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Without Conviction, Decisions Are Meaningless
Mix One Part Learning With One Part Copywriting
Top 10: Upmarket Articles for May 2012

Without Conviction, Decisions Are Meaningless

Posted: 02 Jun 2012 08:00 AM PDT

Whether you're new to world of entrepreneurship and self-improvement, or the seasoned veteran who has read all the books and been to all the seminars, one point is emphasized over and over again. Decisions.

If you want to reach your goals you must decide. If you want to do this or that you must decide. All relevant points of instruction, all meaningless if all you do is just decide. Granted you'll be further along than most who'll never decide to do anything but to go with the flow, however that might not protect you from drifting right back next to them.

Decisions or the act of deciding is used by many as if it has the same meaning as choice. That's not quite correct. To understand the word decision, you have to look at its roots or definition. Decision literally means to come to a conclusion or resolution after consideration to resolve something. In other words, once you decide you cut off from the other possibilities and move forward discarding all other choices that were possible as now irrelevant. Their only relevance to you from now on are memories to be used later in a self-evaluation process when looking back on whether your decisions were sound based on the choices and information present at the time.

Choice is not quite the same. Let's say someone has three balloons and asks if you want one. There are three different colors so you choose the green one. If the balloon pops and you want another only to find there's not another green available you might just go with a blue one. The color was just a choice or a preference for what was available, nothing more. Having the joy of the balloon was more important regardless of color. Making a decision that you will only play with a balloon that is green in color is quite different. If your balloon burst and there were no green left you would go without rather than pick from what might be a myriad of different colors available.

You might say the example sounds too simplistic or even childish, but how many play out the same scenario in their work or personal lives? They say they want a different work experience or environment so they'll choose someplace that fits the criteria. Then the balloon bursts and now they mindlessly go rushing back where they'll now choose from whatever happens to be left. Might not be as happy with this one, but hey, it's all there was to choose from. And now they'll not take many chances with this one. There might be even less to choose from next time. And so goes the progression of reducing expectations, risk, enjoyment, and more.

Deciding on what you want and not settling is well worth the price because unlike most you will never be envious when you see someone who may have more than you. Someone might show up at a party touting and bragging they have 75 balloons, but if none of them are green who cares? You made the decision that you are not going to settle for what others have regardless. You want what you want and decided that it was worth the price of pursuit because that's where the real fun comes from.

Photo Credit: chsh/ii

Mix One Part Learning With One Part Copywriting

Posted: 02 Jun 2012 05:00 AM PDT

If you're interested in learning copywriting tips to market your business, there are some excellent resources out there. In fact, before we go any further, I'm going to share with you a few of my favourites.

Examples:

The Ultimate Sales Letter – Dan Kennedy
The Copywriter's Handbook – Bob Bly
Ogilvy on Advertising – David Ogilvy
On Writing – Stephen King (not directly about copywriting but has the same principles)

But hold up… before you rush off to read them I want to give you a warning:

The Mystery Of Copywriting That Keeps You Stuck

Copywriting has an air of a mysterious art form.

Putting the right words in the right order and in front of the right people to make them do the right things.

That's some pretty heavy stuff going on right there.

It is a complex subject, and what makes matters worse, while most of the principles of copywriting psychology stays the same, the methods can change.

Rapidly.

What once worked for email marketing, no longer does, what's right for Twitter when we first started out isn't working any more, landing pages are becoming more complex as the technology to do more evolves.

So what do you do?

You read the latest copywriting report
You attend the latest copywriting webinar
You download another copywriting eBook

And you get overwhelmed.

There's so many different topics, so many different rules and working with clients, I see them getting stuck.

"Should I personalise my subject line? Should I tell them the product name in the headline? Should I start with a story, or the benefits, or the problem? Should I restate the offer in the P.S, or use the P.S to cover a last minute objection?"

And even though sometimes I can guide them based on their customer profiles, what's worked in the past for similar businesses or what's worked in the past for them, I still see that sneaking temptation for some kind of foolproof guarantee BEFORE they take action.

And if they're not careful, they go and get another book…

Learning From The Greats (That Includes You)

I'm all for learning from the greats, for writing out epic sales letters by hand, for regularly reading the theory behind sales copy.

Let's face it – you don't want to reinvent the wheel if you don't have to.

But sometimes what you need to know about what works in your business CAN'T be found in a book.

You just have to test it.

And you never know – you might just discover something unusual that other people will use as an example of what works!

I'm not talking about blindly testing anything you fancy. Instead I like to recommend that for those who are reading regularly about writing copy you follow this rule:

Mix one part learning with one part actual copywriting.

So when you learn something new, don't rush out and look for the next tip, instead use it to build, or persuade your own audience.

I'm not even talking about huge tests, like trying out something completely radical for your first 6 week training program. What's great about most online businesses is that we are built on publishing content that we can test straight away.

I'm talking about small, fast tests to help you:

Internalise the lesson
Know your audience better

So for example, here are just a couple of ways to test your own lessons and get better at copywriting.

Testing Headlines Via Twitter

Just read something about how to beef up your headlines?

If you're not writing a landing page or a blog post, but don't want to forget the tip, head over to Twitter.

Look up an article, (or use one of your blog posts), and create 4-5 different headlines based on what you've just learned. If you use a platform like Hootsuite you can schedule your headlines so they're spread over different times to catch people in different time zones.

Going through the practice of applying what you've just discovered straight away will help you remember it, but you can also see the results.

Did one headline get more retweets?
Did one headline increase traffic to your website?
Was there a headline that you were sure would work that was completely ignored?

Take the results on board, tweak and retest.

Taking one headline tip and actually working it through and seeing it live in action is far more valuable than reading 100 headline tips and never using them.

Calls to action via email

If you have a newsletter you have plenty of opportunities to practice plenty of your copywriting tips (especially if you know how to run a split test).

You automatically have an audience that is interested in what you do.

And through your newsletter you can experiment to fine-tune your knowledge about what they love, what they need and what they're willing to take action on.

So if you just read that more people are have their curiosity raised by the word "risk" you can send an email out to your list focusing on relevant "risks" that they might be facing, and then encourage them to take action.

What's more, you don't have to be selling to test out your newfound copy knowledge. Instead, you can try different copywriting techniques to encourage your readers to:

Click through to read a blog post
Share the email with a friend
Head over to your social media pages and comment

Copywriting is all about persuasive writing.

The ultimate persuasion is showing someone that there is so much value in your products or service, that they buy, but if you don't want to wait until launch day to get feedback, you can do some mini tests on lower investment actions such as these.

Banking tips for later

Of course, not all the things you learn will be ready to put to use straight away. If you use Evernote, or another application that lets you file things away online, I recommend building up a list of tips you'd be interested in testing on an actual launch.

Learning from others will give you a great head start, but by putting things into practice at the same time, you're still learning.

One part learning, one part copywriting.

See what you come up with!

Top 10: Upmarket Articles for May 2012

Posted: 02 Jun 2012 02:00 AM PDT

This is a tremendous assemblage of posts, and these are only the tip of the iceberg on Upmarket! In May, our most-viewed stories dealt with sales psychology, business advice from some truly inspiring entrepreneurs, a tutorial on how to NOT use LinkedIn, a trio of thought-provoking pieces by Derrick Jones, a rundown of the importance of mentoring and how to say motivated, and tips on asking for what you want and copywriting. It’s all information valuable to the continuing education of remarkable entrepreneurs, and just a taste of what you can find here on Upmarket. Also, don’t forget that you can receive our best content by email, too. Just sign up on our homepage and it will come straight to your inbox!

1. Sales Psychology: Why People Won’€™t Pay Your Rates

When someone says “€œthat’s too expensive”€, they’re verbally acknowledging an unconscious comparison. They’€™re measuring your price against something else, and you don’t even know what that something else is.
2. Richard Branson Shares His #1 Piece Of Business Advice With Vishen Lakhiani

Invaluable wisdom, modelling and inspiration from two of the world’s foremost Sweet Spot entrepreneurs – one established and one up-and-coming (and well on his way).
3. The 5 Biggest Mistakes Made on LinkedIn

Pay attention to these major LinkedIn mistakes — otherwise, they’ll prevent you effectively using a social media platform that is a great tool for developing relationships in small bites.
4. What Would You Do If It Were Impossible to Fail?

A question posed at Toastmasters meeting leads to amazing transformations.
5. The Case for More Female Entrepreneurs and Executives

Corporate America and the country at large would do well to look to more women for key leadership positions: A male contributor attends a women’s business conference and has an epiphany after seeing how the women related to each other.
6. Why Mentoring Matters

Finding a good mentor or team of mentors could be the most important thing you do in your business career and so it’€™s important to do your homework and to ask for help.
7. The Crazy Dating Game We Call Social Networking

We are all after something, even if to be seen as authorities in our fields; everyone knows it but no one admits it openly. This is the crazy dating game we call social networking.
8. Staying Motivated

Having checkable, achievable goals, no matter how small, can keep the train moving forward. Here are some of the ways Sarah Kathleen Peck keeps her train chugging.
9. Requests for Success or How to Get What You Want

Learn how to make a clear request — not a demand — to make your feelings known and to get things done.
10. Is The Red Pen Syndrome Killing Your Sales?

The Red Pen Syndrome: Do you read your own business copy through the eyes of an editor, and not as one of your customers? Don’t let the red pen stop you.