copywriting – Ray Edwards

Life, Podcast

Get Genius Ideas on Demand

Where do your best ideas come from? If you answered, “your brain”, you’re only sort of correct.

Our best ideas come from other ideas.

We compile bits of information from books, videos, articles, blogs, conversations, etc., and through the convergence of those ideas, new ideas are formed.

This week’s premise: You can build a system to intentionally create and utilize this convergence of ideas.

In other words, you can make it happen…in fact, the idea for this week’s content was generated by my own system.

A quick note before you dive in: Last week’s episode generated more questions than any podcast I’ve done in recent history. Many people had never considered the concept of systematically generating ideas, but it absolutely works.

These questions inspired me to demo my own system in an upcoming free workshop. I want to show you how this system works for me, how I built it, AND how you can build your own. It’s spread out over 3 days, so the time commitment is manageable and the results will blow your mind. Again, this is a completely free workshop.

Click here to sign up

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[00:47] Systems thinking
[03:09] Don’t just be an information consumer
[04:07] My content generation system
[05:05] The software I use (Notion)
[06:12] The way we get creative ideas
[07:05] Start by deciding to do it
[08:16] I’ll show you how I built my system

How You Can Help

Subscribe to the show in iTunes and give us a rating and review. Make sure you put your real name and website in the text of the review itself. We will definitely mention you on this show. We are also on Stitcher.com, so if you prefer Stitcher, please subscribe there.

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Visit Ray’s community on Facebook – This is a friendly group of writers, entrepreneurs, and coaches who share ideas and helpful advice.

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Life, Podcast

Your Sales Copy System

See if this sounds like anyone you know…

You need to generate some cash, so you come up with an idea. You set up your funnel and your checkout…You calculate your possible conversions…Then you remember you need to write that pesky sales copy, so you slap it together. As you roll out, you realize you also need thank you copy, follow up copy, stick copy, next offers, etc., and you tell yourself “Next time, I’ll get it right.” This happens because you lack a system.

A system is, according to the Oxford dictionary, “a set of principles or procedures according to which something is done; an organized framework or method”. Most entrepreneurs don’t have that. Neither do most copywriters.

A system will bring you less stress, more sales, more profit, and set you up for the next sale. A copywriting and marketing system can be the first step in turning your promotion into a business.

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What should be in your sales copy system?

Right-fit client profiles
Copy “chunks” proven to work
A complete PASTOR filter brief
Pre-promo content (blog, podcast, YouTube, social)
“Inception” copy
Interview scripts (for interviews on other media)
Swiss Army knife Emotional Trigger checklist
Sublist recruitment copy (opt-ins)
Sublist indoctrination copy (opt-in emails)
Email sequence framework
Pre-launch alert copy
Pre-launch content & copy
Sales page copy
Follow unto sales page for open cart copy
Cart close copy
Post sales followup
Refund prevention copy
Nurturing copy

Remember, the more you can “templatize” and chunk down, the better. As I have often said, I don’t like to start a project until I’m already 80% done.

System Checklist

Review
Proof
Set up an A/B test on headlines and leads
Test all breakage points
After action review

How You Can Help

Connect with Ray on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram

Visit Ray’s community on Facebook – This is a friendly group of writers, entrepreneurs, and coaches who share ideas and helpful advice.

Get The Transcript

Right-click and “Save As” to Get the PDF Transcript.

Life

Don’t Hire a Copywriter (5 Reasons Why)

Yes, I’m a professional copywriter, and yes, I think there are great reasons NOT to hire a professional copywriter…At least, not at first.

This week, I’m giving you 5 reasons why you should NOT hire a copywriter.

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5 Reasons Why Every Business Owner Should Write Their Own Sales Copy

[00:42] Unless you can competently write your own copy, you cannot confidently hire a good copywriter. This is because you will not know how to distinguish between good copy and bad copy. If you don’t know how to write copy to begin with, every time you hire a copywriter, you’ll be gambling large sums of money, hoping you get a good result, and never knowing why you did or did not.
[01:18] Writing good sales copy requires you to know your buyers. You MUST develop deep, empathic knowledge about your customers, their problems, their desires, and their pain. There’s no better way to do this than studying the people who buy from you. That is required to write good sales copy.
[02:02] Writing good sales copy also requires you to develop deep, accurate knowledge about your product. You must know its strengths and shortcomings with your customers, and how to articulate your product’s features and benefits in a way that causes people to want to buy. If you do a good job of writing the copy, you will end up improving the product in the process.
[02:56] Nobody will care as much about the copy as you do. Because you are the risk-taking entrepreneur who’s putting your neck out for this product, and for these people (your customers). There is no bigger stakeholder in the success of this enterprise than you. Therefore, no one will bring more sense of responsibility to deliver the best copy possible than you yourself.
[04:03] Nobody else will spend as much time, write as many revisions, tweak the copy as often , or as carefully, as yourself. You need to get in there and write the copy. And then rewrite the copy. And then test the copy. And then work to beat your control. Once you’ve gone through this process with one big product and project, you may be ready to turn this over to a copywriter. Do not be in a hurry to do so.

Of course, as I previously stated, I am a professional copywriter…Obviously, I feel there are times when hiring a copywriter is exactly the right thing to do.

For instance, when:

You cannot get satisfactory conversion rates yourself.
You can no longer improve your conversion rates.
You are objectively just not good enough to write it yourself anymore.
You simply don’t have time to do it yourself anymore because you’re too successful.
They can beat your control. In other words, they can write copy that converts better than your own winning copy.

How You Can Help

Connect with Ray on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram

Visit Ray’s community on Facebook – This is a friendly group of writers, entrepreneurs, and coaches who share ideas and helpful advice.

Get The Transcript

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Podcast

How to Make $20k Per Month as a Copywriter

Would you like to start a work-from-home career that can pay you $20,000 per month? That’s exactly what Dr. Doug Pew on today’s podcast did. And he believes you can do the same.

Spiritual Foundations

“Where no oxen are, the trough is clean; but increase comes by the strength of an ox.” – Prov.14:4

“There’s no such thing as a poopless cow.” – Bill Johnson

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Click here to download or listen to this episode now.

Tip of the Week

The Sony ZV-1 is ALMOST the perfect VLOGGING CAMERA.

If I was starting out today on YouTube, this would be my camera of choice.

OUR FEATURE PRESENTATION

My guest today is Dr. Douglas Pew, one the best students that I’ve ever encountered. I don’t just mean he’s a successful student of mine (although I would definitely call making $16k in a month on the way to $20k per month successful) – I mean he’s a great student…hence the whole “Dr.” thing.

But there is a pitfall with being a great student that even Doug had to battle with – “Educrastination.” Knowledge acquisition pays nothing and can cost a lot of money (and even worse – a lot of time.)

Doug has plenty of encouraging words for people who have ever had these questions:

How do I build my own business when I have a full-time job?
How can I “switch careers” at my age? I’ve invested so much time in ______.
How can I possibly put in the work needed when I work AND have kids?
How can you expect to bring in more money when so many are struggling?
How much do I need to know? How many mentors should I have?

Doug has the answers for all of those questions AND is living proof that you can be successful in the new economy.

QUESTION:

So now, here’s a question for you: who were your most influential mentors? What wisdom did you learn from them? Send me a text. 509-245-2670.

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Until next time, may you enjoy long life, good health, and great prosperity – PEACE to your house.