I used to swipe hard.
The 18 page sales letters. The 34 word headlines.
But I didn’t start writing ads that made lots of sales until I swiped less — a lot less. In fact, I used to swipe so much, I had certain ads practically memorized and would take one section from one ad, nail it next to another section of another ad, smooth over and run,
The result?
Ads that were not even fit for print.
I mean, just horrible.
But you know what the worst part was?
I didn’t realize until later that the Internet sales letters I was swiping were simply no good at all. And that, instead, I should have been studying (not swiping) OFFLINE sales letters that are tested in the cold, brutal world of direct mail.
Sales letters like…
- Eugene Schwartz’s Dr. Chang sales letter
- The Wall Street Journal control
- John Carlton’s martial arts and golf ads
- Joe Karbo’s “Lazy Mans Way To Riches” ad
- John Caples’ “They Laughed When I Sat Down…” ad
- Agora’s International Living sales letter
- The “Who Else Wants A Whiter Wash” ad
- Winning Gary Halbert & Gary Bencivenga ads
And the list goes on.
Anyway, here’s the point:
If you’re going to study copywriting, study the best.
Forget the rest.
And don’t forget to test.
Booyah.
Ben Settle
P.S. If you got the joke in the first couple paragraphs of this email, then you are a true copywriting geek and I hereby award you a no-prize.
Congrats!
P.P.S. For more advanced copywriting training, see the copywriting bonus you get when you subscribe to The Crypto Marketing Newsletter:
