Hire a copywriter or do it yourself?

[ladan]

I've seen many Internet marketing gurus write their sales letters themselves and are very good at it...

On the other hand, I've seen many other gurus hire a professional copywriter to do it for them.

So which one do you think is best for your business as an Internet marketer?

Recently I've been thinking about hiring a copywriter to write a sales letter for my ebook. I did quite a deep research and found some good copywriters who do a great job, but I'm not sure about this whole idea yet.

What do YOU think? Is it better for your business to learn how to write killer sales copy yourself - even though it will take time and you might not master this skill as a top-gun copywriter has?

Or is it better to seek the help of a great copywriter and let him do all the work for you and bring you high conversion rates quickly - even though it means you have to pay him some thousands of dollars and also depend on another person's skills and don't learn it yourself?

Thanks,

Ladan

[aaron lozier]

i think you've answered your own question, Ladan...

frankly, you are a quite capable writer. i can tell this by reading your post. take some of examples you have found online of the kind of writing you appreciate, and re-work them to reflect your own content and style. soon you will find your own voice.

in my opinion, it is always best to learn how to do things yourself, especially if you are working with limited capital. eventually the time will come when you have plenty of money coming in and there is no way you have the time to do it all. that is the time to start recruiting others to join your team.

so, my opinion, based on what you have said, is DIY. do it yourself!

[BinkyMelnik]

Ladan:

Is it better for your business to learn how to write killer sales copy yourself - even though it will take time and you might not master this skill as a top-gun copywriter has?

I'm here to counter what Aaron has said. Is it better for your business to learn how to run a printing press so you can print your own business cards and letterhead, even if you might not master this skill as a top-gun printer has? Is it better for your eBay item-selling business to stop what you're doing and learn how to use Photoshop, Fireworks, HTML, CSS, and Perl so you can build you own web sites and do a passable job when you can hire someone who'll do a bang-up job for you in just a few days?

Why not concentrate on what it is you do, and leave the stuff you don't do to the people who do do those things? (I know; that was a lotta doodoo in that one sentence!) You don't bone up on dentistry and medicine so you can fix your teeth and remove your appendix, right? There's a reason those copywriters get the big bux!

[ladan]

Thank you Aaron and Binky for sharing your opinion.

Originally Posted by BinkyMelnik

Why not concentrate on what it is you do, and leave the stuff you don't do to the people who do do those things?

Actually I too do "those things" every day because copywriting IS a part of my business. I use copywriting techniques in my articles, email promotions, JV offers, and so on. I believe marketing is all about copywriting in some way.

So it's something I'm very familiar with. Actually I've already written a sales letter for my ebook. I just want to improve it to increase the conversion rate.

Originally Posted by BinkyMelnik

You don't bone up on dentistry and medicine so you can fix your teeth and remove your appendix, right?

True, but dentistry is totally different from copywriting. Dentistry is not a part of my business. It's not my hobby. It's not something I'm familiar with even a little bit.

The bottom line is, I think it's best to learn to write powerful copy yourself because it's a valuable skill that you can use in many parts of your business.

Someone gave me a great suggestion. She said I can do my best and write a sales letter, then pay a professional copywriter to provide me with some critiques and suggestions to improve it. So not only my sales letter will improve, but also I'll learn valuable skills that I can use in my future copy.

Thank you,

Ladan

[BinkyMelnik]

Ladan:

copywriting IS a part of my business. I use copywriting techniques in my articles, email promotions, JV offers, and so on

Oh. I didn't know that. Grrrrr. You made me go and type a buncha stuff for nothing! :-\

I think it's best to learn to write powerful copy yourself

In theory, yeah, but let's face it: some folks simply can't write, any more than they can draw a stick figure. It just ain't in everyone. But fer sure, for folks with a modicum of talent and who're interested in doing it, your friend's suggestion is a good one! I'm all for saving some money and learning something at the same time, so I'd love to take a stab at it and then let a real copywriter tell me what I did all wrong!

If only more people'd do that. I see sooooo many sales pages that I sit here and think, "Yuck! Bluch! Are you kidding me or what?!"

[ladan]

Originally Posted by BinkyMelnik

Grrrrr. You made me go and type a buncha stuff for nothing! :-\

No, not for nothing. Let's look at the bright side: This thread will keep in this forum forever and more and more people will read your suggestion. Many of them have the same question as I did but are not familiar with copywriting at all, so they will highly benefit from what you said.

That's the beauty of forums: your advice remains to help more and more people forever.

let's face it: some folks simply can't write

I don't know about that, Binky. I believe everyone can learn to do everything. It's just the matter of having the passion to learn it.

I see sooooo many sales pages that I sit here and think, "Yuck! Bluch! Are you kidding me or what?!"

Yes, I've seen these types of sales letters too. But I think these people don't know much about copywriting NOT because they just can't do it, but because they haven't learned to do it - mostly because they don't know how important having a powerful sales letter is.

Ladan

[UBF]

Great thread you have here. I admit that I have a "Yuck" sales letter (still the first draft). I've tried to learn what to put in a good sales letter (so that it builds up to a sale) but it is still not converting as expected.

What is the best way to learn? Post, track, edit, track, edit, track.....
If you have any links to pages explaining about writing good sales copy please share

Thanks.

[ladan]

Hi Mikael,

Here are 3 great free resources to learn how to write effective copy:

Michel Fortin's articles
Copywriters' Board - awesome forum where many top-gun copywriters hang out and share their advice with you. I discovered this treasure just recently.
Dan Lok's articles

Also if anyone else knows other great resources to learn copywriting, please share them here.

During these years that I've been working and learning online, I discovered a very powerful secret to learn how to write profit-pulling sales letters:

Study the sales letters of big gurus and top-gun copywriters part by part and you're guaranteed to discover many mind-blowing techniques to use in your own sales letter to multiple your sales.

Try it and you'll be amazed how much you'll learn.

Best wishes,

Ladan

[BinkyMelnik]

Mikael:

Here's one more link to add to Ladan's terrific list: The Emotional Marketing Value Headline Analyzer.

http://www.aminstitute.com/headline/

[UBF]

Thanks. Great resources - hours of reading

Just watched the 15min video where Michel does the "headline makeover". It seems so simple and yet its not. Amazing!

[MarketJunction]

If you are serious about the craft, the best steps are some you already mentioned.

- Study and diagram ad copy. See what motivates you.
- Read some books. There are many great books out there.
- Take a course. (college or secondary market)

Once you start doing it, note what works and what doesn't. If you are not good at it, hire someone.

[MarketJunction]

BTW, thanks for the EMV link. I entered one of my headlines and got a score of 70%.

I won't put in any more though, because I suspect this "tool" saves headlines.