It’s not how much you write, but how much your writing matters.

Sometimes I get jealous when I see that somebody’s written 5,000 words in a day (or whatever the case may be). I think: “Man, I wish I could write that much in a day!”

And yet: Of the writing of books there is no end. (Ecc. 12:12)

The real question is not: How much are you writing?

It’s: Does your writing matter?

Wayne Buckhanan tweets:

Personally, I believe that writing more frequently — rather than writing more words — leads you to the writing that matters.

As in so many things, consistency is key.

-Ryan M. Healy

Do you know Drayton Bird?

In direct response marketing, he’s a living legend.

After all, not many can say they worked with David Ogilvy. And not many can claim being the top trainer for the biggest direct marketing agency in the world (Ogilvy & Mather).

Plus, Drayton’s experience runs the gamut.

He’s helped small businesses, of course, but much of his work has been with big companies… companies like Airbus and American Express.

The breadth and depth of Drayton’s experience cannot be overstated.

To put it in perspective, think about this:

He had mastered the fundamentals of direct response marketing long before most of us were even born!

Anyway, the reason I bring all this up is because both Drayton Bird and Bob Bly were recently interviewed by Ken McCarthy.

This interview is direct response gold. Yet Ken is giving away the interview for free.

Why is he doing this?

Because Drayton, Bob, and Ken will be doing a special copywriting Master Class on the Monday following Ken’s System Seminar in April.

And the free interview is a taste of what will be presented during the Master Class.

Obviously, if you like the interview, maybe you’ll consider attending The System as well as the Master Class.

But even if you don’t, you’ll still get a lot of value from listening to Drayton Bird and Bob Bly share stories and insights culled from decades of hard-won experience.

Here’s the link to download the interview (opt-in required):

http://www.thesystemseminar.com/319-34.html

Just so we’re clear, this is my affiliate link. If after downloading the interview you decide to attend The System or the Master Class, I will get a commission.

But potential commissions aside, I still think this interview is worth your time. With that in mind, here’s the direct link you can use if you’d rather not use my affiliate link:

http://www.thesystemseminar.com/masterclass/

Enjoy!

-Ryan M. Healy

Creativity is vital for any idea worker. But it’s easy to let creativity die.

We get stuck reading the same things, thinking the same things, doing the same things in the same ways we’ve always done them.

Doesn’t matter where you live. A guy in New York can watch the same TV programming in San Francisco. A guy in Fargo, North Dakota can eat the same exact fast food as a guy in Houston, Texas.

Franchise businesses have painted the commercial landscape with a uniform color.

And take a look at the suburbs these days. It’s not much different. Nearly every house blends in in a sea of sameness.

It’s no wonder we have such a hard time being creative.

Copying Instead of Innovating

Here’s another problem:

Creativity often leads to valuable breakthroughs — then idea pirates copy those breakthroughs within days, weeks, or months. This can be very discouraging for the pioneer of ideas.

Not only that, when copying is rampant, it discourages creativity and only encourages more copying. Next thing you know, you’ve got copies of copies of copies.

A flaw in the first copy gets amplified in every successive generation. It’s devolution. For some reason, this process seems to happen faster than normal on the Internet.

Pioneers vs. Pirates

As an entrepreneur, business owner, or service provider, you have a choice. You can be a pioneer or you can be a pirate.

And although Hollywood has romanticized the idea of being a pirate (thank you Johnny Depp!), I believe the better choice is to be a pioneer.

Yes, I know: The pioneer is the guy with the arrows in his back. But making creative mistakes is not lethal. Just because one new idea fails doesn’t mean the next one will fail too.

Creativity takes work. It takes effort. It takes time.

How to Be Creative

Creativity (and its byproduct, originality) can only flourish when you are reading, thinking, and acting differently than you and other people normally do.

Creative action leads to creative thought.

This why it helps to get out of your routine every now and then.

Drive a different way. Do things in reverse. Read books outside of what you’d normally read.

Investigate a new hobby. Go somewhere you’ve never gone. Do something you’ve never done.

By breaking your routine and doing things that may even be uncomfortable for you, you’ll cause your brain to think in new ways. You’ll have new thoughts.

And perhaps you can incorporate some of those new thoughts and ideas into your own business. Perhaps you’ll have a breakthrough.

-Ryan M. Healy

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Since my wife and kids are sick today — bad coughs because of some respiratory bug — there won’t be a lot of romance going on here today.

But I’m not going to let that stop me from cuddling up by the fire with another sales letter… maybe yours!

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I’m looking for a hot date with an ugly sales letter! Can
you help? >>> http://www.ryanhealy.com/copy-critique
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As you may recall, I’m currently offering 8 copy critiques at 40% off the regular price. You pay only $300 for your copy critique.

Just yesterday I finished the first critique. He ordered it on Feb 8 and I finished it on Feb 13, well under my 14-day turn-around guarantee.

Here are some relevant stats:

• I inserted 18 comments right into his sales letter pointing out trouble spots and areas for improvement.

• I wrote 2 new headlines for potential testing.

• Plus, I wrote 1,397 words — 5 pages! — of feedback that was sent in a separate document. (The sales letter was 2,512 words, including testimonials. I wrote more than HALF that in feedback.)

Of course, I can’t guarantee a certain number of comments or headlines or pages when I do your critique.

But I can guarantee I will give you my best suggestions to strengthen your copy so you get more sales.

So what do you say?

For only $300 I’ll get all cozy with your sales letter and show you exactly what changes to make so you can romance more sales out of it.

Click here to order your copy critique.

-Ryan M. Healy

Direct mail advertising is very different than online advertising.

With direct mail, you have to find or compile a list of people who will be a good fit for your offer. The people you mail may or may not be interested in your product or service. They’ve never asked for you to contact them.

Plus, to complicate matters, the cost of printing and postage can be significant, especially if you’re mailing a large list.

Online, you get a few clear advantages. You either market to people who’ve already given you permission to be marketed to; or you market to people who are searching for exactly what you have to offer.

And, as an added benefit, the cost to advertise online is usually lower than advertising with direct mail.

Before I ever start writing a word of sales copy, I want to know how the message I’m writing is going to be distributed.

Is it going to be sent via direct mail? Is it going to be published in a magazine or newspaper? Is it going to be posted on the Internet and advertised via Adwords? Is it going to be advertised via banner ads on targeted web sites? Etc.

The answers to these questions have a HUGE effect on how you should write your copy and how you should design your conversion process.

Fortunately, I’ve had the opportunity to help with both online and off-line direct mail advertising campaigns. Every experience teaches me something new: sometimes the lesson is obvious, other times it’s subtle.

There is one thing that all forms of advertising have in common. That is you must make sure that you are going after a market that 1) can be reached affordably and 2) has money to spend on your product or service.

If either of these two pieces is missing, you’re headed for swift and possibly devastating failure. (It always depends on how much money you’re spending up front, before you have any results.)

It seems this year I will be doing more work in the direct mail advertising field. I’m actually really looking forward to it because it seems that there’s something more “real” and gratifying about physical forms of advertising.

Certainly, every piece of mail a client pays to send is that much more accountable to results — a true test of skill and dedication.

-Ryan M. Healy

If you’re an entrepreneur, chances are you’re a control freak like me. One of those guys who wants to do everything himself.

Say it with me: “I’m a control freak.”

There. Feel better?

I do.

While I can appreciate the desire to do everything yourself… the desire to make sure everything is “just right”… I’ve also learned the value of paying for expert help.

Not every outsourcing experience has been perfect (they rarely are), but I can definitely say that outsourcing and paying for outside advice can be worth far more than you pay for it.

For instance, this past fall I hired a business coach to dig into my business and tell me what needed fixing. He called up my past clients to get objective feedback about my performance and the value of working with me.

When he was done, he compiled his discoveries and spent a good amount of time going over them with me.

Some of the things I learned I had only suspected — and the research confirmed my suspicions. Other things I didn’t expect at all — and the research uncovered new information.

Fortunately, all of it was valuable to me. Now I have much greater clarity about what I need to do to improve my business. And it’s clarity that I could not have achieved on my own, apart from the help of an expert.

That’s one of the problems of being a solopreneur. It can often be difficult to be objective about your own business because you’re so close to it. It can be even harder to find time to work on your business instead of working in it.

Copywriting Myopia

If you’re writing and editing your own copy, you can run into the same problems as a solopreneur does.

After looking at your copy for days, weeks, or even months, you can develop a form of copywriting myopia that prevents you from seeing the big picture — from correctly diagnosing what’s wrong with your copy and how to improve it.

Let’s face it. It’s next to impossible to be objective about our own work once we’ve invested so much of ourselves into it. And even though I’m a professional copywriter, I still get other copywriters to critique my work.

Sometimes all it takes is a new headline, or a subtle tweak, to make your sales copy really “pop.” And usually it’s the guy who’s not emotionally invested in the copy who can come up with the big insight that makes the difference.

Right now, I’m offering copy critiques at a discounted rate for the next 8 clients only. One spot was claimed yesterday. I expect more spots to be claimed before the end of the week — maybe all of them.

If you have some sales copy that needs a second set of eyes, then click here to claim one of the remaining copy critiques now.

-Ryan M. Healy

Here is a guest post from copywriter David Tendrich. You can learn more about David by reading the author bio included at the end of his article. Enjoy! -Ryan

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What is gut-wrenching copy? It’s controversial. It pushes reality. It inspires.

It’s the kind of copy that, while you read it, your mind thinks, “What? Is that really possible?” but in your stomach you feel this tiny tickle as you imagine your life how you want it to be.

This copy lets you believe for just a second that your ideal way of life can really happen. If you just take a leap of faith, and buy the product, things will just come together. They really will this time. You see the testimonials of other people who were in your shoes, and how their lives were changed. You read the promises of the sales page… “If you just take action and put this product to use… I GUARANTEE it…” and you feel motivated to make it work, at all costs.

It’s copy that doesn’t cater to the mind. The mind is satisfied too easily. It’s copy that caters to the burning desires deep inside a person. Tap into what someone wants on a mental level, and you get sales. Tap into what someone wants deep down in their heart of hearts, and you might run into the wonderful problem of selling out.

Luckily, writing gut-wrenching copy is not guesswork. It’s not magic either. You can do it in these two steps.

Step 1: Talk to your clients

The first step is to ask your clients some questions. They are the real “magic” behind gut-wrenching copy. You’re going to pretty much take their answers and put them straight into the copy, with a little touching up of course.

You’ll want to hand-select a group of clients who you feel completely represent your “ideal” client, or your target market. Here’s an example…

1. I’m putting out a product that will teach you 100 free or low-budget ways to instantly get more clients, what doubts/skepticisms cross your mind? (These are your objections you’re going to counter in your copy)

2. If you could finally get tons of clients for free, how would that benefit your business? (This is where you get your fuel for connecting to people’s minds)

3. How would those benefits carry into other parts of your life? Like your family life? Your home life? Your love life? Your happiness? (And this is where the magic happens.)

Ask them to go into great detail on their answers to question three. Find out their goals in life, their dreams, their ambitions — what they really want. You may get some heavy answers — but that’s good. The heavier they are, the more honest and real they are.

Step 2: Connect the dots

Now, when you write your copy, you’re going to connect using your product to these dreams that your clients described for you.

That way, you’re not just selling a course on copywriting… you’re selling a guide on how to spend more time with your little girls so you never miss out on a single second of them growing up… How to take your family on a dream vacation to Hawaii where you stay in the nicest hotel, in the nicest room, and enjoy life in a way you never have before… How to work two weeks out of every month so you can spend the other two weeks doing whatever you feel like…

And when you gather testimonials, ask people to tell you how the product carried into their life! Ask them to tell you what they’ve accomplished. That way your testimonials build on your copy, and together both inspire your reader to take action.

The cool thing is, from the moment someone reads your sales page they’re thinking about what they really want. Then, when they buy the product, they’re way more likely to put it to good use because every time they see it they start thinking about these burning desires. So by writing this kind of copy you’re actually doing people a service!

See, these dreams transcend money. Well, they use money as a stepping stone, but if your readers could accomplish all of their dreams while having $0 in their bank accounts, they’d be just as happy. I know I would. So keep prying until you find the real reasons someone wants your product, because once you tap into that you’re set.

About the author: David Tendrich is a copywriter in Atlanta, GA where he and his life partner, Louisa Levit, run a copywriting, marketing, and graphic design company. You can learn more about David by visiting his blog on copywriting.

In high school, I joined the newspaper staff as soon as they would let me, and I took all the honors English classes I could. I was in love with reading and writing — I couldn’t get enough of it.

In honors English we would read a book every two weeks (usually a classic), then write an essay about the book we had just read. It was like clockwork. Every other Monday a new essay was due.

But there was a catch. We never wrote our essays at home. We didn’t even type them! Nope. We wrote them out by hand… in class… in 90 minutes or less (we were on a block schedule with four 90-minute periods a day).

The reason my teacher did it this way was because essay web sites were just coming into fashion. Students could download dozens of pre-written essays on just about any book they wanted. The business of plagiarism  had hung out its shingle and students were responding in kind.

At that time, search technology was in its infancy, so it was actually fairly difficult for teachers to discern whether a paper had been plagiarized or not. Thus the dilemma: Let students write essays at home or force them to do them in class?

My teacher chose the latter. And while it was stressful back then, I’m extremely grateful she decided to do it that way.

You see, the discipline of writing a timed essay by hand once every two weeks forced me to be an efficient writer. I learned how to write fast without editing myself. I learned how to build sentences in my head faster than my hand could transcribe them.

Now, years later, I will sometimes use an $8 dial timer that I picked up at Bed, Bath & Beyond to time myself. If I’m feeling distracted or I’m having a hard time focusing in on my writing, I’ll set the timer for 45 minutes. I’ll force myself to write for the entire time.

Guess what? Every time I set that timer, I write faster. The power of a micro-deadline works just like a normal deadline: it makes you work!

Next time you find yourself struggling to write, pull out your timer or stopwatch, set it for 30 or 45 minutes, and start writing. You’ll be amazed by how quickly your mind snaps to attention. And you’ll be amazed by how quickly the words spill onto the page.

-Ryan M. Healy

If you’re on my email list, then you already have my copywriting check list — what I have in the past called the “Conversion Booster Check List.”

Just this week I spent some time reviewing it, adding new items to the list, and dressing it up just a little bit (with my meager design skills).

The PDF is now a 39-Point Copywriting Check List that you can use to review and strengthen online sales letters and opt-in pages. And I’ve also included check boxes so you can print out the list and actually physically check off each step.

It’s much improved over the previous version.

Did I mention this check list is free when you join my email list? You can get it here:

• FREE: 39-Point Copywriting Check List

-Ryan M. Healy

Here we sit at the threshold of 2010. And in the spirit of prognostication, I’d like to take a moment to make a few modest predictions for the new year.

Business Prediction #1:
It Will Become Harder to Fill Seminars

Fact: It’s hard to fill seminars and it’s getting harder.

I can say this because I’ve experienced it firsthand with a few different clients. Not only that, I personally witnessed one of the largest seminar companies in the U.S. go belly up in late 2008.

I believe there are a few factors at work. One is simply the cost of seminar registrations combined with the cost of travel. Fewer people are willing to shell out $500 to $1,000 in travel expenses on top of a $500, $1,000, or $2,000 seminar ticket.

Another factor is simply the hassle of travel. It’s already bad. But since the security breach that happened Christmas day on Flight 253, the TSA has enforced onerous rules that make air travel even worse than before.

(I, for one, do not plan to get on a plane if they prohibit me from getting out of my seat or having anything on my lap for the final hour of the flight.)

As a result of the cost and hassle of air travel, I predict that:

1. There will be more demand for quality online training, teleseminars, and webinars.
2. There will be more demand for intimate local seminars and workshops.

If you have any interest in public speaking or live training events, I believe it will become easier for you to attract attendees in your immediate geographic area — because people still enjoy live events. They just don’t want to fly to get there.

Business Prediction #2:
A Resurgence of Direct Mail

Call me crazy, but I like paper. In fact, a lot of people still prefer to read things on paper than on the computer screen. (Here, here!)

And I believe that as the effectiveness of email declines… and as the Internet becomes more heavily saturated with newly unemployed people trying to get their foot in the proverbial door of Internet marketing… the savvy business-minded marketers will start using (or return to) direct mail.

This does not mean I believe marketers will abandon online marketing. Not at all.

I just believe that direct mail is ripe for “being discovered again,” and that the marketers who are paying attention will begin to incorporate direct mail into their overall marketing strategies.

Business Prediction #3:
More Affordable Online Advertising

Just this week I’ve seen unprecedented offers for online advertising space. From one company, I just bought up newly vacated space for 26 cents on the dollar.

And another well-known PR firm is offering their flagship products for 33 cents on the dollar.

This may seem like a paradox. After all, if more people are coming online, why aren’t the rates of online advertising going up?

I believe it’s because the majority of online marketers and fledgling entrepreneurs want to get traffic for free.

They want to rank well in the search engines. They want to get “retweeted.” They want to get “stumbled.”

When the free methods prove unreliable, and they’re finally convinced that they should pay for advertising, what do they do? They get an Adwords account and start a pay-per-click campaign.

So the cost per click for major keywords on Adwords tends to go up… while the rates for advertising space on other web sites tends to stay flat or go down.

(The cost of advertising space declines even faster when entrepreneurs who don’t track anything get scared and pull the plug on their advertising campaigns.)

On the bright side, I expect there will be some great deals on online advertising space in 2010. Keep your eyes peeled.

Business Prediction #4:
The End of the Internet Marketing Guru as We Know Him

Have you noticed? More than a couple of the highest profile Internet marketers have retired and gone underground (so to speak).

I have to believe it’s a combination of the new FTC rules, shady marketing practices, and the investigative “journalism” of a well-seasoned robot.

• No longer are you going to see IM gurus shouting from the rooftops how much they made in a year (or a minute).

• No longer will you see them using black hat (unethical) techniques to “acquire” a gazillion followers on Twitter.

• No longer will they “churn and burn” every person who comes in the door.

You get the idea.

I think this seismic shift is a good one because it will allow people to get back to fundamentals and focus on building real businesses that deliver real value at a fair price.

More Predictions and Business Advice for 2010

If you’d like to read more predictions and business advice for 2010, I recommend these articles to you (each opens in a new tab or window):

• The Future of the Internet Is Cloudy – by Michel Fortin
• 5 Ways to Increase Profits in 2010 – by Terry Dean
• How to Prosper in 2010 – by Gogo Erekosima

I wish you all the best in the new year.

-Ryan M. Healy

P.S. If you have any predictions of your own, or if you agree/disagree with anything I’ve said, I want to hear it. Please leave a comment below. Thanks!