7 keys to making more moolah from your copywriting

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Before you write one single word!

#1: Know what the heck you’re talking about. In other words, do your research. Spend time getting into the mind of your prospect.

Convince yourself this is the best product ever and everyone needs to know about it. Use the product!

I always request samples and use whatever I’m working on (with the exception of the male potency stuff. Doesn’t work for me and my husband swears he’ll never need it).

I want to see and feel a difference the product makes on ME. In other words, I’m convincing myself before I try to sell anybody else!

Many times, I’m so certain the product works, I write my own testimonial in my package!

If you’re working on a product and don’t believe its value -- do yourself a favor and turn down the job. The odds of failure are great — and why do you want to sell a crappy product anyway?

#2: Work with a few clients – and really get to know their business! I’m in my 8th year as a freelance copywriter. And I’ve found the years I worked with just 2 or 3 clients produced more revenue than when I worked for 6 or more companies!

Of the 14 packages I wrote last year, 9 were from one client. They were a variety of nutritional products – but all were going to the same demographics and files! That means I knew immediately whom I was writing to.

I didn’t have to “learn” my market every time – just had to get into the benefits of the product. And because I was familiar with the company, I knew their risk tolerance. That helped avoid a lot of edits from the legal department!

How to handle “writer’s block”:

#3: Stop staring at the blank screen! If ideas aren’t coming to you, get up and do something else. Give yourself permission to goof off. When I’m stuck, I take my 96-year grandmother to Wal-Mart...tackle a new recipe in my favorite crock-pot cookbook...or take a nap. Sounds contrary to SPEEDwriting, doesn’t it? Well it’s not. Here’s why...

Before I enjoy these diversions, I tell myself, “Ok, Carline, you can take a break, but you need to come up with a headline, or lead.” Then I get up from my computer.

What I’ve done is given my subconscious a direct order to start working. While I’m “goofing off”, my subconscious is free to be as creative as possible.

Many times I’ve burned a recipe because right in the middle of cooking, an idea pops in my head. I start writing it down and am usually back at my computer and raring to go!

Don’t believe me? Then read the book, "Psycho-cybernetics" by Maxwell Maltz. You'll discover how to unleash the power of the subconscious mind. Then, try it for yourself. I promise—it’ll work for you!

#4: Never start with a blank screen! You get writer’s block ‘cause you don’t know what to say. Plus that blank page can be very scary!

So the first thing I do when I start writing is to quickly fill up the blank page. For example, you know you’ll need an order form, guarantee, testimonials and other static elements—so go ahead and cut and paste some standard ones into your document.

Then write the words, “Big freakin’ headline goes here!” – Hey, look, you’ve already got at least 3 pages of copy — and you haven’t even written a word yet!

Don’t worry, you’ll eventually tweak your original headline and make it stronger — but at least for now, you’ve got something!

#5: Take rest breaks: Tell yourself you’re only going to write for 15 minutes and then you’ll take a break. That’s easy right? What you’re doing is called “baby steps” – take a huge project and break it down into easy to handle segments.

After 15 minutes, you can take a break. But most likely, you’ll find you’re writing for 30...45...even an hour or more!

#6: Don’t reinvent the wheel: Ask clients if they have standard elements of a package they prefer to use.

For example, one of my clients uses a standard order form for his promotions. Why spend time writing a new order form when it’s going to get dumped and replaced by the standard one?

Instead, focus your time on writing a strong headline for the order form and killer copy for the positive acceptance statement (the “YES! I want to ... section of the order form).

#7: Minimize distractions: When you’re in heavy-duty writing mode, keep your momentum by eliminating distractions.

In the movie, “The Pursuit of Happiness”, Will Smith’s character found out he could save 8 minutes a day just by pushing the button instead of physically hanging up the phone after every sales call. And he saved even more time by not drinking water so he wouldn’t have to go to the bathroom.

What he did was maximize productivity by minimizing distractions. You can too.

Put your phone on mute while you’re working. Contact your client and request any additional info by e-mail only...let your neighbors know you really do have a job and not to “pop in”...and post a sign on your door that says “WARNING: DON’T BOTHER ME UNLESS YOU’RE BLEEDING!” In other words, do whatever you need to protect your writing time!

I know I promised you 7 keys to speedwriting. And I hope these are helpful to you. But a good copywriter always delivers more than promised. So here’s probably the real key to my success...

#8: Love what you do and “niche your passion”. When I first started copywriting, I took whatever job I could get. I needed the money and the experience. But I didn’t achieve real success until I focused on just one area and made myself an expert.

I love the alternative health field and I love writing about nutritional supplements. So now, 90% of my projects are for the nutritional health field.

I turn down projects that push me too far away from my niche. That way, I stay focused on the pulse of my market...and write faster, more profitable copy!

Carline Anglade-Cole

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An Unlikely Entrepreneurial Inspiration

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Toilet paper seems like an odd inspiration for a company, but it's what started Tamara Monosoff on the path to becoming an entrepreneurial mom. Since then she's been busy teaching other moms about the path from idea to product. In May, Monosoff comes out with her second book about insights she's gleaned from other successful moms who have started their own companies. It's a business book at heart, says Monosoff, but she also wanted to inspire other moms to take the leap from babies to balance sheets.

As a former Clinton administration staffer and consultant, Monosoff had experience in the working world. When her first daughter started pulling toilet paper off rolls, and Monosoff got an idea for an invention that would prevent it, she added entrepreneur to her resume. The title came with a few hurdles. "It was painstaking," recalls the Northern California mom. "Nothing told me step by step what I needed to do." After some trial and error she got the product on the shelves of local retailers and now sells thousands of her TP Saver. That was just the beginning of Monosoff's new career. The process spawned a whole new business after it made her realize how few resources were available to others in the same boat.

It was her own experience of moving from the working world to being a mom that informed her decision to start Mom Inventors Inc. "There was a shocking difference between being a presidential appointee and changing diapers," she says. "It was very isolating." Mom Inventions started off as an Web-based advice site chock-full of interviews with other inventor moms as well as tips on such topics as manufacturing products overseas. She also sends out a monthly newsletter to 10,000 people.

Now it's mushroomed into a full-time business that helps other moms get their products off the ground. It pays a 1 to 5 percent royalty to get the ideas of moms on store shelves. The fee depends upon how much legwork the inventor has done. Some moms may just have a "napkin sketch" of their idea. But when one mom came to Monosoff, she already had thousands of sandwich crust cutters sitting in her garage based on a prototype created by her dentist. Now the cutters, which come in four shapes, are one of Mom Inventors' best-selling products. Monosoff has recently starting putting the inventors' faces on packaging as well. "Women have always been inventive, but not necessarily credited," she says.

Monosoff decided to compile the things she picked up into her first book–the Mom Inventors Handbook–that was published in September 2005. Besides simple cost-saving tips and motivational messages, it also features concrete details such as scripts for would-be entrepreneurs making sales cold calls. "It's the book I wish I had had" when starting out, says Monosoff. In her second book, Secrets of Millionaire Moms, Monosoff interviewed other successful women who were able to get their ideas off the ground, such as Maxine Clark, who started Build-A-Bear Workshop. It includes advice on what to consider when raising capital and balancing family obligations. "The idea of balance sets you up for failure," says Monosoff. "There needs to be a fluidity–sometimes business is going take more time, sometimes family." She should know. Along the way Monosoff has had a second daughter and her husband quit his job at EVault to head sales at the company.

Her biggest surprise in writing the second book was how the entrepreneurs all had vastly differing personalities and backgrounds. "But they hands down had same internal traits–an intense focus and determination to succeed," she says.

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