Table Of Contents
Introduction
Mindset Shifts
You Don’t Matter
Well, Actually, You Do
Study Persuasion
Study People
Find The Intersection Of Passion & Profit
Before You Write
Write To One Person (The Former You?)
Find Your Most Productive Times
Research Heavily
Find Content Ideas That Stick
Never Let An Idea Go To Waste
Use Writing Prompts
Read More
Create Processes
Outline
When You’re Writing
Make Them Feel Something
Lead Your Reader
Write How You Talk
Tell Stories
Write With 5th Grade Words
Be Direct
Be a Little Different
Make a Big Claim
Then Back It Up
Learn The Rules
Break The Rules
Impress & Connect
Tell The Truth
Show Personality
Write Fast, Edit Slow
Write For Your Goal
Use The 6 Pillars Of Persuasion
Use The Life Force 8
Consider The 9 Secondary Wants
Learn The Core Copywriting Formulas
Study My Sales Page Formula
Write For Your Medium
Be Deliberate With Your Pacing
Make It All Fit Together
Finish Strong
How To Start & Progress
Dream Big
Start Small
Choose The Right Platforms
Publish Regularly
Judge Yourself On Effort
Then Judge Yourself On Results
Forgive Yourself For Being Bad
But Be Your Harshest Critic
Listen To Your Audience
Be Patient
Never Give Up
Introduction
Near the end of high school, I had an idea. Maybe it wasn’t original, but it was
original to me. I decided that the American Dream had changed from “work hard
and get what you deserve” to “think of a million-dollar idea and cash out”.
This isn’t terribly insightful. It probably isn’t even true. The point is that when I
had this idea, I couldn’t get it out of my head. So, I sat down at my computer and
wrote an essay on it. Everyone has ideas, but most just forget those ideas and
move on with their day. For whatever reason, I was different.
When I finished, I printed it out and showed it to my mom. She asked me what
class it was for. I told her it wasn’t for any class and that I just wanted to write it.
Later, I showed it to a friend. He asked me what class it was for. I told him the
same thing that I told my mom. Both of them gave me funny looks.
When I was a child, I was a voracious reader. The Harry Potter books were my
favorite. They would come out, and often, I’d be finished with all 300-800 pages
within 24 hours. I also loved the Redwall series, which was a collection of books
about rabbits, squirrels, and badgers fighting rats in epic, medieval-style wars.
I chose video games and partying over reading in my teenage years, but once I got
to college, I fell in love with literature again. The book that brought me back was
The Rules of Attraction by Bret Easton Ellis. Unlike the books I read in my youth,
the story was told in a less conventional way. Ellis used first-person point of view,
multiple narrators, and a stream-of-consciousness style. I loved it.
After cruising through Ellis’s library and many others, I got the idea that I
eventually wanted to be a professional writer. I thought it would be fantastic to
sell books and make a nice living doing it. I wrote short stories, exchanged them
with a friend every month or so, and fell in love with this form of art.
My desire to write stayed at the back of my mind for years. I wrote for fun and
therapy, but never for public consumption. I wasn’t good enough, I didn’t have a
publisher, and I didn’t know where to start. I decided it would just be a hobby, that
I would work a regular job, and that maybe, one day, I’d write a truly great novel
that would break into the mainstream.
Six years later, I found myself dead broke. I was trying to build an eCommerce
brand on the fly. I had no income, just a little bit of cash in the bank, and only a
couple of months before I was completely screwed. Finally, I decided it was time
to get a job, get in control of my finances, and try entrepreneurship again a few
years later.
As I was doing so, a friend suggested that I tutor English students. I helped edit all
his essays (he was still in school), and he thought that I might be able to do the
same for other students. While exploring this option, I discovered the world of
freelance writing. Businesses were paying anywhere from $10 to $200 per hour
for good writers. They needed blog posts, sales copy, email marketing, and
everything in between. It became clear to me that this was my path to freedom.
Within a few months, I was a professional writer. It wasn’t exactly how I had
envisioned it, but I was putting words on the page, and people were paying me for
it. I was halfway to achieving my old, dormant dream. I was also getting better
every day by pumping out hundreds or thousands of words.
My first major freelancing gig was pretty awful. It was writing blog posts for a St.
Louis-based SEO company who served local businesses. Every week, I’d create
content about car accidents for a personal injury lawyer, HVAC issues for an HVAC
company, and a few others. I was writing for about four hours per day, getting paid
three cents per word, and pulling in roughly $600 per week.
That might sound okay, but I was miserable. It wasn’t very much money, and the
work was incredibly draining. I explained the same concepts hundreds of times,
wrote thousands of words a day, and relied on a single client who was a bit
demanding. Eventually, I asked for a raise. My client sent me this message back…
“Hi Charles. Your rate of three cents per word is the highest of any writer I work
with. Most of them get two cents per word. If you want to make more money, I
suggest you go down to two cents. Then, I can give you more assignments instead
of the low amount you get now.”
I knew I couldn’t keep working that way, so I changed my approach entirely.
Instead of taking any job, I only took email marketing jobs. Instead of accepting
meager pay, I raised my rates, then did it again, and then again. Within six months,
I had gone from miserable blog post writer to well-paid copywriter. I was much
happier.
About halfway through 2019, I decided it was time to start writing for myself, not
just my clients. I had been browsing and analyzing an entrepreneurial community
on Twitter for a couple of months, and I knew that I could be as good or better
than the major players in it.
I started by tweeting a bit and interacting with larger accounts. It was slow at first,
but I soon figured out how to get people’s attention, especially those larger
accounts. I curated their content, DMed them, and tweeted out little nuggets of
wisdom in the domains of freelancing, writing, sales, and mindset.
After about six months of this, my growth hit a ramp. My skills were developed,
my content was good, and my platform was large enough to spread it. I’m writing
to you now, about a year after that ramp, and things are going better than ever.
Not only am I attracting significant attention, but I’m making great money doing it.
That money largely comes from two products and one service. The service is social
media management/consulting, one product teaches freelancing, and the other
product teaches Twitter marketing, with a heavy emphasis on writing. People have
liked the second product best, and they’ve even told me that they successfully
apply its principles to emails, websites, blog posts and more (not just Twitter).
Best of all, many of them have increased their earnings considerably. This comes
with a crucial lesson. It’s that writing may be the single most important skill for
making good money online, perhaps second only to sales. If you’re into
entrepreneurship, you can sell writing, sell with writing, or build an audience.
Even if you’re not, it will give you some serious benefits. How you write is how you
think. Getting better at it means thinking more clearly, persuading better, and
having a more balanced mental makeup.
Writing will also help just about any professional on Earth. Sending work emails is
writing, putting together reports is writing, and everything on a page or computer
screen is writing. The persuasion principles that you learn from writing carry over
to your speaking and communication skills too, meaning the information in this
book might even help you ask for a raise or collaborate better in teams.
What I’ve come to realize from talking to people online is that almost everybody
wants to write better. They understand the benefits, but they can’t quite put it all
together. Above all, they don’t know where to start. This is something I’m very
familiar with, as I was an amateur once, became somewhat of an expert, and my
life completely changed because of it.
The reason I’m writing this book for you now is that, despite loving writing,
despite being pretty damn good at, and despite market demand, I’ve never put
out a product that explains, generally, how to write better. Now I have.
I hope you love it.
Mindset Shifts
Writing isn’t all about the words on the page. In fact, you may never reach your
writing goals unless you learn and adopt some foundational mental models. The
following are the five most important of them.
Rule #1: You Don’t Matter
I recently had a conversation with someone who wants to be a writer. Within a
few minutes of chatting, I realized that she had a fatal flaw that would hold her
back, no matter how much she practiced. This flaw was shown to me by the
following phrase…
“I’m gonna write what I want to write, and if people don’t like it, they can f*ck off.”
A marketer would never say something like this, but she fancies herself an artist.
Perhaps she’s read too many biographies of famously stubborn and scathing
authors, perhaps she has a bit of an ego problem, or perhaps both. Regardless,
this mindset is absolutely toxic.
Writing is not a “single player game”, unless you make it one. If you want to, that’s
fine. Go get a notebook or a piece of software that mimics one, write exactly what
you want, and then don’t show it to anyone. Writing can be a form of therapy and
expression. There’s nothing wrong with that.
Of course, almost everybody who writes wants their work to be seen. Whether it’s
fiction, non-fiction, or simple text like work emails, they write to communicate
with others. In this situation, you are the performer and your reader is the
audience. You must perform for your audience, not antagonize them.
Imagine you go to a concert. It’s your favorite band. You want to hear their hits,
but instead of pleasing the crowd, they play only their least popular work. This
isn’t just a hypothetical. Bands really do this. Those bands don’t reach their full
potential because they aren’t serving their audience.
So, make sure you write for your readers. Yes, self-expression matters. Yes,
sometimes you want to push your readers outside of their comfort zone. No, you
don’t want to shamelessly pander to them by telling them every little thing they
want to hear. Still, you are there to serve, not to be served. To give, not take.
With this book, I’m not teaching you how to write like me, nor am I just giving a
lecture on what I care about most. Instead, I’m trying to give you the most value
possible. You want you to learn to write better. I’m here to help, not stroke my ego
by spending 50 pages telling you my life story.
When I write on social media (mostly on Twitter), I essentially just write out my
thoughts. That said, I don’t write all of my thoughts exactly as they come out. I
don’t write about my friends, the date I went on last Saturday, or my half-baked
political ideas. I don’t write about the poor experience I had at a local Chinese
restaurant. I don’t write about the sports game I’m watching. Nobody wants to
read that, so I don’t publish it
I described writing as a performance a few paragraphs ago, but in many ways, it’s
more of a dance. The writer takes the lead. The reader is their partner. A lead
doesn’t do whatever he wants, letting his partner trip and fall. Instead, he
gracefully takes that person through a piece of performative art.
This is the approach you should take to writing. Always think about how your
reader will feel with each word. For a work email, you want to be as clear as
possible. In a novel, emotionally moving. When writing advertisements, direct and
focused on persuasion.
Make sure you give your readers what they want. If that approach rubs you the
wrong way, go buy a diary so you can write for yourself in peace.
Rule #2: Well, Actually, You Do
Life is full of paradoxes. While your readers and what they’re feeling matter most,
you are the engine that delivers those feelings. Ideas have to come from
somewhere. They must be collected from the universe, compiled, and then
expressed through your words.
You don’t want to go to a concert and just hear music blaring out of big speakers.
You want performance. You want a person on the guitar, a person singing the
words, or at least a DJ mixing the songs up, reading the crowd, and choosing the
perfect vibe for the moment.
If every creator was the same, all content would be the same. Your writing is (or
will be) unique because you have a personal flare and style. You have experiences
that nobody else has. You have perspectives that few others can see. Your power
comes from being you.
The other side of this is noting how boring and generally unsuccessful copycats
are. You see this a lot in the content game, as the biggest names are endlessly
copied by thousands of smaller creators who will never see real success. You also
see it in advertising, where businesses will 100% copy another company’s strategy,
and again, the results are generally pretty bad.
This is a bit of a tangent, but I think we’re at a good spot for it. Let’s discuss how
you can walk the line between using established strategies and still being original.
If you try to build something brand new, your audience might not know that they
want it, and you’ll have to spend tons of money on educating them. If you create
something that isn’t new at all, your audience has no incentive to buy into your
brand instead of one that already exists. The sweet spot for 99% of writers and
entrepreneurs is finding something that works, then putting a unique spin on it,
either with the product itself or how they market the product.
Here are some examples…
1. G Fuel - There are thousands of energy drinks out there. Most of the big
names (like Red Bull) market themselves to the general population. G Fuel
took this established product, then built an entire brand identity and
marketing strategy around the gaming industry. This helped them grow
quickly in a crowded space.
2. Manscaped - Body trimmers have been around for a long time. Manscaped
changed the game by making their trimming product “skin safe” (so men
didn’t have to worry about cutting their private areas) and marketing their
products with amusing and eye-catching campaigns. These two factors have
made their brand explode in the past few years.
The purpose of this tangent is showing you how to find the balance between
borrowing what works while also being original. Find an established product,
service, or style, then put your personal spin on it.
Alright, let’s get back on topic. Though writing is for the audience, you are a
crucial piece too. Like doing a dance, there is a lead and a partner. You’re there to
entertain that partner, but at the same time, you want to entertain yourself and
show off your uniqueness.
People often talk about how much competition there is in the game of online
attention. This is true, but you can rise above the pack by being yourself. All it
takes is combining legitimate skills with you or your brand’s unique identity.
Perhaps an even better way to put it is that your skill and personality will attract
the right audience or clientele for you. Rising above everyone else is what massive
businesses like Amazon, Facebook, and Google are trying to do. What matters
most for your small business is differentiating it from the pack and finding your
tribe. Leveraging your personality does that.
Rule #3: Study Persuasion
In school, many of my classmates hated persuasive essays. I didn’t particularly like
them, but I saw their value. A persuasive essay is essentially an argument. Every
negotiation you have in life is an argument that you want to win. This makes
persuasion one of the most useful topics you can study.
Those negotiations happen every day. You want your child to do their homework,
your romantic partner to do the dishes, and your employer to give you a more
favorable schedule. Learning persuasion means getting what you want. At a base
level, it means being able to change how someone thinks.
No matter what kind of writing you do, it has to be persuasive. Novelists need
people to emotionally invest in their characters and perhaps agree with their
thesis. Content writers need their words to resonate on a deep level. Copywriters
need to convince people to buy.
All of this is persuasion, and if you learn it, the only other hurdles to getting what
you want are some relatively simple writing and marketing strategies. Persuasion
is the foundation that everything else is built on. If you become competent at it,
you will be far ahead of your peers.
The best way to do so, at least at the beginning, is studying. This book will help. I
also recommend reading books on advertising and psychology. Influence by Robert
Cialdini, Ca$hvertising by Drew Eric, and How To Win Friends & Influence People
are great places to start. Basically every book you’ll find when you plug “best
books on persuasion” into a search engine will help a lot too.
If you’re more of a visual learner, do a quick YouTube search. Many creators on
that platform do a very good job with the basics of this domain. For now, let’s go
through Aristotle's method for forming an argument…
● Appeal to your audience and make them emotionally invest
● Present the case/issue/thesis
● Argue for or against the case
● Summarize and conclude the argument
There are hundreds of lists like this one that explain it a bit differently, but the
core process is always the same. First, you identify some sort of problem and
convince your audience that they should care about it. Next, you propose a
concise version of your solution. Then, you prove your solution with logic,
evidence, and emotion. These are heavily related to the three appeals, which is
another foundational persuasion topic.
Let’s go through them…
1. Logos - Appeals to the logical reasoning of your reader. For example, if
you’re a personal trainer who’s selling a bodybuilding product, you might
explain the science of why it works.
2. Ethos - This appeal makes you, the writer, someone who is credible and
worth listening to. For that same example, you might highlight your
certifications and years of training experience in your sales pitch.
3. Pathos - Lastly, we have the appeal to emotion, which is likely the strongest
one of all. Running with the same example, you might talk about how
painful it is to not be healthy, how pleasurable it is to have the body you
want, and how much it will mean for the future of your reader’s family.
Persuasion is a deep and ancient topic, so I can’t cover it all in just a few pages.
Still, this short explanation should help, and your further research will help even
more. Once you start to get familiar with the subject, your perspective on the
world will change forever. That’s not an exaggeration. Everybody uses persuasion
and gets used by it. Some mostly use it to get what they want, while others mostly
get manipulated. When you master it, you will transform.
Rule #4: Study People
Books are great, but the richest source of information is life itself. People are
getting persuaded and emotionally moved every day. When you open your eyes,
you see it everywhere. The guy outside a bar trying to get a woman’s phone
number, the woman on the bus deeply engrossed in a newspaper, etc.
Watch how they act, then ask yourself why they did so. Maybe the best place to
see this is politics, where the persuasion is often extremely blunt and the people
extremely emotional. Listen to someone talk politics, but don’t argue against
them. Look for why they are so passionate.
The first thing this will do is change your perspective. The majority of people live
in the world, mostly focused on themselves and mostly blind to all the
psychological battles being fought around them. When you start to watch people
with a critical eye, you gain a higher-level view of reality.
The second thing this will do is educate you on persuasion. What you’ll find is that
certain things bore people, certain things amuse them, and other things make
them intensely passionate. Analyze each of these things, try to find patterns
between them, and start to understand people’s deepest desires.
The last thing this will do is make you more intellectually humble. That’s a good
thing no matter what, as it will help you get along with people better, but it’s also
good for writing. To write the best possible copy or content, you need to get inside
someone’s head and become them. Controlling your ego will help with that.
Now, for some quick tips on reading and studying people…
1. Try To Be Objective - Once you start studying persuasion and psychology,
you’ll realize that nobody is truly objective. Still, you can be more objective
than most by simply making an effort to do so. Take a breath. Watch
yourself for biases. Try to put those biases aside and assess situations like
an unemotional third party.
2. Note Appearances - Appearances are extremely important in persuasion.
Pay attention to posture and clothing, especially in advertisements, movies,
and television. What do the villains wear and look like? What about the
heroes? What can this tell you about persuasion?
3. Have Conversations - If you want to learn persuasion, don’t shy away from
having conversations with people. Also, when you interact with them, try to
be the one listening more than speaking. The best way to do this is simply
asking questions and being truly interested in the answer. This will give you
a ton of insight on how people think about a variety of topics. The bonus is
that people will like you more, as you’ll be significantly more charismatic
than those who just wait for their turn to talk.
4. Put Yourself In Their Shoes - Doing this will make you more empathetic,
knowledgeable, and eventually, persuasive. Copywriting is a great example.
If you ever want to sell a product to someone who isn’t exactly like you, you
have to understand their deepest fears and desires. That means putting
yourself in their shoes and understanding mindsets that you don’t hold.
5. Pay Attention To Advertising & Politics - If you want to understand
basketball, you watch the NBA. That’s where the highest level of play is, so
that’s where you have the most to learn. If you want to understand
persuasion, you should pay attention to advertising and politics. These are
the two domains where persuasion is most obvious. If you can be
somewhat objective in assessing them, you’ll learn a lot.
When you’re a writer, there are no useless or boring people in the world. Every
one of them has a story to tell and a lesson to teach you. Watch them closely, see
what makes them angry, happy, and sad. This masterclass on persuasion is free,
and I suggest you take it.
Rule #5: Find The Intersection Of Passion & Profit
One of the smartest things my dad ever told me was that following your passion is
probably a bad idea. The better strategy is finding the intersection of passion and
profit, or perhaps more accurately, the intersection of interest and profit. Interest
keeps you, well, interested. Profit gets you paid. Combine them, and you have a
project that can hold your attention and pay your bills.
This is what you have to do as a writer. If you hate what you’re writing, you’ll
never be satisfied. If you love what you’re writing but never make a dime from it,
there’s a good chance you won’t be happy either. Finding the balance doesn’t
quite give you the best of both worlds, but it gets you close enough.
As we discussed in the introduction, I wrote as a hobbyist for years. It was fun, but
I wanted to get paid. When I first became a professional, I was making money, but
it was tedious work. Writing hundreds of blog posts about personal injuries was
very far from what I was passionate about.
I got closer to the intersection of passion and profit when I pivoted to sales copy.
Studying customers is fun. Coming up with angles is too. Convincing people to buy
things is like solving a puzzle. This held my interest and put a lot more money in
my pocket, but I still found myself wanting more.
Finally, I added writing for myself to the mix. I built a following on social media,
created a few products, sold them thousands of times, and made many thousands
of dollars. I find this roughly as enjoyable as writing short stories and novels,
which is perhaps what I love the most. Even better, there is massive market
demand, which gives me a sizable income that grows every year. If I stubbornly
stayed with fiction, I would likely be struggling financially or working a 9-5 job that
I don’t like. Instead, I write content that pays the bills and is enjoyable to create.
That’s the perfect mix of passion and profit.
Before You Write
Okay, now you have the crucial mindsets down, but it’s not time to write quite yet.
Staring at an empty page can be scary, and for inexperienced writers, creating
momentum can be nearly impossible. The following eight rules should help.
Rule #6: Write To One Person (The Former You?)
One of the first things you learn in marketing is that you shouldn’t try to sell to
everybody. In fact, an exercise that’s always recommended before starting a
business is coming up with a handful of “ideal buyers” (also called “buyer
personas”), or even only one. You should do the same with your writing.
Some quick examples before we get into it. I used to sell copywriting services to
just about anyone who would hire me. I would also write anything they wanted,
including emails, websites, Facebook ads, and more. While I did okay, my results
exploded when I zeroed in on one ideal customer.
That ended up being mid-sized nutritional supplement brands that needed help
with email marketing. Their products and market were perfect for sending an
email or two every week, I knew the niche well because I was passionate about
fitness, and I was able to tailor my pitch to exactly what my ideal clients wanted.
Another example is Etihad, a luxury airline. They don’t try to sell their plane tickets
to the whole world, and they definitely don’t appeal to bargain buyers. Instead,
they market themselves to wealthy people who want to fly in style. One customer,
one message.
As a writer, this is a useful and powerful philosophy. It doesn’t matter if you’re
creating content or writing sales copy. Think about who you want to appeal to.
Maybe that’s a few different people, but ultimately, you should never try to
appeal to everyone. If you do, you’ll end up appealing to almost none of them.
That one person could be anyone, but if you’re in the content game, and perhaps
other games too, why not make it yourself? You can also think of this as “writing
to the former/younger you”. You know your struggle and transformation better
than anyone else, so you’ve basically already done the research.
This is the approach I’ve taken with all of my content. I was an unsuccessful
freelancer, became a successful one, and then created a product to help other
people do the same. I also started off as an unsuccessful content creator, became
a successful one, and then created another product to help people do the same.
Both of those products, and the content I create on social media, are basically
“what I wish I had when I started”. I’m writing to thousands of people, but in a
way, I’m actually writing to the younger/former me. I’m writing to everyone who’s
struggling like I used to, and I’m helping them move forward faster.
Now, this doesn’t always apply, especially for copywriters. The power of a great
copywriter (that’s not me, by the way, as I’m a few levels below the true elite
talents) is understanding their customers from top to bottom and speaking to
them as if they could read minds.
If you want to do direct response marketing or write for a niche you don’t know
perfectly, you can recreate this effect with deep research and skill. You’re still
writing to one person, or maybe a couple, but that this person isn’t you. Instead,
it’s your ideal customer.
Narrow your focus. Don’t write for everyone, or even an entire niche. Instead,
choose a buyer persona and go all in on appealing to it. Tailor your marketing and
perhaps the product itself to just one audience, and when appropriate, make that
audience the former/younger you.
Rule #7: Find Your Most Productive Times
Writing is difficult, even for the most seasoned and skilled professionals. As a
result, you have to do it when you’re most productive. This will get you to your
highest potential. Anything else will hold you back. So, ask yourself, when do you
do your absolute best work?
For me, that’s in the morning. I usually wake up around 6:30 AM, go outside,
stretch, get a bit of sun on my face, make some tea, and then sit down to write.
My mind is clear, my energy is high, and the words flow. I occasionally write later
in the day too, but it’s never quite as good.
You’ll have to find this optimal time for yourself. Maybe you prefer the morning,
like me. Maybe you prefer the extremely early morning, when the whole world is
quiet. Maybe you prefer the afternoon when you’re feeling more awake. Maybe
you prefer night. It doesn’t matter when. Just find it.
One complication you could run into is scheduling. If you have a job or go to
school, you might be there and busy for your best hours. That’s okay. For now, just
look at your available hours, then find the best of them. If you don’t know which
are best, experiment until you do.
Next, you have to guard this time like it’s worth a million dollars. Whether it’s
copy, content, or anything else, fantastic writing is gold. The same goes for your
energy, which so many people carelessly discard. Don’t fall into this trap. Find your
time, then don’t give it away. It’s yours. Keep it.
Finally, you have to sit down and actually write. Even if you clear the perfect time
in your schedule, you’ll probably have a little voice in your head telling you to
waste that time by doing other things. Say no to it. Productivity tools like Freedom
App can help. Putting your phone in another room can too.
Rule #8: Research Heavily
Think back to rule #6, where we discussed writing to just one person, or perhaps a
few. The idea there was that you want to think smaller and appeal to a specific
persona’s greatest pains and desires. I also suggested maybe writing to “the
former you” rather than a customer you don’t fully understand.
One reason for that suggestion is research. When writing to a version of yourself,
you don’t need to research much. I still study my customers (people who want to
write better and make money online), but I almost don’t have to. That person is
me, and many of my customers are previous versions of me.
If you’re not writing to the former you, research becomes extremely important.
This was the case when I used to write sales copy for clients. One day, I was
writing to insecure men who wanted to have a more muscular physique. The next,
I was writing to pregnant women about why they should have a doula.
For the skinny guys, I agitated the pain of their current physical state with a
slightly abrasive tone. For the pregnant women, I used a much softer tone. Writing
the same way to both audiences would have been a disaster. I was able to
differentiate because I did my research. More importantly, I was able to make
both sales pitches extremely effective because I knew who my reader was, what
they were feeling, what they were afraid of, and what they wanted most. After
getting there, the rest was somewhat easy.
The big point is that you should never try to randomly guess what your reader
wants. This is a fool’s game, and it’s one that will take a lot of time, as you’ll have
to keep testing angles and styles before getting it right. You will have to test a ton
anyway, but good research will cut it in half, which will save you hours of your time
and potentially thousands of your dollars. It will also help you level up quicker, as
you can skip some of the trial and error.
There are a variety of ways to research your audience. The simplest of them is
talking to people. You can do this by getting on the phone with someone in your
target audience, whether you find them in real life or on the internet. A recent
example from my career was when I launched my latest freelancing offer. My new
audience was technology companies. Rather than guessing what they wanted, I
reached out to some entrepreneurs in that niche to ask questions. The deal was
that they would answer a few of my questions, and in return, they could ask me a
few questions about my expertise. Conversations like these will reveal things you
could never find on your own.
You can also do research online. YouTube comments, forums like Reddit, any social
media platform, and Amazon reviews are great places to start. This is where you
find unfiltered feedback from people who never have to know you’re watching.
If I were starting a coffee brand, I would go on Amazon, search “coffee”, open
every listing on the front page, scroll down to the reviews, and start reading. First,
I would look at the positive ones and see what they liked most. Next, I would look
at the negative reviews and see what they liked least. From there, I could adjust
my product and marketing to make the best possible coffee brand.
That’s a solid example for sales copy. When writing informational content, like a
blog post, you’ll go through a similar process. Every piece of writing has a thesis.
When selling, that thesis is “you should buy this product because X, Y, and Z”.
When informing, your thesis will be much more subtle. It’ll be something like,
“why you should care about X and Y methods for making it happen”. Research
helps you create and support your thesis.
You can visualize that as a blog post on a website that educates you about SEO.
The post would start by noting how expensive paid advertising is. Then, it would
present SEO as a solution. Finally, it would explain a few methods for getting
better SEO, and each of those methods would be extremely well researched.
Rule #9: Find Content Ideas That Stick
Now, let’s talk about content ideas. This is a huge problem for many people, as
their minds are not yet adjusted to becoming content machines. Luckily, you can
use a variety of methods to gain momentum. The first is similar to our “writing to
the younger you” concept. It’s looking into the past by asking…
● What did you once struggle with?
● Do you have a personal story that might resonate?
● Which problems did you run into over and over again?
● Which problems did you run into just a couple of times?
● Are there any books, podcasts, or videos that changed your life?
All of these are sources of content ideas. Let’s take my online writing and
marketing journey as an example…
● I used to struggle with writing
● I used to struggle with generating attention online
● I have a variety of personal stories that resonate with my readers
● My readers struggle with the same things I once did, along with a few
problems that I didn’t have trouble with
● I have about 5 books that really moved the needle for me, plus a variety of
podcasts and other types of content that did the same
Rather than try to pull ideas out of thin air, I go into the past, into my customers
minds, and into foundational pieces of content to find inspiration. If you’re not
writing to “the former you”, your process changes a bit. Instead of answering
those questions yourself, you answer them for your reader.
Here they are rewritten to illustrate this…
● What did your reader once struggle with?
● Can you find a case study that might resonate?
● Which problems do your readers very often run into?
● Which problems do your readers run into here and there?
● Are there any companies like yours that you can study and emulate?
And here’s that second list rewritten for a hypothetical weight loss brand…
● What about weight management is most painful for your customers?
● Do you have a case study of someone using your product successfully?
● Which weight-control issues do your customers have the most trouble with?
● Which issues do they have less trouble with but are still worth exploring?
● How do your competitors market similar products?
This isn’t just a theoretical idea. You can, and probably should, put all of this on
paper or in a text document. First, define your reader. Who are they? What do
they want? What is keeping them from getting it? Then, define your brand. Who
are you? What have you achieved? Which problems did you overcome?
You can then write out a long list of hot topics to keep touching on with your
content and marketing. Every one of these will have multiple dimensions to them,
and you can explain them in a thousand different ways. If you’re ever “out” of
material or ideas, refer back to this list.
With that said, my favorite way to generate content is simply living. When I write, I
do so mostly about money, mindset, and writing. I almost never run out of ideas
because these are the things I do every day and the things my mind is often on.
For example, I might do the following throughout one day…
● Write a message to my email list
● Write some content for social media
● Have a sales call with a potential client
● Have a consulting call with a current client
● Go to the gym, come home, and cook a good meal
● See a few friends and listen to various struggles they’re going through
This is what “living the content you create” looks like. As that day goes on, I’m
learning lessons, remembering old lessons learned, discovering new angles for my
hot topics, and collecting personal stories for them too.
I like to make little notes of the thoughts I’m having throughout the day. Maybe I
send a writing tip to my email list, then convert that into a tweet. Maybe I hit
some resistance on a sales call, so I mark it down as a topic to write about. Maybe
I listen to a friend at dinner talking about a problem he has, so I make a mental
note for later (not to write about him specifically, but a general mindset principle).
In a sentence, if you have a personal brand, you want to live the content you
create. Study yourself, your experiences, and your surroundings, then write about
it. Do this long enough, and you’ll be an idea-generation machine.
“Swipe files” can be extremely useful for writers. They are collections of writing
that you keep for inspiration. That writing can be quotes, landing pages,
advertisements, social media posts, or any other piece of text that you’d like to
refer back to later. You can store them anywhere that you store files. I like to also
include a list of pain points, topics, and advertising angles in mine. I recommend
you look this term (swipe file) up on your favorite search engine to learn more, as
this is a crucial topic that many people don’t know about.
Here’s a rough example for our hypothetical weight-loss supplement brand…
● Pain Points
○ Physical pain
○ Being insecure
○ Having low energy
○ Experiencing early death
○ Trying and failing in the past
○ Generally feeling bad/depressed
○ Being skeptical about supplement solutions
○ Having had a bad experience with another supplement in the past
● Topics For Content Creation
○ Nutrition
○ Cardio
○ Weightlifting
○ Discipline
○ Mindset
○ Routines
○ Time management
○ Customer success stories
○ The science behind our supplements
○ Discussion of the ingredients we use
○ Which eating philosophies work best
● Copywriting Angles
○ Celebrity/influencer endorsement
○ An ingredient that our competitors don’t use
○ Natural solution that Big Pharma doesn’t want you to know about
○ Scientific proof of effectiveness
○ Why our customer service is 10x better than anybody else’s
That’s an abbreviated list that I wrote off the top of my head. If I was creating one
for real, it would be longer and much more deeply researched. The point is that
unless you can effortlessly come up with ideas, putting all of this down on paper is
a smart strategy. Even if you are an “idea machine”, you should still probably do it.
There’s no harm in having a document ready to help you generate ideas and,
maybe someday, train a writer that you hire.
Above all else, the one thing that really moves the needle is writing about topics
that stick. When I say “stick”, I mean sticking in the mind of your reader. There has
to be an emotional response to the topic. Maybe it’s pleasure, like an inspiring
story. Maybe it’s pain, like an agitation of their top pain point. The only thing it
can’t be is boredom.
Intuition and research can help with finding what sticks, but the best method is
gauging the engagement of your readers. This is one of my favorite things about
social media. Rather than constantly trying to guess what works and what doesn’t,
I can make a few guesses, see what people respond to, then do more of that.
For example, I’ve created some content about politics before, and in general,
people don’t respond well to it. As a result, I only touch on that topic when I have
something really good that I’m almost 100% sure will resonate. In the majority of
cases, I stick to the topics that my audience likes the most.
My final note is that if you’re not writing about your personal experiences, you’ll
have to completely rely on research. This would be the case for someone who
works in eCommerce selling a product they don’t need. Still, you can pretend like
you are your ideal buyer, then get ideas from that mindset.
To summarize…
● Understand your reader completely
● Make a list of all their problems and desires
● Appeal to those problems and desires with your content
● If you’re writing to “the former you”, look into the past for ideas
● Try different topics and angles, use feedback from readers to see what
works, then double down on it
● If you’re writing about a topic you’re passionate about, live that passion,
pay attention to your experiences, and generate ideas from them
Rule #10: Never Let An Idea Go To Waste
Though the strategies I outlined above are great, some of your best ideas will
come out of nowhere. Two factors contribute to this. First, you might be a
“naturally creative” person who comes up with ideas all the time. Second, content
creation is a muscle. The more you work it, the stronger it becomes, and the more
ideas you’ll have when you least expect them.
Another thing you should know is the conditions that help with creativity. In
general, ideas flow best when you’re doing something that takes very little focus.
This creates a meditative state where you’re just engaged enough to have your
mind churning, but you’re not so engaged that you can’t focus on anything else.
Common examples include…
● Driving
● Walking
● Cooking
● Showering
● Doing dishes
This is all to say that when inspiration strikes, you should never waste it. You need
some way to take notes at almost every moment of every day. Doing so in the
shower is tough, but everywhere else, you can have a phone or notebook on-hand
to write down whatever comes to mind. My favorite tool for this is Evernote
because it syncs to both my phone and my computer.
When you have an idea, you don’t need to perfect it then and there. All you have
to do is describe it well enough to remind you later. That reminder can be a single
sentence or even just a few words. The more experienced you become, the more
this will happen. When it does, take advantage.
Rule #11: Use Writing Prompts
Some of you are truly at the beginning of your journey. That means you likely
don’t have content to create, copy to write, or perhaps even a desire to write
anything for financial gain. This can be paralyzing, and many writers give up
quickly because they don’t know where to start.
If this describes where you are, writing prompts are a great way to get the gears
turning. Think of them as exercises or drills, and think of yourself as an athlete.
Athletes don’t just play their sport. Instead, they also practice, which helps them
when it’s time to perform.
As a beginner, your “writing muscles” are weak. Just like someone who is
physically weak, you have to make those muscles stronger. Responding to prompts
helps you do that. You can find them by simply plugging “writing prompts” into
your favorite search engine.
To give you an idea of what these look like, here are some that I came up with off
the top of my head…
● How do you feel today?
● What are you grateful for today?
● What was the last thing you cried about?
● What is your favorite way to spend a day?
● What is one thing that you desire, and why?
● What are some things that make you feel bad?
● What are some things that make you feel good?
● Which moment in your life will you never forget?
● What is one thing you’d tell your 18 year old self?
● What are your greatest strengths and weaknesses?
● What did you learn from your favorite book of all time?
● What’s something you’ve done that you’re proud of (and why)?
● What was a painful time in your life, and how did you move past it?
● What’s an opinion you have that the majority of people disagree with?
And here are some that relate more to copywriting rather than content…
● Rewrite the slogan of your favorite company
● Rewrite the headline of the last website you bought from
● Write out a fake sales email for the last product you purchased
● Find a sales email you received recently and rewrite the subject line
● Choose a product, then write down what its customers’ top pain points
might be
● Choose a product, write down those top customer pain points, then think of
a few angles for how you would pitch the product/solution
● Take a boring sales pitch and write down five interesting angles that you
could use to sell it
● Search “famous advertisements” on your favorite search engine, then
rewrite one of them with a new angle
● Choose a product, then write down what kind of transformations a
customer might go through while using it
● Choose your favorite season (summer, winter, fall, spring) and write a short
pitch for why it’s better than the others
● Find an especially wordy piece of content (maybe a blog post, website, or
social media post) and rewrite it to be more concise
● If you can’t think of anything, handwrite a piece of copy word for word (I’ve
never used this famous skill-building strategy, but many writers swear by it)
If you want to get into content or journaling, start with personal exploration
prompts. If you want to get into copywriting, start with marketing prompts. No
matter what, get your reps in, and try to do so every day or close to it. Make those
writing muscles stronger.
Rule #12: Read More
This rule is definitely a powerful one, but you have to do it correctly. Reading
doesn’t make you a better writer on its own. Instead, you have to read critically.
That is, reading with the intent of learning, getting content ideas, and “stealing”
little tactics as you go along.
You do this by meta-analyzing the text as you read rather than getting engrossed
in it. For example, imagine you’re visiting a sales page for some product. Rather
than reading it as a customer would, read it as a marketer. Don’t get hooked by
the headline. Instead, ask what the writer is trying to do with it. Don’t get drawn
in by an emotional story. Instead, ask why that story is emotional and how you
might be able to use a similar strategy for yourself.
The same goes for blog posts, tweets, novels, and really anything else. Unless
you’re just trying to unwind, see reading as studying, not as consumption. You and
the author are both writers. Approach their work with a critical eye, as if you were
a colleague, not a part of their audience.
Now, the question is, where do you find work to study? That will depend on what
niche you’re in and what you’re trying to do…
● Marketers - Facebook Ads Library, Swiped.co, social media feeds, sales
pages, landing pages, sales funnels
● Bloggers - Successful blog posts, email popups and forms, software tools
that track SEO rankings
● Twitter Brands - Twitter feeds, tweets that went viral (use the
from:@{username} min_retweets:{number} search function for this)
● Novelists - Great novels, Amazon listings for best-selling books, social media
feeds for successful self-published authors, newsletters from those authors
It’s worth noting that you can also learn a lot from interviewing people. If you’re
running an eCommerce store, you can ask your email subscribers to submit
surveys or even have a phone call with you. If you’re running an ad agency, you
might book some calls just to chat with business owners, not sell to them.
Sometimes, the best way to learn someone’s desires is simply asking them.
This is another opportunity to add to your swipe file, which is something that we
discussed in rule #9. If you’re trying to be a better copywriter, take screenshots of
great sales pages and put them in your file. If you’re trying to grow on Twitter,
screenshot high-performing tweets and add them to that file. If you’re trying to
build an Instagram account, save the best photos you find on there.
Another thing that’ll happen along the way is you getting inspired to create on
your own. When this happens, you should instantly go write your idea down. That
book, blog, or Twitter feed isn’t going anywhere. Stop what you’re doing, go to
wherever you compile your ideas, write your idea down, and get back to reading a
bit later. Your ideas come first, not theirs.
Do this long enough, and you’ll have studied the greatest writers in the world. Not
only that, but you’ll also have a collection of notes, screenshots, and ideas that
help you create copy and content for yourself. Pretty cool, right?
Now, I have to note that plagiarizing people’s work is never a good idea. It’s also
never good to just barely reword their stuff. Not only is it ethically wrong, but it’s
also bad business. You could get into legal trouble, sacrifice your reputation in an
online community, or experience a variety of other negative consequences.
The old saying goes that if you steal from one writer, you’re a thief, but if you steal
from 1000 writers, you’re just doing good research. The latter is what you should
shoot for. Study the best, get inspired by them, maybe add their work to a swipe
file, and then create something of your own.
Rule #13: Create Processes
People like to think that art should happen spontaneously. They salivate over
stories of authors writing an entire novel in a matter of days or getting blackout
drunk and waking up with 10 fantastic chapters written. Unfortunately, nearly
100% of people who think like this will never create any art worth consuming.
The truth is that, outside of a tiny fraction of geniuses, successful artists create
fairly rigid systems and processes for creation. Those systems will be different
from person to person, but basically all of them have one. They designed it,
perfected it, and now use it to create.
Here’s my writing process for tweets…
● Write down rough ideas as I have them
● If I have no ideas, reference my swipe file
● Plug those ideas into my tweet scheduler
● Let them sit for 24 hours
● Edit them for grammar and engagement potential
● Have my scheduling software automatically send them out
And my process for writing this book…
● Wake up around 6:30 AM
● Do some stretching outside
● Make a cup of tea
● Warm my brain up by doing other tasks for an hour
● Choose the rule that is inspiring me most that day
● Write it quickly without worrying about mistakes
● Do it again with another rule
● Stop working on it until tomorrow
● Repeat every day, Monday through Friday
And my process for writing sales copy…
● Do tons of customer research
● Do a moderate amount of competitor research
● Compile a list of customer fears and desires
● Come up with a killer angle
● Spend most of my time on the headline and introduction
● Fill in the rest with details and social proof
● Write a strong conclusion and call to action
● Put it away for 24 hours, then edit
● Repeat the above step 5 times
● Do one last read-through to ensure perfection
I’m not showing you those so you can copy them (though maybe they will work
for you too). Instead, it’s to illustrate that I have a system. I don’t write “when
inspiration strikes” or anything like that. Instead, it’s all systemized. I don’t just
tweet out every thought I have. Instead, I have a process for creation. I don’t start
writing this book with an empty page every day. Instead, I have all 50 rules written
out already, and I attack the two that feel right. I don’t write this book when my
schedule permits. Instead, I change my schedule to make sure I write during my
most energetic and creative hours.
My advice is to build systems that work for you. Maybe that’s creating content one
day in advance at 6:00 AM or 6:00 PM. It could also be creating an entire month’s
worth of content on one long Sunday afternoon. Maybe you write at your desk.
Maybe you write on the couch instead. Maybe you make coffee or tea before you
write. Maybe you just drink water. No matter what, you should have a repeatable
process that triggers your mind, tells it to start creating, and most importantly,
churns out really good writing.
Rule #14: Outline
In the rule above, I explained that writing usually doesn’t happen spontaneously.
Instead, it tends to be the result of scheduling, systems, and habits. This rule is
similar. The idea that you’re going to start a piece of writing, create genius as you
go along, and finish with flourish is silly. Odds are, you won’t.
The solution to this problem is another one that we learned in school, and that’s
outlining. Unless you’re a writing savant, all of the following decisions should be
made before you start...
● What your thesis is
● How you’re going to introduce the thesis
● What your main supporting points are
● The order that you will present your main points in
● How you’re going to strongly conclude your argument
● If you’re going to add some call to action at the end
● What the persuasive goal of each of those sections is
If that reminds you of essays you wrote as a teenager, that’s because every piece
of writing calls for roughly the same process. Sales pages have a thesis that
explains why you should buy the product, Instagram posts have a thesis that
explains why you should engage with them, blog posts have a thesis that explains
why they should command your attention, etc.
If a piece of writing is important, always create a rough outline for it. The
introduction, thesis, body, and conclusion should all be strong and planned out.
That’s what I did for this book, and it’s also what I do for every sales page. You
don’t start a road trip with no directions, and you shouldn’t start writing without
them either. Here are a few examples of very rough outlines…
Sales Page
● Above-headline that conveys scarcity
● Headline with a big claim
● Subheadline that makes a mini argument for the product
● An emotional story that hooks the reader
● The specifics of the offer
● Testimonials and proof of results
● Strong call to action
● Refund guarantee
Tweet
● Interest-creating first line
● Some sort of list
● Final line that ties it together
Minimalistic Landing Page
● Headline that briefly explains your top value proposition
● Subheading that explains it a bit further
● Call to action
● Client/customer testimonials
● Extended explanation of value propositions
● Another call to action
That sales page outline helps me get words on the page. Rather than staring at a
blank document and trying to create magic, I know what each section is designed
to do. The header creates interest, the story creates emotion, the offer explains
how I can solve my reader’s problem, proof gives legitimacy to my solution, the
CTA closes the deal, and the guarantee provides assurance for customers who are
hesitant. Structure makes things 100x easier. Outline, then execute.
When You’re Writing
Now that your mindset is primed and you’ve done all the pre-writing work, it’s
time to put words on the page. The advice you’ll find below applies to just about
any domain of writing, but it’s especially relevant for writing online.
Rule #15: Make Them Feel Something
Unless you’re writing an instruction manual for a piece of furniture, your primary
goal is to make your reader feel something. That can be joy, hope, amusement,
anger, or fear. No matter what, you should have a clear idea of which feelings your
reader is actively looking for and which you want to target.
You can figure out what they want to feel by researching your niche. Tech people
generally want to feel like they’re making a cool, groundbreaking discovery. If you
were writing to them about a startup, you’d paint a picture of how their lives or
the world could change from the work of this company. Political people often
want to feel angry and like their actions could make their country better. If you
were writing to them about a political issue, you’d paint a picture of an unfair
system, but a system that they could perhaps change with enough support.
The second piece is deciding what you want your reader to feel. As we’ve
discussed, writing is a dance between author and audience. If you want your
brand to have authenticity and authority, you shouldn’t write exactly what your
target audience wants all the time. Instead, you should think about what your
overall goal is. For example, you might have a Twitter account with two kinds of
content. The first is short platitudes that resonate. The second kind is longer
threads that show your expertise and deliver real value. You incorporate both to
nurture your readers in the most effective way, and when you’re creating that
content, you write the two types a bit differently to inspire different emotions.
That’s all theory, though. The question we have to ask now is, how do you
generate emotion within a reader? This is a massive topic, but I’ll do my best to
distill it into 10 crucial points…
1. Tell Stories - Most great stories have the same basic structure. You get
introduced to the protagonist, you get introduced to the enemy, the
protagonist overcomes the enemy, and the protagonist comes out the other
side transformed. Children’s movies are perfect examples, as there is usually
little nuance in them. There is the good, the bad, and the battle between
them. Telling stories is an essential piece of creating emotion in your reader.
There are two ways to do this. First, you can tell an actual story about
somebody. For example, if you were selling a skin cream for sufferers of
eczema, you might introduce someone who had this ailment, then talk
about how they overcame it with the help of your product. If you’ve had
eczema, you might even share your journey from struggling to cured. The
second way to tell stories is making your reader the main character. You
describe who they are, what they want, why they’re not getting it, and how
your product or service can help them transform.
2. Be Unique - An old marketing adage is that it’s better to be different than
better. So, rather than try to build or market a product that is superior to
your competitors (which is often impossible), you should instead find a way
to make it unique. Let’s go to skin cream again for an example. If you’re
selling a moisturizer, there’s really no way you can make it better than your
thousands of competitors’. Instead, you would market it differently. Instead
of saying “Start Using Our Organic Skin Cream”, you might say, “Discover
The Secret Ingredient We Use To Treat Eczema Fast”. Uniqueness and
specification will take you farther than “better”.
3. Be Polarizing - The last thing you want is to bore your reader, and one of
the easiest ways to avoid this is writing polarizing opinions. You can see this
in politics, and especially in political media. People with nuanced opinions
barely get any reach. On the other hand, people who take polarizing stances
often rise to prominence quickly. I’ve seen one controversial piece of
content turn into 20,000 followers overnight. While this style isn’t for
everyone, if it appeals to you, you should use it.
4. Hit Pain Points - Again, the last thing you want your reader to feel is
boredom. Another way to avoid this is hitting them where it hurts. “Pain
points” is a marketing term that refers to your customers’ most painful
problems. Using our running example, a sufferer of eczema might be most
unhappy about discomfort and appearance. So, you would hit these points
especially hard in your writing. This creates an emotional response and
draws them in to read more.
5. Use Us Vs Them - You might call this classic copywriting technique a subset
of being polarizing, but it has one distinct difference. That is, it calls for
creating an “us” group and a “them” group. Politics is again the easiest
place to see this. “Us Democrats” vs “them Republicans” really resonates,
and vice versa. It goes beyond politics too: “us vegetarians” vs “them meat
eaters”, “us PC gamers” vs “them console gamers”, etc. No matter which
niche you write for, there is likely an “us” and a “them” that you can use to
evoke emotion in your audience.
6. Show, Don’t Tell - The driest way to explain something is simply telling your
readers the facts. The more interesting way is showing them. For example,
you could tell your readers that a certain weight-loss product reduces
calorie intake and leads to weight loss. Or, instead, you could show them a
before and after photo of someone who successfully used the product. You
can also do this with just words, not visuals. Telling stories is a perfect
example. They show your product, service, or idea in action rather than
dryly explaining value propositions.
7. Do Your Research - Understanding these tactics is great, but knowing
exactly how to use them with your chosen audience is better. To do this,
start with deep research. You can reference rule #8 for strategies on making
it happen. Once you finish researching, you’ll know what your audience’s
pain points are, what their “us vs them” groups look like, and more. You
should never try to make random guesses. Instead, go to where your
audience hangs out online and listen to what they’re saying. This will cut
down on time and money spent by making those guesses more accurate.
8. Surprise Your Reader - Again, the last thing you want your content to be is
boring and generic. Your readers have seen thousands of pieces of writing,
and if yours looks exactly like those, they’ll lose interest. A pattern interrupt
can help you avoid this trap and draw them in. For example, a copywriter
might start their copywriting course sales page by saying that they’re
terrible at writing (but have made a ton of money anyway). You’d expect
them to talk about how good they are, but instead, they went the other
way, and now you want to keep reading to find out how they did it.
9. Highlight Deep Truths - Talking about “uncomfortable truths” has become a
social media cliché, but there’s a reason for that. Most people have feelings
and opinions that they carry deep in their gut, but for whatever reason,
don’t say or live by. On the other side, you have people who are so dug into
the stories they tell themselves that they deny foundational truths. Writing
these truths brings both of them out of the woodwork to engage with you.
10. Make Your Reader Matter - Some pieces of writing are so good that people
read them purely for entertainment. When writing online, there’s a good
chance you won’t be able to pull this off. The simpler method is showing
your reader that they matter. Involving them in the story your brand is
telling increases their emotional investment, and that’s true for basically
any product or service you can sell.
Rule #16: Lead Your Reader
As we’ve discussed, writing for an audience is a dance. You are the lead, and your
reader is going along with you. Though it’s a back-and-forth interaction, you
should always be in control. The question is, how?
Think about the structure of a sales page. Every piece of that page has a specific
goal and is an essential part of the emotional journey you’re taking the reader on.
I’ll use our eczema skin cream again as an example…
● Headline - First, we convince the audience to keep reading by hitting a pain
point or creating interest with some unique product fact. Off the top of my
head, that might be something like, “Why 99% Of Eczema Creams Don’t
Work… And The One Ingredient That Makes Ours 7 Times More Effective”.
● Body - Second, we lead with an emotional story that draws our readers in
even more. We can do this by telling them about an eczema sufferer who
was in incredible pain, tried everything, and finally found something (our
product) that works. This should resonate with the reader and inspire them
to keep reading.
● Body - Third, we create more emotion in our audience by discussing their
pain points in detail. The cliché way to do this is asking a bunch of questions
like: “Do you suffer through daily discomfort? Are you insecure about the
appearance of your skin? Have you tried a bunch of solutions that just
didn’t work?” If I were writing that page, I’d probably find a more creative
way to agitate those pain points, but this works as a basic example.
● Body - Fourth, we go over the specifics of what the product is, what’s in it,
how it works, and more. The idea here is to appeal to our reader’s logical
side. That might include listing key ingredients, saying why those
ingredients work, explaining where we source our product, and talking
about that “one ingredient” from our headline.
● Guarantees - Fifth, we explain the generous refund guarantee that comes
with the product and how it eliminates customer risk. Our reader is already
interested, emotionally invested, and thinks that the value of the product
makes logical sense. The next step in the dance is assuring them that they
will love the product, and if they don’t, there is no financial risk. This comes
from our refund guarantee, and we might also note the fantastic reviews
that our product has received. Writing those out with real names and
customer photos is good. Having videos of people giving convincing
testimonials is even better.
● Call To Action - Finally, we ask the customer to take their credit card out,
complete the purchase, and get in control of their skin issues. We want to
make sure this final ask isn’t “flat”. Sometimes, writers will create a great
piece of copy or content, and then they’ll end it without packing a punch.
We’ll avoid this by going over our readers’ top pain points one more time
and finishing with a strongly worded call to action.
Again, that’s just a basic example, but you can see the dance unfolding. The writer
creates interest, then emotional investment, then agitation of painful emotion,
then an understanding of the specifics, then confidence in how little risk is
involved, then action.
Sales copy examples are always more illustrative than content, but we could pretty
easily convert that list if we wanted. Creating interest, getting emotional
investment, then explaining core ideas is the same for copy and content. The only
differences that come to mind are the guarantees (which you wouldn’t use for
content) and the call to action (which would likely be “softer” or nonexistent
because you’re not selling anything).
When you write, you should be deliberate with every word and paragraph you
present to your reader. Decide what you want them to feel and when you want
them to feel it. Then, lead them on that dance one step at a time.
Rule #17: Write How You Talk
One of the funniest things I see beginners do is create a persona to write with. You
talk to them on the phone, and they’re a real person. Then, you read their writing,
and they’re robotic, or they’re trying too hard, or they adopt a style that they
think sounds good but really doesn’t.
Writing how you talk is the best way to avoid this trap. If you wouldn’t use a
certain word in real life, don’t write with it. If you wouldn’t put 24 words in a
sentence while talking with a friend, don’t do it when writing to your readers.
Basically, when you write anything that isn’t an academic paper or a technical
manual, you should imagine that you’re explaining it to someone in real life.
A classic marketing idea is that you want your sales pitch to sound like you’re
talking to an old friend. Rather than wording things like you would in a pamphlet
or sales pitch, you imagine yourself sitting with them around the house or at a bar
and telling them about a new product you found.
In addition to being more persuasive, this will also help you create connections
with your audience. Almost nobody wants to read dry, unclear, or jargon-filled
content. Instead, they want to connect with a human or a brand with some
personality. Writing how you talk gives them what they want.
So, leave out the uncommon words. If you wouldn’t say “furthermore” in real life,
don’t use it when you’re writing. Don’t go to the thesaurus to switch things up
when you should be prioritizing clarity. Don’t take on the persona of a writer. Just
be you, but in written form.
Here’s an excerpt from a Paul Graham blog post about this same idea…
“You don't need complex sentences to express complex ideas. When specialists in
some abstruse topic talk to one another about ideas in their field, they don't use
sentences any more complex than they do when talking about what to have for
lunch. They use different words, certainly. But even those they use no more than
necessary. And in my experience, the harder the subject, the more informally
experts speak. Partly, I think, because they have less to prove, and partly because
the harder the ideas you're talking about, the less you can afford to let language
get in the way.
Informal language is the athletic clothing of ideas.
I'm not saying spoken language always works best. Poetry is as much music as
text, so you can say things you wouldn't say in conversation. And there are a
handful of writers who can get away with using fancy language in prose. And then
of course there are cases where writers don't want to make it easy to understand
what they're saying—in corporate announcements of bad news, for example, or at
the more bogus end of the humanities. But for nearly everyone else, spoken
language is better.
It seems to be hard for most people to write in spoken language. So perhaps the
best solution is to write your first draft the way you usually would, then afterward
look at each sentence and ask "Is this the way I'd say this if I were talking to a
friend?" If it isn't, imagine what you would say, and use that instead. After a while
this filter will start to operate as you write. When you write something you
wouldn't say, you'll hear the clank as it hits the page. [...]
If you simply manage to write in spoken language, you'll be ahead of 95% of
writers. And it's so easy to do: just don't let a sentence through unless it's the way
you'd say it to a friend.”
I promise, people will respond better to this style than ones that are wordy,
complicated, or inauthentic. Use short sentences. Make jokes. Don’t stress about
word choice too much. Put “you” on paper, or perhaps the perfect “you” for your
top buyer persona, then give it to the world.
Rule #18: Tell Stories
In rule #15, I recommended telling stories to evoke emotion. Now, let’s go deeper
on this crucial piece of the writing puzzle. Stories might be the single most
powerful tool in your marketing kit. You better learn how to tell them.
Here are the top elements of most good stories…
● Characters - The people in the story, which are usually a protagonist and an
antagonist. Sometimes a story will have auxiliary characters. No matter
what, the foundational structure is usually a hero fighting against some
opponent. Occasionally, the main character is a villain.
● Setting - Where the story takes place is very important when writing fiction.
In non-fiction, it often isn’t. You should decide whether you need to paint a
picture of the surroundings based on the story you’re telling. My general
advice is to only write things that matter. If setting matters, use it.
● Plot - The plot tells your reader what is happening in the story. Usually, the
protagonist wants something. In fiction, that might be a football player
trying to win a state championship. In non-fiction and marketing, that might
be the reader trying to make a personal transformation.
● Conflict - Of course, no good story is just happy. Instead, there has to be a
conflict. In fiction, the conflict is usually a villain. Think Scar from The Lion
King or the witch from Snow White and The 7 Dwarfs. In marketing, the
conflict is often the biggest problem that your potential customers have.
● Resolution - Finally, we have the resolution. This is how the story ends, and
in the vast majority of cases, it ends in the hero triumphing over the villain
and transforming in some way. Simba goes from a cub to a lion when he
avenges his father in The Lion King. Customers go from having a problem to
solving it with the help of your product.
The first reason we tell stories is that explaining things in plain terms is boring.
Remember, no matter where you’re writing online, you’re competing against
dozens or millions of other people. That’s true whether you’re emailing a friend or
trying to carve out an audience on social media. The second reason is that it helps
with understanding. Not everyone knows your niche as well as you. Rather than
giving them jargon or technical explanations, telling a story can take your complex
topic and make it digestible for the average person.
In that same vein, you also want to use metaphors, similes, and analogies. These
writing devices act like tiny stories that take just a sentence or two to explain.
Their function is the same as stories, which is taking something that is perhaps
boring or complicated and turning it into an entertaining and easily digestible
piece of information. Let’s illustrate this by comparing two sentences.
The dry version…
Writing is an interaction between author and reader.
Now, the better one, which I’ve used throughout this book…
Writing is a dance between author and reader.
Do you see how using a metaphor makes this statement more interesting, more
entertaining, and easier to understand?
One more dry one…
Life is unpredictable.
And one more that’s better (from Forrest Gump)…
"Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get."
As you can see, using metaphors, similes, and analogies packs a stronger punch
than just explaining. They also make your writing more persuasive. Use them.
Rule #19: Write With 5th Grade Words
You have to remember that many of your readers might not…
● Be as smart as you
● Use the same words as you
● Natively speak or read the same language as you
If you’re a regular person (not someone who works with or entertains masters of
writing and language), you’re writing to explain ideas, coordinate, or entertain. So,
only use uncommon words if they will actually help you achieve your goal.
Some tips for making this happen (many of these will look familiar)…
1. If you wouldn’t say it in real life, don’t write it
2. Keep your sentences and paragraphs short
3. Use lists when appropriate
4. Use transitions when changing subjects
5. Use stories, metaphors, similes, and analogies
6. Remove unnecessary words
7. Replace uncommon words with common ones
The only danger here is making your writing so basic that it’s choppy. One
example of this is “word fatigue”, which refers to using the same word over and
over again in the same sentence or series of sentences. You can fix this by using
appropriate synonyms and not making your writing too concise (concise is good,
but too much of it can result in an amateurish feel).
Contrary to what your instincts might tell you, taking the complicated route isn’t
necessary, and it doesn’t signal that you’re a master of your subject. Instead, the
real indication of mastery is making things simple. You’re not “dumbing down”
your writing. Instead, you’re simply making it accessible and digestible.
Rule #20: Be Direct
Every time someone DMs me on social media just saying “hi” or “hello”, I delete
the message. That might sound mean, but I get 20+ messages a day, and I don’t
have time to figure out what each of them wants. Basically, if they’re indirect, they
don’t get answered.
Every time I get a cold email from a service provider just asking me how I’m doing,
I don’t answer it. Every time I check out a blog post and the introduction is a
boring story, I stop reading it. Every time I visit an eCommerce store and they start
telling me about the charity they donate to, I skip to the pictures of the product.
While every consumer is different, most of them are like me. There is a massive
amount of written content on the internet, and whatever kind of writing you do,
you’re competing against thousands of people in the attention marketplace. The
fastest way to lose is not getting right to the point.
The only exception to this rule is that you can be indirect as long as you’re also
incredibly interesting. For example, you might start a sales page or blog post with
an emotional story. This creates interest, even though it’s a bit off-topic. If you can
pull this off, it’s absolutely acceptable. If not, be direct.
I used to send cold emails almost every day. I tried a variety of strategies and
tracked analytics for each of them. Long, wordy, indirect messages did the worst
by far. What worked best was a personalized first line, a quick question, a line
explaining why I reached out, and a call to action that attempted to set up a call.
Here’s an example…
Subject: Question for you, {their first name}
{Personalized first line that shows you’ve done your research on the company}
Example For ConvertKit, an Email Marketing Software Company:
I want to start by saying that I absolutely love the direction of ConvertKit’s
marketing. Most software products are built for and marketed to massive
businesses. The fact that you appeal to smaller creators is inspiring.
Anyway, here’s that question…
{Question pertaining to your service/offer/value}
Example:
Would you like me to do a free analysis of your website’s copywriting strategy?
{Optional line that explains why you’re asking}
Example:
I ask because I {extremely short case study ex: recently raised Mailchimp’s
homepage conversion rate by a full percent} and am now looking to help a few
more businesses get the same results.
Would love to hop on a call and discuss.
Let me know if you have 15 minutes to do so this week or next.
Best
{Signature}
Final note: With content and marketing, you don’t want to be so direct that you’re
boring (you need to create and hold interest). With cold outreach, you don’t want
to be so direct that you sound rude (you need to show that you’re easy to work
with). Avoid both of those, and you’ll be fine.
Rule #21: Be a Little Different
Let me take you into an amusing side of Twitter marketing. Basically, thousands of
people are trying to build their Twitter accounts and make a career out of it. They
buy some sort of course, and they read that replying to larger creators is a great
way to generate attention. That’s because it is. I recommend this tactic to
everyone with a small account. It works.
The funny part is scrolling through the replies of bigger accounts and seeing
generic tweet after generic tweet. 95% of them are platitudes, well-known quotes
(usually without attribution), and rewordings of the original tweet. I get at least 50
of these in my notifications every day. I usually don’t follow their authors back,
and if the reply is plagiarized, I block them for being a leech.
The point is, you’re never going to make it if your writing is 100% generic. If you
want to build a Twitter account, the best way to get follows from powerful
creators is having a personality. Whether you’re delivering insights or comedy,
being a real, unique person will help you succeed. Being a carbon copy of
someone else almost certainly won’t.
This applies to far more than just Twitter, though. Every business on the internet is
at risk of getting lost in the sea of content. The question you have to ask yourself
is, how can I present my brand/product/service as being a bit different?
When I was doing freelancing writing, I didn’t tell clients that I went to a top
college in the United States. One reason why is that it doesn’t actually matter.
Another is that it’s boring. Finally, I might be competing against someone who
went to Harvard, and now I’ve made my top value proposition irrelevant.
Instead, I made my tagline:
“I write stupid simple emails that massively increase your wellness brand’s profits.”
I’m sure that wording rubbed some clients the wrong way, but once I started using
it, I got a lot more attention when doing cold outreach. The reason is that I added
an edgy, uncommon word, and it turned me into someone worth checking out
instead of someone who looks just like everyone else.
In the last decade, MVMT Watches has risen quickly in the timepiece market. This
is despite the fact that their designs are unexceptional and their products are
overpriced. While they’re not actually different, they managed to market
themselves as if they were. They talked about “disrupting the watch industry” and
“cutting out the middleman”. Combine those largely empty slogans with smart
influencer marketing, and they built a massively successful business.
Copywriting legend Gary Halbert used to attach a little trinket to his sales letters.
One example was stapling a small plastic bag of dirt at the top and using it to sell
real estate. Another was stapling a dollar bill to the top to create attention and
incentivize reciprocity (we’ll talk more about this later). These worked mostly
because they made his letters different from everyone else's.
Death Wish Coffee doesn't market themselves with a long list of generic value
propositions (great taste, organic beans, fair trade sourcing, etc). Instead, they
advertise their product as “the world’s strongest coffee”. This doesn’t appeal to
every customer in their market, and that’s by design. They make a big claim,
separate themselves from the pack, and appeal to all the coffee drinkers out there
who want a strong kick more than anything else.
If you’re writing for yourself, being different isn’t too hard. It really comes down to
being comfortable with sharing online and fully showing your personality. If you’re
writing for a company, you should think about what the product or service’s
unique selling proposition (USP) could be. This takes a lot of practice to master,
but now that you know the goal is to be a little different, you have a much better
shot at making it happen.
Rule #22: Make a Big Claim
I recently decided that I wanted to acquire a couple of high-ticket freelancing
clients (preferably big companies, not individuals). I looked at my skill set, saw
Twitter marketing as one of the stronger parts of it, and turned that into an offer.
The plan was to find companies that were a good fit and sell them on giving me
thousands of dollars per month to take over their Twitter accounts.
When writing up my landing page for this service, I decided to make a claim…
“If I don’t 10x your impressions in one month, you get your money back plus
$200.”
Now, let’s compare that to a boring claim…
“I will use my extensive Twitter marketing experience to get you better results on
this crucial platform.”
For the first one, I guarantee that a specific and measurable number goes up. I
also promise that I will give them their money back if I don’t deliver those results.
Finally, I promise that I’ll even give them extra money if I don’t make it happen.
That’s a refund guarantee on steroids.
Now, look at the second one. See how boring that is compared to the first?
Making a big claim is so effective that it has become a go-to tool in every
copywriter’s kit. A large portion of sales pages on the internet start with big
claims, and they’re often specific about it.
Let’s do four boring headlines first…
● “Experience the great taste of our whiskey.”
● “Lose weight the right way with our system.”
● “Our lotion helps you fight eczema effectively.”
● “We deliver great products for prices you can afford.”
Now, let’s make them more interesting with bigger claims…
● “The smoothest whiskey you’ve ever had—or your money back.”
● “Lose 15 pounds every month without giving up your favorite foods.”
● “Our lotion will clear up your eczema in two weeks or less—guaranteed!”
● “Our prices are the lowest in town, and if you find anything lower, we’ll
match it.”
Those are very sales-heavy, but they do a good job of illustrating the point. It’s
also worth noting that you can use big claims for content too. For example, I
recently wrote a Twitter thread (basically a short blog post) titled “Start Earning
Online With Less Than $100”. While not a huge claim, this is still pretty impressive.
Most people think making money online takes a big investment. In just 10 or so
tweets, my thread proved that it doesn’t.
My final example is a sales email I once wrote. The first line claimed that I’d be
sitting on a beach all weekend while little robots brought hundreds of dollars in
for me. That’s a big, attractive claim. People love the idea of passive income, and
my wording paints a tantalizing picture. Then, I used the body of the email to
explain which pieces of software I use to make this happen. Finally, I made my ask,
which was signing up for free trials of those pieces of software.
Ultimately, big claims do two things for you. First, they create interest better than
dry claims or no claims at all. Your local mattress store saying that they’ll match
any price in town makes you pay attention. Them calling their prices just
“affordable” doesn’t. The second thing big claims do is help you persuade your
reader. Rather than promising just a bit of value or not promising at all, you
promise and guarantee high levels of value. This gets a lot more people to buy into
whatever you’re selling, whether that’s a product, service, or idea.
Rule #23: Then Back It Up
You can’t make a big claim without backing it up. This is true in two ways. First,
you should back your claim up in that same piece of writing. Second, if you’re
selling something, you should back that claim up with your product or service.
We’ll focus on the first one because having a great product/service is not what this
book is about. Let’s pull up my three personal examples from above to get an idea
of what this looks like.
The Claim:
“If I don’t 10x your Twitter impressions, you get your money back.”
How I Backed It Up:
● I wrote about how I grew my Twitter account
● I wrote about the extremely committed following I built
● I showed screenshots of my stats for impressions, follower growth, etc
The Claim:
“I’ll teach you how to start earning online for less than $100.”
How I Backed It Up:
● I went through the process step by step
● I recommended specific pieces of software
● I did a running cost based on those tools’ current prices
The Claim:
“I’ll be sitting on the beach this weekend while little robots make hundreds of
dollars per day for me.”
How I Backed It Up:
● I explained my automated marketing system
● I recommended a variety of software tools to mimic it
● I showed screenshots of my revenue and how I configure the software
The big point here is that when writing, and especially when selling, you need to
prove your claims. Not only do you have to be interesting, but in most niches, you
also have to convince your audience that your product/service works.
This is why the best sales pages always have case studies. It’s also why just about
every eCommerce brand has a review system on their website. Most of them also
highlight individual reviews on the home and product pages. Elite marketers often
go a step further and get customers to make video testimonials for them. These
are even more powerful, as you get to see a person talk about the product, how
great it is, and how you should definitely buy it too.
Celebrity influencers are another commonly used tool for creating proof. One
example is Gymshark, which sponsors just about every fitness Instagram
influencer on the planet. Another is Rolex, which pays Tiger Woods and many
others millions of dollars to appear in their advertisements.
Unless you’re one of the very first buyers of this book, you probably saw this tactic
on the sales page for it. Part of the format I use for all of my sales pages is pictures
of my results followed by pictures of written testimonials. For example, if you go
to the sales page for my program Freelance Basics, you’ll find photos of invoices
paid, people answering my cold emails to set up meetings, and a ton of customers
sending tweets and DMs telling me that they liked it.
Besides content that is purely for entertainment, every piece of writing makes a
claim. Maybe that claim tries to get you to buy a product. Maybe it tries to get you
to buy into an idea. No matter what, you have to back it up.
Rule #24: Learn The Rules
One of the fastest ways to destroy your credibility is having bad spelling and
grammar. While you can catch 95% of spelling errors with software, grammar
tends to be a bit trickier. Here are some rules to study…
1. Parallelism - When writing a list, you want the grammatical pattern to be
the same for each item. If I was writing about getting my car repaired, I
wouldn’t say, “I got an oil change and my tires rotated”. Instead, I would say
“I got an oil change and a tire rotation” or “I got my oil changed and my
tires rotated”. If those sound the same, read them again. In the first
example, I’m using a noun and a verb. In the second, two nouns. In the
third, two verbs. The ones that are parallel are correct.
2. Homophones - For native English speakers, these generally come easily. For
those who are still learning, they can be very frustrating. “Here” vs “hear” is
an example. “Two” vs “too” vs “to” is another. The most famous of all is
“their” vs “there” vs “they’re”. If you don’t have these mastered already, it’s
worth doing further research on them.
3. Agreement - “Marie has a dentist appointment today” is correct. “Marie
have a dentist appointment today” isn’t. “Is” vs “are” is another common
one. When writing a sentence, ask yourself if the subject is singular or not.
One person is singular. Two or more people are not. One object is singular.
Two or more objects are not. Don’t use a plural verb with a singular subject
or vice versa. These mistakes make readers trip over your words, so do your
best to avoid them.
4. Connecting With Conjunctions - “Pie is delicious. I like pie.” These two
sentences don’t sound great. They give off a childish, overly simplistic vibe.
“I like pie because it’s delicious” sounds much better and much more
natural. Though I generally recommend using short sentences, making them
too short leads to a choppy reading experience.
5. Connecting With Commas - The basic rule here is to use a comma when
you are connecting two ideas that could both be their own sentence. “Jeff
and I ate pie” has no comma, but “Jeff had ice cream, and I had pie” does.
Notice that the idea after the “and” could be its own sentence. “The show
was boring and way too long” doesn’t need a comma. “The show was
boring, and the intermission was way too long” does need a comma. In the
first example, we’re describing the show in two ways. In the second, we’re
describing the show, and then we’re describing the intermission. So, we use
a comma to connect that one.
6. Tense - “We go to the movies last night” doesn’t make sense. “We went to
the movies last night” does. “We go to the movies tomorrow night” doesn’t
make sense. “We are going to the movies tomorrow night” does. The core
tenses in the English language are present, past, and future. If you want to
go deeper, you can look at the simple, continuous, perfect, and perfect
continuous versions of each:
a. Present Simple - I babysit my niece
b. Present Continuous - I am babysitting my niece
c. Present Perfect - I have finished babysitting my niece
d. Present Perfect Continuous - I have been babysitting my niece
7. Active Voice - Active voice is usually preferable to passive voice. “We are
watching Ben’s dog tonight” is active voice. “Ben’s dog is being watched by
us tonight” is passive voice. Passive is appropriate in certain situations, but
active should be your default.
8. Pronouns - Things can get jumbled when you have a lot of pronouns in one
sentence or paragraph. If you write, “Jack and Fred walked in the door”,
don’t write “he” in the next sentence because it won’t be clear which one
you’re talking about.
Rule #25: Break The Rules
There are a few reasons why I only listed seven grammatical rules above. First, this
isn’t a book on grammar. That would be boring, and I’m surely not an authority on
it. If you’re very good with grammar, you’ve probably noticed that I make many
small mistakes in my writing (my editor definitely does). This brings me to the
second reason why this book barely covers grammar: because it barely matters.
Your primary goals in writing are communication and persuasion. Using incorrect
grammar is only a problem if it gets in the way of those goals. If it’s so bad that
your reader can’t understand what you’re trying to say, you have a problem. If it’s
so bad that it ruins your credibility with your reader, you have a problem. If you
make a minor mistake here and there, you don’t.
I’ll use myself as an example. In American English, you’re supposed to put
punctuation inside of quotation marks. Personally, I put question marks and
exclamation points inside, periods and commas inside when the quote is its own
line, and periods and commas outside when the quote is inside a paragraph. This
is incorrect in my country. I do it anyway. Literally nobody cares.
Here’s another example that isn’t just a quirk. When writing, I often use the
“singular they” because I think it sounds better. I might write something like…
“When a student studies hard, they tend to get good grades.”
That sentence written correctly would be…
“When a student studies hard, he or she tends to get good grades.”
It’s frowned upon to start a sentence with the word “but”. But, I do it all the time.
“None of the balloons is red” is correct, but “none of the balloons are red” sounds
a lot better to my ear. Some English teachers will tell you to avoid contractions.
They want you to write “can not” instead of “can’t”, “do not” instead of “don’t”,
and so on. On the other hand, most great copywriters believe that contractions
are usually preferable because they make the reading experience smoother and
more conversational.
Here are some more rules that I think you can break…
● Not using double negatives
● Not using sentence fragments
● Using “who” and “whom” correctly
● Not ending sentences in a preposition
● Using “that” or “which” based on whether a clause is “defining” or not
Think back to rule #17, which was writing how you talk. That heavily ties into
breaking the rules. For example, I never say the word “whom” when talking to my
friends. I find it a bit awkward, and I’m sure I’d get (lovingly) made fun of if I did. If
I don’t say “whom” in real life, then I’m not going to write with it. Writing in my
real voice makes creating and connecting easier.
Ultimately, there are two situations where you can break the rules. The first is if
you have a personal preference that goes against the rules and breaking them
doesn’t make you less likely to achieve your writing goals. The second is when
breaking the rules takes you closer to your goals. An example of that is using
wording that is “smoother” despite it technically being incorrect. Use the first
sparingly. Use the second just about every time.
As I’ve mentioned a few times in this book, my rules are best applied to copy and
content writing. If you’re an academic, don’t break grammar rules and think you’ll
still get papers published. If you’re a student, don’t turn in an essay with tons of
errors, then blame it on me when your teacher gives you a failing grade. It’s all
about what your goal is and what your real life voice sounds like. If breaking minor
grammatical rules gets you closer to your goals and real voice, then do it. If not,
then don’t.
Rule #26: Impress and Connect
When writing online, your goal is usually to entertain or sell. In both cases,
impressing your audience will only take you so far. Let’s talk about the good of
impressing, then we’ll discuss what’s missing when you focus too much on it.
First, the good. Impressing your audience raises your credibility with them.
Credibility leads to trust, and trust leads to exploding your results. There are two
ways to impress. One of them is with the writing itself. You can write in an
extremely clear, artful, and well-researched way, and that will appeal to your
readers. The other is by presenting your product, brand, or service in a flattering
way. For example, when writing content and sales copy, I often reference the
success I’ve had as a writer. These results impress. If I was advertising a physical
product, I might get an influencer to endorse it, which would have a similar effect.
Here are some common methods for impressing readers…
1. Signaling advanced knowledge
2. Delivering advanced education
3. Being an authority in your niche
4. Written reviews from clients or customers
5. Video testimonials from clients or customers
6. Case studies from clients, customers, or yourself
7. Presenting simple explanations for complex ideas
8. Showing off the results you’ve gotten in your niche
9. Getting endorsements from influencers and celebrities
That said, you generally need more than just impressing. Influencers who “flex” all
the time have no real connection to their audiences. They might have a cult that
buys their products, but their relationship is built on an unhealthy foundation of
praise and profit.
If you want more than that, you need to form some sort of emotional connection.
The easiest example of this is you telling your whole story, failures and all. When
an audience reads that, they feel a connection to you because they’ve gone
through similar struggles. Readers feel like you “get” them. You become a real
person rather than a superhero. Almost every brand out there, personal or
impersonal, can recreate this for themselves.
On the logistical side, you can connect with your readers by interacting with them.
My favorite way to do this is asking a question on Twitter, then liking and replying
to the answers my followers provide. Other ways are doing a podcast Q&A,
sharing random details about your personal life, and sharing all the little quirks
that make you unique.
Here’s a quick cheat sheet for connecting with your audience…
1. Always be honest
2. Share your personal struggles
3. Describe their pain points in detail
4. Interact with them on social media
5. Show some personality with your content
6. Use storytelling and/or conflict to excite their emotions
7. Have a clear brand identity (whether that’s personal or impersonal)
8. Answer questions with videos, podcasts, or “ask me anything” interviews
In short, you want to be both impressive and personable. Impressing attracts
readers, cultivates authority, and creates desire. It provides a reason for why they
should listen to you. Then, personality gets them hooked on your writing, as they
come to see you as somewhat of a friend rather than a stranger or a boring
business. When you combine the two, you get the authority you need while also
forming deep emotional connections. This makes spreading your message and
selling whatever you sell significantly easier.
Rule #27: Tell The Truth
There are two sides to telling the truth. The first is simple: don’t lie. That will
sound obvious to many of you, but being dishonest is shockingly common in the
world of writing and content creation. Broke marketers pretend they’re rich,
bodybuilders on steroids pretend they’re all natural, and people who claim to be
wise often have the messiest personal lives.
You should never feel like you have to lie to get noticed. Not only will it eventually
catch up with you, but your story is probably good enough as is. You can create
content as someone who’s still figuring it out. You can create products even if
you’re not in the top 1% at your skill. If you’re even one step farther than
someone else on your journey, you can teach them something.
The second side of telling the truth is writing from your gut instead of writing
what you think people will respond to. While I don’t recommend creating content
about every little thought you have, you definitely don’t want to write things that
you believe are untrue. Again, this will negatively impact the relationship you have
with your audience and eventually catch up with you.
One example from what I do online is creating ultra-polarizing Twitter content.
This is a fast way to build your following because it attracts engagement and gets
people interested in the author of the tweet. I could leverage this fact by
completely discounting college degrees, talking down on people with regular jobs,
telling people with mental health issues that it’s all their fault, and more.
If those hardline stances were my truth, then maybe I’d put them out into the
world. Instead, my views on them are nuanced, so I’m not going to pretend
they’re simple for engagement. I want readers and customers who enjoy the real
me, or at least the part of me that I present online. If you want to build a
long-term brand that’s based on your personality, then you should too.
Rule #28: Show Personality
When writing online, you don’t want to sound like everyone else. You can avoid
this trap by showing your personality. Here are some tips for doing so…
1. Give Yourself Permission - Again, unless you’re writing a purely academic
paper or an instruction manual, you don’t have to change your voice to be
more professional. So, the first step is simply giving yourself permission to
show off your personality. One thing I did early on to help with this is not
tell anyone in my personal life about the content I was creating. This gave
me the freedom to write without worrying about friends and family
gossiping about it. Another option is realizing that people don’t think about
you much, and the ones who do don’t do so for long. The idea that nobody
cares about your writing might sound discouraging, but it’s actually
incredibly freeing. There is no pressure. There are no expectations. You can
do whatever you want.
2. Break Some Rules - This was the subject of rule #25, but it’s worth
mentioning again. Following every grammar guideline can make your
writing sound robotic. Breaking a few of them makes things more natural.
This isn’t high school English. You’re not going to get points knocked off for
minor mistakes. Communication comes first.
3. Connect With Your Audience - You want to write to your audience like
they’re old friends. To do this, research them heavily and interact with
them. You can also imagine yourself writing to just one person, whoever
that might be. I sometimes like to pretend that I’m explaining a concept to
my best friend. If I were doing that, I wouldn’t stress over the details.
Instead, I would be 100% focused on communicating and connecting. Do
this, and you’ll add a lot of personality.
4. Share Freely - You want your audience to feel a connection with you. You
want them to feel like they know you, even if you don’t know them. Sharing
your stories and emotions is a great way to make that happen. One story I
often talk about is my struggles with online business early on and how I lost
a lot of money in eCommerce. This increases emotional connection,
persuasive power, and personability. It also signals to my audience that if I
can overcome initial resistance, they can too.
5. Pick a Style That Works For You - Maybe you want to keep things short and
punchy with an interesting Twitter feed. Maybe you want to write longer
pieces on your blog. No matter what, choose a style that works for you and
consistently write with it. I’ve chosen a concise style because I like writing
that way and my audience responds well to it. You might be the same, or
maybe you’re the opposite. The only trap here is stubbornly using a style
that’s never going to work. If you’re getting no results for a very long time,
you may need to pivot.
6. Master That Style - Once you pick a style, you have to put the hours in and
master it. This will help you bring personality to your writing because the
style and system will become second nature. Once those come easily,
showing your personality will come easier too.
7. Be 100% Authentic - This is an easy one. When your brand is authentically
“you”, you’ll feel no pressure to be anyone but yourself. On the other hand,
if you pretend to be someone else, you’ll have to keep that act up every
day. A common example of this is people being extremely controversial
online when they aren’t that way in real life. Then, they build an audience
that loves “hot takes”, and they have to be inauthentic to please that
audience. Avoid this by being yourself.
Show off your personality. If you do it right, thousands of people will think of you
as somewhat of a friend despite the fact that you’ve never actually met them.
Rule #29: Write Fast, Edit Slow
This is a rule that I learned early on in my copywriting career. At the time, I was
writing slowly and editing as I went along. Each section of a blog post or sales
page would take forever, and when I finished, I would come out with a choppy and
below average piece of content.
Writing fast unlocked the next level for me. I think the reason why is that writing is
more art than science. When you’re questioning every word as you go along, you
never enter a “flow state”. When you don’t get into flow, you can’t create magic.
So, perhaps counterintuitively, going fast leads to better results.
Here are the three steps you take when creating a piece of writing…
1. Planning - This is your research and outlining phase. It’s slow. Research
gives you insight on your audience, helps you come up with angles, and
shows you which emotional triggers to use. Outlining lets you control the
flow of the piece and helps you settle on the perfect pace.
2. Writing - Next is putting words on the page. Like a sprinter, we’re not going
to second guess ourselves while we run. We already prepared for this.
We’re ready. Now, it’s time to let the words flow. It’s time to perform.
3. Editing - Once you get done with the sprint, you’re going to be left with a
rough piece of writing. This is your “rough draft”. You shouldn’t publish
rough drafts. Instead, you need to edit them until they have “final draft”
quality. My favorite way to do this is reading it out loud. This helps with
catching mistakes and improving quality. I generally do these “out loud
edits” a few times a day for five days in a row. If I’m working on something
especially important, I might do this for a few weeks.
Think of yourself like an elite athlete. It doesn’t matter which sport. Prepare,
perform, analyze, then do it again.
Rule #30: Write For Your Goal
I’ve been lifting weights and experimenting with my eating habits for over 10
years and now probably know more about nutrition and bodybuilding than 99.9%
of the population. As a result, people in my personal life occasionally come to me
looking for advice in these domains. The first question I always ask them is…
“What’s your primary goal?”
This question has to come first because different strategies work for different
goals. If someone wants to build muscle, I’m not going to tell them to do an hour
of cardio every day. If someone just wants to look and feel a bit better, I’m not
going to tell them to get on a hardcore bodybuilding routine.
The point is, when you’re doing just about anything, you have to solidify your goal
first. In order to make progress, you have to know where your destination is. Think
about what you want out of your writing…
● Do you want to build an audience on social media?
● Do you want to write highly persuasive sales copy?
● Or do you just want to write better emails at work?
There aren’t right and wrong answers here, just right and wrong answers for you.
Using myself as an example, I wanted to build an educational brand that roughly
fit my personality in real life. So, I didn’t write about politics just because that
topic gets extremely high engagement. My goal was to have a company that was
effortless to run because it was so “me”, and this informed every writing decision
I’ve made since that journey started.
My advice is to look deep inside yourself and figure out exactly what your primary
goal is. That’s your ultimate destination. Then, tailor your writing and marketing
strategies to get you there.
Rule #31: Use The 6 Pillars Of Persuasion
The first marketing book I ever read was Influence by Robert Cialdini. If you’ve
never checked it out, I recommend that you do. It’s so good and so foundational
that it’s almost required reading for anyone in the marketing space.
One of the best ideas in Cialdini’s book is what he calls “The 6 Principles of
Persuasion”. I call them “pillars”. Let’s define those pillars and go over an example
or two for each. Here they are…
1. Reciprocity - This is the tendency for people to pay back a favor. In your
personal life, you can imagine a neighbor knocking on your door and giving
you a platter of cookies. After that, you’re more likely to do something nice
for them. What’s funny about this effect is that it works even if you don’t
like the gift. Just the act of giving will persuade. A common example is
charities sending you a nickel along with their letter asking for funding. Five
cents is worth next to nothing, but surprisingly, this tiny favor raises your
chances of donating to them. Give something to somebody, and the
probability of getting something back goes up.
2. Scarcity - When you know that something is in short supply, you’re more
likely to purchase it. This is a simple economic principle (supply and
demand), and it applies extremely well to the psychology of marketing.
There are endless examples of scarcity. One is convincing customers that
there is low supply. Whether that product is a nutritional supplement or a
seat in a webinar, marketers will tell you to buy now or risk losing your
chance. Another example is convincing customers that they are running out
of time. You see this a lot during sales, where companies will count down
the days or hours left to get a discount.
3. Authority - This is the tendency to be persuaded by an authoritative source.
The classic example is celebrity endorsements. Trying to sell you a $5000
wristwatch is difficult, but if I hire a famous actor or athlete to do it for me,
it gets easier. Beyond celebrities, authority also applies to people and
organizations who are experts (or are at least thought of as experts). The
“head of sales” at a company is more likely to convince you to hire that
company than an entry-level employee. If a certain brand of mayonnaise is
endorsed by your favorite Paleo Diet blog, you might trust it more, and thus
are more likely to buy.
4. Consistency - This one is a bit less obvious than the others. It’s the tendency
for people to act in a way that is consistent with ways they’ve acted in the
past. A great example of this comes from Cialdini’s book. When people get
done with a doctor’s appointment and schedule their next one, they often
miss that next appointment. But, when the staff asks the patient to write
the details of that next appointment down on a card, the likelihood of them
missing goes down. This is because they wrote out that they would be
there, so they’re more likely to be there. In sales and copywriting, a similar
concept is “getting a yes”. An easy example of that is asking a question at
the start of a sales page. “Do you want to lose weight without counting
calories?” People read that, say “yes” in their heads, and are more likely to
buy later on because of consistency.
5. Liking - This is a simple one. If people like you or your brand, they are more
likely to buy. We don’t need to discuss this or do examples.
6. Consensus - The classic example of consensus is a claim that you’ve
probably seen in toothpaste commercials hundreds of times. It’s usually
something like, “5 Out Of 6 Dentists Prefer Colgate!” Another example is
putting reviews and testimonials on sales pages. For both of those, the idea
is creating a consensus that the product or service works.
My last note is that a lot of these methods are cliché, and some of them won’t
apply to your brand identity. Be creative in using them and don’t overdo it.
Rule #32: Use The Life Force 8
The Life Force 8 is a list of things that humans desire the most. It comes from a
great marketing/copywriting book called Ca$hvertising. This is another resource
that I recommend to every writer and marketer. If you’re new to persuasion, it’ll
make a big difference.
Here they are…
1. Survival, enjoyment of life, life extension
2. Enjoyment of food and beverages
3. Freedom from fear, pain, and danger
4. Sexual companionship
5. Comfortable living conditions
6. To be superior, winning, keeping up with the Joneses
7. Care and protection of loved ones
8. Social approval
Readers don’t respond to boring value propositions. If I’m trying to sell you a
nutritional supplement, I’m not going to make its organic ingredients one of my
main selling points. That doesn’t move the needle, it doesn’t make you feel like
you need the product, and it probably doesn’t even make you want it. I’m instead
going to appeal to at least one of the items on the list above. Let’s compare three
website headlines to illustrate what I’m talking about. I’ll pretend I’m selling you
an arthritis medication called “Joint Support”.
The first one:
“Organic Arthritis Relief With Joint Support”
That’s terrible. Here’s number two:
“Reduce Your Arthritis Pain With Joint Support”
That’s better, but it’s dry, so let’s do a third:
“Beat Arthritis Pain In 21 Days and Go Back To Living The Vibrant Life You Deserve”
This last one isn’t amazing (I wrote it off the cuff with zero research), but it works
well enough to prove my point. Appealing to logic won’t get you far. Appealing to
deeper emotion works better, but unless you make your writing unique, it
probably won’t stick. What works best is appealing to deeper emotion in a
somewhat unique way that your reader can’t help but be interested in.
You can see the difference in those three from my examples. For the first one, who
cares if the supplement is organic? That’s a nice cherry on top, but it doesn’t make
much of a difference. For the second, pain relief is great, but this dry pitch doesn’t
inspire. For the third, I laid out a specific path (beat it in 21 days) and painted a
picture of what life will be like once my customer walks that path.
Which item or items of the Life Force 8 you use will depend on what you’re doing
with your writing. If you’re working on a new marketing campaign for Rolex, that’s
going to be #6 and #8. If you’re writing a blog post about financial responsibility,
you might choose #1, #3, #5, and #7. If you’re advertising a restaurant, you might
use #2 as your primary angle (it tastes great), then use #1 as your secondary angle
(it’s also very healthy).
Don’t obsess over this list. You don’t have to use it for every piece of sales copy
you write, and you definitely don’t need to use it for every piece of content you
create (it applies better to advertising than content creation). Just keep it in the
back of your mind, remind yourself of it occasionally, and maybe pull it out if
you’re having trouble with thinking of a great angle.
Eventually, you’re going to internalize this list, and you’ll probably never look at it
again. That said, if it’s new to you, study it, do some additional research on
YouTube or a search engine, and check out Ca$hvertising.
Rule #33: Consider The 9 Secondary Wants
The 9 Secondary Wants is another list from CaShvertising. These are generally less
powerful than the Life Force 8, but they can still come in handy.
Here they are…
1. To be informed
2. Curiosity
3. Cleanliness of body and surroundings
4. Efficiency
5. Convenience
6. Dependability, quality
7. Expression of beauty and style
8. Economy, profit
9. Bargains
There are two reasons why it’s good to note these. First, you can use them as
secondary persuasive tools in your writing. Using our example from rule #32, I
might lead my sales page for Joint Support by appealing to enjoyment of life, then
talk about the supplement’s quality later in the pitch. The second reason why is
that some offers don’t fit the Life Force 8 well, and you may want to use one of
these secondary appeals as your primary persuasive driver.
Now, let’s go through some basic business and marketing examples for each. The
numbers you see below correspond with the numbers on the list above…
1. A publication, like The Wall Street Journal, telling you to subscribe solely for
the sake of being informed (as opposed to staying in the loop so you can
profit off of stocks).
2. Websites that tell you the ages of celebrities. That definitely isn’t essential
information, but it can satisfy curiosity and get a lot of attention.
3. An exterminator warning you that you might have bed bugs. They could
really hammer home the idea of how disgusting these little creatures are,
then use that emotion to sell you on an assessment.
4. A freelancer who specializes in automation reaching out to a company and
pitching them systems optimization. They could use increased efficiency as
a value proposition.
5. That same freelancer could also use convenience for his pitch. He could
note how difficult and time-consuming daily business tasks are, then
present his service as the solution.
6. Car companies use dependability and quality as value propositions in many
of their advertisements. They know that you don’t want your vehicle to be
in the repair shop all the time, so they assure you that theirs won’t.
7. Luxury fashion companies often use expression of beauty as a persuasive
tool. This helps them appeal to those who are more focused on the artful
side of fashion rather than the status side.
8. The majority of service businesses use profit when marketing to their
clients. SEO agencies are an easy example, as the primary reason why
businesses hire them is to eventually increase profit.
9. Coupon-finding apps, like Honey, have built an entire business model off of
finding and delivering bargains to shoppers.
We generally start with the Life Force 8 because they pack a real punch. These are
life’s sources of incredible pain and incredible pleasure. Things like being happier,
being healthier, having an empowering romantic relationship, and social approval
hit us on the deepest possible level. Once you’ve exhausted those (or passed over
them entirely), you can bring in secondary wants to round out the rest of your
pitch and increase the persuasive power a bit more.
Rule #34: Learn The Core Copywriting Formulas
Copywriting is more art than science. For this reason, formulas are a bit overrated.
Still, they can be useful as tools for beginners and rough frameworks for
established professionals. The second thing to note is that some copywriting
websites present 20 or more formulas in their blog posts. In my opinion, this is
excessive, and most of the formulas are actually just writing guidelines or
specialized versions of the more famous ones.
So, we’ll go through just three of them…
1. PAS - This stands for “problem, agitate, solution”. It’s a favorite of many
legendary copywriters because it hits customer pain points hard. Getting
someone to buy your product or give attention to your content isn’t easy. If
you bore them, they’re gone. PAS gives you a great shot at not being boring.
It starts with your customer’s problem. For an easy example, let’s pretend
we’re marketing to men who are thin and want to build muscle. Our
product is a nutrition and exercise plan. We start by talking about the pains
of being extremely thin: lack of confidence, fear of violence, lack of
attention from women, etc. Then, we agitate that pain with well-written
copy that speaks in our customer’s language. That gets them feeling fed up
with their problem and ready to solve it. Finally, we pitch the solution (our
program) with offer details, testimonials, case studies, scientific proof of
efficacy, and all our other persuasive tools. Put it all together, and that’s
problem, agitate, solution.
2. AIDA - Our next formula stands for “attention, interest, desire, action”. I
might call this the most classic of the three because it applies to basically
any type of writing. PAS tends to work best when hard selling a product or
service. AIDA seems to work no matter what your marketing plan looks like.
Let’s do the fitness example again. “Attention” might be a clear headline
that explains benefits and uniqueness, while “interest” could be a story that
draws the reader in. Off the top of my head, we could grab attention and/or
create interest by explaining a study that proves women prefer athletic men
over skinny ones. After that, we’d build desire with various other persuasive
devices. Finally, we’d ask our reader to take action by buying now.
3. BAB - The last core formula stands for “bridge after bridge”. This is often
thought of as a “softer” version of PAS. Rather than agitate pain near the
beginning, BAB calls for painting a picture of the reader’s ideal result. For
our running example, that can be the image of having an athletic build,
being extremely confident, and getting attention from women. Once we
solidify that fantasy in our readers’ minds, we then explain how our product
or service can take them there one step (or bridge) at a time.
Though they’re not formulas, this is a good place to discuss other essential
copywriting principles…
● USP - This stands for “unique selling proposition”, and it’s a crucial piece of
selling anything. Your audience is bombarded with similar content and
products every day. What makes yours unique? I won’t give examples
because we did an entire rule on this, but you should be aware of your USP.
● Proof - We did an entire rule on this too, but it’s worth mentioning again.
Any good piece of copywriting has proof. That can be before and after
photos, case studies, written testimonials, video testimonials, or anything
else that shows the effectiveness of your solution.
● Scarcity - This is another one we discussed above. It’s a great tool for
getting people to buy right now instead of waiting till later (or never). When
creating an offer, think about how you can create legitimate scarcity.
Again, there are websites out there that list 20, 30, or even 40 formulas. Find
them on your favorite search engine if you’re curious. Some of them even give you
precise outlines for writing web pages, which can be useful for beginners.
Rule #35: Study My Sales Page Formula
Speaking of step-by-step formulas, I have one more for you. As I wrote above,
copywriting is an art, so you may want to tweak this when you use it. Still, it’s a
solid formula for many offers, and as a beginner, it’s a great place to start.
Here are its five elements in order…
1. Big Claim - The headline of the page should be a big claim. It should also
create interest in some way and/or explain why it’s unique. I’ll pull the
headline from one of my sales pages as an example: Revealed: How A
Regular Guy Started Earning $150 Per Hour Freelancing... While Spending
Just 25 Minutes A Day Finding Clients And Investing Less Than $100/mo.”
The $150 number catches attention, then the two following statements
make the claim bolder and create some uniqueness.
2. An Emotional Story - After the big claim, you want to retain interest by
telling your reader an emotional story. From that same sales page, I quickly
told the story of one of my customers, Paul, who closed a $5000 freelancing
contract with the help of my course. This case study cultivates interest and
provides proof that my strategies work.
3. The Offer - After that, I get into the details of my offer. Those include who I
am, the benefits I deliver, why my product is unique, and what exactly is
inside of it. This is where the customer starts considering a purchase.
4. Proof - Now that they understand the offer, it’s time to prove I can deliver. I
make that happen with proof of my results (invoices paid, meetings set up
through client outreach, etc) and testimonials from my customers.
5. Call To Action - Lastly, it’s time to ask for the sale. This is where I make my
final pitch, give a guarantee, create urgency, and call them to action.
This formula is basic, but it works. Feel free to use it for yourself.
Rule #36: Write For Your Medium
Here’s a rough draft of a tweet I recently wrote…
“A common excuse people make is that they’re waiting for the ‘right time’. For 95%
of projects, there’s never really a right time to start, so just start now.”
Now, here’s the final draft that I released to my audience…
“The ‘right time’ is a myth.
Just start now.”
The first is wordy and poorly formatted, the second is concise and has a line break.
This is because I’m writing for my medium. The idea is a block of marble. The final
product is the statue. For Twitter, it’s generally best to make that final product
punchy, concise, and easy to consume.
That said, if I were writing a 1000+ word blog post about this subject, I wouldn’t
compress the core idea. Instead, I would expand it, explain it slowly, and bring in a
ton of supporting material. The introduction to that blog post might look like
this…
“‘Life is a little crazy right now. I think I’ll start next year’
Have you ever said something like this to yourself? Maybe your goal was eating
healthier, getting on an exercise routine, or taking up a new hobby. No matter
what, most of us have put something off because we don’t think the timing is
right. What we don’t realize is that the timing is almost never right, so it’s usually
best to just start immediately. In this article, I’ll explain how.”
See the difference? My original idea was 29 words long and nuanced. The tweet
was 9 words and not nuanced. The blog post introduction was 84 words and
introduced the concept slowly. All three are based on the same idea, but each is
written differently to fit the medium we’re publishing on.
Rule #37: Be Deliberate With Your Pacing
Pacing is a concept that many of you probably haven’t heard of. Going back to our
dancing analogy (you are the lead, the reader is your partner), pacing is the style
and speed that you go through the dance. To illustrate this, let’s do a comparison
similar to the one in rule #36. This time, we’ll compare the sales pitches for a
popular software product and a relatively unknown dating program.
First, the headline for the software page…
“Everything you need for your knowledge business.
All in one place.”
I took that from Kajabi’s website. They sell a piece of software that lets you build
courses, landing pages that sell those courses, membership sites, and more. This is
the headline on their website’s homepage. It’s straight to the point and presents
value immediately. Then, they devote only a few hundred more words to the rest
of the pitch. They don’t include a long, emotional story. They don’t list 25 different
benefits. Instead, they use a fast pace to quickly explain why you should try their
extremely popular product, then they make the final ask.
Next, the dating one…
"Free Recorded Message Reveals…
The Amazing Seduction Secrets of A Skinny, Ugly, 6 Foot Geek From Culver City
California That Could Get You All The Girls You Want - No Matter What Your Looks
Or Age"
Below this, there was a long article that was really just a pitch for giving them a
call. If it were a modern sales page, there would probably be 2000-5000 words
going through each pain point and value proposition extremely slowly.
That’s what pacing looks like. Now, let’s talk about how to use it. In general, a fast
pace is best for communicating simple ideas and selling to “hot” audiences that
are familiar with your brand, while a slow pace is best for communicating complex
ideas and selling to “cold” audiences that aren’t familiar.
If I want to use a foundational but somewhat cliché idea to get engagement on
Twitter, I’m going to choose a fast pace. That’s what works on the platform, and
that’s the more appropriate strategy for a simple idea. If I want to talk about an
in-depth topic in my newsletter, I’ll use a slower pace. That will help me
communicate the idea better, and it lends itself more to the low-competition
environment that is email marketing.
If I want to sell to someone who has been following me on Twitter for six months,
my pace will be fast. The sales page I use could just be a straightforward headline,
a quick introduction, value propositions, the details of the offer, then my final ask.
It might be only 1000 words long, and that’s all I need. This is exactly what I do on
Gumroad. My sales pages on there are not impressive, and they don’t need to be.
On the other hand, if I wanted to run paid ads to people who have never heard of
my brand, I’d likely need to use a slower pace. That might start with a headline
that is heavier on interest creation rather than value-explaining. I’d also probably
make that introduction significantly longer and more emotional, I’d devote 2000,
3000, or 5000 words to the page instead of just 1000, and I’d focus more on
having super clean web design, as opposed to using a piece of minimalistic
eCommerce software that doesn’t look very good.
Think about who you’re writing to, what your goal is, and what your medium is.
Then, decide on your pacing. Maybe that’s fast, and you get right to the point.
Maybe that’s slow, and you use a lot of words to create interest and emotion. It all
depends. What matters most is that you know what pacing is and are deliberate
about how you use it.
Rule #38: Make It All Fit Together
I think I wrote my first real essay in fifth grade. My teacher gave me a C+ on it. Her
top critique was that there was no overarching narrative. The paragraphs didn’t fit
together. It was a collection of ideas, not one big idea with various pieces of
evidence supporting it. When writing online, you don’t want to make this mistake.
Here are five tips for avoiding it…
1. Create a Thesis - Every piece of writing makes some sort of argument. If it’s
a sales page, the argument is for buying the product. If it’s social media
content, the argument is for engaging with it. If it’s a blog post, the
argument might be to subscribe to your newsletter. Make sure you have a
clear thesis before you begin, especially with longform writing. What do you
want your audience to do after reading your words? Why do you want them
to do that? What kind of benefit do they get if they do it? These are the
types of questions you should be asking. Let’s put together another
hypothetical sales page as an example. This time, we’re a golf club company
selling our new driver to avid golfers. The thesis is that they should buy it.
2. Create an Outline - If you try to write a long piece of content “off the cuff”,
there’s a good chance it will come out disjointed. That was the big idea in
rule #14 (Outline), and it’s relevant here too. Outlining helps you avoid this
trap, increase clarity, and make the writing experience easier. For our golf
example, let’s use the simple sales page formula I explained in rule #35.
That was a big claim, an emotional story, the offer, proof, and a call to
action. To sell our driver, let’s claim that it will increase any golfer’s distance
by 20 yards (no matter how inexperienced they are). Then, we’ll start with
an emotional story (golf isn’t the most emotional niche, but we’ll do our
best), present benefits, explain features, show proof that the club works,
and call our reader to purchase it.
3. Support Your Thesis - Every sentence in your writing should do something
to prove your thesis. This is the mindset you need to use when creating and
editing content. Don’t write any sentences that don’t prove the thesis, and
if you do, be ruthless in cutting them out. For our example, the story I lead
with, the explanation of the offer, and the proof will support the thesis, and
they’ll all do it in slightly different ways.
4. Use Transitions - Every supporting piece of evidence is a slightly different
angle, and each has a slightly different appeal. You want to make sure that
you transition between them effectively and weave the argument together,
point by point. For our example, the story is an emotional hook that creates
a bit of intrigue. Let’s say that story is about a guy named Steve having the
first shot at his company golf outing and impressing a large crowd of
co-workers with the way he hits the ball. When we move on to the club’s
benefits and features, we want to transition with something simple like,
“Steve’s co-workers thought he was a seasoned golfer, but in reality, he had
just taken up the hobby last month. The real key to his success was his
club”. A simple sentence like this helps us lead our reader to the next point
while keeping our writing smooth and natural.
5. Tie It Together - This will be the entire subject of rule #39, but for now,
understand that an exceptional piece of writing can be completely ruined by
how you finish it. If you want your reader to agree with your thesis, you
have to tie it all together with a strong conclusion. This is where you review
why your thesis is correct, give some final pieces of support (like free
shipping or a refund guarantee), and make the final ask.
My best meta-recommendation for making your writing fit together is to pretend
like you’re doing an in-person sales pitch or presentation. Rambling or presenting
your arguments in a disjointed way will lead to poor results. Instead, you want to
outline, support, transition, and finish strong.
Rule #39: Finish Strong
Have you ever watched a TV show or movie, loved it, then got to the end, and
were extremely disappointed? Almost every Game Of Thrones fan I know says that
the ending wasn’t good. Some of them even say that the final season ruined the
entire show for them.
The point is that even if the introduction and body of a piece of writing are great,
a weak ending will lower your chances of getting your desired result. We can see
this best on sales pages. A company might have an awesome hook that gets the
reader interested, and their explanation of the offer might be extremely
persuasive. Then, you get to the end of the page, and they have a dry call to
action. All that buildup, then disappointment. So, how do we avoid this?
First, you want to review your argument. How long that review is will depend on
how long the page is, but in general, it should be at least three sentences and can
be 500+ words. For a sales page, it should bring your thesis up again, maybe hit
your reader’s top pain point again, remind them of any sort of guarantee you
offer, present some sort of urgency/scarcity, then make the final ask.
To illustrate this in action, here’s a closer for one of my sales pages…
It's Time To Make a Decision
Look, nobody likes to part with their hard-earned cash.
But think about this:
● One viral tweet will deliver more value than you pay
● One client booked will deliver more value than you pay
● One great content idea could make either of those happen for you
Plus, if you're not 100% satisfied, you get your money back.
That means no risk and a reward that could legitimately change your life.
So what are you waiting for?
Choose your preferred package, hit the ‘I Want This!’ button, and let’s get to work.
Warning: As I add more value to it, the cost of this product will rise roughly every
6 months. Order today to receive those updates for free and lock in the lowest
price you'll ever get.
Note: Purchasing and implementing my recommendations immediately gives you
a head start on the competition, which will make things a lot easier (waiting and
procrastinating will make it a lot harder, by the way).
As I mentioned above, my sales pages are relatively short, which is why I went
with a relatively short finish. It still packs a solid persuasive punch. First, I support
my thesis by talking about the return on investment the course delivers. Then, I
note that my refund guarantee protects them from not being satisfied. After that,
I have a call to action, and below that, two notes that increase urgency.
Here’s one more example, this time from my freelancing offer landing page…
It’s Time To Make a Decision
You can ignore Twitter if you want.
You can miss out on all the benefits it delivers.
You can let an untrained social media manager handle it.
Or, you can be the exclusive client of a true expert with proven results.
The choice is yours.
If you’re interested in that last option, then click the button below to book a call.
Let's Do It! (Button)
P.S. I really mean it when I say that you'll get your money back.
In fact, if I don't 10x your impressions in the first month, I'll refund you and send
an extra $200.
This makes our partnership 100% risk-free.
This one is a bit shorter because that landing page is pretty short. It still follows
the guidelines we’ve been discussing. Conclusions to sales pitches generally have
the following elements…
1. Title - Indicate that you’re tying up your argument and that the final ask is
coming. In both my examples, I used “It’s Time To Make a Decision”.
2. Thesis - Next, give a summary of your argument. For my first example, the
thesis is that my reader will get a positive return on investment from the
product, so I explain that it only takes a small amount of results to deliver
that positive ROI.
3. Scarcity - If you can, adding scarcity to your offers is a good idea. In my
second example, I subtly indicate scarcity by calling my clients “exclusive”.
4. Urgency - You also want to tell readers why they should buy now rather
than later. In my first example, I do this with both of the notes after the CTA.
5. Guarantees - Finally, a guarantee can reduce risk and make people more
likely to buy. Both my examples offer a satisfaction guarantee.
Though I’ve mostly talked about sales pages in this section, strong endings apply
to all types of writing. No matter what, you’re going to restate your argument,
then tie things up with a persuasive and artful close. The difference is that a
content closer will probably be “softer” because you’re not selling anything.
How To Start & Progress
Alright, we’ve gone over a lot in this book. You now know a bunch of rules to
follow before you write and while you’re writing. For our last section, let’s talk
about starting your writing project. While some people will read this book just out
of curiosity, the majority will want to use writing for personal and financial gian.
The following rules are for that majority.
Rule #40: Dream Big
I think writing is the world’s best money-making skill. The reason why is leverage.
If you’re a great web designer, you’ll be paid well for your time. If you’re great at
sales, you can close hundreds of deals per year. These are both extremely useful,
but each has a cap on its potential. With writing, there is no limit.
So, dream as big as you’d like. Manage your expectations, but don’t put a cap on
yourself. You can get good enough to sell your writing for $1 or $2 or even $5 per
word. You can build a social media following of 500,000 people. You can sell
100,000 copies of your book. Online, words can be replicated for free. In print, it
only costs a couple of bucks. This means you have endless potential.
Now, it’s perfectly okay to not have massive goals for your income or impact. If
you just want to get a bit better at writing, that’s cool too. But, if you have big
dreams, don’t convince yourself to lower them. You can simultaneously chase a
big dream and be happy with where you are now. All it takes is emotional
intelligence and the ability to compartmentalize.
My final note here is that if you have big dreams, you may have a tendency
towards procrastination or inaction. Looking up at a massive peak from the
bottom can be scary. Our next rule will help you conquer that fear and take your
big hike one step at a time.
Rule #41: Start Small
How can we make chasing big dreams more manageable? The key is breaking it
down and taking things one day at a time. Here’s how…
1. You start with your big goal. At the time of writing this, mine is to have a
paid newsletter with 10,000 subscribers paying me $15 per month. For you,
that might be selling 1,000,000 copies of your book, or maybe it’s becoming
a $100K/yr freelance writer.
2. Next, you break that goal into smaller goals. For my example, I need to get
my combined social media following above 150,000, get my free email list
above 20,000 subscribers, start that paid newsletter, get my first 500
subscribers for it, then continue to market it.
3. Now things are looking a bit more manageable. Let’s do even better by
breaking those goals down into tasks. Using my example again, I need to
create content every day to get my following up, plug my email list beneath
my most viral tweets to build it faster, create my paid newsletter, create a
marketing plan for it, and market my way to those first 500 subscribers.
4. The second to last step is systemizing. Rather than just say that I want to
create content every day, I write a week’s worth of tweets every Monday
morning, I turn them into Instagram posts every Friday afternoon, I plug my
free newsletter on Twitter every day, and I spend 15 minutes a day working
on the software systems behind the paid newsletter.
5. Now that I have my tasks and systems in order, all I have to do is execute,
get better every day, and be patient. There will be some willpower involved
in this, but when you have everything written down and systemized, moving
forward is significantly easier.
A lot of people have massive goals. Almost none of them end up getting what they
want. Following this simple process separates you from the pack.
Rule #42: Choose The Right Platforms
Every social media platform has its strengths and weaknesses. Every social media
platform also lends itself to different types of content creators. Let’s go through
the specifics of some of the most common ones…
● Twitter - This platform responds well to daily short-form content. It also
responds well to some longer content in the form of threads. The ROI on
content tends to be low, but with the low amount of effort needed and the
chance of going viral, it’s probably the best platform out there for writers.
● LinkedIn - This platform is very similar to Twitter, but it responds better to
medium-length content and staying on topic almost all the time. I basically
just copy-paste my tweets there. Twitter and LinkedIn are perfect
complementary platforms for writers.
● Blogging - This strategy responds well to longer, higher-effort content
creation. Blogs are great for showcasing your writing, but you need to
generate traffic for them. You can do so with SEO and social media. If you
like longform writing and have patience, this is a great option.
● Email - Just like blogging, you’ll have to use social media, SEO, or paid traffic
to collect people’s emails. Once you do, you can nurture them with a
combination of high-value content and sales pitches.
● Instagram - Growth on this platform starts slow, but if you’re willing to
invest in it, you can see massive benefits. The content on here tends to be
short and highly visual. If you decide to create content on Twitter, you can
turn your tweets into Instagram posts by hiring a designer or using a piece
of software that makes design cheap/easy.
● TikTok - Organic growth on this platform is insane right now. If you’re
comfortable on camera, you can create video content. If not, you can create
short, impersonal videos that feature your writing with a cool background.
● Pinterest - If you’re blogging, optimizing for Google searches isn’t the only
way to get found. You can also do it on Pinterest. This involves doing
research, writing great content, SEO-optimizing your pin, and designing a
photo that will attract attention.
● Facebook - This is another platform that I don’t have a ton of experience
with. Many people say “organic growth is dead” on Facebook, but do your
own research.
● Freelancing - Though it’s not a social media platform, many of you will be
interested in selling your writing as a freelancer. Of all the options out
there, cold email, LinkedIn, and Upwork have had the highest return on
investment for me. Upwork is great for getting hot prospects, but the
competition is high. The other two are great for selling high-priced (and
preferably recurring) services to businesses. You can also obtain clients
through cold outreach, content creation, or a combination of both on other
social media platforms.
● eCommerce - Again, though this isn’t a social media platform, it’s another
way to get paid for your writing. eCommerce could be a 300-page book on
its own, but the basics are choosing an audience to serve, choosing a
product (preferably one that solves a problem), building your store, and
generating traffic through social media, SEO, and paid ads.
My biggest piece of advice, though, is to settle on an exact strategy and focus just
on that. If you try to freelance, create content on every platform, and build an
eCommerce store all at the same time, you’re going to spread yourself too thin.
Instead, think about what you might be good at, what you want, and which paths
you can synthesize into a firm plan.
For me, that started with freelancing for two years, then creating content. You
don’t have to take the same path I did, but you do need a path. Making progress is
impossible when you don’t know where you’re going. Once you do, you can create
systems that make getting results easier.
Rule #43: Publish Regularly
Have you heard the famous story of the tortoise and the hare? If not, the lesson
was that “slow and steady wins the race”. Perhaps more accurately, constantly
stopping and starting will ensure that you lose whatever race you’re in.
This timeless lesson applies perfectly to the online writing game, and there are
four reasons why…
1. Algorithms - Social media and search engine algorithms give you more
attention when you’re getting attention. That means if you want to build
your platform and enjoy explosive growth, you have to keep showing up.
Dead social media accounts get forgotten by the algorithm, and it can be
difficult to bring them back to life. You need to build momentum, and the
only way to do that is publishing regularly.
2. Psychology - Just like social media, your energy and motivation also rely on
momentum. When you stop writing, you get rusty and complacent. When
you get rusty and complacent, you’re more likely to stay in that rut. On the
other side, when you’re publishing often, you’re more likely to keep
publishing. At the end of the day, writing is just another positive lifestyle
habit, so you can use habit-creation concepts to adopt it.
3. Nurturing - If you want your audience to keep engaging with your writing,
you need to nurture them. That generally involves delivering value at
regular intervals. Whether it’s five times a day on Twitter or once a week
with your newsletter, you have to keep publishing.
4. Skills - Finally, the best way to build your writing skills is to put words on the
page every day or close to it. Publishing regularly builds skills quickly.
No matter how good the rules in this book are, they’re worthless without action.
So, choose a plan, get to work, and execute almost every day.
Rule #44: Judge Yourself On Effort
When I started freelance writing, business came in slowly. This is how things start
for most people. Naturally, I was feeling a bit discouraged about my lack of results.
Then, I reached out to an influencer in the service business space, and he gave me
a mindset shift that I’ll never forget…
“Results always lag behind doing the work. Don’t judge yourself by how much
money you’re making every week. Instead, judge yourself on how much outreach
and studying you’re doing.”
Let’s break that down. Anyone who has chased a big goal before knows that his
first sentence is a deep truth. Even people who have just chased a small goal have
experienced this initial resistance. His second and third sentences provide a
valuable mindset shift. That is, at the beginning, to judge yourself on executing
good habits rather than getting good results. While this is easier said than done,
it’s the right approach.
Of course, I wouldn’t tell you this if it didn’t apply to writing. In this domain, the
results are the pieces of writing you create. These will be bad at the start. They
might even be terrible. Rather than focusing on results, you want to judge yourself
based on the tasks that lead to getting better results…
1. Study - While most of your progress will come from writing, study is
another important piece of the skill-building puzzle. Whether it’s this book,
a blog post, or a YouTube series, give yourself credit for learning.
2. Practice - More importantly, give yourself credit for practicing. That can be a
100-word answer to a journaling prompt in the morning, a 1000-word blog
post, some client work, or a day’s worth of social media content. Don’t
think you need to be a master right away. Just put words on the page. Do
this enough, and results will follow.
Rule #45: Then Judge Yourself On Results
Rule #44 is great for beginners and people who aren’t interested in making money
with their writing. If you aren’t in those camps, then you eventually have to move
on to rule #45. Here’s why…
● Building an audience requires content that resonates
● Build an eCommerce business requires converting copywriting
● Selling writing as a freelancer requires delivering results to clients
Judging yourself based on effort is a mindset hack that we use early on to protect
ourselves. It’s insurance against giving up because being bad at something is such
an uncomfortable experience.
The first stage in mastery is establishing good habits. For writing, that might be 15
minutes of study and 20 minutes of practice every day. To nail it down precisely,
that might be 15 minutes of reading a book every day and 20 minutes of writing
an answer to a daily prompt.
Once you get over this crucial hump, you need feedback. Think back to when you
were in school. You were assigned an essay, you did your best, handed it in to the
teacher, and got it back a week later with a grade. If it was an A or a B, you knew
you did pretty good. If it was lower, you knew you had work to do.
When writing online, it’s not one person who grades you. Instead, it’s your entire
audience. For example, I send out five tweets a day. Each time, the Twitter
algorithm pushes my content out to a small group of followers. If they engage with
it, Twitter sends it out to even more. If they don’t, my reach is limited.
This instant feedback tells me which kinds of content work and which kinds don’t.
The same goes for a client not getting results or an eCommerce store not
converting. These concrete results are your greatest teacher. Use them.
Rule #46: Forgive Yourself For Being Bad
The first thing I ever wrote (that I cared about) was a short story. It was maybe 20
pages long. I sent it to a few people in my life who liked reading and writing. They
said they’d check it out and give me feedback. Then, I waited…and waited…and
waited. The feedback never came. My guess for why is simple: it was bad. They
either read it and didn’t like it, or they liked it so little that they didn’t even finish.
My first freelancing job was writing blog posts for a real estate investing company.
I thought up a subject and pitched it to my client. He rejected it and gave me a
new one. I wrote a first draft and emailed it to my client. He sent it back with
about 25 notes and revisions. That one post was set to pay me $40. I spent 1.5
hours writing it, then another hour editing before he begrudgingly approved the
delivery. Later, I checked the site, and my client had rewritten it completely.
If you’re just starting out as a writer, you’re going to have experiences like this.
Nobody knocks it out of the park their first time. In fact, the vast majority of
people struggle for months or even years. Here’s how my progression went after I
started as a freelancer (each phase took about three months)…
● Phase #1 - Struggling to write coherent blog posts for $20 an hour
● Phase #2 - Writing websites with clear copy but little persuasion
● Phase #3 - Mastering simple websites but no success with sales copy
● Phase #4 - Getting pretty good with sales copy
● Phase #5 - Becoming skilled enough to charge $150/hr
I went through a similar progression with content. Bad to start, then decent, then
better. That journey took about a year to master. Just like me, you’re going to
struggle at the start. Forgive yourself for being bad. It really is okay. Don’t stress.
Just keep growing and getting better. Being bad is temporary. You will break
through, and when you do, it will start to get easy.
Rule #47: But Be Your Harshest Critic
We just went over how I gave my early writing to a few people and never heard
back from them. In a way, this might have been lucky. The reason is that people
who love you tend to sugarcoat things. If you create art and show it to them,
there’s a good chance they will say they like it no matter what.
The same goes for many writing and entrepreneurial communities online. Staying
committed is so tough that people often choose to pump you up instead of being
honest with you. Then, when you get better, they treat you like you’re truly
special, even if you’re actually just pretty good.
The solution to this problem is being your harshest critic. Assume that other
people aren’t being 100% honest with you. More importantly, realize that your
dreams for yourself are likely much bigger than their dreams for you. Ten years
ago, people in my life probably thought that I might have just stumbled on a fun
hobby. I wanted to make millions with my writing. If I had just listened to them
and their kind words, I would have never pushed myself higher.
This principle actually applies to much more than writing. If you want to succeed,
you have to find the perfect balance between pushing yourself and accepting
yourself. Too much push leads to confidence issues and burnout. Too much
acceptance leads to never growing into the person you want to be.
So, treat yourself like a coach would. When you’re getting too comfortable, be a
critic. Respectfully tell yourself that you’re not doing enough, then make a plan to
fix it. When you’re getting too burned out, be a fan. Remind yourself of the
progress you’ve made already and give yourself credit for it.
Though much of this book is about pleasing an audience, 95% of the writing
journey is done alone. That’s why you need to be your own critic and coach.
Rule #48: Listen To Your Audience
The word “audience” covers every person who reads your words. That includes
social media followers, potential clients, website visitors, coworkers, recruiters for
the company you want to work at, and more. The beauty of having an audience is
that they’re the ultimate source of feedback.
First, some examples from my career…
● Prospects - Historically, my number one way of getting clients has been cold
email. The software I use to do this provides basic analytics for the emails I
send out, with “reply rate” being the most important. In my first year of
freelancing, I used generic, copy-pasted messages, and my reply rate was
low. Then, I started using personalized messages, and my reply rate shot up.
My audience didn’t react well to my emails, so I adjusted them until they
started reacting better.
● Clients - Every time I submitted work to a client, they would provide
feedback. Usually, they were either 100% satisfied or had just one or two
revision requests. Sometimes, they had tons of revision requests or we
were so far off that they wanted a refund. As time went on, I identified the
mistakes I was making in both client selection and the writing I was doing,
and I was able to pull my success rate up.
● Social Media Audience - When I started building social media pages, I
created content every day. Within 20 minutes of posting that content, I
knew which tweets/photos were getting solid engagement and which
weren’t. I would make a mental note every time this happened. After
roughly six months, I had a clear idea of what my audience liked and what
they didn’t. Then, I could keep creating the high-engagement stuff and cut
out the stuff that wasn’t getting good results.
Second, some examples that might be more relevant to you…
● Your Coworkers - If you write for work, gauge the reaction you get from
coworkers and higher-ups. For some pieces of writing, almost nobody will
react, but for others, they might give you a small compliment or critique.
Take these, decide if they’re worth listening to, then act accordingly.
● Prospective Employers - If you’re applying for jobs, the writing on your
resume and cover letter is crucial. Watch how your prospective employers
react to them. Being ignored could be an indication that your writing isn’t
working (though it’s hard to tell). The better source of information is paying
attention to little comments they make, whether those are good or bad.
You can also talk to a professional resume and cover letter consultant about
what they think.
● eCommerce Customers - If you get into eCommerce, the data you collect
from your audience is extremely valuable. One example is the conversion
rate of your website. If it’s low, you’re either attracting a low-quality
audience or something is wrong with your offer. Another example is “cost
per click”, which tells you how much you’re paying to get someone on your
site. If that number is above average, your ads need improvements. If it’s
below average, you know that your writing is working.
● Blog Readers - Blogging is a lot like eCommerce, except instead of selling a
product, you’re selling ideas. A metric like “time spent on page” is a great
source of feedback. If it’s long (relative to the length of the article), you
know your readers are engaged. If it’s short, you know that your readers are
losing interest quickly.
Ultimately, you need some sort of data to improve your writing. The best form of
it is feedback, whether that’s from a social media audience, website visitors, blog
readers, coworkers, prospective employers, or anyone else. Listen to your
audience, and you’ll level up quickly.
Rule #49: Have Patience
My freelancing career started with writing blog posts for pennies per word. It took
many months for me to get my skills up, get out of the low-priced blogging space,
and start doing writing that paid much better.
My social media career started with tweeting at a wall. Then, I started to get a bit
more attention, my growth went from linear to exponential, and my success
exploded over the course of two years.
Getting better at writing takes time. Getting better at selling your writing services
takes time. Getting better at creating content takes time. Amassing social media
followers takes time. Everything worth doing takes time.
If you aren’t patient, you’re never going to make it. Instead, you’ll be like so many
other people who want to level up in life. You’ll try one thing for a while, then hop
to another thing, and then another.
The fix for this comes in two parts. First, you have to decide if writing is the
correct path for you. I can’t tell you either way. Instead, you’ll have to look deep
down and make a decision.
Second, you have to use patience appropriately. The way I see it, you want to be
impatient with getting your daily tasks done but patient with getting your results.
This relates to the last few rules we’ve gone over. Make sure you’re getting the
work done every day, whether that’s learning, creating content, writing landing
pages, finding clients, or whatever else. At the same time, don’t expect to become
a success story in three or even six months. A more realistic timeline is two or
three years. That’s a long time, but understand that the time is going to pass
anyway. You can either pass the time and never get better, or you can make moves
and be patient. You know which one to choose.
Rule #50: Don’t Give Up
One of the hardest decisions we make in life is whether we want to give up or
keep going. I can’t tell you if writing is something you should pursue for life or
move on from, but I can help with the way you approach this decision.
Before you start any project, you should have a thesis. For example, if you decide
to start eating healthier, your thesis might be…
“If I eat healthier, I will be happier, more energetic, and more attractive. This will
vastly improve my life, so it is worth pursuing.”
That thesis is so solid that it will never be disproven. Nobody regrets going from
unhealthy to healthy. There is no debate here. Your writing goals are less black
and white, so your thesis becomes more important.
Here’s mine from when I started…
“I have a natural inclination towards writing. I also understand that most people
and companies are not good at it, so if I can sell my work effectively and stick with
it long enough, I will be successful.”
This thesis gets proven more and more each day. That said, it could be disproven.
A basic example would be artificial intelligence getting so good that human writers
become obsolete. Only then would I consider giving up.
I suggest you write out a thesis for why you want to get better at writing. Do it
right after you finish this book. Do you have a natural inclination? Do you have a
passion for it? Are you willing to work for years before becoming successful? What
exactly do you want, and why are you going to get it?
Once you have a clear thesis written down, don’t give up unless it gets disproven
or you find another opportunity that is legitimately better.
Conclusion
Writing well is magic. I really mean that, and there are two reasons why. First, it
leads to immense personal gain. You can…
● Sell it as a freelancer
● Use it to advance your career
● Use it to build an eCommerce business
● Use it to build an audience on social media
● Use it to think better and further your understanding of yourself
The second reason is that it is infinitely scalable. If I start a company that makes
office chairs, I can only make so many chairs before I run out of plastic. More
importantly, I’m not making much of an impact on the world. That’s fine, but
many of us want to connect with and help people.
For that, we have to use content, and the written word is one of the simplest and
most powerful forms of it. I’m going to sell this book thousands and thousands of
times. On my Twitter page, @WritingToRiches, my tweets get seen by literally
millions of people every month. That’s real impact, and it’s only getting bigger.
If you can create something that emotionally affects people, you have limitless
power. You can write a sales page that makes you $1 million over the span of a few
years. You can sell a book a million times. You can get a million followers on social
media. All those people can share and recommend your writing to millions of
other people—for free.
Or, maybe you just want to write better in your journal or warm your family’s
hearts with some well-written text messages. Regardless, after reading this book,
you have 50 rules to guide you through the process. Now it’s time to go apply
them and become the writer you were meant to be. Have at it.
Bonus: Recommended Resources
Though this book is useful, there are many other resources (like books, blogs, and
SaaS products) that can help too. Let’s go through a few of my favorite tools, a few
that I don’t use regularly but have been recommended to me many times, and a
few sources of information.
Ones I Use Almost Every Day
1. Power Thesaurus - This is easily the best thesaurus I’ve used, largely
because it tailors its recommendations to the behavior of its users. This
means you get the most relevant words, not a random list of ones that may
or may not work. You can also filter by word type (noun, verb, etc), get
antonyms, and see words used in sentences.
2. Grammarly - I like Grammarly because it helps you catch typos. That being
said, I don’t recommend taking all of its suggestions, as they can remove
the personality from your writing. Definitely use it for blatant mistakes, then
be choosy with accepting or denying everything else.
3. Google Docs - Every piece of copy I’ve ever written was in Google Docs. I
also use Google Drive to store videos and spreadsheets. It being connected
to the cloud means never worrying about something not being saved, and
unlike most word processors, it’s free.
4. Evernote - I use Evernote to store frequently used links and jot down quick
notes (as opposed to using it as a word processor). This is another tool that
runs on the cloud, meaning you never have to save your writing or worry
about losing it to a computer malfunction.
5. ToDoist - Every person on Earth should have a to-do list, and if you’re trying
to make a living as a writer, it’s absolutely necessary. ToDoist is my favorite
tool for this because it’s very minimalistic and easy to use. Notion is another
popular one to check out.
6. WordCounter - This simple tool tells you how many words and characters a
piece of writing has in it. Getting that information can be very useful for
content creation and client work.
7. Social Media - Tweet Hunter, Taplio, and TweetPik.
8. Sales Funnels - Kajabi, ConvertKit, Carrd, and Webflow.
9. Freelancing - Snov.
Ones I Use Occasionally Or Have Heard Great Things About
1. Hemingway - This is another app, like Grammarly, that you can’t listen to
100% of the time. That is especially true when copywriting, as it will take
away “power words” that help you persuade. Still, it’s a nice tool for
simplifying your writing, especially for beginners.
2. ChatGPT - At the time I’m writing this, I don’t think AI is ready to write
content. Especially not personal brand content. You can still use chatbots
like this to save time, though. I sometimes use ChatGPT to get content ideas
and do research. Chatsonic and other alternatives work too.
3. Canva - This graphic design tool is great for when you need to add visuals to
your writing. One example is turning your written content into Instagram
posts. Canva can help you create professional-looking visuals without the
professional price tag.
4. Ahrefs - SEO isn’t part of what I do for my business. Still, it’s a fantastic
traffic source for people who are willing to put in the work and stay patient.
Ahrefs is one of the most popular pieces of software for helping you
optimize your content and get found on search engines.
5. Ulysses - As I wrote above, I prefer writing in Google Docs and occasionally
in Evernote. Other people do better with Ulysses, which is a more
minimalistic app. The idea is that with no tabs and other distractions on
your page, you’ll be able to focus and write better.
6. 750words.com - This is a program that helps you write 750 words every day.
I haven’t tried it out myself, so I don’t know the specifics. If you want a
structured way of getting into the writing habit, maybe this will help.
7. Writing/Marketing Content - Hubspot, Social Media Examiner, Sprout
Social, Neil Patel, Copyhackers, Copyblogger, Make a Living Writing, and
Goins Writer are good places to start. Their content tends to be a bit basic,
but if you’re a beginner, it can really help. You can also do YouTube searches
to get basic info like this.
8. Writing Books - My copywriting favorites include Scientific Advertising,
Ca$hvertising, Influence, and The Boron Letters. On the content side, On
Writing Well and Everybody Writes have come highly recommended.
My final note here is that resources and tools alone will not make you a great
writer. Their purpose is catching your mistakes and making things easier. Beyond
that, they won’t significantly move the needle. Once you learn the core principles,
you’re going to have to create something magical, all on your own.
Keep putting the work in, day after day, word after word, until you win.