hours per week you need to work on the copywriting.

AWAI's Six-Figure Copywriting Course is a great place to start training and learning about the business of copywriting.

Stepping out of your comfort zone

2008-03-03T07:13:00.000-08:00

Getting a copywriting business to work is not THAT easy. Anyone who has the will can do it, but it takes a lot of work. Granted, the work is satisfying and worth it in the end, but don't be fooled that you can have a copywriting business and not put forth the effort.

You must immerse yourself in copy, study all aspects of creating copy and of running your business. Sometimes you must even step out of your comfort zone.

Stepping out of the comfort zone for me is the sales part of the job. We're all salespeople in one form or another. All of us have had to convince someone else to do something or believe in something we do. But getting those first sales in your own business can be quite scary. Luckily, I've had prior experience with this. Still... it's scary.

Yesterday I picked up Zig Ziglar's Secrets of Closing the Sale. This book came highly recommended by other copywriters.

When you have something you need to accomplish as part of your copywriting job, and it takes you out of your comfort zone, study. Study as much as you can about that area. Practice being sure of yourself. Create a positive outlook towards that 'duty.' Your confidence will project itself when you talk to the client, and in turn, your client will have confidence that you can do what you claim to be able to do.

Swap Files

2008-03-01T12:52:00.001-08:00

Copywriters often keep something that's referred to as a "swap file." This is a collection of advertising examples. This could be newspaper ads, magazine ads, direct response letters and other materials, brochures, reports, etc. A copywriter will study these, see what works and what doesn't.

When I did the bank running this week, I also picked up some handouts there. Small town brochures, organ donation brochure, business directory, etc.

Check out the places in your town that display handouts for tourism and local events. Check with your community's chamber and offer your copywriting services to improve their handouts.

Microsoft Office OneNote 2007

2008-02-26T14:26:00.000-08:00

OneNote is a feature I've never used before. I'm not much of a writing software user. Give me Word and Excel and I'm good to go, using just the bare necessities of each. But our package of Office Home and Student 2007 came with OneNote and I decided to play around with it.

If you're a writer who likes to use tabbed notebooks, OneNote is for you. You get a virtual tabbed notebook. Each tab can have one page or multiple pages. The pages can be as big as the screen space or you can increase it.

I've organized my projects in one notebook, fiction and non-fiction and copywriting. I've started using separate notebooks for clients also. The pages work great for brainstorming headings, subtitles, and for body text. You just put each idea/concept in it's own box and move those boxes around as you see fit.

I haven't used writer's blocks, but I imagine that it works similar to that.

I might get into this thing about using your computer to rearrange and organize notes. I still like my ol' method of using paper copy - cut the pieces out and rearrange them until I like the order. For now, I do both. One computer with four people in the household... can't always guarantee I have the computer when I want to work with the pieces.

Starting the week...

2008-02-25T12:41:00.001-08:00

Got a little over stressed about the business of writing, and so the writing slacked off. I have many projects started, a mailing out that I'll be able to make second connections with at the end of this week, planned visits to local businesses about offering my services, and more. The stress was stopping me from getting anywhere with my business.

So, I'm chilling a little. Working on getting some material together. I love doing the work, dislike doing the business. I know I can't do one without the other, but forcing it too much isn't going to help me. I'm concentrating on material right now. I've done two articles today and worked on a special report.

My son is home sick, so I'm also distracted. But the writing's going well. I had thought I'd walk around town and make connections, but that's not happening. The weather is turning rough here right now. Might have to make those connections later in the week.

Overwhelming motivation

2008-02-21T07:30:00.000-08:00

Motivation is a wonderful thing. But, as with all good things, sometimes too much can be destructive. In order to find my motivation drive, I find I'm having to 'tamp down' my motivational factors. (Yeah, I know ... bad espresso reference, but I haven't had my morning coffee yet.)

I collected everything I could about copywriting. There are so many jobs that a copywriter can do, and nearly all excite me. So I have loads of files and multiple books and a myriad of website addresses collected for wonderful information. BUT it's too much. I lost my focus, my direction. The path I should follow, so to speak. There are way too many turns for me to take and I want to explore them all.

Then there's the life motivators for getting into this field and striving to make the money at it. There's too many of them, and time's getting short for me. So, I feel the stress big time.

My lessons from this?

Self-realization. I had to come to terms with my faults. The ones that I hid from family and friends. I need to work on those faults so that I feel better about myself. Be the person I can admire.

The Whole Picture. A writer, or anyone in a professional career, needs to take care of his or her self. You have to eat right, excersize, take care of your family, be with your friends, and don't neglect your spiritual needs.

About Copywriting

2008-02-15T19:29:00.000-08:00

I created this blog to be my real copywriting blog. My personal blog kept filling up with writing posts instead of personal ones.

I think it's appropriate to begin by pointing everyone to my article About Copywriters on my business website. If you're unsure about what a copywriter is, that article will help you understand the business a little more.