If you would like to make sure you never again stare at a blank screen or piece of paper when writing your copy, then this article will show you how.

Once upon a time a guy I know called me up almost panicky because he had a looming deadline and couldn’t think of anything to write.

“All I seem to be doing is starting at a blank screen! What do I do?” he asked.

“The reason you’re staring at a blank screen is because you’re not doing anything. You’re just staring. Start writing and your problem will fix itself.” I replied.

“Oh.”

A few hours later he finished his ad and made his deadline.

Listen, simply start writing something — anything — and I promise you ideas will begin to flow and concepts that were vague will take shape.

I personally write an enormous amount of content for both my clients and my own projects.

Not just ads, either.

But ezine articles, auto-responders, blog posts, even entire books.

And yet I never stare at blank screens or wonder about what to write.

Never.

It’s kind of ironic, but I get a tremendous number of ideas — for all the hundreds of different things I work on in a given month — while I’m writing.

For example:

When I’m writing an ezine article, I’ll almost always get two, three, four or more ideas for an ad I’m writing or for one of the other projects I’m working on.

There’s no “voodoo” about it, either.

It’s just how the human mind works.

The late copywriter Eugene Schwartz (a man who routinely wrote tens of thousand of pages of material for his ads, books and articles) talked about this in his speeches.

He explained how when you focus your conscience mind on a task, you allow ideas floating around in your subconscious to “bleed” in to the front.

Want to know something funny?

I actually just got an idea for another ezine article while writing the above.

That’s how quickly and immediately this can work.

The key is movement.

The more movement you create — like when you’re writing, for example — the more ideas will come to you.

On the other hand, if you’re just sitting there, chances are nothing will happen. Because you’re not moving or doing anything.

If you don’t want to write to get the juices flowing, then take a walk. Go for a bike ride (I’ve gotten hundreds of great ideas riding my bike). Do the dishes. Something. Anything.

Bottom line:

If you start moving I guarantee you ideas for your ads will come crashing into your consciousness so quickly you’ll probably have trouble keeping up with them all.

Popularity: 9% [?]

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This is an article-writing success story that demonstrates just how quickly publishing articles online can produce results on search engine rankings.

I started my blog on August 22, 2006. A few days later I began submitting articles to three major article submission sites. I had blogged and published articles related to a different topic before, but this is the date I began writing on the subject of copywriting.

I am, and always have been, a believer in giving away free information as a way to market my services. Free information has been proven again and again to be one of the best ways to demonstrate your knowledge and expertise as well as to create a connection between you and your prospective clients. In one recent article I’ve written, Freelance Copywriter Secrets: 7 Copywriting Tips For Giving Free Information, I explain a number of ways any marketer can use this strategy to bring in new business.

The keywords I emphasize are, in this order, “freelance copywriter,” “copywriting tips,” “white papers,” and “freelance commercial writer.” All targeted to the type of visitor I wanted to attract and the search terms I believe these people will put into a search engine when they are looking for the type of service I offer.

The purpose of my blog is to generate leads for my freelance copywriter business, so every blog post and every article I write begins with the words, “Freelance Copywriter Secrets:__________.”

Now, unlike other keywords, the ones I use are really competitive. The people using them are, in my opinion, generally more knowledgeable about things like SEO. Most article submission sites already had a large library of articles devoted to the topic of copywriting tips when I started.

Additionally, there are approximately 1.1 million results that come up under a Google search for “freelance copywriter.”

So what has happened in this short period of time? I am writing this article on September 19, 2006, not even one month from the date I started my blog and submitted my first article on this subject. Since then, I have submitted just under 30 articles on the three major article submission sites and have posted to my blog at least six times a week.

Today, when I did a search in Google for the term, “freelance copywriter,” I found one of my articles ranked on the fourth page. On MSN, I was also on page five. Apparently I still have a lot of work to do on Yahoo. My blog is at http://dynamiccopywriting.blogspot.com, and these results all link back to that site.

Have these page five rankings opened up the floodgates of new business and flush bank accounts yet? Hardly, but they have proven to my satisfaction that article submission and blogging, when used together, work fast.

Let me see if I can put what I am doing is the ever-popular list format:

• The title of every article begins with my primary keyword, “freelance copywriter.”

• At the top and bottom of every article, I list all four keywords in bold, separating each with a comma.

• All four of my keywords are mentioned in several places throughout each article.

• After each new post to my blog, I ping the major search engines with Technorati.

• I usually include at least one internal link back to a previous article on my blog so a reader can refer back to it for more information on a related topic.
  Array Class (System) Provides methods for creating, manipulating, searching, and sorting arrays, thereby serving as the base class for all arrays in the common language runtime.

• I have found related blogs and regularly post relevant comments on them from time to time.

• When I find an article on another blog that is relevant to my topic, I write a post to my blog and link back to the other person’s blog.

That’s it. There really is nothing magic here and its all stuff you’ve heard before. The secret ingredient of course is hard work. I am writing about one article a day and also spend a lot of time doing research for new articles.

Like I said before, I still have a loooooong way to go and have a lot of hard work ahead of me. But I have set my sights on number one ranking for all four of my keywords.

So for those of you who are ahead of me now, watch out.

freelance copywriter, copywriting tips, white papers, freelance commercial writer

COPYRIGHT(C)2006, Charles Brown. All rights reserved.

Popularity: 8% [?]

If you want to know an almost laughably easy way to increase the sales of all your copywriting…without any extra effort and without having to learn anything new…then this article will show you how.

Let me explain:

When I was a kid I loved collecting comic books. I enjoyed them so much, I even wanted to be a comic book writer or artist, and spent a lot of time reading interviews with people who actually did create comic books.

And although I didn’t realize it at the time, reading these interviews taught me one of the biggest “copywriting” secrets I ever learned.

A secret so unbelievably effective it can instantly multiply your response.

Yet so childishly simple it can be used by anyone — no matter how good or bad a “writer” you are now.

What was this secret?

Well, whenever these comic book pros were asked why they got into the business or what made them start reading comics, many of them would say that yes, they loved the action and adventure and artwork, etc.

But even more than that…they wanted to see what was going on in Spiderman’s love life.

Or how Reed and Sue Richards’ (from the “Fantastic Four”) marriage was faring.

Or what Batman and Robin were doing when they weren’t fighting crime.

Or what Clark Kent was going to say to Lois Lane the next time they competed for a big newspaper story.

Anyway here’s my point:

It became obvious to me people don’t just buy comic books for the usual reasons of action, adventure, great stories and riveting art.

They’re also buying a personality.

They’re buying someone they can identify with each month — with the same hopes, dreams, problems, fears and insecurities as everyone else.

In fact, Stan Lee (the co-creator of Spiderman) said his biggest challenge writing Spiderman was not coming up with dialogue or new villains for him to fight.

No, his biggest challenge was actually creating more problems to throw at Spiderman when he wasn’t in his spidey suit and was just Peter Parker.

You see, he wanted to make sure people would identify with Spiderman not just as a “super hero”…but also as a regular person.

The result?

Spiderman is a world famous icon worth hundreds of millions of dollars to Marvel Comics today.

That’s what the power of a simple, ordinary personality can do.

And guess what?

You can easily harness this “power” (no pun intended) yourself for your ads.

Just let your hair down and be yourself. Write like you talk (or write like the person whose “voice” your copy is in). Use your own figures of speech, attitude and colloquialisms.

You know, in a lot of ways using your personality makes writing copy easier anyway. You don’t get hung up on a bunch of copywriting and grammatical “rules” and “formulas.”

You may even butcher a few major copywriting “rules” every now and then.

But who cares?

At least you’re being “real.” And your readers will feel like you’re talking to them…and not at them.

And you when start doing that, the difference in response is night and day.

Popularity: 8% [?]

Whether you have already written articles and published them or not, you may want to check out the difference between writing for online ezines and web sites and writing for print media. While some writing concepts work for both, online writing needs a shorter, more focused approach.

Follow these ten steps to write an article top Web sites and ezines will clamor for with a link back to where your book is sold.

1. Choose a topic that relates to your book. Make sure this article has useful, needed, and original information. One site, which markets to professional speakers, published an article “What Makes One Book Outsell Another” that relates to the eBook “Write your eBook or Other Short Book Fast.”

2. Know your article’s thesis. The thesis is your point of view–what your article will prove. It is the major answer for your audience’s major challenge your book will solve. In the introduction above, the thesis is stated in the last line, “Follow these ways to write an article top Web sites and ezines will clamor for with a link back to where your book is sold.”

Author’s Tip: Remember to write on only one topic for each article. Save the other related ideas for another article.

3. Know your preferred audience. Just as your book has a target audience, so should your article. “Sell More Books with a Powerful Back Cover,” and “Titles Sell Books” articles are aimed at professionals, authors, and small business people who want to write and sell books fast. You may want to include your audience in the title.

4. Write a sparkling title and opening. Like a headline in a press release, on your Web site, or on your book’s back cover, your title and your first sentence should grab your readers by the collar, so they will keep reading. Include a benefit in your title and keep it fairly short.

Your first paragraph opening can use a shocking fact, a question or two of where your audience is now, a benefit, or a compelling story right out of your book. Make the opening a short paragraph, even a single line. Readers want concise, digestible information, especially on the Internet.

Author’s Tip: Readers want concise, digestible information, especially on the internet.

5. Illustrate a need or benefits. Whatever your article’s topic, show your readers why they need your information. If you have written a book on listening for couples, in your short article, discuss how much is at stake for not listening, such as divorce.

6. Give a brief background of the problem or situation you will solve. One book-coaching client wrote a book, The Cure for Multiple Sclerosis. In it she shares that over 2 million people worldwide with Multiple Sclerosis are diagnosed incurable, that doctors are pressured to use pharmaceuticals, and that the health industry is not about getting people well, but about making money. One of her article’s openings included this background.

7. Share the problems that result. In The Cure for Multiple Sclerosis, the problem is that most people rely on western medicine, which does not have the answers. Big money is not spent on alternative or complementary ways to prevent and cure chronic diseases, so people with problems get drugs that deplete the immune system.

8. Give the solutions. Your book offers solutions to problems, just as your article must. Show your readers how to get excellent health, how they can write a book, make more money, or have better relationships. You may write a tips article with numbered short tips.

9. Show them where to get the solution and how. The article, “How to Listen at Work to Raise Career Success,” needs to suggest where to go or what to do next to learn the skills. You may name a quality book to read (maybe your book!), mention a seminar or training, or recommend a coach. You may even mention a Web site address or 800- number.

10. Place your article on as many high traffic Internet sites and opt-in ezines as you can. People are looking for free information. That’s the major reason they visit Web sites and subscribe to online ezines.

So, now that you know major points on how to write a short article, put it to work for you to promote your book.

Judy Cullins ?2005 All Rights Reserved.

Popularity: 8% [?]

Much has been written about book proposals. But less has been written about book marketing plans. This is wrong!

What happens after your book is published has a great deal to do with whether you become published and profitable? or just published.

A book proposal is a direct-marketing document intended to persuade publishers to edit, print and distribute your book. It’s a sales piece intended to communicate the inevitability of your book’s success.

Your book’s marketing plan, however, is intended for an audience of one – You! It’s not intended for your publisher. Rather, it’s intended to identify the revenue streams that you will develop after your book is published.

Your marketing plan should describe profits you will earn above and beyond royalties from sales of your book. It should describe in detail your market and the steps you will take to earn this income.

The reason to prepare your marketing plan now, before you sign a publishing contract or write your book, is that the success of your marketing plan depends on the way your book publishing contract is negotiated.

Coaching and consulting

Let’s assume, for example, that you plan to use your book as a way of enhancing your visibility and credibility among your target market. At the simplest level, you will want to include your web site address at several points in the book. Knowing this goal, you can insist that the publisher agrees in writing to include your web site address in specific locations in your book.

Remember: promises don’t make it! Let’s take the worst case scenario. You and your acquisition editor agree that you can include five mentions of your web site address in the book. However, as often occurs, the acquisition editor, after signing the contract, fades out of the picture.

The new development editor then informs you that author’s URL’s can only appear in one place, in the author biography hidden toward the rear of the book. When this happens, what happens to your coaching and consulting plans?

Likewise, you may have planned to buy books in case lot quantities for resale and/or distribution to your prospects and clients. Understanding this before you sign the contract, you can include the right to purchase books for resale at trade discounts in your contract, ensuring your ?book pipeline’ won’t get turned off.

If you know you want to offer telephone coaching at $75.00 a call, for example, you can negotiate written permission to promote this service within the body of your book.

Remember: promises are written on air. Only written agreements count!

Other back-end profit opportunities based on your book’s title include:

• Articles, columns, newsletters

• Yearly updates

• Special Reports

• Teleclasses and seminars

• Speaking and training

• Audio/video recordings

• Choosing a web site address based on your book’s title

• Free downloads of sample chapters from your web site

• Fee-based web site services

The possibilities are endless, but nothing can happen if, after signing the contract, the publisher limits your ability to promote your business and your website in your book.

Thus, it’s imperative that you start by preparing a marketing plan that analyzes post-publication profit opportunities and describes the steps needed to make them happen. Only then are you in a position to decide if the publisher’s ?boilerplate’ contract meets your needs.

The stronger your book proposal and the more experienced your agent, the more likely you’ll get what you want (need) in your contract.

Jay Conrad Levinson says the first volume of his Guerrilla Marketing series earned him thirty million dollars. But only about $35,000 came from the book itself. All the rest came from back-end profits.

That’s how important this issue is!

Popularity: 10% [?]