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There is dangerous disease decimating the planet at this very moment... hundreds of millions of people around the globe got infected by it. Are you one of them?

And it's not COVID-19, I am talking about something much more widespread... the disease called sitting-down-at-the-computer-itis!

One of the main causes is going to school and writing pointless essays for too many years.

The symptoms? Going into boring mode as soon as you sit down to write 👎

Here is an example to help illustrate this better (company name changed):

High Quality Business Management, Inc. (HQBM) was founded in 2000 with one goal in mind: yours. From the beginning, we’ve been focused on delivering unparalleled service—from insight to implementation. And we continuously exceed the expectations of our clients by tailoring our services to meet their changing needs. Our continued growth is a testament to this personalized approach.

Did you fall asleep before finishing the paragraph?

Read that quote again, and then answer this question: What the hell does this company even do?

It's impossible to say for sure, other than they're offering some kind of service. If you understand what this company does, please hit 'reply' and tell me. I had to do additional research to get an understanding of what they actually do.

If you need another bad example, here are their 4 'business tenets':

• Developing customer relationships
• Crafting individualized solutions
• Providing exceptional service
• Focusing on details

Again, what the hell does this mean? Every single company on Earth can fit this description (or at least 3 of the 4 bullet points).

Terrible marketing & copywriting. Don't this at home kids -- it can be dangerous for your wallet and your health.

Here's how you spot bad examples of copy:

• You don't understand what you just read
• They keep talking about them
• Academical & 'clever' words
• Boring AF

Okay, enough with bad examples. Let's take a look at how you should actually write.

Attention: Copywriting basics ahead. Continue reading only if you want to become a better writer.

Write like you talk

Remember the bad example above? Does any of it sound like something a real person would say in a conversation? I doubt it.

How about when you had to write a 3-page essay back in high school, repeating the same thing over and over again, just to reach the required word count?

Well, copywriting is the complete opposite of that. Say what you want to get across as clearly and concisely as possible. Don't ramble on forever when there's no need to.

A good framework for this is: Write like you would talk to a friend on a Friday night in a bar over a couple beers.

Notice I said "a friend", not "friends". You should write like one single person is reading it. Because even if millions of people read your copy, everyone will read on their own. They need to feel like you're talking to them only.

Get attention

Scroll back to the top of the email. Did the subject line and the opening get your attention ? Probably, since you're still reading. If not, I did a bad job.

Either way, you need to get attention in both the subject line & the beginning. If you don't, people won't read.

As Joe Sugarman (a famous copywriter) put it, you need to get readers on the 'slippery slope'. This basically means the headline makes them read the 1st line of copy, first line of copy makes them read the 2nd line, and so on.

If the headline isn't good, they won't even start reading the copy. If the 3rd line isn't good, they won't read the 4th -- you get the idea.

(Joe Sugarman also said that a piece of copy should be like a woman's skirt -- long enough to cover the essentials but short enough to keep it interesting.)

Fun stories & examples

This ties in nicely with the previous point, because you can get attention with stories or examples. An even better way to put it is: Have an angle.

To illustrate this better, here's how I started one email for a client a few weeks ago:

Hey %FIRSTNAME%,

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but...

The easy old dropshipping recipe is dead -- thanks to the wealthiest and baldest Jeff in the world.

Screw you Jeff! [...]

Then I proceeded to 'insult' Jeff Bezos and talked about how it's hard to succeed in dropshipping with Amazon offering 1-day delivery. Finally, I offered a solution to dropshippers who wanted faster shipping.

Do you now understand what I mean by fun stories, examples & angles? Good.

However, going too off topic is as much of a problem as writing too boring. When I was a complete beginner, I screwed up an entire project with a client because I was writing too wacky.

He didn't explain well what he needed and I, in the fear of looking incompetent, didn't ask enough questions to actually understand him. Anyway, he wanted a story-based approach, which led me to write about wars, Lebron James and God knows what else -- totally unrelated to the service he was offering.

In conclusion: When in doubt, always try to write in a fun instead of a boring way.

Talk about them

The harsh truth it: Nobody cares about you -- okay, maybe your mom. But in general, people care about themselves. And this is even more true when you want to sell them something.

Nobody cares how many decades you've been in business. Nobody cares what awards you've won. They care about what you can do for them.

So when you're sending a cold email for example, don't write your entire biography, because nobody cares.

Instead, say something like, "Hey John, I noticed you have this problem. Here's how I can solve it for you. Call me if you're interested."

Noticed what I did with this email? I didn't say, "here's what I know about copywriting". I asked, "do you have this disease?"

AIDA formula

This is the holy grail for beginners, and it stands for: Attention, Interest, Desire, Action. One of my mentors, Neville Medhora (his emails fueled the rapid growth of AppSumo), swears he became a much better copywriter when he started using this formula.

Attention: Grab the reader's attention (DUH!).

Interest: Talk about interesting facts, stats, uses of the product.

Desire: Make them desire the product. Talk about what it can do for them. How it makes their life better or easier.

Action: Tell them what to do. Reply to the email, call, buy, register for an event -- whatever it is.

If it's hard for you to distinguish between interest and desire, don't worry. Many people don't understand the difference. Even I didn't understand it until a couple weeks ago 😄

Bonus: How to write titles

One subscriber asked about writing titles (yes, I mean you AJ), so let's briefly cover that too. And I mean any kind of title -- subject line, headline, whatever.

First off, it's important to note that you must not use clickbait titles. It may work in the short term, but people will stop trusting you if you keep doing it.

Second, whatever you do, no single type of headline will work if you keep using it over and over again. For example, if you use "how to" every time, people will get used to it and stop paying attention.

So there is no magic headline formula that will work every time. But there are lenses for viewing you headlines through.

The lenses are Competitive, Benefit-Driven & Inspirational. You can remember this as the CBI method (another thing I picked up from Neville).

Here's how it works. Come up with a headline (or multiple headlines) and take it through the 3 lenses.

Email marketing software example:

• Dull headline --> The best email marketing solution for small businesses
• Competitive --> Here's how to have the best-converting emails in your industry
• Benefit-driven --> Reduce your email marketing costs by 50%
• Inspirational --> Set up your entire email marketing in 30 minutes -- no coding needed

However, when it comes to SEO titles, you'll want to take another thing into consideration: Is anyone even searching this?

Do some research on Google Trends or other SEO tools and find the popular keywords for your topic. Maybe you'll find out that 'autoresponder' has a much higher search volume than 'email marketing' -- you never know.

* * *

So that was a quick introduction to writing good copy. Anything I missed? Let me know -- I may even do part 2!

Anyway, I wish you luck with avoiding sitting-down-at-the-computer-itis, hope you don't get infected.

See you around,

Filip

P. S. Can you take 30 seconds to help me with something? I am still trying to figure out whether you like long or short emails better. Hit 'reply' and let me know!