Business Growth Strategies » john caples

Does the World Really Need Another Copywriting Book?

Ryan M. Healy — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 22:29:13 +0000

If you’ve been a student of copywriting for any length of time, chances are you’ve encountered most of the classic books on the subject…

Scientific Advertising by Claude Hopkins
The Robert Collier Letter Book by Robert Collier
Tested Advertising Methods by John Caples
The Ultimate Sales Letter by Dan Kennedy
Breakthrough Advertising by Eugene Schwartz

With so many perennial favorites, does the world really need another copywriting book?

Having just reviewed Ray Edwards’ new book Writing Riches, I can confidently answer that question in the positive.

The biggest drawback to so many of the classics is that they were written during a time before the advent of the Internet.

As you know, the Internet has changed everything.

It hasn’t changed the principles of salesmanship, of course, but it has certainly changed the mechanisms, devices, and techniques we use to sell.

What I like about Writing Riches is that it breaks down the process of writing copy for the web into an easy-to-follow sequence of steps. And each chapter is like a succinct “mini-course.”

Inside, you’ll find “mini-courses” on writing sales letters, headline writing, bullet writing, email marketing, writing PPC ads, and even writing copy for product launches.

The best part: Writing Riches is only $14. And if you visit the link below, you’ll find out how you can get a $197 gift from Ray as a thank-you for purchasing the book.

Click Here to Get Writing Riches for $14 And Get Your Free Gift

-Ryan M. Healy

P.S. Although I did get a review copy of the book back in November, I don’t get anything for making this recommendation. If you are a copywriter… or if you simply want to make more money from your copy… then Writing Riches will be worth far more than the $14 you’ll invest in it.Similar Posts:

Basic Sales Appeals Go on Forever

Ryan M. Healy — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 12:36:57 +0000

On page 110 of How to Make Your Advertising Make Money, John Caples writes:

Techniques change, but basic sales appeals go on forever. Therefore, when you are searching for an idea to sell your product or service, don’t forget to review the ideas that have been successful in the past.

I’ve gotten some great ideas from reading proven ads and sales letters. Sometimes it’s just a small copy idea. Other times it’s a headline or subhead. Still others, a sidebar or scarcity play.

Just remember: It does you very little good to review (and recycle) the same three or four or five ads over and over again. You need to be continually inspired by fresh material.

Click here to learn more about Swipe Files.

-Ryan M. HealySimilar Posts:

Stuck on a Sales Letter? Then Do This…

Ryan M. Healy — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 14:32:01 +0000

Have you ever been trying to write an ad or sales letter and just gotten stuck?

Have you ever written headline after headline after headline… and still come up empty?

Or have you ever completed a sales letter only to discover that it lacks that gut-level punch you know it needs to have?

If you can relate to any of these frustrating situations, then you simply must have a robust and easily accessible swipe file on hand.

The Value of a Swipe File

A swipe file is simply a collection of ads and sales letters that have been tested and proven in the real world.

In other words, they worked.

The value of a swipe file is in its inspiration. By reading a winning ad, you Â may be suddenly inspired to finish some copy that’s had you stumped for weeks.

Or you may come up with a new (and stronger) selling angle. Or you may even find new ideas for how to structure and position your pitch.

Any number of good things can happen when you take the time to study and review winning ads and sales letters.

(In fact, an old Eugene Schwartz ad recently inspired a sales letter I wrote that sold more than six figures in six days.)

Where to Find Proven Ads

Obviously, you could piece together a swipe file by tracking down old ads, buying advertising books, and raiding your mail box. But this approach is tedious and time-consuming.

You can spend months and years building a swipe file — and even then the ads won’t be organized in a way that’s easily accessible or searchable.

More to the point, why bother becoming a direct response detective when Lawrence Bernstein has already done all the detective work for you?

In case you don’t know, Lawrence Bernstein is the #1 direct response researcher (and archiver) on the planet. He probably knows more about the history of advertising than anybody alive today.

Even better, he’s got the biggest collection of direct response ads and sales letters anywhere. His personal swipe file contains literally thousands of pieces dating from the 19th Century to the present.

And possibly best of all, every ad and every sales letter has been scanned and uploaded into a private members-only web site called the Ultimate Online Swipe File.

Quickly Find Any Ad, Anytime You Want

When you join, you’ll have access to direct response ads that have been responsible for literally billions of dollars in sales. And you’ll be able to search these ads by author, market, product name, or any other keyword you can think of!

As soon as you click “Search,” you’ll instantly be served with dozens of profitable ads that fit your exact search criteria.

This is especially valuable if you write copy on a regular basis.

Serial entrepreneurs will be able to roll out product after product — and write the sales copy with ease.

Freelance copywriters will find proven copy templates — and lots of raw inspiration — for just about any project under the sun.

Of course, you’ll find plenty of ads from guys you know. Guys like Eugene Schwartz, David Ogilvy, John Caples, Claude Hopkins, and Gary Halbert.

Plus, you’ll find plenty of ads from guys you don’t know. Guys like Drew Kaplan, Dan Rosenthal, Mel Martin, Bud Wessecker, Ralph Ginzburg, Ben Suarez, Maxwell Sackheim, and many more.

Which means you’ll have direct access to the masterpieces of the most successful advertising men in all of history.

The Bargain of the Decade?

Imagine for a moment that all these men were still living today. And imagine that you commissioned each one to write an ad for you.

How much would you pay? Perhaps $20,000 per ad? Maybe $30,000?

Based only on what you’d have to pay to have these ads written today, there’s easily millions of dollars worth of ad copy inside Ultimate Online Swipe File.

You get it all for far less than you’d expect. For the right person, it’s the bargain of the decade.

When you sign up for the Ultimate Online Swipe File through my affiliate link, I will also give you free access to my Copywriting Code member site.

This is an additional $19.95 a month value, yours free as long as you remain a member of Ultimate Online Swipe File.

Click Here to See If “The Ultimate Online Swipe File” Is Right For You

-Ryan M. Healy

P.S. The Ultimate Online Swipe File is an investment in your direct response business, and it can easily pay you back many times over. I’m a member myself and it’s worth every penny.

Remember: Sign up using this link, then email your receipt to rhealy@gmail.com so I can activate your free Copywriting Code membership — the perfect companion site to The Ultimate Online Swipe File.Similar Posts:

A Classic Today, Rare Book Tomorrow

Ryan M. Healy — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 15:16:14 +0000

I’ve recently been on a book binge, buying up some volumes I’ve been intending to buy, but postponing.

Part of my reasoning is I’d rather pay $20 to get a used classic book now, than pay hundreds of dollars later when it’s considered a rare book.

Perfect example:

For the last year, I’ve been searching for a copy of This One Mad Act by Izola Forrester, the granddaughter of the infamous John Wilkes Booth, alleged assassin of President Abraham Lincoln.

There are currently only 3 copies of this book available for purchase. It is a rare book indeed. The cheapest copy is $294; the most expensive is $357.

I’ve got a thing for books, so price usually isn’t an objection. But I do think twice before dropping $300 on a used book.

The most expensive book I’ve purchased to date is How to Make More Money with Your Direct Mail by Ed Mayer. I paid $199.99 for that.

The second most expensive book I’ve bought is Reality in Advertising by Rosser Reeves. That only set me back $108.99.

So when I got a first edition 1983 copy of How to Make Your Advertising Make Money by John Caples for just $28.89 this week, I thought that was a pretty good deal. (Some copies are selling for twice that.)

Anyway, the whole point of this post is this…

When it comes to used books that are no longer in print, better to buy them sooner than later.

As copies disappear from circulation, what were once considered classics become rare books. And rare books command top dollar in the used market.

-Ryan M. Healy

P.S. Speaking of rare, I may soon be removing Copywriting Code from the market to add some additional content and training.

When I open up membership again, it may not be as affordable as it is now. If you’re interested, I suggest joining now.Similar Posts:

How Far Is Too Far in Advertising?

Ryan M. Healy — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 19:58:11 +0000

There is a huge dichotomy in advertising.

On the one hand you’ve got the pressure to perform: to make your advertising as profitable as you possibly can.

On the other hand you’ve got the pressure to be ethical: to be as honest as possible in your advertising.

Last week I raised the issue of using fake scarcity to drive more sales. Many people said they disagreed with such a deceptive tactic and would fire any client who did such a thing.

Not to muddy the waters too much here, but the issue of honesty in advertising is very complex. In fact, it seems dishonesty in advertising is accepted as a matter of course!

So, since I already brought up the issue of fake scarcity, let’s turn the lens of scrutiny toward…

Fake Stories

When I asked my mastermind group how they would handle dishonest clients, the responses were very interesting. Not one of them was the same. And yet each person seemed passionate about his position.

Daniel Levis mentioned how John Caples’ most famous ad was an imaginary story. You know, the ad that begins, They Laughed When I Sat Down at the Piano But When I Started to Play!~

The story in this ad is completely fictitious. Some may say it is dishonest. Is this okay? And how is it any different than the fake weight loss stories and fake body building stories published on “flogs” these days?

Maybe the difference is in class, style, and sophistication. If you tell an imaginary story framed as a real story… and you tell it believably enough… does that make it okay?

Fake Endorsements

Or how about TV commercials with paid actors and actresses giving fake endorsements of products? This is extremely common.

The “perfect” house wife comes on screen, kids in the background: “Ever since I started using Product X, cleaning up even the messiest spills has been a breeze. After all, I need all the help I can get!”

Everybody knows these “TV testimonials” are fake, the stories completely made up, the “families” patched together from the most attractive people on the set. It’s quite possible the actors and actresses in these commercials have never even used the products they’re promoting!

And yet I don’t see anybody complaining about this particular genre of dishonest advertising.

Real Ad, Fake Story

Here’s another example. I’m a subscriber of World Net Daily’s Whistleblower magazine. On the back cover of the November 2009 issue there is a full-page ad put out by Swiss America to advertise gold.

The headline reads: “Our retirement account has tripled in the last 5 years…”

Underneath the headline there is a picture of a happy couple in their 50s. It is obviously a stock photograph to support the headline.

Now, the headline is dishonest on two levels. By saying “Our retirement account has tripled,” they’re implying that this really happened to a certain couple. I’m fairly confident that this is not the case.

What’s more, the price of gold has tripled from 2004 to 2009. Which means that for the headline to be true, this couple would have had to have had 100% of their retirement account invested in gold. Again, not likely.

But I don’t look at the ad and get angry. I actually get kind of interested. Hey! Maybe I should be investing in gold! I start to think. On that level, the ad works.

But How Far Is Too Far?

My point is this: We see LOTS of dishonest advertising every day. But we don’t think of it as being dishonest. We accept it. We may even approve of it.

So what then makes one dishonest ad okay but another one not okay? Are we going to label John Caples a liar for telling a story that wasn’t true, but could have been? Where do we draw the line?

In other words, just how far is too far in advertising? Leave a comment below and let me know what you think.

-Ryan M. Healy

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