{"id":49,"date":"2007-04-03T20:28:13","date_gmt":"2007-04-04T01:28:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bensettle.com\/blog\/?p=50"},"modified":"2007-04-03T20:28:13","modified_gmt":"2007-04-04T01:28:13","slug":"web-two-point-schmo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bensettle.com\/blog\/web-two-point-schmo\/","title":{"rendered":"Web Two Point “Schmo”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Been a while since I did Q&A and the questions have been piling up.<\/p>\n

Let’s take a whack at a few of them:<\/p>\n

QUESTION:<\/b> Ben, how come you don’t talk more about SEO, PPC and Web 2.0? And how important do you think it is to learn these things?<\/i><\/p>\n

BEN:<\/b> I don’t write about those things because I don’t know all that much about them.<\/p>\n

Do I think they’re important to learn?<\/p>\n

That depends on you.<\/p>\n

In my experience (and this has just been in my life — I’m sure others will disagree) it’s better NOT to try and be all things to all people — and not to try and master every single new “thing” that comes down the pike.<\/p>\n

Instead, find the few things you’re good at and spend 90% your time honing those skills.<\/p>\n

Is this good advice for everyone?<\/p>\n

Maybe, maybe not.<\/p>\n

Some people can master multiple different skills and keep up with all the latest technological breakthroughs, fads and gimmicks without losing a step.<\/p>\n

Not me.<\/p>\n

I’ve tried to be a jack-of-all-trades and it just ain’t happen’ for me.<\/p>\n

I don’t even bother keeping up with the latest (and ever-changing) PPC, SEO or Web 2.0<\/a><\/strong> (whatever that even means) stuff.<\/p>\n

So if you want to get good at those things this isn’t the place to be.<\/p>\n

Instead, check out the sites of people who DO know about them.<\/p>\n

Guys like Brian Clark<\/a> and Michel Fortin<\/a> (who really does seem to have the ability to master multiple skills!).<\/p>\n

As well as anyone they refer you to on the subject.<\/p>\n

Next question…<\/p>\n

QUESTION:<\/b> I’m just getting going finding freelance copywriting jobs<\/a><\/strong> but I am having some problems with a certain a**hole client. How should I deal with her?<\/i><\/p>\n

BEN:<\/b> I think you should just send her check back with a quarter and a note that says, “here’s a quarter, buy yourself some class!”<\/i><\/p>\n

Seriously.<\/p>\n

You’ll put her in her place and feel a LOT better about yourself.<\/p>\n

I can almost guarantee it.<\/p>\n

Besides, why waste your time and talents on the jerks… when there are plenty of non-jerks out there who need copywriting?<\/p>\n

Okay, last question to wrap up…<\/p>\n

QUESTION:<\/b> Ben, I’m new to copywriting and having a hard time with online sales letter headlines. Any advice to get me going fast?<\/i><\/p>\n

BEN:<\/b> Yeah — take a look at the stuff you see online… and do the exact opposite<\/u>.<\/p>\n

Yes, I know the conventional wisdom is to seek out online sales letters that work like gangbusters and model them.<\/p>\n

But frankly, I think that’s dangerous.<\/p>\n

Why?<\/p>\n

Because there are a lot of headlines “working” online that wouldn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell selling to anyone else but giant house lists of people who already<\/u> want the product it’s selling.<\/p>\n

If you don’t have that kind of asset in your hip pocket you have to be a little more sophisticated.<\/p>\n

Here’s what I like to do:<\/p>\n

Pretend you’re selling your product or service door-to-door.<\/p>\n

And let’s say you find a house with someone you know is interested in what your product does…but is skeptical and has been visited by a hundred other salesmen selling something similar to what you got.<\/p>\n

When that prospect opens the door, what’s the one thing you could say to her that will — instead of making her slam the door on your face — make her practically beg<\/u> you to come inside to tell her more?<\/p>\n

You figure that out and you got yourself a great headline, my friend.<\/p>\n

Try it yourself and see.<\/p>\n

Okay, that’s it for today.<\/p>\n

If you have a question to submit for future Q&A’s Click Here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Been a while since I did Q&A and the questions have been piling up. Let’s take a whack at a few of them: QUESTION: Ben, how come you don’t talk more about SEO, PPC and Web 2.0? And how important do you think it is to learn these things? BEN: I don’t write about those […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-49","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-copywriting-and-sales-letters"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bensettle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bensettle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bensettle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bensettle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bensettle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bensettle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bensettle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bensettle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bensettle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}