Content Writing For Newbies (Copywriting For Beginners) Day 6

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Day 1 https://my.wealthyaffiliate.com/thecatherine/blog/eliminate-...

Day 2 https://my.wealthyaffiliate.com/thecatherine/blog/content-wr...

Day 3 https://my.wealthyaffiliate.com/thecatherine/blog/content-wr...

Day 4 Creating your Outline You can read hereearning Copy from Your Competitors

Day 5 Content Writing For Newbies (Adding Depth to your Content) Day 5

Copywriting is an intimidating skill for many marketers to attempt. Many don't feel confident enough in asking someone to pay for the knowledge they're sharing in their information products.

But if you don't learn how to sell and instead cross your fingers that the audience will just trust that you have something worthwhile to teach them, you'll be setting yourself up for failure.

As an online marketer, there are many ways you can learn copywriting skills. You can buy a book on it or pay for a copy course from some of the field's leading experts. But you can also learn from the very people you'll be pitting your products against – your competitors.

There's a big difference between stealing and swiping copy versus learning from others in your industry. This report shows how to conduct a simple, competitive analysis of your competitors' sales pages and use the findings to your advantage.

Finding Competitor Info Products

The wonderful thing about sales copy is that it's not set in stone. If your product isn't converting well, you can go in and tweak your copy to help it convert even better. So whether you're using this for an upcoming launch or for something already that you're struggling with, it will benefit you.

If you're selling info products, then you'll want to start out by looking where the products you'll be competing against are sold. Those platforms will house the links to sales pages you'll want to investigate.

Start by going to ClickBank, where you'll find a plethora of niches you can analyze – from business and finance to gardening and relationships. You can look at the ranking and gravity to see which products are converting well for affiliates.

Another place you want to look is on Warrior Plus. Here, you'll find info products that you can see going back through the years. Copy tips can be evergreen or trendy, so it helps to look back and see what was converting a couple of years ago as well as currently.

JVZoo is another platform that houses a wide variety of info products for sale. It's similar to Warrior Plus, where you'll find a big mix of the types of products selling – including courses, private label rights, software, and memberships.

Search engines will also provide a wealth of information about your competitors' products that are selling. You can find people selling directly to their audience and bypassing platforms like the ones above.

Pinpointing the Preferred Media Format for Your Niche Copy

When you look at your competitors, see what type of format they're using for their sales copy. The most common one is a text based copy. This is where the audience can skim and read headlines and see bullet points and a call to action or they can read each and every word carefully.

Another type of sales copy is video based copy. A video sales letter might begin auto-playing, or it might have a play button. The video could be a few minutes long or up to half an hour, so make a note of what it takes to convert visitors into buyers.

A hybrid sales copy is a mix of the two. Sometimes the visitor is presented with a text sales letter, and they also see a video (or even hear an audio presentation). But sometimes, it's first presented as a video, giving the visitor the option to instead choose the text-based letter if they prefer.

A hybrid sales letter gives the audience more control over how they learn about your offer. There are people who hate reading and those who abhor video. So it's a good idea to use hybrid whenever possible.

People who include video may see better conversions in some niches because it puts a face (and voice) to the name and product. This helps ease a person's mind about being hesitant to buy from a stranger online.

Video is especially helpful when you're selling some sort of product like software, and the person needs to know what it looks like in action. So you might see a text-based sales letter and then a video mid-way through the copy showcasing a product and how it works.

Look to see what images your competitors are using. Is it a stock photo or a picture of them on vacation or something else? Is it a snapshot of statistics, like earnings? How many images are they using as proof or for another reason in their copy?

Letting Length and Headlines Lead the Way

Some sales letters are 1 page, and those that, when printed, turn out to be 25 pages long. What you create could be anything in between. But you want to see what's common among your competitors, so you have an idea of what it takes to resonate with your audience.

A good average number of pages for beginner sales copy is about five printed pages. This length gives you enough space for multiple headlines, some storylines, testimonials (if you want them), bullet points, and a call to action with some postscript messages.

When you're on a competitor's sales page, look at what the headlines are addressing for that niche audience. What kinds of pain points are other marketers tackling? You may want to weave similar pain points into your copy or come up with more effective ones.

Which Testimonials Are Effective for Your Niche?

When you go to your competitors' sales pages, you're probably going to see some testimonials. Whether they're real or fake ones depends on the ethics of the marketer involved.

Many of them simply make up a raving review, stick an obvious stock photo on the page and call it a day. Others take time to actually cultivate real testimonials for their product by listening to their audience.

Look at how many testimonials are sprinkled throughout their page. What kinds do they have? Do they include the person's name and website with it for verification? Some marketers even have video testimonials where their customer creates a video they can embed on their sales page, which lends even more credibility.

Testimonials for a high ticket course in Internet marketing may be very important, while a testimonial from "Sue in Idaho" about an eBook that taught her how to relax and stress less may not be as vital.

Analyzing Storyline and Expertise

The storyline is the main text content you see on a sales page that goes into more depth than the headlines. It tells the backstory and explains why the product would be right for the prospective customer.

What kind of storyline is the competition using? Just because you might see then using a rags to riches story doesn't mean you have to do the same if the story isn't true about you.

Never lie to your audience. You're going to see a variety of sellers using different slants. For example, the copy might detail the story of the seller as an average person who lost 100 pounds and just wants to share how they did it.

Or, it might say they have a PhD in nutrition, and they want to assist you with their wealth of knowledge. You might be one of those, too – or neither of them. You can talk about why you want to help them with whatever pain point it is they're seeking help for.

Don't get intimidated by other peoples' storylines and expertise. There will be an audience for everyone. There will be consumers who only want to learn from a doctor. There will be consumers who prefer to learn from someone just like them who did it without a degree and who had the same struggles.

Look to see what the balance is in the storyline between the seller and the customer. You should have a nice mix of why they should want to learn from you and copy that talks about their struggle, showing that you have empathy and a connection to them.

Seeing Which Price Point Converts Your Target Audience

New marketers always ask others to help them determine the right price point. You have to do some research to see what's selling in your niche in the marketplace. Make sure you're not just scanning sales copy to see the pricing alone.

They might be selling an on-going annual membership, while yours is just a 20-page eBook. So the pricing would be drastically different between the two. Don't let pricing scare you off of publishing your own products.

You're going to see vendors who price things at $7 and those who charge $147 – among other price points. You might end up shocked to see a $97 course selling more than a $27 one.

Sometimes, courses can look too cheap to a consumer. They may see a higher ticket price point and assume it's better or more thorough than the one that's discounted. So depending on their budget, they'll go with what works best for them.

Still, analyzing your competitors' price points can give you a good average to work with. You might find that 80% of the marketers in your niche sell products between $37 and $47.

This would be a good ballpark figure for you to work with, because you'd know that the audience converting for this niche is accustomed to paying that price. If everyone sells at $27 and you suddenly come on the scene at $67 with no reputation to back you up, then you might have trouble making sales.

Another thing you want to look for are launch price promises. Some marketers promise the price is going to shoot up, and it never does. Or they use tools that say only 1 more is left, when it's not true.

If this type of urgency is converting, but you want to remain ethical, you'll need to find a workaround for that to get the same benefits with urgency, without breaking your word.

Do Your Deliverables Match Up to What They're Promising?

You want to see what all is included in your competitors' product bundle. Is it just a PDF? Does it also include a video course? What about worksheets or transcripts? You want to know if what you're putting on the market is the standard for what customers are used to buying.

It won't always match up perfectly, but you do want to be aware if everyone in the niche is providing video with the PDFs so you can compete with them adequately. Also look to see what kind of communication the vendor provides to their customers.

Some vendors provide more hand holding than others do, which helps the customer convert easier than with someone who doesn't respond to emails or take questions. See if there's a webinar for customers or some sort of help if they have any future needs.

Is Going with a Guarantee Good for Your Business?

Look to see what your competition is offering in terms of a guarantee. Is it a typical 30-day money-back guarantee? Maybe 60? Or even a lifetime guarantee This may affect your affiliates, so you want to get it right.

Affiliates will have their commission clawed back if someone refunds, so you want to make sure your guarantee (if there is one) is in line with what most other vendors state on their sales copy.

Guarantees are not mandatory, either. Sometimes, you can make it known up front that there are no refunds allowed. This may turn off some customers and affiliates and other affiliates may feel more at ease knowing you have that policy in effect.

It also affects your affiliates based on how long you'll be holding their commission. If you go with a 60-day guarantee because other marketers in your niche are using it, then they'll be used to it – but if everyone else has 30-days, and you make them wait an entire extra month to get paid their commission, it won't go over well.

There will be many other little intricacies you see on your competitors' sales pages that you may want to try on your own. For example, they have buy buttons sprinkled throughout the page, instead of just one at the bottom.

Remember, you do not want to copy and paste someone else's sales copy into your own page. The idea is to create swipe files of ideas that you can learn to master and use in your own copy.

Swipe files with phrases such as "this simple strategy" or "so easy a child could do it," are phrases you can put into a swipe file and pull from whenever you need them. Just don't copy someone's entire headline or copy as is.

To try your hand at sales copy, start by writing the elements you feel good sales copy would have in your niche. You may have things you don't want to use that others do, or things you want to include that they didn't, but having an outline you want to work from will assist you when the time comes to sit down and flesh it out into something substantial.

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Recent Comments

5

This is dynamite information Catherine I've often wondered about copy writing and what it involves. Thank you for sharing.

Thank you for sharing with us your great knowledge Catherine, great article.

And the wealth of knowledge keeps flowing, Catherine! You are definitely an expert in your field, and we are lucky to have your insights here!

Jeff

There is lots of great information in this article. Thanks.

Thank you for these useful insights that you continue to share with us.

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