Get The Complete Guide to Copywriting from the man who knows - save $500 if you act fast

You may have read my post of a couple of weeks ago, telling you about my (tenuous) link with the great Ted Nicholas, and my rather more substantial connection to Nick Wrathall, by means of a couple of headline-writing competitions.

If not, take a chance to read them now.

There's not much either of them don't know about copywriting, and it was a privilege for me to have Nick pass on some of his great knowledge and wisdom the last time we talked.

But Nick seems to have been quiet for a few months - or he wasn't talking to me, anyway - and now I know why. He's been busily putting together a course on copywriting, which has already attracted rave reviews from people who should know.

His copywriting skills have transformed the fortunes of many of the businesses he's worked for, although he'll be the first to admit he's made a few mistakes along the way, too. The point is, he's learned from them and included all those lessons in his course so we don't have to make the same mistakes ourselves.

The Complete Guide to Copywriting is aimed at business owners who want to master the art of creating winning sales copy for themselves, and at copywriting professionals who want to improve their own skills, get better results and, frankly, earn more.

The guide will distil Nick's knowlege of the tried and tested craft of copywriting, plus the latest tricks and twists that are getting the best results, in the real world, right now.

It's not cheap, but it will pay for itself if you write just one successful sales letter as a result of buying it. And it will help you will write better copy, I promise.

The Complete Guide to Copywriting will retail at $1295.00, but for a limited time Nick has agreed to release it with a discount over 30 percent, at just $795.

Nick won't hold the price down for long, he tells me, so if you want to save 500 dollars on the price, you'd better order it now.

Here's the link: Tell me more about The Complete Guide to Copywriting and how I can save $500 today!

And earn a lot more...

STOP PRESS: The latest from Nick is that the first 35 only will be at the reduced bargain price - after that it MUST rise to $1295. To get The Complete Guide to Copywriting for only $795 you must order now.

Roy Everitt, Writing for Results

Choice versus Fate - There's Really No Contest

I just did a very stupid thing; something I said I'd never do again. What was that?

I'll tell you. Trusting to fate. Or fortune or luck or whatever. It was a minor thing, really, and it probably won't change my life in any measurable way. And anyway, we'll never know what might have been...

Still, I took control of my life over the past few years, gradually and progressively, to the point where 'fate' had little to do with it and decisiveness and self-determination became the rule.

It was something and nothing, actually. Simply, I had left a web page open on my laptop, intending to read the really quite interesting but really quite long sales message on it, if I felt like it, a bit later.

Then I opened a newsletter, on which was a link to another page. Now, I know that sometimes a link opens a new window and sometimes it will use one that's already open. So I let 'it' decide whether I would get around to reading that other web page by clicking on the link. The new page replaced the old one, the 'once-only' offer was lost for ever, and 'fate' had decided whether that sales message was meant for me or not.

I probably wouldn't have bought, and maybe I'd already decided that before I took the chance of losing the offer, but it felt like tossing a coin, trusting to luck.

I didn't like it.

It won't happen again.

The lesson? Once we've tasted real self-determination, once we've fled a nest or chucked-in a job to join the real world, anything less just doesn't feel good enough. We're all capable of doing better than that.

As I said, it won't happen again.

Roy Everitt, Writing for Results

Write About What You Know - Another New Article

I've just added another new article to my directory. This one gives a new angle on an old adage: Write about what you know.

The new piece is aimed mainly at copywriters, but fiction writers can benefit from the same approach too, so take a look by going directly to it here or visit the Well Versed articles directory at www.wellversed.co.uk/articles.html

You'll find loads of helpful and interesting articles there on writing and marketing, plus a few others that I hope you'll enjoy.

Roy Everitt, Writing for Results

You're Nobody 'Til Somebody Loves You - or at least notices you exist!

As a writer involved in marketing, among other things, I know that the best sales copy in the world is useless if nobody reads it.

Just as 'junked' direct mail can seem horribly futile, so the loveliest, most literate website is redundant if it has no visitor traffic.

It goes without saying that your website should be promoted at every opportunity, just as the rest of your business should be. And the site should promote your business effectively, collect prospects' details, and so on.

Still, the actual numbers visiting a site can be disappointingly low, and increasing traffic by advertising on the search engines, for example, can be expensive.

Now there's a new way of increasing traffic dramatically, and it's free. It relies on the fact that we all want to increase traffic - and we all do, don't we? - to function. Once you've primed the system by promoting your own affiliate link, the traffic growth should be exponential.

Here's the link: http://www.FreeViral.com/?r=127139

Roy Everitt, Writing for Results

The Delicate Art of Giving Offence

Writing a sales letter recently, I was reminded of some advice from, I think, Dan Kennedy. Although I doubt it's unique to him, it was his name that came to mind.

Anyway, the principle is this: when drafting sales copy, you cannot afford to cater for the sensibilities of the easily-offended. Your aim is to maximise the copy's compelling appeal to those who might buy - to maximise response. Remembering that it will always be a small minority who actually take action, your job is to make sure they do.

Basically, everyone else is simply not your concern. They weren't buying anyway. And if they're on your client's mailing list for years and still haven't bought, your client is better off without them. Driving them away could save time and wasted marketing resources.

Two percent buying and ten percent offended is better than no one buying and no offence caused.

Which is not to say you should set out to offend. Two percent buying while ninety-eight percent complain or are lost as clients forever is not a good result, but your first priority - indeed your only concern in the end - is to sell.

Roy Everitt, writing for results

Ted Nicholas, Nick Wrathall and Me - part 2

I knew my winning headline was an adaptation of a old one - one that's been adapted numerous times, in fact. What I didn't realise, was that Nick Wrathall's headline was also an adaptation - of a headline by that man Ted Nicholas. Nicholas wrote his first version in the early 1970's:

What Will You Do When All Your Personal Assets--Including Your House, Car and Cash--Are Seized to Satisfy a Judgment Against YourCorporation?

My prototype was much older, dating from the 1920's or 30's:

They all laughed when I sat down at the pian0 - but when I started to play...

Just in case you were wondering...