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.”

“It’s a matter of bait, that’s all.”
“How can you tie up the thing you have to offer with that bait?”

“Before you put pen to paper, before you ring for your stenographer, decide in your own mind what effect you want to produce on your reader– what feeling you must arouse in him.”

“When it is action you want, go after the emotions every time!”

“What is persuasion? Nothing but finding the motive that will impel your reader to do as you wish, then stirring it to the point where it is stronger than his inertia, or his economical tendencies.”

“There are only two reasons why your reader will do as you tell him to do in your letter. The first is that you made him want something so badly that of his own ertia he reached out for your order card to get it. The other is that you have aroused in him the fear that he will lose something worth while if he does not do as you say.”

Compare this last quote to Napoleon Bonaparte’s:

“Men are moved by two levers, fear and self interest.”

But here’s another Collier power quote:

“The one thing that should always be borne in mind is that it is not merchandise you are selling, but human nature, human reactions.”

But in the end:

“It all comes back to the point we made in the beginning…”

“It’s a matter of bait, that’s all.”

According to Robert Collier himself.

Now, writing copy that sells is no easy task but it helps to keep it all in perspective. This is why I love the Collier Book. It holds a special place in my heart and it truly can be called “The Copywriter’s Bible.”

Your obvious friend,

Courtney James
The Obvious Writer

P.S. I really recommend you buy an actual book and not a digital copy. Because I’ve bought both and the price is practically the same. And the digital copy really sucks because you have to print it out to be able to read it without straining your eyes.

P.P.S. UPDATE: If you’re interested in getting more sales then I recently added a FAQs section about how to get more sales. It also explains everything you need to know if you’d like to work with me personally. Here’s the link: FAQs About Getting More Sales.

Just a thought.

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