The site is fantastic and I’m learning not only from your article but also from what the commentators write.

I wonder what the techniques are for method writing. I use my own home grown 6-layer techniques. 1. Studying the marketing information and brief 2. Creating a platform with position 3. Defining in a few lines about what my communication message ought to be
4. Coming up with the ideas that are going to be the engines that’ll drive my messages through the clutter 5. Working out the content and structuring the flow 6. And last comes the tone, feel, style and I call this the designing part of copywriting.

Consumer behaviour, as you said, is my key concern. I believe that once you know what the buyer wants you’ve cracked 99% of the problem. Now, research is costly and most agencies may not afford it. We’ll have to go by our ‘circle-groups’ and inputs in the brief. Maybe it all boils down to our social insights.
It’s about, ” Hey buddy! What’s your dream in life pal? Is you little dreamlette a fine shave to freshen up a dull morning?” But someone has to tell me that.

Comments were my teachers too:
@ Miguel – Importance of human nature
@ Seema – I felt she ought to work hands on in an agency
@ Robert J Chanberlain – I felt that he must be talented but humility in learning will make him a pro by 26. Without that it’ll take 36
@ Michelle – She looks forward to learning- I loved that-that’s me
@ David C. – every word made fantastic sense. He spoke like a master
@ Jim- POP- Perception of product – that’s interesing- That’s something I’ll debate with my friends – Interesting a) The consumer needs something b) He has a view about the product b) So he’ll also have an extended view about various competing brands – food for my thoughts
@Addy- I suppose most successful career start by accident. David Ogilvy started writing copy at 36- then he became a worldwide Billionaire.

Wow- I than all the gurus. I am going to recommend this site to all my pals. Actually I wanted to keep this blog a secret like my ABRACADABRA treasure lamp. But second thoughts tell me that it’s selfish thing to do to the site and people who wish to learn.

I would suggest strongly that you find and get a copy of Ted Nicholas’s book on starting a business. It has tons of forms and explains in detail the many options of starting various types of businesses. Ted has been through the mill in many ways and this book is priceless. I would also suggest subscribing to Michael Masterson’s newsletter, Early to Rise. It is always packed with hints, ideas and suggested reading for growing and building your business, no matter what size it is.

Leaders from businesses who are featured in the Fortune 100 to small shops of 2 or three people read this resource and follow it avidly. And I know you’re just posting on a blog but practice and hone those writing skills at all times to make it second nature to write like a writer even if capitalizing your “I’s” may seem tedious. Those little things matter.

And I know Miguel is a huge fan of Ted Nicholas, a multi-billion dollar copywriter whom everyone knows and if there’s one thing you’ll always hear from Ted, if you think you have it down, you don’t. All of the most successful copywriters all say the same thing. Learning never stops and practicing and honing the little things, getting another angle on it by taking as many courses as you can, is essential to launching yourself skyward.

Whether it’s Ted, John Carlton, Dan Kennedy, Michel Fortin, Gary Bencivenga or the late Gary Halbert, if you aren’t reading, practicing and taking every course or seminar you can to jog new ideas, reinforce your foundation, you’ll be surprised by what you miss.

I took Miguel’s beginning course and learned many tips, tricks and insights I thought I already understood only to realize I had only scratched the surface. I still reread many of the lessons for refreshing and cementing them deep into my brain until they become second nature.

Go for it bro. Sign up for all you can and you’ll be surprised.

Thanks Miguel for a great post and a great course I recommend to all I know and everywhere I post.

Thanks again,

David.

the emotions that i can pack into my copy will make a reader want to latch onto a product as if it is their deepest, most intimate secret and it is all theirs, but i am overwhelmed by the small, little steps to begin a business and begin sending queries to prospects.

what i need as an aspiring copywriter is not methodologies (i have that down), but a mentor’s outline, not the lame descriptive who what where when why how how much etc., but a kit which will help me analyze the keywords and products myself.

i am a 24 year old dude, who has been working on websites for about a dozen years now, but none have really became super successful.

i have therefore been doing PCP marketing and it is draining me. i really want to do copywriting full time, because writing is my passion.

do you have any suggestions for someone in my shoes?

thank you for a little bit of your time, and if you could please e-mail me some hints or tips. great post!

Ralph

You know how I stumbled here on this site?
One day I was very much depressed by all blames from my husband that I am good in communication than him, but still not marketing and helping him grow his website .
That comment made me depressed and I thought of putting my feelings on a blog. I showed my blog to him and he was more than impressed,
but advised me that I need professional copywriting skills which I lack so that my blog looks more intresting.
That made me google for copy writing forums, and here I am in midst of so many fine writers.

Thank you.

“Method copywriting” per se is not a copywriting course. It is a way of writing better copy by taking elements from human psychology.

To learn more about this, I recommend you take a few minutes to read the series of posts I did entitled “Understanding human nature” (Parts 1, 2, 3 and 4). In them I share a lot of information about the human psyche and how we’re all more similar to each other that we want to admit.

Cheers!
Miguel Alvarez
Copywriting.com