Welcome to my Copywriting Course. I just want to give you a quick overview of what you will discover in this course by taking you through the core content. I have made this lecture public so that you can preview it before you enroll in the course.
It would be great if you would introduce yourself in the discussions. Where are you from? what are your objectives for the course? What challenges are you facing? Join in with the community here and lets all work together for our mutual success.
Do welcome new members and answer questions if you can!
This introduction to the Psychology of Selling takes you through the initial frameworks you need to understand.
These include:
AIDA - Attention, Interest, Desire, Action
The 5 Ps - Promise, Picture, Proof, Pitch and Push
The 3 Truths of Selling
1. People do not like to be sold
2. People buy on Emotion
3. People rationalise Purchases with Logic
The Key Mental Triggers
1. Scarcity
2. Authority
3. Reciprocity
4. Trust
5. Likeability
6. Events and Rituals
7. Community
8. Social Proof
Armed with an understanding of these frameworks we can start to dive deeper on how to sell to your audience
This is all about understanding what motivates your clients. Different people have different motives and this is dependent on their underlying psychology. You need to know you audience well enough to understand what makes them tick. If you can do this you can press their buttons like the keys on a keyboard. You find out what these are by talking to them and asking them questions. Listen to their responses and try to understand where they are coming from. What sort of people are they? Which of these 13 motivators is likely to be one they will respond to.
This section of the course is all about the psychology of selling and in this lecture I provide you with more frameworks.
1. The first of these is: What In in For Me? A Crucial Question your audience will ask of you when they read you copy.
2. The importance of stressing benefits and not features cannot be over emphasised
3. Communicate to your Audience through emotion and not cold facts
4. You must be able to communicate your credibility to your audience
5. The Uniqueness of your product or service is a major reason why you will be chosen over your competition
6. Make sure your Headlines are effective in hooking the attention of your audience
7. The debate between Long Copy and Short Copy will never be resolved. I believe in the 80:20 rule - make your copy long enough to communicate your message
8. The actual Appearance of your copy on the page is important to make sure it is readable by your entire audience, whatever their preference - to scan or read in detail
9. Ensure you inject Urgency in your copy - you want your audience to buy now!
10. Finally, Test and Test again to try to improve your conversions
Getting Your Images Right
Headline writing is an art not a science and you should be prepared to spend a considerable amount of time getting your headline right
This lecture contains some guiding principles and ideas for getting the most out of your headlines
- What is the Purpose of a headlong?
- Things to Avoid
- The Kiss Principle
- Long vs Short Headlines
- Sell the Sizzle
- Use a Thesaurus
- Keep Practicing
- Engage Emotion
- Use Numbers
- Be Specific
- Use Key Adjectives
- Rationalise
- Use Trigger Words
- Convey Benefits
- Make Promisesand Deliver
- A Simple Headline Formula
All these will hopefully empower you to become a better headline writer
In this video I want to show you how to bring these principles and frameworks together to create engaging copywriting.
I have created a 14 step Formula to help you make this process simple and replicable
In the sections following this, I am also going to give you two case studies showing you how I use this formula to create the description for this course and to script the course promo video
So what are these 14 steps?
1. Get Attention
2. Identify the Problem
3. Reveal Your Solution
4. Demonstrate your Competence
5. Show the Benefits
6. Overcome Objections
7. Add Social Proof
8. Make Your Offer
9. Make it Better
10. Give a Guarantee
11. Inject Scarcity
12. Call to Action
13. Give a Warning
14. Remind of Benefits
15. Sign off with a PS
These are the components that you need to include in your message to your audience to make sure you address all the issues that they will be concerned with. Remember you are helping them to make the decision you want them to take in your call to action: make it as simple and as easy as you can. But you must push all their buttons!
Titles and Headlines Grab Attention.
The title is the attention grabber - remember AIDA! It needs to grab the attention of your audience.
Include a clear purpose and a clear benefit in the title.
Back this up with social proof or benefits in the sub header!
The purpose of the Title is to get your audience to read the sub title and its purpose is to get them to read the first line of your copy - its that simple
In the second step, you need to identify the problem that your audience are having and to show them that you also feel their pain. You need to establish an connection with your audience so that they come to trust you. If you give them hope that a solution is at hand you have taken the first step to selling to them. Close this step by removing any blame or guilt from them by showing them that either they have been given incorrect information or that there is no way they could intuitively come up with the answer themselves.
In this step you present the solution to the problem. Try to keep some continuity with the previous step by using phrases like I have been where you are now. Present the solution, in this case the name of the course. It is important that the title of the course clearly addresses the answer to their problem and, if at all possible, includes at least one major benefit of taking the course.
This step is all about establishing your credibility with your audience. To be trusted you have to be credible. In this instance I cite my Udemy: Strategic Design Course. I explain that I have already created 8 Udemy Courses. I demonstrate that I have interviewed over 70 Udemy courses instructors, learning their secrets. Finally I show that I have enrolled in over 100 Udemy Courses and have examined and analysed them critically
This section needs to start with an emotional appeal. Show your reader a vision of the promised land. What will life be like once they have completed your course or used your product or service
Then we need to come up with 3 to 5 bullet points highlighting the benefits of the Course. This is easy to construct and I show you how.
Firstly, draft 3 to 5 bullet points with the key features of your course. Next, add so that to the end of these bullet points and complete the sentence logically. When you add this to the draft, simply remove the features and the So Thats and you have your benefits neatly listed.
I show you how to do this and how this then becomes part of the draft Course description.
This is a critical step for building trust. If you can show that customers or students have bought from you in the past, highly rated the content or the product, this lessens the risk that your current prospect is taking. This will make them more likely to want to buy from you. I explain where you can find social proof and what to do if the product or course is new. There is of course the one major thing you should NEVER do - make up your own testimonials. Dont ever do it - you will be found out and trust will never be reestablished.
This is where we tell our prospect what the cost of the deal is. It is helpful to give some context to the price to help them to appreciate what good value you are offering. A few whys do not go amiss. Contrast the price with something which could solve their problem but which would be much more expensive. Then, add something to the deal to make it even more attractive.
I will also share with you an example from maestro, Alun Hill who has been very successful with his online course sales. With his permission I walk you through some of his copywriting and then show you how I have adapted it to suit my purposes. Thanks Alun, your help is much appreciated!
Bonuses are a great tool for making your offer even more attractive and it can be made clear that they are only available for a limited amount of time if you want to add scarcity to the mix. They can take almost any form; pdfs, videos, audio materials. Checklists are another great tool. I am not using them in this instance as I prefer to keep my additional materials and use them when I put the price up.
Guarantees are absolutely critical. You must de-risk this process for your prospective customer or client. To do this you offer a no quibble money back guarantee. Dont worry, as this will earn you far more sign ups than you will ever get refunds. This shows your confidence in your course and continues to build trust with your prospect.
Scarcity is a vital trigger to move your prospect towards the sale. We all like a deal and we hate to miss out on an opportunity. This is the message you are conveying here.
If your prospect leaves now, all your hard work will have been for nothing and you will have lost your sale
Remember, Scarcity must be credible and believable. It can include Time, Price, Bonuses and Quantity.
Make sure it gives your prospect a reason to act NOW!
Finally we come to the call to action. This is the whole point of this copywriting exercise. Now we are going to tell our prospects exactly what we want them to do. They need to be given clear instructions.
Just as importantly you need to combine this with either some benefits of the course or include a warning of what might happen if they dont take action now.
If you use buttons, make sure they are large, use bright colours and wording on the buttons that is unambiguous.
In this step we are giving our prospect a shot across the bows! A salutary warning that if he/she does not take the action we are recommending, they will suffer the consequences. That is to say they will not achieve their objectives; they will remain stuck at square one.
After the warning, you need to leave your prospect feeling warm and happy. To do this you need to smooze him a little.
Remind him how good he is going to feel once he has completed your Course.
It is important to reinforce three key facts, the great price, the great guarantee and why he should buy today! Remember you dont want him to go away without signing up to your course!
This is the final step and the most simple. You must end with a PS which repeats the Call to Action in Step 11. I show you exactly how this is done in the draft document we have been working on.
This is the complete Sales Letter/Landing Page/Squeeze Page text that we have been working through in this section.
Lets take a time out - I would love to get your feedback on the course - start a discussion or message me.
This would also be a great time for you to help out other students by telling them what you think about the course - why not leave a rating and review now? You can always go back and edit it at any time later if you wish.
This Case Study is based on a draft of a sales letter prepared by one of the students on this course. Thank you Carl. With his permission I have critiqued his drafted and added my comments and revisions. I hope you will find that this provides you with useful insights.
This is the initial draft of the Sales Letter before I started to comment on it.
This document shows all my comments and redrafts as amendments to the original draft, so that you can clearly see my thought process
Case Study - Build It With Us Course - Amended Draft Clean Copy
This shows you how to follow my 13 Step Formula to create a high converting Promotional Video that sells.
The standard format I believe results in rather dull and certainly not commercially attractive videos.
The Promotional Video is a really important aspect of your Course marketing and you simply cannot afford to let this opportunity slip. As I show there are other places where you can cover most of the other points without wasting these two precious minutes talking about yourself!
This is the Promotional Video I made following the Script.
This is the Second Version of the Promotional Video. I have made one subtle change. Can you spot it? Check about 30 Seconds in...
Which do you think is most effective?
Promotional Video SlideDeck
I have provided you with a Check List to help you create your High Converting Promotional Video Script, one sentence at time.
In this Lecture I briefly introduce myself. I explain why I created this Course and why my primary objective is your success.
A Document similar to this should be a standard part of your introductory course materials so that you have an opportunity to introduce yourself to your new student.
Make sure you keep the document totally generic so that you can upload the PDF once for each new course you create.
This is a single slide PDF which you can use to encourage Students to leave a positive comment and rating at the half way point in your course and just before the end. It should encourage students to add positive comments and ratings which are essential to SEO in Udemy but should not be too much of a distraction from the Course.
This is the Lecture Heading I use:
Got a Minute? Please Leave a Positive Rating and a Comment for this Course
And then in the Description I write...
How are you enjoying the Course?
I hope it is everything you expected.
If not, please email me to let me know at john@jbdcolley.com or message me through Udemy.
If you are enjoying it, please leave a positive comment and a rating which you can do at the top right hand corner of this page. It takes less than a minute and its a huge help to other students and to me too.
Plus it will help the Course rank higher in Udemy Search.
Don't forget you can edit your Review at any time.
Thank you very much for your help with this. Best regards, John
Now, on with the Course...
Free Course Promotional Materials
If you have a new paid course, you can include, for a limited time, a lecture like this to briefly introduce your course and encourage them to buy it at an introductory price. Consider too including the Promo Video for your new course here to make it even more interesting. Alternatively you might choose to create a PDF in Keynote or Powerpoint to improve the visual appeal of the document.
This shows you a video example of how you might promote the Udemy Affiliate Programme in Your Courses
Converting your Student into your Affiliate is one of the smartest things you can do. Explain to the Student how they can make money and how simple it is to sign up to the Udemy Affiliate Programme.
Again make sure that you keep the presentation Generic.
You might want to split out your offers from the main presentation and have two documents, one explaining how to become an affiliate and one with your offers in it. This can be amended if you want to change your offers.
Note; PDFs are much easier to upload to Udemy than Video and provide an element of variety as well for the students. Make your documents visually appealing with lots of images.
Part 1: Create Viral Video using Canva, Flipagram and Instagram
Part 2: Create Viral Video using Canva, Flipagram and Instagram
Congratulations on completing this course. I review what we covered together in the course in this video and ask what else you would like to see in the course. Finally I let you know how you can contact me online.
I have been asked several times how do you leave a rating and a review. I thought it would be a good idea to create a short video to explain. Its very simple but very helpful to new students, to the courses ranking in Udemy and to me as it makes my day! Please consider leaving one when you have completed more than 50% of the course.
Before you go, I would like to show my appreciation to you for taking this course. In the attached and downloadable PDF you will find exclusive offers for all my courses as well as more great ways that we can engage together. So grab the PDF and find your next course right away!
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