Hi Jorge: It looks like the reason you think people will want to hire you is that if you don’t do a good job they will get their money back.

Your guarantee is not your USP. Your guarantee should be way down at the bottom of the letter, because it is designed to knock the fence-sitters off and get them to buy.

You have to tell the prospect why…Read more

Virginia,

Thank you so much for replying. So I have a few follow up questions. From what I understand, the guarantee is there to eliminate the risk according to Mr Carlton.

However, where I failed was in making the guarantee in the headline itself?

I figured this was a good place to put the guarantee because in my local area, no one offers a…Read more

You are right that people may be more comfortable hiring you because you offer a money-back guarantee, but that doesn’t go in your heading. In the Simple Writing System, Risk Reversal is step 14 out of 17. It is meant to give additional reassurance, but is not the primary reason people will hire someone.

They want to know who you are and why…Read more

Jorge, Nobody wants anything just because it’s 100% guaranteed or free.

Nobody wants carpet cleaners in their home. I have to schedule time to be there. They might not show up. They’ll be a high-pressure sales pitch for extras. They could break something. They could steal something. They could put the wrong chemical on my carpet and make it…Read more

Dang. Thanks guys. I appreciate the feedback.

Honestly I’m doing something wrong. I read John Carltons copywriting handbook but obviously something is missing. I tried my best to follow the information in that handbook but I’m missing something If the headline isn’t as great as i thought it was.

Do you guys have any tips on what I’m missing?…Read more

What did you read? The Kickass Copywriting Secrets of a Marketing Rebel?

Virginia,

Yes. That’s exactly it

Hi Siva: It looks like you joined the SWS Home Study course. Best of luck with it and if you have any questions feel free to post them here.

Hi Tommy,

One of the biggest hurdles faced by beginning marketers is that it is hard to sell your services if you don’t have satisfied clients that will give you referrals or that will give you a testimonial that you can use for credibility when you are promoting your service to another business.

It doesn’t sound like your service has a lot of…Read more

Thank you Virginia, this is very helpful, & I will keep you updated.

If I’ve got to be a shameless whore… by golly I’m going to have fun with this!

I just ordered that book you recommended & I’ll take a look at that course of John’s too.

John’s copy is too strong… and really the course sounds perfect for me… so I ordered his course too! 😛 thanks for the little push their virginia!

Hi Tommy, Welcome.

I think the basics of the plan you’ve outlined are viable. There are a lot of details in the weeds you don’t know about, yet. And the only way you’ll learn about them, overcome them, and thus get better at this is to start implementing.

Virginia made excellent points.

One I’ll emphasis is do NOT work for free. If it’s…Read more

Stan, you literally just saved me.

I’m going to charge a modest fee, plus a higher fee if my marketing works . And, I’m shooting out my first 3 pitches today.

So, thank you for saving me there brother & I’ll keep you in the loop!!

Hi Jorge – There are so many variables in your question.

How do you define “rich”? I know several copywriters I’d call rich. I know a lot more who are not. Often because they are not good at business. Some of the not-rich ones write very good copy. But that’s not enough to get rich. Getting clients, managing money, managing subcontractors,…Read more

Thank you so much for replying Stan. I love writing but many people have discouraged me from going into copywriting as a freelancer and work for an agency instead.

Most people that I talk to, especially on Reddit, tell me that copywriting is hard and that in order to make a lot of money (Over 100k) I will need years of experience under my belt…Read more

Hi Jorge: Since you are interested in carpet cleaning and copywriting, you could combine the 2. Either become a copywriter/marketer for carpet cleaners (check out Joe Polish) or become a carpet cleaner and learn copywriting to use in your own business. Once you become good at it and learn what carpet cleaners need to do to promote their…Read more

Also, if you are just using carpet cleaning as an example, you can substitute any other local business and the advice would be the same.

Thank you Virginia. This is all very solid advice.

Is there a specific place that I can post my copy so that it can get critiqued by the community?

From Stan’s previous reply: “how to get leads, close sales, up-sell, get referrals, and get repeat business.” That’s what any freelancer, me included, needs to figure out in just one sentence!

Hi Jorge: You can post your copy here in the clubhouse.

Get your copy as good as you can get it. Post it on a website with a call to action.

Then apply for a Hot Seat. Links are all over this page.

Odds are good we’ll pick you, as you’re issues will apply to most members.

Hey William! Great to meet you. I don’t know the answer to your question. But, I’m excited to meet you I’m a big fan of John as well! What state you from?

Hi Tommy,

It’s great meeting you my man. I live in South Africa, Limpopo…

And you are from???

Cheers,
William

Hi William. Keyword tools reveal what people are typing into Google when searching for something. Depending on what product or service you’re trying to sell, these most-used keywords reveal the beginning of the story for a big slice of your potential market. It might be easy, as in “lose weight fast”. Or it might require further digging and…Read more

Thank you very much John

I live close to San Fransisco in California… a competitive area full of a lot of fun people!

Hi William: John’s right…you can use the Keyword Planner to find out what people in your market are typing in to search for products like yours, then search those terms to find companies that are promoting to the same audience. See what they are saying to sell their products.

You might also want to try a site like Yahoo Answers. Search for que…Read more