A top tip to improve Your Writing

blog cover image
38
13.9K followers

Everyone knows the "typical ways" people say to get better at copywriting.

Copy old sales letters by hand.
Read the classic copywriting books.


So I wanted to share them with you today a weird tip I used years ago

Because if you've hit a wall with your growth recently or been seeking some tips to grow faster, the below might be just what you need to create a breakthrough!

1. Invert your learning with AWFUL copy.

When you're first starting out in the copywriting world, it's not always easy to identify EXACTLY what makes something "good."

I remember I used to read two different sales pages and try to guess which was better.

9/10 times my initial instincts were barking up the wrong tree, sometimes they were on a different continent!

And that was so frustrating. Because what if I was studying the wrong things the whole time and that's why I wasn't improving?

Interestingly though, I noticed it was WAY easier for me to spot bad copy than good.

Even as a newbie, I could tell when I was getting bored, didn't really believe the premise or felt icky while reading.

So I decided to start studying bad copy as examples of exactly what NOT to do.

Any Tim Ferriss fans out there will recognize this technique?

You might remember this is called "learning by inversion."

And it can be a powerful way to improve your writing fast.

Because you'll start to put together a do NOT do this list for your copy.

And many times, just NOT doing the things that suck make you better than half the copywriters out there. Seriously.

Login
Create Your Free Wealthy Affiliate Account Today!
icon
4-Steps to Success Class
icon
One Profit Ready Website
icon
Market Research & Analysis Tools
icon
Millionaire Mentorship
icon
Core “Business Start Up” Training

Recent Comments

52

Great read......are we allowed to share sites with 'bad copy' to test ourselves or critic it internally? i.e. not anyone @ WA obviously, but things other places to help 'test our skills'?.....just wondering.....like your post though! I made my very first website post tonight after training. I'm off to the races....lol

Yes you can do this on your blog. I do this sometime

Great, good to know! I haven't started the My Blog section yet. Not sure what I'm supposed to use it for & who it goes to? I assume ONLY WA members?.....lol.....thx!

I mean my own blog not the blog here

Right, I meant the My Blog section in my profile. Not sure what I'm allowed to do there or could/should be posting?....If you have any advice would love to hear. :) Thank you!

In that section you can blog about your challenges, where you are stuck, shout about your triumphs This is one i wrote today

Interesting...I loved to spell at junior school and loved to score high marks in spelling tests. So became good at spotting mistakes in grammar, spelling and punctuation as a result.

Didn't know I was using a technique as you put it. Ready Barbara Cartland novels also helped a lot. Don't read them now, but read most of her collection in my teens.

"Learning by inversion", I think, applies to anything. For example, if you have a good coach who listens and makes a leader out of you, then later get a bad one, you know the bad one could have done things better.

Even when choosing affiliate marketing products and marketing programs...It's easy to sift the weeds out of the grass when you use this technique.

Seriously - "Learning by inversion" is really useful!

Thanks for sharing!

Stella

That's funny Stella. In 1988 I went to Australia for a year and we just drove around for the whole year wandering. Of course that was before the Internet and that was no Kindle and I love to read. Every town had a huge amount of romantic novels I read thousands of them until page 20. They were only about five cents each, but I kept buying them in the hope that one of them would be worth reading. Thanks for your comment as always Stella

Hey Catherine,

Great post, my dear friend!

Learning by inversion should help improve writing, if you're willing to take the time to do so.

Then there also is another issue when you just can't write. Thoughts do not flow properly. Everything sounds yucky.

Tell me, how to fix writer's block for good?

All the best!

Maxine

Maxine my best advice would be read a lot

Ok, you could be right. Who am I to fuss? I know nothing!

practice helps too

Yes, I am practicing daily too. Catherine, I really appreciate your honest tips.

Today after reading with Partha. I just started to write again. I am not fully recovered though.

I was away for awhile and my enthusiasm just dwindled.

But, I am back now fighting to stay afloat with all of these experts round about.

Where do I go from here?

I really don't know whether to trash the two websites and start all over or maybe use sub domains from the originals and move forward.

Sorry to off load on you like this Catherine. But, that's what flowed freely from me.

What do you think?

To advise me, you may have to take a look at my work. And, if you do, I want you to be brutally honest.

My online existence depends on it.

I tried health and boot camp niches. Admittedly, I need help to re-organize.

Let me know the verdict!😊


Maxine

pm them to me and i will take a look

Thanks a lot.

Great way to look at this; thanks!

Ha ha, love the advice. Yes sometimes everyone follows the book and it can be boring. Sometimes bad is good. Thank you. Love your posts.

Thank you Stephen

Steve Jobs. Empathy, focus, compute. A strange man.

Thats my problem i see him without empathy

See more comments

Login
Create Your Free Wealthy Affiliate Account Today!
icon
4-Steps to Success Class
icon
One Profit Ready Website
icon
Market Research & Analysis Tools
icon
Millionaire Mentorship
icon
Core “Business Start Up” Training