Wednesday, September 14, 2011

A Copywriting Course With A Difference

Hi All,

Well wouldn't you just believe it! No posts for months and then two come along at once...

Well I just had to tell you about this because it's absolutely unique. After years of deliberation and procrastination I've finally done it.

I've just completed and now launched my Art of Copywriting course. Yes, it's a copywriting course... but like no other. With many other online courses you are sent a manual with a few exercises to complete. And with many offline courses you attend a one-day training session and pay up to £500 for the privilege.

Well my course is not like that...

There are 10 modules, which cover everything about copywriting and just as much about marketing techniques and strategies. This course is so in-depth it takes 10 months to complete.

And believe me... at the end of it the student will know everything I know. They will be primed to go out and start earning a living as a freelance copywriter. I even give advice about securing paid work and setting up a website.

I know that there is no other course like this because I've checked.

But make no mistake! This is not some mamby pamby, glossed over ebook packed with useless filler material. This is the real thing. At times it will be intense and it WILL be hard work. But for anyone seriously considering a career in copywriting, my course will be well worth the effort and expense.

Oh yes! You have to pay for it. A monthly instalment plan over 10 months. Students have access to my email and can phone me for help and advice. This course is going to take up much of my time but I'm willing to put in the time and effort as long as my students are too.

Realistically I can only manage to teach 10 students at a time. So if you're interested you'll have to be quick and enroll asap.

First thing to do is visit my dedicated website and find out more. Download information about the course modules and get yourself a free copywriting ebook.

Don't leave it too late... this could seriously change your life forever!

Till next time.

Bill

Video Marketing Rocks!

Hi All,

Well I'm glad to say that my video marketing service to small businesses, BusyVids, has been very well received.

We are now offering 2 levels of service. A one-minute video and a two-minute video option. Of course we will do longer if required but obviously it will cost more. We now have a choice of 4 voiceovers specialists to read the scripts and there's a whole library of back ground music.

Considering this video marketing service was only launched in April this year, it has really captured the imagination. And of course the results speak for themselves. About 95% of all videos we have produced have made it into the top 10 of Google's YouTube search results and many have made it onto the first page of Google search for the selected keywords.

Of course having a video climbing up the rankings like this also has a very beneficial effect on the actual website it is promoting. If the website is well optimised for the search engines then the promo video will help it gain a more prominent position in the general search.

A promo video can also be used to increase awareness of a company's products and services, and not only on YouTube. Videos are portable and can be shared on all the social networking sites as well as all the video sharing websites. It really does make a lot of sense for any business to have a marketing video created and uploaded to YouTube.

The most amazing thing about video marketing is its versatility. A video can be created to promote a whole website, a single product on the website or any kind of service that the company is offering. With a video you can target a local market or a regional market as well as national and international markets. It's perfect for promoting anything to just about anyone. And a video is much more acceptable to a market audience than any other kind of ad is, especially those old banner ads.

Watch this short promo video I have made to promote the service:



To find out more about BusyVids just nip over to the website here, read the information and watch the demo videos. Video marketing for any kind of business is a complete no-brainer! 

Till next time! 

Bill  
www.busyvids.com

Friday, April 22, 2011

Video Marketing At Last!

Hi all,

As you're probably aware I've been harping on about video marketing for years. However, just over 13 months ago I realised that video marketing was going to be big, I mean BIG! Much BIGGER than I originally thought, so I started experimenting. My self and Dave, my graphics designer looked into what professional video producers were charging for their services, how many clients they were getting and how the finished videos were faring in the search engines and on the video sharing sites.

At the same time we were creating our own videos, in various formats and uploading them to our websites and all the video sharing sites like YouTube and Metacafe etc.

Okay so here are our findings...

Almost all of the really expensive video productions didn't do much better than the cheapy ones we created in terms of popularity and driving traffic to websites.

So, we set about creating the perfect, or near perfect video ad at a price all businesses could afford. But our videos had to perform. I mean they had to get into the search engines and they had to drive traffic to our client's websites, otherwise what would be the point?

We listed a number of parameters and goals, which our videos must achieve and then set about creating all kinds of examples. We opened up 4 YouTube accounts and an account with Tubemogul so we could post our videos all over the Internet.

We tried using various screen capture software and settled for Camtasia as it had the most features and was relatively easy to use. We produced short videos, long videos and powerpoint videos. We used soundtracks on some and no audio on others. On some we used voiceovers and on some we just used text.

We tried promoting CPA products, Clickbank products and our own products and services. We logged everything we did and we tweaked and tested everything. We learned a lot of very interesting stuff along the way, but most of all we finally figured out what worked and what didn't.

During our testing and tweaking YouTube took down 2 of our videos and we received written warnings. One of our accounts was closed down completely for violating YouTube's terms and conditions. So facing a total ban we had to be careful. It was a wise move to create 4 different YT accounts and to use computers with different IP addresses, otherwise we would have been in real trouble.

So, after 13 months of trials, tribulations, late nights, lots of writing, lots of coffee, lots of swearing, drinking laughing, joking and falling asleep at the computer we were certain that we had cracked it.

We bought a great domain name, busyvids.com and .net, .org and the .info variations and Tom, my web design guy created the website with Dave's help. I wrote all the copy and we went to work on getting some clients. That was just about 4 weeks ago now and BusyVids is going from strength to strength.

Our videos do all that we say they do and more.

If you're in any kind of business and you want free traffic to your website and higher ranking for your website in the search engines then a BusyVid video is an absolute "must have".

We have kept the price very affordable because we know that our clients will want more of them when they see how powerful they are. We have created some proof videos and other demos and put them on our website so you can go and watch them. Seriously guys this is amazing and you really should consider having a video created if you want to dominate your market.

Well, that's the story. To read about the service in detail and to see for yourself how it all works, visit our BusyVids website now. BusyVids.com

Don't miss this opportunity to make your website earn you a living.

All the best,

Bill
www.BusyVids.com

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Who Else Wants To Start A Home-Based Business?

As always and without fail, every January and February I get asked the same question. Can you really make money on the Internet? And my answer is always the same... YES!

Many people like the idea of working from home and earning a living from their laptops. The very thought of not having to commute to and from a place of work, being their own boss and being able to work at a desk, or even a kitchen table, wearing nothing more than a dressing gown has much appeal.

However, after considering the inevitable questions like… How do I get started? What will I sell? And, how will I get paid? Many people simply give up the idea. So, is it really possible for anyone to set up their own business working from home? Well, in a word… yes.

Buy It, Sell It, Love It

There are a number of proven ways to earn money on the Internet, including eBay, affiliate programs and developing and selling your own product. So, let’s look at these in a little more detail.

It’s completely free to set up an eBay account and you can sell just about anything, from the contents of your attic to cars and even multi-million dollar yachts. The main advantages of selling on eBay are you can reach a worldwide audience and you won’t have to pay a single penny in advertising costs. Also, you don’t need a website and you get paid for your items upfront.

And it’s not only work-at-home mums, students and OAPs who can make money with eBay. It’s suitable for just about anyone of any age and experience. Even small established companies can see the benefits of having an eBay account, as a means for offloading surplus stock.

It’s true that many eBay sellers just dabble in a few household wares and collectibles, which unfortunately has helped to create the image that eBay is not a serious business option. However, whilst many people have managed to create a real part-time business on eBay, a few savvy traders have gone on to make millions.

The key to making eBay work and generate enough money to be able to earn a full-time income is to source a variety of dropshippers. These are wholesalers who can not only provide you with an endless supply of goods to sell, but will pack and post the items direct to your customers.

If all you ever had to do to make a full-time income from home was to create a few eye-catching listings and then pay your supplier and eBay fees, wouldn’t that be worth checking out?

Affiliate Programs

Setting up an affiliate business is probably one of the easiest and potentially the most profitable of all work-at-home options. You don’t need any products of your own and you don’t need a website, although you might have to invest some money in advertising.

As an affiliate you simply promote other people’s products and you are then paid a commission for each sale. Commission payments can be as high as 75% in some cases and there are many US based affiliates who have managed to create a six-figure income from simply doing this.

Affiliate programs work well for both the product owner and the affiliate. And the reason why is because the Internet is vast, which can make it difficult and costly for the product owner to reach enough people in order to make sufficient volume of sales. So it’s better to recruit an army of other people to sell the product for you and pay them well for doing it.

Many affiliates promote these products either using Google’s pay-per-click advertising or by placing ads in ezines, which are the Internet’s equivalent of a printed magazine.

The most successful affiliates have built large databases of prospects by offering them free products, usually ebooks, in return for their names and emails. Any seasoned Internet marketer will tell you that “the money is in the list”.

You can sign up as an affiliate for free at Clickbank.com, PayDotCom.com and Click2Sell.eu. Many of the products in these programs offer commission payments of between 50% and 75%. Other affiliate programs worth considering are, Commission Junction and Affiliate Future.

Probably the most important thing to study and learn about promoting any kind of product on the Internet is marketing. And there are numerous ways in which products can be successfully marketed including pay-per-click, video marketing using YouTube, social network marketing with Facebook and Twitter, article marketing and email marketing to name a few.

Anyone who can master the highly successful tried and tested techniques and strategies of Internet marketing, can pretty much write their own pay cheque.

Creating Your Own Product

Creating your own product to sell on the Internet is not as difficult as you might think. Many products that sell very well online are information products, especially the “How To” guides and video tutorials, both of which can be created on your own computer.

Many people have some special knowledge or skill that others would be willing to pay for, but if you think that you might not have any, then you’ll probably know someone who does. Perhaps a relative, a neighbour a friend or work colleague could help you with this.

People all over the world want to know “How To” do things better, faster and cheaper. You might know “How To” cook fish a certain way, or you might know how to grow certain vegetables. You might know “How To” repair computers or “How To” learn to play the guitar quicker. The list is endless.

Basically, whatever you can think of, there will be a market for it, a little niche waiting to be exploited. All you have to do is research your subject matter, put all the facts together and write a book about it. If you’re not keen on writing then you can get someone else to do this for you.

Your book should be at least 30 pages long and produced using a word processor. This document can then easily be converted into an ebook, better known as a portable document file (PDF), which can then be downloaded from a website or blog.

A blog, such as Wordpress or Blogger is free to set up and so is a payment processing account like PayPal or Nochex. So you can host your product on a free blog and use a payment processor to be able to accept debit and credit card payments over the Internet.

Video tutorials are fast becoming very popular and do sell very well. If you are able to “show” people how to do something rather than “tell” them, then you could be onto a winner in terms of sales volume.

Most laptops have built-in cameras and come with recording software, and now camcorders are relatively cheap to buy too. Some good examples of video tutorials are dog training, tree pruning, building, plumbing and electrical installations.

If you know a local tradesman, you could agree a 50-50 split on profits from sales in return for filming them at work.

Providing A Service

Another work-at-home option, and one that does involve actually working, is to provide a service such as writing or web design. Website owners are always looking for new content and articles for their sites, which helps in their search engine rankings. Also, catalogue companies need product description writers and many companies that produce products need people to write the user manuals.

Anyone with web design or graphic design skills could also ply their trade on the Internet, along with software developers and technical support professionals. To get an idea of what services people are offering and looking for visit elance.com, getafreelancer.com and rentacoder.com.

Anyone with artistic and creative skills can make a living on the Internet by either bidding for work or by advertising their services on a website. Some legal services also do well on the Internet along with accountancy, secretarial and virtual receptionist services.

That time tested reference to “supply and demand” is very much in evidence on the Internet and you just might happen to have a skill that you can readily transfer or use to your best advantage.

If you would like a change of lifestyle, earn an extra income or even generate a six-figure income from your own business, then working from home and running a home-based business is certainly worth considering.

Otherwise the rest of your working life could consist of early morning starts, traffic jams, clock watching, mundane tasks, long hours and the boss breathing down your neck. It’s your choice.

Here's a good place to start... License2Profit

Okay till next time.

Bill
Knight Writer

Wednesday, December 01, 2010

What Have I Been Up To Lately?

Hi all,

Yes I know, I know it's been a while... but I really have been very busy.

First off I still have to keep my large client base happy, plus I've taken on several new clients this year. I've also been testing some marketing products and... I'm working on my copywriting course.

So... what new clients?

Okay, well there have been a number of enquiries recently from people in the gambling business, resulting in my taking on two casino owners and a horse-race tipster.

There have been enquiries from a number of new Internet marketers, five of which are now my clients.

I have also taken on a client based in Saudia Arabia, but I can't really say what kind of business they are in except that it is government related.

My most recent new client is involved in spread betting and forex and will be holding training seminars all over the country early next year.

So you see, I've been busy with my copywriting service.

Then I have been testing some of the so-called automated blogging software programs. My verdict? Leave well alone... they are frustrating to set up and most of the time they don't work.

The principle is good but the software and support leaves much to be desired. I'll keep testing them as they become available and I'll keep you all posted.

Ones to avoid are, CB Predators and Stealth Profit Machines. My verdict? Useless!

Okay, and the last thing that's been keeping me awake at night is my copywriting course. I've been working on this now for what seems like years, although it's only been months.

Problem is, every time I think I've covered everything in one of the lessons I think of something else that needs to be mentioned. Anyway, I hope to make this available some time next year. It will be a monthly subscription and I'll provide all the support myself.

I can only offer this to a limited amount of people, purely due to time constraints, and yet I have more than 30 people on the waiting list already!!!

Well, I'll keep everyone posted on this soon.

Okay that's the end of this update and I'll be back asap.

In the meantime... have a great Christmas... by doing just one good deed for someone in need.

Regards to all,
Bill

www.knight-writer.co.uk

Thursday, August 19, 2010

In Memory Of The Long Sales Letter

Hi Again!

You know... there was a time, long before the Internet, when most people looked forward to getting mail. I mean real mail like letters from friends and relatives. Letters that were written personally, in ink, using a fountain pen and later the more convenient ball point.

Then as time went on, marketers realised that people liked receiving letters, and so they hit on the idea of writing letters to people to tell them about products and services they were offering. These letters were quite generic in layout and although they were a little impersonal, people responded positively to them.

This became known as the Direct Response Sales Letter.

Later, marketers and copywriters realised that if they engaged their readers by tapping into their thought processes and then tweaked at their emotions, the responses to their product offers could be increased. And very soon marketers were making millions from their mail order businesses.

Now, like everything in marketing, if you can get one step ahead of your competition then you can make a small fortune virtually overnight. And that's when the mailing list broker was born. It soon became obvious that if you had a large list of names of people who were interested in buying certain products, then you too could make a lot of money.

A list like that was very valuable. A list that contained first and last names, postal addresses and details of previous purchases was like gold... and to the same extent it still is.

The list broking business soon became almost as big as the marketing businesses and list-building eventually became part of the marketing process.

Marketers started to look at ways that they could find prospects who might be interested in buying their particular products rather than just blindly sending out mail to random names and addresses.

It became obvious that marketers needed to focus on particular niche interest groups, and offer them products that would be more suited to their wants, needs and desires.

To more closely target specific markets, the 2 step process was deployed.

The first step was to place a small ad in a magazine that the likely prospect might buy, or to place an ad in a newspaper classified section. The small ad would always end on a call to action, which would either be to ask the prospect to write for further details, send a stamped, self-addressed envelope or call a telephone number.

Once the marketer had the name and address of the prospect, this became hot property because the prospect responded to the ad and was therefore interested in the product.

The marketer would then send the prospect a long sales letter explaining the benefits of the product, the features of the product and why the prospect should own the product. The letter would include an order form for the prospect to send back together with their payment.

Some switched on companied like Reader's Digest went one step further and personalized their mailings. This had a dramatic impact on response because it appeared that the letter was specially written for them. It would also appear as though the writer has personally signed the letter.

Many millionaires were created from direct mail, but today it has much less impact.

Today we all get far too much junk mail and don't bother to read hardly any of it. One reason is we simply value our time more. And the other reason is the Internet. If we want to buy something we'll just go online and find out all about it first. And compare prices.

Marketers still use some of the old mail order tricks, only now they are much more focussed on delivering their sales pitch via a web page. And that's a whole different story that I'll save for another day. Suffice to say that the long sales letter is dead or at the very least... terminally ill.

Ah well C'est la vie!

See ya soon.

Bill

Knight-Writer
eMarketingToolkit
License2Profit
MoneyHarvest

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

The Web Page Sales Letter Has Evolved

Hi All,

It's been a while I know but I've just been soooooo busy!

I've been working on a number of new projects with my team, and with a hefty number of new clients coming on board this year it's all been a bit hectic.

Now, although I've been beavering away I haven't been too busy to notice a definite trend in the way web page sales copy is currently being presented.

Basically it's getting shorter!

Five years ago a typical web page sales letter might consist of more than 5000 words... today it's around half that. But where these letters might be lacking in word count they more than make up for with the use of images and... video.

Yes... video.

If you go to Clickbank and browse the landing pages in the Marketplace under categories: Business/Investing and E-business and E-marketing you'll see just what I mean.

It all started about 4 years ago...

First there were images of Clickbank cheques and PayPal accounts being used to prove incomes. Then came audio files... then the web designers were let loose and the landing page templates became part of the story with intertwined header graphics, which were usually dark and mysterious.

Even the product titles were becoming more "Explosive"... "Turbo"... "Killer"... "Assassin"... and "Predator"... and well you get the picture.

And then came Powerpoint presentations recorded with Camtasia... ah! Camtasia... wouldn't be without it.

And now we are seeing video footage of the product owners who tell us, in no uncertain terms, why we should buy their products.

And I think it's all great!

I love video and I'm going to be recording myself and putting my video on my own websites very soon.

So... what's the point I'm making here?

Well like it or not the online sales letter has moved on in leaps and bounds, pushing the printed sales letter a little further into obscurity. But that doesn't mean that direct mail is totally dead... oh no... far from it.

The one-page invitation letter is thriving. If used as a vehicle to get prospects online to see the real presentation on the web page, then the one-pager will live on and flourish amongst the pile of printed junk that falls on our door mats virtually every day.

There's absolutely no doubt that the web page sales letter has evolved and will continue to absorb the benefits of video presentation until it becomes a complete video ad.

Heck!!!

I'd better brush up on my script writing quick... otherwise I could soon be out of a job!

See ya soon!

Bill

Knight-Writer

Thursday, February 18, 2010

The Future of Online Marketing

Hi All,

I've said it before and now I'm going to say it again... loud and clear. Video is by far the best way to market your products, your websites and your announcements. As the Internet becomes more and more popular it seems to be gradually taking over from the humble TV, at least in terms of advertising.

And advertising on the Internet is steadily increasing, whilst ad spend on TV is decreasing. It won't be long now before we all start to see high quality visual advertising on the Internet as standard.

Now here's the big opportunity...

Media and advertising companies who create TV ads for their clients charge exorbitant fees, and are generally more concerned with winning awards for themselves rather than helping their clients increase brand awareness or sell more products.

To create a video ad for the Internet can cost peanuts compared with these TV ad agencies and just about anyone can create them. All you need is a camcorder, a video editing software program and perhaps a soundtrack.

So let's compare the costs...

A TV commercial can cost anything from $100,000 to around $400,000 for a 30 second final edited, ready to go version of the advertisement. Of course production does swallow up a large percentage of the costs but ad agencies do like to make BIG profits too. Either way you look at it, that's a lot of spondulics for a half minute presentation.

Now let's look at the alternative...

A decent camcorder with accessories will set you back £300-£400 and a good editing software suite should cost around £150. So let's say around $500 in total to get started. Now you're ready to start making commercials for the Internet and you could charge anything up to $10,000 for a 30 second production... and still be a heck of a lot cheaper than the agencies and still make huge profits.

Start off by making 3 minute videos for your own products and post them on YouTube. Here are a couple we created for our own products...

eMarketingToolkit

License2Profit

We used our website templates in Powerpoint for the backgrounds and recorded the presentations in Camtasia Studio. We added soundtracks for the backing, which we purchased online... but we have since bought a synthesiser so we can make our own. I would say all in all it cost around $70 in time to produce and it is available 24/7 to a worldwide audience.

Here are couple more we created for a client...

Thai Massage

Self Defense

Again these video ads were created using MS Powerpoint, Camtasia Studio and readily available backing soundtracks.

We're now experimenting with high definition video, new state-of-the-art video production software, and as mentioned previously, we are creating our own weird and wonderful audio soundtracks.

If you're trying to promote your own products or affiliate products, the why not try creating your own video ads and posting them on YouTube, MySpace, Facebook and link back to them from Twitter. It's video marketing on steroids!!!

Till next time.

BFN

Bill

Knight-Writer
Money-Harvest
Anglox

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Secrets of a Successful Copywriter

Hi all,

I've been a full-time professional freelance copywriter and marketer for 24 years and I'm often asked the question... "what does it take to become a successful copywriter?"

It's a fact that many of the world's leading copywriters have had no formal training, tuition, coaching or mentoring. Many do not possess a degree in any subject and many did not even attend college. So, what does it take to become a successful copywriter?

I think it's simply a passion for business, an understanding of people and a flair for communication through writing.

I also think that anyone who has a degree in English, Marketing or Journalism is going to be pretty handicapped in this business. And the reason I think this, is because copywriting is not about use of the "English Language", although the use of good grammar and punctuation are quite important, as far as credibility is concerned.

And it's not about "Marketing" in the sense of creating flashy, meaningless advertising like you see in the TV commercials. And it's definitely not about "Reporting" as you might read in a newspaper or magazine.

But it has everything to do with communicating with the reader. And the only study I would recommend for anyone considering copywriting as a career is to study the masters. A master copywriter does not merely make a very good living at his craft, but is recognised as a master of his craft by everyone else in the copywriting and marketing business.

So, if there is one piece of advice I could give anyone contemplating becoming a professional copywriter it is to "write as you talk". I've said this many times but it doesn't always sink in with some people, and that's because some people find it really difficult to write this way.

Not surprisingly, the people who find this concept the most difficult to grasp are those who have been educated in… you guessed it… English, Marketing and Journalism.

I'm not going to dwell on this issue but instead I'm going to tell you a story…

Before I became a professional, freelance copywriter I was a Garden Designer. Briefly, here's how it all began…

I set up in business as a freelance Garden Designer and I advertised my services locally. I would get a phone call from an enquirer and we would arrange a mutually convenient time for me to visit them and survey their garden. After taking the overall measurements of their plot, I would then listen very carefully to what they wanted in their garden and how they wanted it to look.

My initial question to my potential client would always be, "so how do you imagine the finished job will look?" I needed to either paint a picture in their mind or somehow get a copy of the picture they already had their mind. My job then was to put that picture on paper and get my construction team to bring it to life.

The finished garden design would be the result of understanding my client's exact requirements, and by using my skill as a designer, I would transfer those communicated desires onto paper. I would then have to communicate the contents of this blueprint to my construction manager and create a finished picture of the garden in his mind.

That's how I worked. I relied heavily on a communication process that would ultimately create pictures in the minds of everyone involved in the project in order to achieve the desired result. And it worked like clockwork.

However, after 12 years of garden designing I began to get bored. It was all becoming too routine and I needed a challenge. And I mean a real challenge. Something to get really excited about and something that could make me feel like I really wanted to get out of bed for. So, I wrote a book about garden and landscape design. I self-published it and I had 100 copies printed.

Next, I wrote a sales letter.

I'd never written a sales letter before but I found it quite easy to do. The words just flowed onto the page. Of course it is easy to write about something you already know a lot about. Then I did two things. I placed a small classified ad in a national horticultural magazine and I rented a mailing list of 1000 names and addresses.

Next, I sent out my sales letter.

The Internet wasn't around then so direct mail was the only way to get right in front of my target audience. And the result? I sold all 100 copies of my book in the first week, so I repeated the process over and over. Now what I was learning here was that I had discovered a way to communicate with complete strangers through a letter.

I wasn't duly concerned about the volume of book sales, although it was nice to be making some easy money. However, I was much more interested in experimenting with my writing and promoting other completely unrelated products.

I bought the resell license to a home study course about "Making Money from Direct Mail". Well, I was suddenly very interested in direct mail, so I thought I'll read the course and promote it at the same time. So, I wrote the sales letter, had 100 copies of the course printed, rented a mailing list and placed an ad in the business opportunity section of the Exchange & Mart.

Within a week I had sold only 17 copies.

Well, not only was I feeling a bit bemused but my ego was totally deflated. After a while I thought, how arrogant I was to think that I could communicate with people I didn't know, about something I didn't really know much about, and expect them to buy from me. What a wake up call!

Lesson learnt!

And that lesson became the driving force that led me onto the path of copywriting. I read everything I could find about copywriting, advertising and marketing and from that day on I tested everything.

I tested headlines, sub headers, guarantees, PS's, length of copy, testimonials, font colours, font type faces, length of sentences, length of paragraphs, I wrote sales letters with images and without images. I created order forms and tested them against "priority reservation certificates". I used lightweight paper and heavyweight paper. I used white paper and I used vellum coloured paper. I wrote teaser copy on the envelopes and I used different size envelopes. I personally signed my letters and I used handwriting fonts on others.

I tested and tested and tested.

And today, 24 years later I am still testing…

Only now I'm testing my copy on websites, in emails, in press releases and in articles. And, in all my years as a professional marketer, I've learned never to assume anything, never take anything for granted and never, ever think you will ever know everything there is to know about copywriting.

The best you can hope for is a result.

And with testing and tweaking you can make that result a profitable and viable proposition.

So, let's summarize. The question was… what does it take to become a successful copywriter?

And the answer is, know your product, know your customer, communicate naturally and test, test and test again.

Till next time,

Bill

Knight-Writer.co.uk

Thursday, August 20, 2009

VideoAds - The Time Has Come!

Hi All,

If you've been marketing any kind of product or service online then you'll know just how important video is. Websites like YouTube and Yahoo Video make it soooo easy to reach a vast audience, and in marketing terms this just cannot be ignored.

I must admit that I've been a bit slow in embracing the video scene and adapting it for marketing, but all that's about to change. I've just released 2 Powerpoint presentations on video complete with soundtracks. I call them VideoAds.

My team at Anglox are working on some really cool ads at present and they want to build a portfolio because we're going into the ad production business. Well we create and publish just about every other type of media, so why not video ads?

You can see our 2 hastily created offerings on YouTube. See this one first: License2Profit and then this one: eMarketingToolkit.

If you're thinking about creating and distributing videos then check out this website. www.tubemogul.com

More on this subject soon.

BFN
Bill

www.knight-writer.co.uk

Friday, August 14, 2009

My Closely Guarded Secret Is Out

Hi Everyone,

Okay, this is not something I do every day. I am letting you all in on one of my most lucrative income streams...

About 10 years ago I stumbled across an Internet "goldmine". It was a horde of precious products freely available on the Internet and hardly anyone knew about them.

I wrote a book about my find. The title was "FreeDotCom". I sold many copies, but not as many as I would have liked. Still, I had become a self-publisher and because I had access to literally hundreds of thousands of free products, many of which I could legally claim as my own, I started Anglox Pubications.

Anglox is my publishing business and year on year it has grown bigger and bigger without me having to do very much at all. All my colleagues at Anglox are freelance professionals and so we have been able to expand the business into many areas of creativity including web and graphic design.

But it all started out from very humble beginnings...

I can clearly remember the very first product I "created". I say created, but it was already freely available to me. I just tarted it up and made it saleable. It was the text of the Magna Carta. I just downloaded it, reformatted it and changed the font to Engraver's Old English Font. I then designed and printed simple front and rear covers with 120gsm card, placed transparent covers over these and ring binded it all together.

That was my product! And I sold it all over the world. Most went to the US. And want to know something? I'm still selling it to this very day!... Want a copy? :)

Now, after all these years I'm also selling hundreds of other creative products too... and it doesn't cost me one single penny to get them.

That's been my closely guarded secret!

Get this! More and more free products are becoming available almost daily. And there's a huge market for all this stuff. It's all much, much too big for little ol' me to reach, so that's why I can afford to tell you about this.

I just know you're going to be absolutely gobsmacked!... even shell-shocked!

This information will totally blow you away...

You just won't believe that a business can be so easy and yet so profitable.

This home publishing mularkey is the real prize, guys. There's nothing else like it on the planet.

Ans it's even easier to do now than it was 10 years ago. What's more... it has branched into so many other areas. I mean... when I first started in the home publishing business my only option was to produce information products in print. Now there's all kinds of information and entertainment products that can be reproduced in print, pdfs, reproduced onto CDs and DVDs, mp3s and apple iTunes.

The markets are vast! And the money... it's the easiest you'll ever make.

Okay are you ready to learn more about my little secret?

Just go and visit my website and all will be revealed. License2Profit

If you have questions about this truly amazing opportunity, just drop me an email to the support line at: info@anglox.com

Time to live!

Warmest regards,
Bill

www.license2profit.com

Thursday, August 13, 2009

An Internet Marketing Solution For Small Business Owners

Hi Guys,

Some small business owners I've spoken to recently have told me they are getting very confused about all the various online marketing options, so I've written this post for them...

Now, every small business owner knows only too well that a well planned and executed marketing strategy will keep them in profit regardless of the ups and downs of the economy. I know some business owners tend to plough much of their marketing budget into offline advertising, like press ads, magazine ads, radio and television commercials.

Whilst others prefer to invest their hard-earned cash in online advertising like pay-per-click and flashy banner ads.

With the trend increasingly in favour of online advertising, simply due to the huge volume of online shoppers, many business owners who are trying to promote their products and services online are obviously facing a few problems.

Not least is the problem of e-confusion.

This embarrassing and uncomfortable condition is brought about due the numerous streams of marketing options now available to all internet based businesses. Anyone who has been soundly educated in the bricks and mortar type world of business and marketing is now finding it increasing difficult to know which way to turn.

Should they focus all their efforts and resources on pay-per-click or have a few banner ads circulating cyberspace too? Well, it would appear that the outcome of this little decision is the very least of their problems. The real dilemma, which is striking fear into all but the very savvy of internet marketers is, where does social network marketing fit into their strategy?

It can't be ignored. There are millions of potential customers frequenting the social sites like Twitter, Facebook and MySpace, not to mention LinkedIn, Bebo, Hi5 and Friendster. And every dedicated businessman and woman worth their weight in salt knows that you have to ply your trade where the masses gather.

It's what's called a marketplace!

As offline advertising becomes more and more expensive and much less effective, many small business owners know they must get a foot firmly on the threshold of as many streams of new media marketing as possible. And herein lies the problem for many, because they simply don't know how to.

New media marketing is not even remotely like marketing in the real world and it goes against everything business owners have come to know and trust. So here lies a big opportunity. Master the many facets of internet marketing and you master the web.

It might sound simple but in practice it takes work, effort, training, learning and a bit of trial and error.

So why is internet marketing so complex?

It's because there are so many options, and a business that wants to survive, grow and prosper needs to explore most of them before deciding on which marketing option is right for them.

The social networks have already been mentioned and come high in the list of avenues waiting to be explored. A search on Google for "social network websites" returns a page count of more than 295 million, which at least suggests its importance. That's certainly a lot of web pages devoted to the subject. But social network marketing is only part of the equation.

Today, the modern savvy internet marketer, AKA online business owner, needs to be conversant with or at least familiar with article marketing, affiliate marketing, referral marketing, viral marketing, video marketing and forum marketing.

Then there are blogs and RSS feeds, search engine optimisation, keyword optimisation plus joint ventures and online press releases to consider.

All these avenues represent the various options, in which a business needs to apply its marketing techniques, strategies and formulas.

So is it any wonder why so many small business owners are e-confused?

Well thankfully a solution is at hand. Myself and my colleagues at Anglox are helping to unravel the many mysteries of internet marketing by producing a complete marketing toolkit, appropriately called the eMarketing Toolkit. It's a comprehensive training programme, which covers just about every aspect of e-commerce marketing.

It's now available as a 2 CD set.



And because the Internet is a global marketplace, we have made the eMarketing Toolkit available worldwide. For businesses in the UK we have created this website: emarketingtoolkit.co.uk and for businesses everywhere else we have created this website: e-marketingtoolkit.com

Having this toolkit in your marketing armoury will save a lot of time and wasted effort. It will also open up many new marketing possibilities. I highly recommend it to any online entrepreneur or small business owner.

More to come later.

BFN,

Bill

Wednesday, August 05, 2009

Online Marketing Is Now More Important Than Ever!

Hi All,

I went to a seminar a few months ago, which was all about using the Internet to market your business. There were over 100 small business owners there and I got to rub shoulders with quite a few of them.

For me, it's especially nice to make new contacts in the business world because like many writers, I tend to lead a very solitary existence.

Now what really surprised me was the number of people who didn't quite understand the whole concept of Internet marketing. I mean, hardly any of them had used article marketing and only one or two had even heard of viral and video marketing.

There also seemed to be lots of confusion about social network marketing!!!

During the course of the day it became quite apparent that many of these guys are just far too busy running their businesses to find out about marketing on the likes of YouTube, Twitter and Facebook.

WHAT!

Too busy to find out how to make more money online?

Too busy to find out how to get their products and services right in front of their target market audiences?

I couldn't believe what I was hearing... but I could understand how it was happening.

Okay... so many small business owners and entrepreneurs are very busy. But that doesn't mean they should let profitable marketing opportunities pass them by.

Getting your head down and throwing yourself 100% into your business is one thing, but it's just like putting your head in the sand. The problem with this is when you eventually pull your head back out of the sand you just might find that everyone else has moved on 100 miles down the track and are sharing in a feeding frenzy at the green, leafy oasis.

Get my drift? Ignorance is bliss!

After the seminar was over I started thinking about these guys and I wondered how many more there were just like them... in the UK... in the US... everywhere!

What they needed, I thought, was a whole marketing toolkit that they could study and use whenever they had the time. A kind of portable, self-educational, marketing masterclass. They needed to know about every type of online marketing method, technique, strategy and formula and how they could apply it to their particular businesses.

So, I rounded up my colleagues at Anglox Publications and got them all working on a project to compile the most comprehensive training package ever. I mean a complete A-Z of Internet marketing, suitable for every type of business that has a website and wants to promote any kind of products or services.

The result?

The eMarketing Toolkit

It comprises over 1 gigabyte of data and comes on 2 quality CD recordings, which can be mailed out to anywhere in the world.



I could go on and on about it here in my blog, but I've written a sales letter, which explains everything in detail so...

If you live in the UK go here: MarketingUK

And if you live in the US and anywhere else. go here: MarketingUS

The reason there are 2 websites is because there is an affiliate program for both UK and US affiliates. And apart from a couple of minor differences, the sales letters are virtually the same for both. You'll find the affiliate links at the bottom of the page.

The product pre-launch was very well received and I'm glad I've been able to help the many small business owners who wouldn't otherwise have this information to hand.

Well that's all for now.

Back soon.

Bill

Wednesday, July 01, 2009

Learn And Earn... Fast

Hi All,

Today I've got some interesting news, especially if you're interested in making money on the Internet. Two of my close business colleagues have decided to get together and teach you how to make some hard cash. These guys have made millions and started with nothing.

Just imagine if you could sit in a room with any multi-millionaire Internet marketer of your choice, and ask any questions you wanted. Questions like...

How do you get started in Internet marketing?

What are the best products to sell online?

How do I get hordes of customers scrambling over each other, eager to buy my products?

Look guys, if you want to know how to make money online you only have to ask the right people. People who are doing it right now.

My two colleagues will not only answer all your questions, they will teach, coach, mentor, guide and steer you onto the path of riches. And what do you have to do?

Just sign up to their programme, then watch, listen and learn your way to a personal fortune.

Their special mentoring programme is about to be launched any day soon and I'll be announcing it right here on my blog, and I'll also provide a link to all the details.

Watch this space!

Warm regards,
Bill

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

A real and FREE business for everyone

Hi all,

I've always said there's no such thing as a free business but now I'm having to eat my words, which is not an easy task, especially if you're a well-known copywriter.

Well here's the story...

As you know, there are some really good opportunities on the MoneyHarvest website and Maverick Money Makers continues to be one of the very best.

However, I received emails from some members who told me they just cannot afford to join MMM, and for whatever reason some also can't afford to buy any other opportunities either.

So, I started searching high and low to find something that everyone could afford, and with which everyone can earn some cash. Well, I've found it! And the best part is... it's absolutely FREE to join.

It's called Ei42 and you get paid whenever you shop online. But better than that, you get your own shop and all the marketing materials you need to promote it, and better still...

Encourage your friends and family to join and if they buy from their own shops they get a commission... and so do you! That's right! Whenever someone YOU recommend buys something from their own discounted shop YOU get a commission too.

So the more people you tell about this and the more people who sign up for their free shops, the more you could make. And there's no limit to how much you can earn.

It's suitable for members based both in the UK and the US. Just click on your country flag when you get to the website.

I've checked it all out and it's completely legit and all above board. There's no catch and no commitment whatsoever.

There are many well-known brand name companies involved too.

More and more people are finding it convenient to shop online and I'm sure you will want to buy something from your own shop eventually, so why not get it cheaper? It makes a lot of sense.

You just can't afford NOT to sign up.

It's a completely free business, so get over to the website and get involved now...

Click on this link now: my-free-business to find out more and get started right away.

Sign up and start making money. Simple!

My very best regards,

Bill

MoneyHarvest.Com

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Social Networking For Your Online Business

Hi All,

A post about social networking...

The way we do business online is evolving, and at the forefront of this change is social networking. It was only ever going to be a matter of time before business crept into the realms of Facebook, Myspace and more recently Twitter. And for any self-respecting Internet marketer it has been an obvious move.

It stands to reason that where there's a crowd, there's money to be made.

But social network marketing is a brand new concept and many "traditional" marketers are failing to grasp the real opportunities it offers. It's going to be a case of "back to school" for many of these social misfits and it's going to be "back to the drawing board" for many of their ill-fated marketing strategies.

So can we mere mortals unravel the mystery of successful social network marketing?

Yes of course we can. Just as long as you can implement the theories relevant to reverse psychology and fully understand the principles of viral and affiliate marketing, then you should have no problems whatsoever.

What does this mean for the typical Internet marketer of today? Well, to a degree it means no more automatic sales machines pumping out cash 24/7. Why? Because you're going to have to start communicating with people, and that means you'll have to make yourself available.

People don't want to be treated like a "prospect" anymore. They don't want to be seen as just another sales figure. They want to be able to meet their seller, talk to them and befriend them.

They want to know that you are a genuine person. And they want to know that if anything should go wrong with the product or service they have purchased from you, you will respond to their problems in a timely and courteous manner.

They also want to know that they can count on you for help and advice. So if you want to stay in business and grow your business, then you are going to have to learn to talk to your customers. It's back to basics.

That understood, how then do you create new business through the social network channels?

The answer is, create a formula or a system. Every successful Internet marketer knows that to generate a lot of business you need a system. It's as well to remember that people don't make money, systems do.

So, let's look at what is needed in order to create an effective business generating system.

Obviously you will need a product or service, which you will have already established that your prospects will want. Don't worry, if they don't want it you'll soon find out.

Next, you need to start socialising. For the sake of this demonstration, I recommend you open an account on Facebook and Twitter. Use Twitter to get as many followers as you can and don't stop getting new followers every day. Build that list!

Make sure that your "Tweets" are interesting. Talk about what you know and try to get people to join you on Facebook, where you can offer more in-depth information about yourself, your business and your products and services.

Start a blog and write about your business, then tell your followers on Twitter and Facebook each time you post to your blog. Offer free advice, free information and even free products.

Now, at no time should you try to convince people that they should visit your website to buy your products, even though this is what you obviously and ultimately want them to do. Instead, offer free and valuable information about your products or services. Your goal is to get people asking where they can buy such a product or service. And of course you will have the answer.

If you can become an "expert" by offering free information and advice, people will fall over themselves just to get to you. They'll beat a path to your website and they'll beat your front door down and buy everything you suggest.

Don't stop giving your customers freebies. For example, create a report, which need only be 10 pages long and include links to your website or affiliate products throughout. Tell your customers that they can give it away for free from their websites, their blogs and their emails.

Encourage them to give it away to as many people as they can. It needs to become viral, so make sure the report contains valuable information or links to free downloads.

Now make sure that your main product or your next product can make money for your customers. As part of your "system" you need to create an army of affiliates. Start an affiliate program and recruit resellers like there's no tomorrow. Use Clickbank or PayDotCom to handle everything for you.

But don't ever, ever try to recruit affiliates on your social network circuit unless they have expressed an interest or have bought from you already. You must first nurture your prospects. Give them help, advice, guidance and valuable information so they practically fall in love with you. Then they will buy your products, and tell everyone else how great you are.

Remember, this is SOCIAL network marketing. Make friends first and the sales will follow.

All for now,
Bill

Copywriting Services
Twitter Stuff
Making Money

Saturday, February 28, 2009

Twitter & Tweet

Hi all,

I know I've posted about Twitter already, but I'm still getting emails from people asking me what it's all about. So this is for all those who want to know more about Twitter...

If you want to know even more about Twitter and how to build a massive list in the shortest possible time, then go and get a copy of "Twitter Trick".

Here's a link to my "Twitter Trick" website. CLICK HERE

All for now.

Be sure to follow my progress reports about free ebay advertising.

Regards,
Bill

MoneyHarvest.Com

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Getting Your Ad On Ebay For Free - Update

Hi All,

As you might be aware from one of my previous blogs I've been testing something on eBay. It's about getting your ad in front of potential customers for free.

Ebay now has a classified section, and allows you to post information about products and services... for free. You can see one of my ads here

This ad has so far received 57 hits and brought 34 new visitors to my website. I am also promoting this website on Google Adwords at an average CPC of 50 pence, which is about 72 cents. So I've either saved £17 ($25) or I've got £17 worth of prospects for free, whichever way you want to look at it.

This free classified ad has only been running for 20 days, so I would estimate that I should get a total of 85 hits (page views) in a month, which equates to around 50 unique visitors to my website. That's a value of £25 or $36.

I've no doubt I could probably increase the conversion rate by tweaking the ad/sales copy. And there's no limit to how many ads you can have running as long as they are not for the same product or service and are not in the same category.

Now, my testing is far from complete. I currently have 4 free ads running and I intend to put up many more. I just know this is going to be explosive, and why shouldn't it be? There's 212 million members on ebay!

Keep you posted!

Bill
www.money-harvest.com
www.knight-writer.co.uk

Social Network Marketing – It's All About Twitter!

Turn on your computer, switch on your TV or talk to anyone, anywhere and everyone seems to be talking about Twitter. And in case you didn't know already, Twitter is the fastest growing social networking website on the Internet. And why is this?

Well, there are many reasons and here a just a few…

1. It's easy to join and it's very easy to use. Even the most computer illiterate or PC handicapped amongst us can figure out how to use it. You just join up and follow people, who in turn will generally follow you.

2. It's very convenient. You just login and tell everyone what you're doing. Then you can strike up a conversation with someone who might be living in your town or anywhere in the world.

3. You can use it to meet like-minded people and make new friends. You can contact people who might be interested in exactly the same things you are, which could be music, gaming, gardening, selling on ebay, collecting antiques… or anything.

4. If you are a musician you can use Twitter to promote your music and ask people for reviews. If you are a writer or an artist you can also share your work with others and get their opinions.

5. But, the most interesting use of Twitter in recent months is for marketing purposes. Where there's a crowd, there are possible leads, prospects, future clients and customers.

Internet marketers of all experience levels are flocking to join Twitter in order to sell their wares. But, beware… Twitter is NOT an open marketplace. Blatant upfront marketing will only get you banned from the site.

However, there is a subtle way to build a list of prospects on Twitter and a massive list at that. What's more, it's possible to build a list of thousands of followers within a few short days and at absolutely no cost whatsoever.

But, this is not how you would go about building a list say with Google Adwords or any other list building method for that matter. Building a list on a social network site is different, very different.

This is taking marketing to a whole new level, a higher level, a more respectable level, and a more acceptable level. And it could also prove to be a much more profitable level too. This is "Social Network Marketing".

By that I mean it's like selling to friends and family. This is about building credibility, trustworthiness, honesty and integrity first. Then offering your product or service, second. It's like acting out the sales pitch of your sales letter, only your sales letter now becomes your script.

Successful Social Network Marketing is all about making friends then selling something your friends might want or need. Only it never actually appears to be "selling". For many marketers this is going to be a whole new learning curve.

If you're completely new to Social Network Marketing, you'll need this secret weapon.

One thing is for sure, Twitter is here to stay and Social Network Marketing is just emerging as the new online sales technique that every Internet marketer will have to master.

So… What are you doing?

All for now.

Bill
www.money-harvest.com
www.knight-writer.co.uk

Friday, February 20, 2009

How To Build A Massive List On Twitter Super Fast!

Hi all,

Unless you've been living on a different planet you'll know that Twitter, the social networking website, has gone absolutely ballistic.

Now Twitter is a great place to meet new people, share ideas, keep up to date with current affairs and breaking news and even share in some much-needed humor. But...

There's a much more serious side to Twittering and Tweeting, and that's business building or to be more accurate... list building.

Now there's a number of reasons why you should join Twitter and get thousands of people to follow you, but if you want to build a list super fast, and for FREE, then Twitter is the perfect place for you.

Even if you are not a business owner or marketer, you must have something that you would like to share with others. It could be that you are a musician and would like to share your music or maybe you like playing games on your Xbox, PS3 or Wii and want to meet some real competition.

Or... you might like to hook with people who have similar interests, hobbies and experiences.

Whatever... you'll definitely find many like-minded people on Twitter.

Want to build a big list and get people into YOUR network. How about 1000 in a week?

Yes, it can be done if you have the TWITTER TRICK.

What's the TWITTER TRICK?

Take a look... Click here

Internet marketers have been quick to seize on the opportunity of building a big list for free, and many are successfully offloading their products on Twitter... and making a small fortune in the process.

But it's not all about direct selling, it's much more subtle than that. And, if you get it wrong, you could end up as a dead duck..."quack!".

Rest assured, TWITTER TRICK reveals everything you need to know.

If you're not involved with Twitter then you could be missing out BIG time.

But it's not too late.

Whether you're new to Twitter or you're a tough old "bird" that's been goose-stepping the boards for years, here's one sure way to feather your nest.

Go get the TWITTER TRICK package and discover a whole new opportunity just waiting to be exploited. Click here.

All for now,

Bill


MoneyHarvest
KnightWriter