​The Art, Science, and Imagination Behind 
Copywriting That Sells

This is the copywriter's palette. In order to to be considered a great copywriter, one must be comfortable plumbing the depths of the vast wordscape that is the English language to craft an emotionally mesmerizing story that moves readers to action. 

Reaching into a giant pile of words and pulling out a fistful of effective infinitives, appellations, and idioms, then arranging them in a specific order for the sole purpose of making a meaningful impression on the reader at any reading level is the Art of good copy.*

Testing and tracking the outcome of the copy over time is the Science.

Imagination is the tool that conjures compelling copy ideas that motivate readers to action.

My goal with copy is to make my clients hover over their own "Buy Now" buttons, subconsciously moving them to (almost) purchase their own product or service.

You may be proud of what you have to offer the world. A perfect product. A stunning service offering. But until you've seen your product dressed in the finery of professional copy, you have no idea how compelling your offer could be!

Great copy should make readers feel like a groom seeing his

beautiful bride walking down the aisle on their wedding day.

The perfect copy is what makes your offer feel like a natural choice. Almost an afterthought. 

It makes your potential customers float in anticipation of holding your product in their hands.

It beguiles them with the idea of experiencing the outcome of your service.

If you've ever experienced buying something as if in a dream, from the sales page to the checkout process to reading the purchase receipt in your inbox, you know how powerful great copy can be.

"I didn't really notice I was clicking through the pages and buying this thing 

until I saw the credit card in my hand."

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Losing track of time. Being transported. Getting lost in the story.

These are some of the ways people describe their experiences after reading something they are fully engaged with on a deep emotional level.

Excellent copywriting can accomplish this feat in as little as a few words to a few sentences.

In short pieces, like social media content, it is all about the triggers used to ignite the reader's imagination in order to enlist their own memories and experiences in the subtle battle for their attention. 

In other words, short copy is a catalyst for the reader to fill in the blanks with their own personal details and, in effect, co-writing their own personal copy to convince themselves to stick around and learn more.

Successful short copy sets off a cascade of the reader's own

experiences, which then takes over the process

in order to sell themselves on engaging further.

Long copy accomplishes the same thing. It's simply a chain of triggers to personal story recall until the desired effect is achieved: a lead or a sale.

Putting readers into the story, rather than taking a lecture approach, is one of the many tricks of the trade that is part art, part science of good copywriting.

New copywriters are urged to put pen to paper and copy, word for word, the works of greats like Collier, Caples, or Schwartz. All in an effort to begin the process of understanding and guiding the unchanging human psyche. 

After that, experience is the only teacher. And accumulating experience takes time.

I've been writing copy consciously since 1998. Before that, I began my journey in the art of wordfluence in college as a Communications major. I didn't recognize it then, but those early years were when my copywriting muscles first began to flex.

I've even written copy on my feet as a door-to-door canvasser raising money for nonprofits. In wealthy neighborhoods. At dinner time. This is a world where you live and die by every word, every inflection. If you don't make a connection, and quickly, you don't survive.

It takes decades to read enough, write enough, and make enough mistakes 

to produce effective results in practically any industry.

To sell someone on anything you must understand people. You have to know what gets a person emotionally invested in reading the next sentence. And the next. And the next. Until they are anxiously awaiting the arrival of their purchase.

Businesses that find themselves languishing in obscurity, unable to gain the traction they need without gruelling hours of work, clawing their way forward by mere inches with miles to go, are almost always being underserved by whomever is charged with telling their story.

Most often, that person is the result of a decision to cut corners, save money, and go with an inexperienced copywriter.

To me, this is like giving someone with basic first aid training the job of saving the life of a victim of a serious car accident who is bleeding out from multiple severe injuries.

Though your business isn't literally bleeding out on the side of the road, it is susceptible along the way to all kinds of "injuries" created by poor decisions.

Like treating your copy as an afterthought. This is how many businesses bleed cash and eventually die.

Inexperience costs businesses far more than 

a professional copywriter ever will.

In every case where a business wants to make huge strides in growth over short periods, nothing less than a truly experienced copywriter on the level described here is required.

I do my best work when I'm inspired by a product and the people behind it. 

The only way we'll know if I'm inspired by what you have to offer is when we get together and talk about it. If I love what you've got, and I have an opening, yours could be the next story I tell.