I have been watching the John Carlton Kick Ass Copy Writing Crash course and all I can say is wow.  This guy makes so much sense.  I highly suggest that anybody with a website or a product/service to sell get your hands on these videos.

I have a new niche site that I have set up with an information product which is not yet receiving much traffic.  It’s only been a few days though.  Hopefully those Clickbank.com affiliates will begin coming through though.  In the mean time I figured I would do some research and try to hone my copy writing to get my sales page to convert.  John Carlton was the first guy I went to after bouncing around for ideas on the forums.  Below are my notes from John Carlton himself.

• Unique Selling Proposition: Positioning yourself uniquely in your market in order to sell.
• Persuasion Equation: Problem + Promise + Proof + Proposition = Persuasion
• When you are writing copy you can not write anything that allows your prospect to say “so what” or “I don’t believe this.”
• Every word of your copy must be directed to the passionate sweet spot of the prospect.
• You must learn to tell a story.
• Homework: Take a proven piece of ad copy and rewrite it word for word by hand.  This will let you experience the wording and the rhythm of the copy.  One of the ads that John References can be found here: One Legged Golfer Ad
• A sales piece is a conversation and should allow you to “join the conversation already going on in the prospect’s head.”
• The gist of your piece should have three main points: 1.) Here’s what I have.   2.) Here’s what it is.   3.) How many do you want?
• To reiterate an Offer = Defining what it is that you have, why they need it and telling them how to get it.
• If your ad is good you are pissing the prospect off.  Your ad should present him with a new problem and why he needs your product to solve that problem.
• Take your prospect out of their comfort zone.
• Your copy must get the reader past “that’s really good” to “that’s really good and I want it.“
• DO NOT WRITE BULLSHIT – Be Honest
• Reiterate the benefits as part of the guarantee.  For example: If this product does not benefit #1, benefit #2, benefit #3 etc. then…
• Guarantee Example: If in 30 days you are not absolutely happy for any reason at all (or for no reason at all) then I insist you call or email me and request a refund and we’ll still be friends.
• Your Unique Selling Proposition should be in your headline.
• See the Ad Appeal Graph.  John Carlton calls it something else but I don’t want to swipe too much.  Basically this graph displays how many people your ad will appeal to based on it’s claims.  You need to go as far to the right as possible without lying or false advertising.  See Graph Below
• 4 Things that every ad must portray your product/service as:  Easy – Fast – Simple – Cheap
• Your headline should put your prospect into a receptive trance.  To do this you must hit their emotional sweet spot.  Get inside their head.
• There must be an empathetic transfer of trust when they read your copy.  When they are done they should not even remember your words.  They should only be thinking of your product/service.