New To Copywriting? Start Here…

As part of my coaching program, students can ask me unlimited questions via email. Granted, it’s a bit early, but one common question I seem to get is, “I’m new to copywriting, where do I start?”

Naturally, since coaching students are allowed access to any of my digital programs, they also get access to my Copy Doctor private website, where I share over 50 hours of salesletter and copy critiques, recorded on video.

But one student said something that struck me (and this doesn’t happen often). She said, “I learn better by doing than by watching… Is there anything you can recommend?”

Great question. Some people are visual (they learn better by watching), some are aural (by hearing), others are kinesthetic (by doing or feeling). And I also thought it would be a great question to cover on my blog. So, here goes…

#1: Courses

If you want some basic guidance to get you started, there’s a course I recommend, which is really popular and pretty well-rounded. It’s the Six-Figure Copywriting course by the American Writers And Artists Institute (AWAI).

I own a copy myself, and it’s pretty good. It’s a great starter if you are just starting out and want to learn the fundamentals of writing good copy. There are some advanced topics, but I like it more for its basic training.

The reason I also recommend it is, for those kinesthetic students who prefer to do the work, which I applaud, the AWAI course offers assignments with the curriculum. And you get graded on those, too, and they give you feedback along the way.

(I’ve never handed in any work myself, so I’m not exactly sure how the process is done. But even with just buying the course, I’ve pulled a few gems and used them.)

It in terms of courses I’ve co-authored that I recommnend is Breakthrough Copywriting. This course offers training from basic to advanced, by my friend David Garfinkel who’s a great teacher. (In fact, David is known as the world foremost copywriting coach.)

David’s content involves understanding the writing process, copywriting formulas, and using copywriting templates, where you swipe some of the most successful pieces of copy and use them as models to duplicate.

In it, I also offer my formulas I recommend and personally use, such as my OATH formula (for determining the stage of awareness of your market), QUEST formula (the proper structure of a salesletter), FAB formula, the storytelling process, and more.

Also, a great friend of mine and fantastic copywriter, Ray Edwards, is about to launch his own copywriting course, entitled Web Copywriting Explained. It deals specifically with online copy, and Ray even offers a few videos to tantalize you.

Ray has a background in radio. But don’t let his soothing voice, charming demeanor and authoritative eloquence fool you. This guy wrote million-dollar copy for some of the brightest and most successful marketers online, so he knows what he’s talking about.

Finally, here’s a product I intimately know and highly recommend.

Why? Ahem, well, guess who wrote the copy?

It’s by Dan Lok. Dan is not only an amazing, hard-hitting copywriter himself, but he also created a product that packages brilliant interviews with some of the best copywriters on the planet. In Turn Words Into Cash, Dan grills top names in the business — some of whom have never given interviews before.

#2: Websites

Next, you might want to check out my blog at and look on the right for “most popular posts.” It contains links to some of the most viewed articles, which I recommend for someone learning the ropes — including these formulas I talk about in the Breakthrough course, mentioned above.

Another fantastic resource is Brian Clark, who is a lawyer-turned-copywriter. He has some of the best copywriting articles online. His blog, CopyBlogger, offers an entire section called Copywriting 101, which lists some really good articles I recommend to anyone just starting out.

I’m sure you also know about Gary Halbert’s repository of articles. There are tons of great stuff in there. There are many other sources, too. I recommend surfing around or asking other copywriters in popular forums.

But the very best learning process I’ve found, particularly for kinesthetics (and visuals alike), is to take a successful salesletter and write it out, word for word, by hand. This is by far the best way to learn because it enables you to process the information both visually and kinesthetically.

There are tons of copywriting newsletters and copywriting websites out there. Some of them offer swipe files or examples you can easily copy by hand.

Another great way to get your hands on some of the best salesletters out there is to check out Clickbank’s Marketplace. Just go to Clickbank.com, click on the “Marketplace” link at the top. And look at some of the most popular items being sold.

But don’t stop there.

Check out the listings in your preferred category (I tend to check the “Marketing and Ads” section). With each product they list, which are listed in order of rank (by sales and popularity), you get the actually sales copy link, with a number of useful stats to gauge how good the salesletter is — such as payouts, percentages, gravity score, and more.

This is important since you want to do this exercise with only those salesletters that are proven to sell.

#3: Books

Finally, let’s not forgot some of the most popular books on copywriting. Many of these are timeless classics, which all copywriters should have in their library.

There are quite a few of them. So rather than list them all here, let me share with you my most favorite ones. (I own a copy of all of these. And my copies are note-filled, dog-eared and heavily used. For good reason. So I highly recommend them.)

• Scientific Advertising (Claude Hopkins)
• The Robert Collier Letter Book (Robert Collier)
• Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion (Dr. Robert Cialdini)
• Breakthrough Advertising (Eugene Schwartz)
• Tested Advertising Methods (John Caples)

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