The Best Way to Write Copy

The best way to write copy, hands down, is stealing other people's copy.

What?

After doing this for 8 months, I am confident that the best way to get started writing all your copy is to steal from your competition because they've tested out the lines to find the ones that work. But at the same time, there's a method to the maddness... so here we go.

THREE STEPS TO WRITING COPY:

Phase 1 - Make a swipe file. When I first started hearing about this, I thought it was kind of stupid. Make a big file full of stolen, random copywriting? That won't work.

I think I was kind of right because I had it wrong. This is a WHOLE CONCEPT in and of itself.

How would you put together the ultimate resource of stolen copy lines to write copy that fits YOUR market?

Well, you'd want to organize it. You wouldn't want to throw unrelated copy (not part of your market) unless it had one of the universal headlines. Make it so you can quickly get the the most helpful things; organize by TYPE of copy (where does this fit into the CARLTON model? [see it here])

Stealing all the best stuff so you can take the parts you like and put them where you want them is a whole art in and of itself.


Phase 2 - Write copy using 3 principles:

1 - Use Carlton guidelines to choose a non-weird-sounding, grabbing, copy.
2 - Choose from the swipe file.
3 - Step back from it and once an hour or two check back on it to look for what sounds weird, what doesn't fit, and where you should write your own stuff, edit stuff, etc. Do this about 5 times, or as much as necessary.


Phase 3 - Split-Test

Find out what works yourself to convert "stolen-but-probably-works" copy into "ive-tested-this-it-works" copy. Essentially, when you see what works, the lines become yours.