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Writing Your Own Copy

If you are bound and determined to to your own copywriting, by all means, go for it. However, be aware that unless you already have an education and experience in writing effective copy, you are going to have to send yourself back to school.

We don't mean that literally, although a college course on effective ad writing and marketing might not be a horrible idea.

You won't have to enroll or show up for a Monday morning class. You will have to assemble your own learning materials and commit to studying them in order to become an effective copywriter.

Here are few pointers for those who are interested in handling their own copy:

Learn from the best. Create a "swipe file" of effective copy that you can study and use as inspiration. When you see a great piece of copy or learn that a particular pitch produced awesome results, add it to your file. Don't let that manila envelope gather dust, though. Look at its contents. Study them. Develop a feel for why some things work and others don't. Copywriting is a hybrid of art and science. You need to know the proper techniques, but you also have to develop the right sense of intuition.

Buy the book. Do a bit of research and learn about some of the most frequently recommended instructional titles. Then, buy them. Then, most importantly, read them. Read them carefully and then re-read them. A professional copywriter lives and breathes this stuff. You don't have the luxury of going "full-time," but you do have to scoot along the learning curve in order to handle the job.

Hey, no one said it was going to be easy, right? You can do your own copywriting, but don't think that writing compelling material is as easy as sitting down with a pencil and a paper and whipping up a premium sales letter in minutes.  It's a specialized skill that requires development.