It seems everywhere I turn there is copy to be examining and learning from. I’ve burned several copywriting teleseminars I had in mp3 format onto CDs so I can immerse myself in the copywriting mentality on my drive to and from work. I’ve been watching some great webinars that are being hosted by Russell Brunson of www.onlinemarketeroftheyear.com. I watched and listened to Lorrie Morgan-Ferraro yesterday and Ray Edwards is presenting his webinar even as I am typing this (I had an eye doctor appointment and missed most of it so I’ll catch it on the recording.) Lorrie Morgan-Ferraro has also had some website copy critiques available (a new one each week for at least a couple more weeks) at www.redhotcopy.com/redhotcritique.htm. These have been awesome. I just love watching over Lorrie’s shoulder as she makes changes to her copy project and talks her listeners through her mental process. What a terrific learning tool!
But what has really been making the lightbulbs start to flicker are the exercises I’ve been doing as part of the AWAI Copywriting Course. I’m still on the first installment (with the second one on its way) so I’m desperately trying to stay on top of it. One exercise has me reading a successful salesletter over 10 times and then writing it out by hand 3 times. I know this is a fairly common exercise in most copywriting courses and the experts say it helps get your brain used to thinking like a copywriter. While I didn’t disbelieve what I was told, I certainly realized that I’d underestimated the potency of this assignment as it all started to click.
I think it was about the third time reading the salesletter that I started to really notice the vocabulary that was being used and how it all seemed to work together to create an image in my mind of the kind of person that would be looking for this service. A personality was beginning to form.
As I continued to read the letter over and over I started to feel as though I was writing the letter myself. I was “tuned in” to the way the writer was thinking and the emotions he or she was gently eluding to.
Each word — previously just letters on a page — had a specific purpose and the more I read, the more obvious each one’s purpose became. Patterns were emerging. I was getting the whole idea of how the reader enters into a trance as he gets pulled in by the words and why it’s so essential to keep him there.
As I started to write out the copy, it helped me see the format being used. I could see why bullets were written a certain way and how artfully they flowed together. I loved how the copy looked on the page — plenty of white space, paragraphs with only a few sentences in each, thoughts that were to the point and clearly articulated.
I’m starting to think I need to write the letter out a few more times (while the course says to write it out 3 times, Lorrie Morgan-Ferraro or perhaps it was Yanik Silver suggests at least 10 times) but I’m eager to move on to the next assignment which I know will include more of the same.
I think the underlying motive for the rote exercises is beginning to surface. I have a long way to go and suspect the next installment of the AWAI course will arrive tomorrow. I foresee a long evening filled with writer’s cramps ahead. Fortunately, it’s fun!
Note to Self: Reading the copy out loud as I’m writing it out seems to help cement the ideas into my brain and allows me to feel the cadence and emotion the writer is expressing. And I definitely get more out of reading the copy out loud instead of to myself. Make sure to keep doing this!
Off to sharpen my pencils …
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