Approaching Copywriting

[dmos]

Soon I'll be a beginner in affiliate marketing. I seem to have found a niche yesterday that I can visualize working. While searching for a niche these past few days, getting a feel for what is low competition and high competition and trying to imagine what I could put to the table I felt often intimidated by the idea of copywriting.

In fact, the niche I am currently considering seems a good idea because I think I can get away without relying on text content. I can see how I could generate shareable and searchable content where the actual text would be only decoration and fauna around images and videos. It would still have a necessary amount of text for the search engines, but it would be easier to write knowing that its quality doesn't matter.

Copywriting, or more broadly writing, was always a problem for me. I'm the kind of guy who says little. When I'm in a situation where expressing opinion or just casual chatting would be appropriate I often hold my tongue, rationalizing it through ideas like "less is more," "talking isn't doing" etc. Writing itself is a _very_ slow process for me. Even writing this post is taking me ~40 minutes (I'm updating this number as I'm writing). Poor schooling doctrines got me this mentality where it's only good if it's perfect. My writing is not like speaking at all, which flows, it's more like building something, I work my way up and down constantly adding a bit here moving something there, rereading, appending small pieces of information and until I see some kind of a definite structure – it is grindingly slow. I can write good content, but only about a subject I feel is worthwhile and from school I know it will take me five times longer than the next guy. All in all I lack flexibility.

Given problematic writing is a pronounced feature of mine and though I can get around it (and will, need be), I am very interested in what you have to say on the subject, not necessarily to change myself, but to feel what kind of ground I'm threading on when toying with copywriting.

What are your thoughts on the skill of copywriting or difficulties with it? Would be interesting to hear from someone who has had a rough start.

 

[MetaData]

That meticulous care and attention to detail, laboring over every word - why it's there, what it means, what it says to the reader, what it evokes... you're already a good copywriter. Practise will make you great.

Here is one of my favorite books on the subject. It was written long before the internet, and has nothing to do with affiliate marketing, and that's just fine - it's a great place to start, in my opinion. I liked getting a feel for the basics before applying them to IM, your mileage may vary.

Some people forget that ultimately their content is there for actual human beings to read it. If it takes you 5x longer to write a blog post (for example), but it's had a lot of thought put into it and the plan is to promote and market that post to get eyes on it and it's been crafted to accomplish something, you'll be way ahead of the game with great content.

 

[emp]

One of the tools that help me is the hemingway app.

• Good news: It's free.
• Better news: It will help you write more clearly.
• Best news: It trains you to write in a clear style. You'll keep that style after a while, even without using the app.

::emp::

 

[stackcash]

I've always believe that those who say little are the most persuasive. I'm that way in certain situations, and I find that the reason I'm quiet is because my mind is going a mile-a-minute - trying to analyze the situation.

I believe that, with copywriting, expertise comes with a lot of practice and trial & error. You need to really understand your market and be able to put yourself in their shoes to understand the emotions behind their needs and wants. If you can understand their emotions, then you'll be able to grasp the right way to approach the situation.

Of course, you'll probably want to get a handle on best practices for copywriting at some point as well. @MetaData posted a good book in the response above. I know the book "Cashvertising" is great for learning how to identify people in a "buying mindset". Copyblogger.com is great for this kind of stuff. The content marketing institute has tonnnns of free information that will be a big help as well.

I, personally, just like to see what others are doing in my niche and use that as a starting point. Then I can make little changes here and there to improve conversions through several iterations.

 

[LPcopywriter]

It's funny how closely I can relate to over-analyzing everything, and particularly while writing.
This is why writers use drafts, or so I suspect.

I still fall back into the habit of over-analysis all the time, but a good process can combat it. Here's mine:

1. Freewrite - Just start putting pen to paper (or finger to key, if you prefer). It's hard to get started sometimes, so begin with some kind of brainstorming device, but the idea is to have some full sentences to work with for the next step. Don't edit while you write!
2. Rough Draft - Use what you came up with during freewriting to start creating a coherent piece with proper flow and structure. Try not to spend much more time than you did on step 1, but if you're any good, you can probably have a pretty solid piece after just one rough draft. Hey- hey- hey- don't go correcting that spelling error just yet!
3. Final Edit - Now is the time to relieve your OCD tendencies and make all the little changes. Now would also be the time to add formatting, blockquotes, etc. It doesn't hurt to step away from the project for a little while either, in order to get some fresh eyes on it, and determine if anything major needs to be reworked.

I put as many rough drafts in between as the project warrants. A blog post on my own site may not even require one. A long sales letter or work for an important client may warrant much more. The general idea here is to brake everything into phases so you can maintain focus on the task at hand.

And the recommendation by @stackcash for Ca$hvertising is a great one.