So many people think that creating a successful business on the Internet is some big mystery. The reality is that it’s easier than you might think, because online success boils down to one key skill. No, you don’t need to be a genius coder or have an excellent eye for
design. You don’t need high-powered connections, or even a website of
your own (at first). It’s much more simple than that. If you want to be successful online, the only essential skill is being a good copywriter. What is copywriting, specifically? It’s the art of
writing persuasively in order to market a product, service, person, or
idea. If you haven’t looked around lately, the vast majority of the
Internet comes in text form. Along with that, nearly all the writing
you see is persuasive. News articles, sales pages, status updates —
they’re all trying to sell something, even if it doesn’t always seem
like it. So why is this so important to success online?
For the same reason sales is so crucial to traditional business. If
you can convince someone to see things your way, there’s nothing you
can’t do — the options are limitless.
You could make a living writing sales pages for others. You could be
the person who markets the apps other people spend months building.
You could specialize in pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, or make a
killer social media manager. Now, how do you learn these skills? Chances are, you’re already ahead
of the game. If you have the basics of writing down, then it’s just a
matter of making a switch in mindset.
When you recognize that you’re being persuasive with every piece of
content you put on the internet, you can make your messages even more
effective. That being said, here are some of the best ways to quickly
increase your skill and confidence in persuasive copywriting:
1. Read Copyblogger (among others).
Copyblogger is my go-to resource for anything
copywriting-related. The articles are easy to digest, and well written.
Pay specific attention to what the author is trying to make you think;
remember every article has a purpose. The more aware you are of that
purpose, the better you’ll be at your craft.
If you want to take things more seriously, check out Copyhour.
A reasonably priced eight-week bootcamp for learning copywriting. The
idea is you copy down one classic sales letter a day — by hand. After
two months of doing this, I was amazed how many of the strategies and
techniques I’d internalized.
2. Write 1,000 words/day.
They say practice makes perfect, right? Well, how
can you get better at writing, if you don’t do it on a regular basis?
I’ve written at least 1,000 words almost every single day this past
year. It doesn’t matter what you’re writing — just going
through the exercise helps to internalize some of the basic
psychological elements of persuasive writing.
Simply put? The more you write, the better you get.
3. Find something to sell.
Yes, you’re always selling something. But
if you really want to get better, you’ll need a way to track your
progress — so come up with an offer. Maybe you have an affiliate
relationship with one of your favorite products; or perhaps you should
rewrite your product or services page for your own offerings.
There’s nothing more telling than hard sales to let you know if you’re doing a good job.
