Courtney James Houde / Copywriter

If you’ve ever had to write your own copy then you’ll enjoy this collection of copywriting quotes from The Robert Collier Letterbook.

(Even if you’ve already read this gem of a book.)

I know they’ve been friends of mine on my own personal journey to wealth and abundance. And I’d like to share them with you.

“Study your reader first– your product second. If you understand his reactions, and present those phases or your product that relate to his needs, then you cannot help but write a good letter.”

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If you’re in business or marketing then this simple 15 minute change can multiply your income by as much as seven times.

Mind you… if I multiplied my income by seven times you’d still need a microscope to see it! However, you may be in position to take advantage of this simple little insight.

So what the heck am I talking about?

Well, if you’ve read the marketing books and listened to the gurus then you know they have a simple answer for everything.

When in doubt… test!

A test is simply an experiment in results. The key is to measure them and to only test for big differences.

For instance, you might write two headlines and measure which one pulls in more visitors for your blog.

Or you might measure the amount of inquiries you’re getting from two almost identical classified ads with different contact methods.

All in all… It really sounds pretty boring, but let me tell you something:

It isn’t by far!

And I can give you a great example of a test that thrilled me. I was so excited I almost couldn’t sleep. Heck, my girlfriend was laying there in bed behind me… waiting for me… and here I was measuring the results of two headlines I’d written for a blog post.

One headline read:

“16 Spicy Tweets For Hotshot Marketers”

The other headline read:

“16 Ways To Write A Tweet”

One of those headlines pulled 6 clicks in about 12 hours. The other headline pulled 42 clicks in less than two hours and after reposting it… IT PULLED 109 CLICKS!

Not to mention the “retweets”. Seven people “retweeted” my blog post to their followers on Twitter! Seven… and this post is still pulling.

So, can you guess which headline pulled in those hundred visitors and which headline fizzled out and only pulled in 6?

Guess!

Then check out this little picture of my bit.ly stats…

Seriously, check this out:

Hmmm…

Well, I can’t blame you if you guessed wrong because I really thought: “16 Spicy Tweets For Hotshot marketers” would pull… It just sounded fancy and cool to me.

But… I was shocked when the simplest description of my blog post: “16 Ways To Write A Tweet” pulled seven times more visitors into my blog!

Can you imagine?

I mean, really think about this. If you ran an ad in your local paper (Let’s pretend you have a commercial cleaning business) and each customer was worth about two hundred dollars a month to you. Let’s say you’re pulling in three solid customers a month running your ads then all of the sudden… with one little change you pulled in 21! The same ratio (seven times) as my simple little headline change.

If you were making $600 in sales a month… now you’re making $4200 extra a month! And of course, in a business like cleaning your customers often sign in to year long contracts with you. So in reality you’re making: $50,400 dollars extra in the span of a single year. And this is on top of your existing client base!

Not bad eh?

All because you changed the headline of your ad and tested the results.

But the funny thing is… no one does this.

I’ve tried to get clients in my hometown by explaining this simple principle to them. They just don’t get it. They’d rather spend a thousand bucks a month running ads that simply aren’t getting the results they could be with a few simple tweaks. And the really sad part is that almost nobody measures their results.

It’s a weird world we live in.

And this is why I know my future is secure.

Because “In the land of the blind men the one-eyed man is king.”

Something to think about.

If you enjoyed this article then your followers will too. Simply click the little green “retweet” button at the bottom of this post and share it with them. Break up their dreary day.

Your obvious friend,

Courtney James
A.K.A. Obvious Writer

Here’s a story about a “parasite machine” that prevents chapped hands and If you bear with me I’ll tell you what this has to do with making money online in a second.

Okay…

So here I am at 7:00am… 6 hours too early for any sane person to wake up and I stroll into the McDonalds’ restroom.

I tinkle… sprinkle and go to dry my hands and there’s no towels!

Not that I expect silk sheets or something… but there’s not even a paper towel in sight– but there is one of those damn parasite infested air-drying thinga-ma-bobs.

So I stood there debating…

Should I just use my shirt to dry my hands?

Or should I use the parasites?

Well.

Here’s why I decided to use the parasite air machine!

Right there in bold letters it told me: “Automatically Prevents Chapping”

Man, someone knows what they’re doing and it’s a shame. Even the McDonalds air-dryer is a better ad then 95% of the small business ads run in the local newspaper.

So what’s the marketing/writing tip here?

It doesn’t matter if you’re selling Egg-McMuffins or hand-drying. You have to speak benefits– and maybe incite a little fear!

To tell the truth… I was a bit worried that if I didn’t use the McDonalds air-dryer I’d get chapped and bloody hands in the cold North Bay air…

Scary.

And that’s the power of a few words.

Your obvious friend,

Courtney James
The Obvious Writer

P.S. ANNOUNCEMENT: I may be offline for a few days because I’m moving today… I will probably go through internet withdrawals but if I should survive the trauma… I’ll be back soon. Love you guys… and gals.

So this cop walks up to a dumpster because he hears ‘noises’ and the dumpster is rocking…

He calls out but nobody responds. So, he looks inside and two naked people are having sex in it. SEX IN A DUMPSTER!

Either these two people have really great self-esteem and were just horny at the time or they just don’t give a darn.

In any case, these two horn-dogs can teach you how to write persuasive copy in a jiffy.

Let me explain.

Writing persuasive copy is a lot like having sex in a dumpster — at least I imagine it is. When the mood strikes you, you have to pick up that pen or keyboard and write as fast as you can.

You don’t have time to think about police officers or bystanders. You have to write and you have to write fast.

And I’m going to tell you exactly why you MUST write fast:

Reason #1. Your writing will be easier to read. It will flow and hold your reader’s attention all the way to the sale.

Reason #2. Your writing will make money! You’re capturing raw emotion. Emotion sells. Without primal gut-wrenching emotion your writing simply will not persuade.

Reason #3. You’ll save time. Trust me, there’s no glory in suffering for your art. Write and get it over with. There’s plenty of time to sculpt-it later.

Reason #4. You’ll never suffer from writer’s block. By writing fast you turn off your internal critic. You give yourself permission to make mistakes, swear, or write anything your heart desires.

Reason #5. You’ll have more fun. Finally, writing won’t be a chore… it’ll be fun… and almost as sexy as dumpster-diving sex. Okay, that’s not really sexy… it’s actually pretty gross.

Some people are just FUDGED in the head.

But I hope you discovered something here. Some tips that can help you write better ads, sales letters or other persuasive copy.

Writing fast is simple, it’s easy, and it’s profitable.

Your obvious friend,

Courtney James
The Obvious Writer

P.S. Please don’t have sex in dumpsters. The world is messed-up enough as is. There’s public restrooms. Or (heaven forbid) rooms with beds in them. Cheers.

P.P.S. You can read more about the couple caught having sex in a dumpster here: Couple Caught Having Sex In A Dumpster