The most important skill you can learn

Copywriting, sales copy, sales letters, ad copy, call it what you want, but “art of selling in print” is, in my humble opinion, the most important skill you can learn in your online quest for financial freedom.

Some marketers may say that building your list is the most important skill, but this point is undeniable… good copywriters can basically write their own paychecks and great copywriters are often millionaires!

Did you fully understand that last statement?

Sit back for a few seconds and really absorb that statement. Do you realize that there are people who can write a few pages and do Thousands of dollars… when and where they want? Imagine sitting on the beach with your wireless laptop and making more money on a letter than most people in a single year! You do not believe me?

Look at this. The going rate to hire a top-notch, world-class copywriter to write a one- to ten-page sales letter is more than $15,000.00 or more, depending of course on your awareness, conversion rates, click through and response rates and other factors.

That may seem like an astronomical amount of money, but when you consider the fact that some salespeople make millions of dollars off of these sales letters, then that number doesn’t seem that big.

The good thing is that effective writing can be taught and learned. It is not necessarily an art. Sure, there are some wordsmiths who have a more natural “gift” than others, but most great writers aren’t necessarily born great… made themselves great.

How do you become a better “print seller”? Well, that term was coined somewhere in the late 1800’s, by the late, great John E. Kennedy. And that’s where I suggest you start, with the all time masters of “yore”.

John E. Kennedy is one of the greatest publicists of all time. He considered a good advertisement, “a rational, no-frills means of selling.” He claimed that True’s copy, “Reason-Why” is logic, plus persuasion, plus conviction, all woven into a certain simplicity of thought, predigested to the average mind, so that it is easier to understand than misinterpret.”

Okay, it got a little deep, but that about sums it up in a nutshell! In other words, if you give a person “reasons why” they should buy from you in terms they understand, your conversion rates should go up.

Some other great advertisers to study, if you’re a novice, are: Albert Lasker (of the infamous Lord and Thomas advertising agency), Claude Hopkins, who wrote Scientific Advertising, Eugene Schwartz, (his hard-to-find book, Breakthrough Advertising is a required reading) and John Caples just to name a few.

So, get your foundation from the all-time greats, and then combine it with the best in the business today. People like Gary Bencivenga, Joe Vitale and the late great Gary Halbert come to mind. This is because today’s online writing is a bit different from the writing that was mostly all printed back in my day.

Then formulate your own writing philosophy based on a combination of both worlds, along with your own experiences and personality.

Once you’ve increased your writing skills, all aspects of your communications with your customers and prospects will improve, and therefore your conversion rates. And not only will your conversion rates improve, but by simply honing your writing skills, you’ll also naturally hone your verbal communication skills, and therefore your relationships inside and outside of your business.

But remember, knowledge is nothing without action!