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How do I get started with copywriting?

Anything considered a "hustle" and not necessarily a CENTS-based Fastlane

Marco Aurelio

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Hello everyone, in the last weeks I've been learning some html, css and JavaScript. I already had a little experience with coding, so it wasn't really hard for me. I followed the courses suggested by Fox on Codecademy and Udemy. Now I'm starting to design a website for my mom's law firm and for the hotel of a person I know. I'll do it for free, just to gain more experience, then I'm gonna try to cold call local businesses and offer them to make a website for them.

Recently, I've been also interested in copywriting. I'd like to learn it because I think I'll need it in future, and maybe I can also get paid for this.
Do you havea any course/book/anything you'd recommend to begin with?

I'm aware that freelancing isn't fastlane, but imho it's a great way to start to earn some money and to learn important stuff I'll need when I'll have my own business.

I'd really appreciate some help, thank you!
 
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fridge

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I started getting into copywriting about a week ago and started with the Udemy course titled: "The Complete Copywriting Course: Write to Sell Like a Pro" and found it really helpful for a beginner like myself. The course has lots of explanations as well as different activities to help implement what you learn. I'm sure there are better resources out there, but I think it's a great starting point, especially for a low price.
 

eTox

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Gary Halbert's BORON Letters.

Start with that and then plow through Ca$hvertising.

What's next? You write a shit ton of copy. Did that sound scare? How else are you going to start writing well?

Don't waste your time and money on courses.
 

Digamma

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Screw the books.

You don't need them.

I never read a copywriting book that really taught me something.

At best it told me the name of things I was going to discover years later on my own.

Because you can't be taught copy, you can only learn it.

Do this instead.

Decide what you want to sell right now. Just pick a thing.

Get on Google and find the companies that do it well.

Get on their websites and rip their stuff apart. Why do they say what they say? How?

Get on their Facebook and snoop their ads. Why do they write it as they do?

Get on their mailing lists and drink their emails like honey. Why do they talk like that?

Make your own observations.

Write them down.

Copy the sections you like by hand.

Try to make your own versions by changing stuff around. Play with it.

When ready, find some shitty copy, rewrite it, and offer it for free for them to test.

Do this until you have data that says what you write sells.

Then, only then, read Breakthrough Advertising.

Leave the rest of the books to the copywriting masturbators.

None of them say anything different. They are all the same '80s crap rehashed.

There is some course that is useful but it's for more advanced copywriters.

Right now you just need to read copy and analyze it for yourself.

That's it. It's just words. It's not rocket surgery.
 
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D

Deleted78083

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Lex wrote a golden thread about it:



Also read Cashvertising, the entire book is one golden nugget. Practice makes perfect.
 

Choate

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Not one post, one thread, one book, or one forum will expose you to everything you need to know to write copy that sells.

Instead, you should tackle it as you would any other profession or hobby which you plan to develop expertise in: immerse yourself.

It's really that easy, when you follow these two words (immerse yourself) everything else falls into line.

Now, you just have to figure how to immerse yourself and assign value to what activities will give you the highest return, depending on how much time you can dedicate to it.

First, buy the most important books. Some will say "you don't need them", as seen even in this thread, but think for yourself: do you reckon that reading 15 minutes of copy after waking up or before bed or during lunch break in the afternoon, from an industry titan like Ogilvy , will have a positive or negative effect on your journey?

In my opinion, immersion should be frontloaded, meaning you spend a significant amount of your time upfront dedicated to it and then you can fall back into "maintenance growth" mode where you learn a little bit or practice a little bit every day. At first, you really need to dive in.

Immersion has to be split between passive learning and taking action. Learning materials might include:

Ogilvy on Advertising
Cashvertising
Influence the Psychology of Persuasion
Secrets of Closing the Sale
How to Win Friends & Influence People
The Boron Letters
Finding and reading anything Lex Deville on this forum
/r/copywriting
/r/advertising
Following brands and agencies on LinkedIn
Searching up and finding random copywriting videos on YouTube
Literally just expose yourself to anything and everything (because you don't know what you don't know), with more weight towards things you deem high value
Understand that anything sales also applies directly or has a high carryover to copywriting, whether that's previous experience, books, etc
Same can be said to an extent about psychology

Taking action is as simple as it sounds. Write, write, write. Find clients, join copywriting circles to share feedback, partake in weekly challenges, write fake ads for a product you see, revise it, etc. Envision email chains, product copy, direct response, landing page copy, etc. Learn how to do target market research, then do more research, learn how to be more efficient in your research.
 
D

Deleted78083

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Literally just expose yourself to anything and everything (because you don't know what you don't know), with more weight towards things you deem high value


Totally agree, the hardest part when you start learning things you don't know about, is that you don't know what you don't know.
 
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Black_Dragon43

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Screw the books.

You don't need them.

I never read a copywriting book that really taught me something.

At best it told me the name of things I was going to discover years later on my own.

Because you can't be taught copy, you can only learn it.

Do this instead.

Decide what you want to sell right now. Just pick a thing.

Get on Google and find the companies that do it well.

Get on their websites and rip their stuff apart. Why do they say what they say? How?

Get on their Facebook and snoop their ads. Why do they write it as they do?

Get on their mailing lists and drink their emails like honey. Why do they talk like that?

Make your own observations.

Write them down.

Copy the sections you like by hand.

Try to make your own versions by changing stuff around. Play with it.

When ready, find some shitty copy, rewrite it, and offer it for free for them to test.

Do this until you have data that says what you write sells.

Then, only then, read Breakthrough Advertising.

Leave the rest of the books to the copywriting masturbators.

None of them say anything different. They are all the same '80s crap rehashed.

There is some course that is useful but it's for more advanced copywriters.

Right now you just need to read copy and analyze it for yourself.

That's it. It's just words. It's not rocket surgery.
I think the books give you a good initial overview. If you are patient and read through the greats, you'll have a good foundation on which to build.

No B.S. Direct Response Marketing by Dan Kennedy
Scientific Advertising by Claude Hopkins
How To Write a Good Advertisement by Vic Schwab
Tested Advertising Methods by John Caples
The Robert Collier Letter Book by Robert Collier
The Boron Letters by Gary Halbert
Breakthrough Advertising by Eugene Schwartz
7 Steps to Freedom by Ben Suarez (especially if you want to build a marketing-based direct response biz)
Ca$hvertising by Drew Eric Whitman
Copy That Sells by Maria Veloso
DotCom Secrets by Russell Brunson
5 Steps to Create a Money Making Machine by yours truly (find the link in my signature or PM me)

If you read ALL the above, you'll have a very solid foundation in everything that has to do with copywriting, including building funnels, landing pages, overarching principles, etc.

Having said that, what @Digamma is describing above is not bad advice... You'll be writing winning copy for your product faster that way, BUT you won't understand why it works, and you'll have a harder time innovating beyond the competition. That's why reading the greats is important.

I also advise people to copy the competition, and then improve on what they're doing as a second step in my own course mentioned above.
 

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