I'm Following This Plan To Learn Enough Copywriting To Be Dangerous

20 Dec 2024 #writing

Writing is the superpower to survive in the online world.

All online content starts with writing. A video begins with a script, a course with a series of posts, and a long post with a Tweet or short-form post.

And guess what? Marketing and sales start with writing, too. A landing page, an email sequence, a product description, and an ad.

That’s when copywriting comes into the picture. Copywriting means writing to make readers take action: like and subscribe, download a freebie, and ultimately buy.

This is my 3-step plan to learn enough copywriting to be safely dangerous.

1. Start by writing classics by hand

The #1 exercise I have found to learn to copywrite is copywork.

Copywork means recreating classic ads, sales letters, and good “copy” by hand. Yes, by hand. That’s the whole point. When we handwrite, we’re forced to slow down, read carefully, and pay attention to words and phrases.

I’m not new to this exercise. When I started writing coding tutorials, I copied Seth Godin’s posts. I noticed how he doesn’t use introductions or conclusions in his posts. Instead, the first sentence naturally follows the post title.

The goal of copywork isn’t to transcribe. It’s about noticing the structure, common phrases, and other patterns.

These are 3 posts where you can find samples to copywork:

1. Get Better At Copywriting By Handwriting Famous Pieces Of Work! —I’ve been following this post this month. That’s one example per day for 31 days.
2. 5 Ad Copywriting Examples to Study, Hand Copy, and Save to Your Copywriting Swipe File
3. Gary Halbert Copywriting Examples

I bought a notebook for my copywork and color pens. After I finish transcribing a copy, I use a pen with one color to notice words and phrases. Then, at the margins of the page, I use another pen to notice the overall structure and formulas.

And there’s one online course built around the idea of copywork: CopyHour. That’s 90 days of daily copywork—Even we can handwrite that landing page!

Everywhere I looked, I found references to this course. Definitely, I’m keeping an eye on the next enrollment.

2. Read the Boron Letters

Gary Halbert is one name that keeps popping up in any Google search about copywriting.

He is a legend in the copywriting world. He wrote sales letters and ads for well-known brands, making millions of dollars in sales. Think of him like Hemingway going the sales way.

The thing is, Gary Halbert ended up in jail. From there, he wrote a series of letters to his son, teaching him to make money through copywriting. Those letters became a book: The Boron Letters—named after the Boron Federal Penitentiary where Gary was.

After doing copywork, my next step is reading and studying The Boron Letters.

I picked up The Boron Letters years ago but didn’t finish it. At that time, I thought it was another writing book. I didn’t understand what copywriting was and its goal, and dropped it. I wasn’t ready yet.

All that I remember is the advice from someone in jail to eat a banana a day, exercise, and grow big arms because bullies don’t mess with people with big arms. That’s from the first two letters, by the way.

Since reading three books will put us ahead of 90% of people, here are another two copywriting books: “Writing That Works” and “The Adweek Copywriting Handbook.” Those books are on my to-read list after The Boron Letters.

3. Revisit my landing pages and calls to action

This is the dangerous part. Knowledge is only potential power unless it’s put into practice.

I don’t have that many sales pages yet, but a couple of landing pages for coding courses and freebies in my Gumroad account. I want to revisit those landing pages and the calls to action at the end of my posts.

Originally, I wrote them following what I saw online: “Click here” and “Join my course here.” I had no idea about copywriting and frameworks like Problem/Agitation/Solution.

One trick I’ve learned is to write in terms of benefits, not features. Always write with the reader in mind. That’s the difference between “1GB of storage” vs “carry 100 songs in your pockets wherever you go.”

With that trick in mind, I changed one of my CTAs from a simple “Join my free 7-day email course here” to something along the lines of “Join my free 7-day email course and save years and thousands of dollars’ worth of career mistakes.” And I got my first two subscribers after that change.

If there’s one skill you can master for the future, choose writing online. And don’t worry about ChatGPT or Copilot because they will always output average writing.