* Writing press releases
* Writing advertorial
* Ad copy writing
* Writing speeches
* Writing product literature
* Writing brochures and other marketing materials
* Writing web copy
* Freelancing for the print media, including travel writing
* Feature writing
* Writing for the Internet (including eBooks)
* Ghostwriting
* Authoring books
* Niche markets, such as greeting cards
* Writing competitions
* Writing slogans or tie-breakers to win competitions
* Fellowships
* Grants
* Teaching writing
* Writing op-ed (opinion editorial) pieces
* Filling out surveys
* Poetry
* Erotica
* Graphic novels
* Screenplay/script writing
* Writing term papers
* Writing presentations
* Writing CVs
* Writing job applications
* Lyric writing
* Technical writing
* Writing direct marketing literature/flyers/mailers
* Providing transcription services
* Abstracting
* Providing translation services
* Proposal writing
* Writing grant applications
* Winning writing competitions
* Editing
* Proofreading
* Writing jokes
* Acting as an eBay trading assistant and writing peoples’ copy for them
* Writing “readers” letters? in order to win prizes
* Writing reviews
* Writing side bars for articles
* Writing fillers (short articles 200 – 400 words long)
* Writing a newsletter or Ezine
* Capitalizing on your writing experience and becoming a book doctor or writing coach
* Writing peoples’ dissertations
* Writing horoscopes
* Compiling TV listings
* Writing for mobile phone messaging services
* Film critic
* Theater critic
* Reviewing concerts
* Restaurant critic
* Wine taster/reviewer
* Product reviewer
* Writing romance
* Writing horror fiction
* Writing science fiction
* Writing crime fiction
* Writing historical novels
* Writing satire
* Writing about your own experiences
* Confessional writing
* Writing self-help/how to books and articles
* Writing courseware
* Writing Annual Reports
* Writing corporate newsletters
* Sub-editing
* Copy editing
* Providing research services
* Writing user guides and manuals
* Writing for book packagers
* Writing for contract publishers
* Production editor
* Producing instruction guides and support documentation
* Become an online community leader. There are many online communities, sites where people who share the same interests get together to share information, chat, exchange information and links. www.about.com is well worth a look and so is www.suite101.com.

* Freelance news writing
* Become an expert and write articles on your area of expertise
* Write for Pay-per-click sites
* Write for syndication sites that will sell you article to third parties in exchange for a percentage of the final deal
* Provide consulting services via e-mail in your area of expertise
* Compiling information directories and databases
* Writing for anthologies e.g. the “Chicken Soup for the Soul” series
* Writing case studies
* Writing white papers
* Providing re-writing services
* Blogging – some sites will pay bloggers (online diary writers)
* Journalist
* Reporter
* Medical writer
* Writing recipes
* Writing tips
* Writing an advice column
* Writing for contract publishers
* Writing for book packagers
* Setting up your own publishing company
* Making money from other peoples’ writing e.g. publishing and formatting their manuscripts
* Writing slogans for T-shirts, mugs etc.
* Writing scripts for telesales personnel

There are more than 101 ways to make money from your writing, so now that I’ve got you started, see how many more you can think of. Good luck!

Resources:

http://www.seanet.com/~sylvie/grants.htm

http://www.wordpreneur.com/writers-resources/

http://www.howtobooks.co.uk/leisure/writing/childrens-story.asp

http://ezinearticles.com/?cat=Writing-and-Speaking:Copywriting

Don’t. At least… not yet…

It’s important to remember you are dealing with two different mediums. What works on one – even if it’s your strongest ad – may not work on the other. There are a number of mistakes I’ve seen marketers make, when creating their own social ads, and impersonal headlines beginning with anything even remotely close to: “The Untold Truth About…” – ones that sound like a sales pitch – will turn people off faster than a slap of ice water.

It’s important also to match the ad with the right social network.  There are now so many in play that it seems as if there’s a social network for every market – and they’re not all created equal.  Besides a difference in sales tracking metrics and flexibility, you also have to consider the demographic that uses each particular one the most.

For example, Scribd’s population leans more heavily towards young male professionals, with college education, whereas MySpace’s demographic is the 17-21 year old age group (usually non-spenders, except on electronic items such as iPhones, music and gaming systems).

But no matter what platform you finally pick, you won’t get anywhere with the sort of sales pitches that sound like the beginning of a TV commercial: The sort that wake you up at night, while their presenters enthusiastically shout about the latest gadget.

Remember that social advertising is just that… social. Nobody’s really got the ultimate handle on it yet… but when it comes to social advertising for your business, remembering you’re supposed to be interacting, and that a give and take has to go on with your fans, will go further than the cleverest headline.

If you can give somebody the solution to their problem or help them to obtain some desired result, they will give you their money.  It’s not rocket science.

Now since we’re talking about exactly how people make money on the Internet, as a very specific medium of communication, you need to understand what drives the Internet.  While most people would say that’s “information”, I’d like to frame it as “content”.

Content is what drives a web surfer from one page to another.  They’re looking for something, often something very specific.

Figure out exactly what that “something specific” is and you will find yourself in a very enviable position.  By simply creating content on the subject you’ll be able to start siphoning traffic from the Internet and your competitors websites.

The better the quality of your content, the faster news of your site will spread. (This is especially true of hobby and special interest sites.)

If you’ve got the content they want and it’s well packaged and ready for sale, then you’ll soon gain a new customer.

If you’ve got content closely related to their query, but you can point them to someone else’s website who does sell the specific content that they’re searching for, then you’re on your way to another commission payment.

If you’ve got content that everyone appreciates and no product or nobody to refer that traffic to, you can still make money on the Internet by selling advertising space to other webmasters on your hot little content site.

Add CPA offers to the mix or even Adsense and you could be well on your way to you first completely Internet-based revenue stream.  Wash, rinse and repeat.

————–

Imagine this…

You wake up and spend an hour or so writing about something you love. Pick a topic. Love running? Write about it. Really enjoy travel? Write about it. Passionate about your pet? Write about it.

Spend about an hour writing about it. Maybe another hour doing a bit of marketing. Then call it a day.

And make money doing just that. Day after day.

That’s what you can do as a successful blogger. It’s the “ultimate internet dream job”. Write about something you love — earn money from doing it.

What could be better? If that’s the lifestyle you’d choose to live, then this is for you.

Today, I’m going to show you how to get a fifteen page sales letter read from beginning to end and keep your prospect magnetized to *every* paragraph along the way. Impossible?

The real magic behind these magnetic sales letters is not some mystical skill or secret formula but rather a simple copywriting concept that has been around longer than most of us have been alive. It’s one of the Grand Secrets behind copy that gets read?and that means your pitch has been delivered? and that’s how sales happen!

Fortunately for you and me, the concept I’m referring to is almost a long-lost art among new copywriters. (And that’s a darn shame? because it’s so easy to use, once you take the time to learn the details.) So, what am I referring to?

The good ol’ “Bucket Brigade”.

Listen, every great copywriter employs this technique – either knowingly or unknowingly – to get their long sales letter copy read from start to finish.

Case in point; Many readers of this letter will be familiar with a guy by the name of Yanik Silver. A few years back he released a product into the market- place that he called ‘Instant Sales Letters’. That package generated a *huge* amount of interest and even greater profits for young Mr. Silver even though when his sales letter for this product (when printed out) was *over* FIFTEEN-PAGES LONG!

Mr. Silver is not alone either?

It’s a fact that several of my best selling products (and some of the best selling products of our time – or any time) have made use of long sales letters WITHOUT losing a prospects’ attention and WITHOUT losing any sales!

So just what is the Bucket Brigade?

You’ve been reading it, all through this newsletter. All through every piece of copy I’ve ever written. Take a look at the first words of the paragraphs above. The phrases “listen”?”case in point”? “it’s a fact”? “what’s more”? and “what, you ask” are all proud members of the Bucket Brigade.

Simply put; the Bucket Brigade words and phrases are “keep reading” words and phrases. These are the hard working words that get your copy read!

Here’s the scoop; (That’s another phrase in the Brigade. In the days before fire departments got organized, townsfolk would fight a fire by lining up and passing buckets of water from the nearest pump to the point of the blaze. Another line passed the buckets back to the pump.

This was the “Bucket Brigade” in action.

Moving the water along briskly. No let up. No pauses. The buckets went in a fast, efficient, linear direction to get the job done.

Early copywriters adopted this term to explain the job of certain “keep reading” phrases. Used at the beginning of key paragraphs, these phrases and words made a simple promise to the reader: Don’t quit reading now ? I have something really important for you right here. Don’t stop, or you’ll miss it. Why do you think some of the worst storylines in existence have generated millions of dollars in revenue? Because they were sold to soap opera studios that specialize in the Bucket Brigade’s pseudonym – CLIFFHANGERS!

Yes, the television industry learned this secret and uses it EVERYDAY to get some of the most boring programs known to man to be watched religiously day after day because it ends just at the point of our greatest intrigue?

So tomorrow – we’re back to find out what happens to seductress Suzy and the cable-guy after his fiancé died while getting a facial from a mysterious stranger that’s probably the love-child of Suzy’s father’s brother – (twice removed, of course

The most common blunder rookie copywriters make is to assume the reader will “hang in there” while the writer wanders around making a far too convoluted pitch.

Let me help you with that theory?

AIN’T GONNA HAPPEN!

The instant you bore him, or confuse him, or ask him to “bear with you” while you mumble and equivocate? he’s outta there. Sale lost.

Whenever I consult with people I’ll almost invariably encourage my clients to use this simple ‘trick’ at the bottom of each page of a letter or ad: Split the last sentence, so that the reader has to turn the page to continue reading and finish the thought.

People can’t stand –

– not having the full story.

Most people don’t get it, but you *don’t* want to give your reader even a slim chance of losing interest. See if this rings a bell?

Were you one of those that sat glued to your TV screen waiting for the next installment of those old Buck Rogers serials?

Can you remember why (if you did?)

Yup, it was because of those ‘Cliff hanger endings’

Good Ol’ Buck is last seen dangling off a precipice by his fingertips? and the reel ends. *Aaargh!!!* It would drive you nuts because you’d want to find out what happened?but you’d have to come back next week to find out how he got out of that precarious situation.

(Don’t worry – he got out just fine

It got you to ‘turn the page.’

It’s the secret to keeping them reading.

At page four of a twelve page letter, they might be getting a bit fatigued, but if I gave them the opportunity to take a rest ? by finishing a thought, a sentence and a paragraph at the end of the page, so they could say “Oh, I see” ? then I could lose them FOREVER?so?

DON’T do that!

How many times have you seen an ad or sales letter that really got your attention and come back to finish it later?

My guess is ‘NEVER’?

People don’t typically come back to advertising copy ‘later’ or ‘after tea’. You’ve lost them. They’re gone. Don’t be afraid to keep this same sort of tension going all the way through your copy ? you might even want to use it at the beginning of every single paragraph.

You want their curiosity burning at super-high intensity each time their eyes move down the page.

The Bucket Brigade does this so smoothly: “Not only that” ? “But wait ? there’s more”? “And check this out”? “One more thing ? it’s important”? “And that’s just for starters”?”We’re not through yet”? “It gets even better”?”Do you understand what this means?” Or, you can startle them: “You think I’m lying, don’t you?” “The doctors were sure I was going to die.” “So I stole it.”

NOW PAY CLOSE ATTENTION BECAUSE?

I’m going to give you the answer to a question that I’ve heard from quite a few of my clients. They always want to know, “Okay, so the ‘bucket-brigade’ is great?but how do I memorize all of those words and phrases to use in my copy?

Nothing could be easier Just use the old journalism trick of “who, what, why, where, when and how”. “Who else uses this secret?” “What does this mean for you?” “Why would I share such a valuable tactic with a stranger?” “Where did I find this information?” “How would like to see it for yourself?” Using this one simple technique in your copy WILL impact your conversion rate. You will make more sales and you will generate more leads.

The good old Bucket Brigade will lead your reader in a fast, linear path straight from your headline to your sales pitch.

No let-up in tension. No chance for her to conveniently put your copy aside “to finish later”. Believe me, they’ll have to make an effort to tear their eyes from the page? and that’s in your favor all the way.

So let’s hear no more whining such as “but that sounds like some corny infomercial” It’s only corny until the checks start coming in. Then, it’s music to your ears!

It’s the first thing that the visitor to a sales page sees, so it makes sense that it should command attention. After all, as we all know, you don’t get a second chance to make a first impression.

But what’s at the top of the page isn’t the only thing that deserves special attention…

There’s an element at the very bottom that is much more important than you might think, and that’s the P.S.

You’re probably aware that P.S. stands for postscript. It comes from the Latin term post scriptum, meaning “written after.”

In other words, it’s generally an “afterthought”. But when it comes to copywriting, the P.S. should be anything but an afterthought. It needs to be well written, and it should make the reader want to buy (or at least learn more).

The reason that the P.S. is so important is because it’s actually one of the first things that many readers look at. It sounds rather ironic, because it’s at the end of the letter. But particularly when faced with a long sales letter, the reader often scrolls to the end to see what the P.S. says. He knows from experience that it will usually sum up what’s in the rest of the letter. So he reads it in an effort to save himself some time.

Copywriters (and marketers like you and me) can use this tendency to their advantage by writing a powerful P.S. There’s no set formula for what to write, but whatever it is should make an impression.

It should give the reader some sort of incentive to buy, and buy now!

A common theme in the P.S. of the sales letter is reiteration of the product’s unique selling proposition (USP). This strategy works, because those who skip straight to the P.S. would not be exposed to it otherwise.

You could also state a benefit not mentioned previously. This will give those who have read the whole letter something to think about, and it might generate enough curiosity for the skimmers to go back and see what the other benefits are.

It can also be used to build a sense of urgency. You could offer a time-limited discount or mention an additional bonus for those who order quickly. Or if you really want to pack a punch, you could mention the USP, benefits and a reward for quick action!

The P.S. can literally turn a curiosity seeker into a buyer. So don’t skimp on it! Put as much thought into your P.S. as you do into your headline.

Nothing could be further from the truth!

In fact, I’m already on track to sell more simple PDF special reports this year (2011) than the last 3 years combined!

Let’s face it; video is crazy-cool. It’s being used for everything from replacing sales letters to constituting complete products and there are no signs that it will do anything except continue to grow exponentially as the Internet matures.

But that’s exactly why it’s getting easier and easier to sell tiny, specialized niche reports and other PDF documents!

Why?  Because as more and more marketers start offering video-based products as opposed to text-based reports many people are desperately seeking the convenience of products that  offer them…

1)      a smaller file size,

2)      the ability to print out the content that they need on demand and

3)      simple text that they can quickly scan through/search to find relevant data/information.

Videos are quick and easy to produce (which explains why they are so popular among product creators these days) but can sometimes be a downright pain to consume!

And never forget that you should always be creating products that adds value to the consumer – not just products that are easier for you to crank out.

Try this experiment yourself, if you wish; create a video with an hour’s worth (60 min) of content and add a link to a 3-5 page special report which contains just a summary of the highlights of that video training.

Put them both up for free on your website and check your download statistics at the end of the month.

You’ll discover that dimes-for-dollars the PDF content downloads will dwarf the video downloads by (at the very least) 2-to-1 (probably more like 5-to-1 in most markets).

If your content is best suited to the video format, the don’t hesitate to use it (I’ve got plenty of those lined up for the year ahead too).

But don’t think for even a second that video products are the only kind of products that are really moving in the marketplace today.

In every survey I’ve recently conducted, bar none, the majority of subscribers surveyed all selected PDF documents as their preferred format for learning new material (unless it entailed operating specific software applications where a video walk-through would make things much easier to follow).

Bottom line, if you want to really pump up your income this year then you can’t afford to ignore the growing need (and market) for simple PDF special reports!

Traffic, links, SEO, mailing lists – EVERYTHING means squat if you don’t have an offer that converts!

The Only Thing That Matters Is Offers That Convert!

That’s what so few people seem to understand. Don’t be one of the clueless masses.

While everyone else is focusing on list building, generating backlinks and pay per click advertising you need to be focused on finding offers that convert. Period.

When you’re done trying to build a mailing list of 100,000+ subscribers you’ll still be struggling to pay your rent without an offer than converts.

Got 1,000+ unique visitors coming to your website? Big deal. You’re still screwed without an offer that converts!

If you don’t have at least ONE offer that converts at least 1% of cold traffic to sales, then you’re not even in the game.

Traffic, lists and cash follow conversions. (Not the other way around)

EVERYONE (including every guru you know) wants to promote a product that converts.  Show any marketer a product proven to convert and they’ll sell the stuffing out of your offer.

Everyone will mail for you.

Everyone will join your lists.

Everyone will send you cash.

100 visitors is all you need to get started. If you don’t make one sale for every hundred visitors then all of the traffic you’re buying won’t save you.

Work on your offer, not your traffic.

Add bonuses. Change the price. Add graphics. Change the product format. Do whatever it takes to create the most irresistible offer possible and you’ll never have to worry about traffic or subscribers again!

Have you ever heard of the 80-20 rule? In marketing, 80-20 refers to this simple theory: 80% of your sales come from 20% of your customers. In other words, make your customers happy above all else because they are the ones who hold the power. And the good news is, you know that you already have their attention.

Why waste your time targeting unknowns when you have an ingratiated audience at your fingertips? Now, of course there is a place – a very important and prominent place – for new customers. The ultimate goal is to continually grow your business and you can only do that by gaining new customers. However, you cannot and must not neglect your existing customer base.

They are the ones who feed you. They are the ones who have already invested in your business. Serve them well and you will be well served in return. Not only will they continue to make purchases from you, but they are likely to recommend you to others should you show them what true customer service and quality product delivery really are.

So remember, take care of your customers. Because if you follow up on the backend, your business will flourish.

The moment you lose focus, you’ll end up draining yourself of all of your emotional, physical, mental and financial resources.

The only way to overcome those stumbling blocks that claim more and more victims on the internet superhighway every single day is to focus on multiplication.

One of your first orders of business should be to multiply yourself!

As juvenile as that might sound in our mind as adults, the internet provides you and me with the technology and infrastructure to do just that.

Imagine being able to post on a thousand different discussion forums at the same time.  Or how about being able to run an advertisement in twenty thousand ezines without spending more that the cost of a single solo ad?

Well you can do all of these things on the internet when you make multiplication your focus instead of just your bottom line.

These carbon copies of yourself are called your affiliates.

Affiliate programs allow you to create an army of dedicated sales people from around the world.

They have the ability to post advertisements in publications that you’ve never even seen or heard of.

They arise and go to work on your behalf while you fall asleep on the other side of the globe.

They place links and banners and testimonials on their websites that don’t cost you a cent.

Just imagine how much more effective your sales process will be when you sign up 500 new affiliates that know that they will be rewarded for every ounce of effort that they put into promoting your products!

If you have a great product you could easily sell a few dozen products every month and turn each of those satisfied customers into your own thriving sales force that will bring you hundreds more sales with no extra effort on your part.

Affiliates multiply your power to generate gigantic amounts of cash in just hours.

Always treat them as your greatest assets – because they are!

———

LAST MINUTE EDIT: Paying people cash to refer others to your websites isn’t the only way to leverage this kind of raw marketing power.

For example; I never build a mailing list by myself from scratch.  Never!  If you run a WordPress blog and use Aweber, MailChimp, Constant Contact, iContact or GetResponse, then you can use something like this software to reward your subscribers with special reports, downloadable videos or anything else digital for referring more people to join your mailing list.

That’s called leverage. With the right incentive you can add hundreds of subscribers to your list in a matter of days without doing anything except spending 20 minutes to setup the software and get the ball rolling.  And the best part?  This kind of traffic can keep a steady stream of new subscribers coming to your website for months or even years without you ever needing to touch it again.

No…it is:

• Not because you have a bad product
• Not because you have a poor sales letter
• Not because there is no market for your offering
• Not because you don’t have a huge list of prospects
• Not because you are not intelligent enough
• Not because you are lazy &
• Not because your name isn’t Frank Kern or John Reese

If you’re interesting in knowing exactly WHAT the number one reason is for your lack of profits, this little report might just help you out a little.

Like everyone else around here (cyber-space) I’ve spent years and loads of cash trying to make money using the Internet.

I figured that there had to be an ethical and sound business way to earn some money via the Internet. After some research, days of going without sleep and enough coffee to float a battleship, I decided that affiliate programs sounded really great

Long story short, 12-months (and a few hundred dollars) later I had made three affiliate sales online. (If your computer screen is pink, it’s just my keyboard blushing as I type this rather embarrassing yet true story.)

I did try all the usual ‘free’ advertising channels and eventually placed several ezine ads, placed some banner ads around and even struck up some joint-ventures during this time but a total of three sales was all that I generated for that year.

Skip to today where I am now living very comfortably, working from home and deriving my income entirely from the Internet. A very different – but pleasant picture isn’t it?

So somewhere between then and now some things had to change.

So what would I consider the most important shift? What was my number one reason for not making a lot of money online?

During year number two online I did try creating my own product. I also started using autoresponder systems, article submission tools, learned some web-design concepts.etc.

Now for the shocker -during year two my total income was STILL less than $300 (Yes, the sum total of all my activities online for the entire year was LESS than $300)

Are you beginning to be a little afraid at this point? Yes? Good!

Because from somewhere between the beginning of year three to the end of year three things began to change pretty dramatically. And the main catalyst for that change was in me recognizing my greatest mistake thus far in the previous months spent online.

My mistake was that I was trying to ‘make money’ as a business in itself.

I was trying to find stuff that people would pay me for. Trying to offer them ebooks or software that, although they were all quality products and information, didn’t mean a thing to my potential customers because I was too interested in making the sale.

Now that might sound a little strange, but I assure you that there are hundreds of thousands of individuals on the Internet right now that don’t realize that “making money” isn’t a career option.

People don’t give you money so that you can grow your business or make a living. People DO pay you for things that they want or need.

Get out of the ‘money-making business” and get into the “helping people business”

Slap up a sales letter or web-page on the internet and you *might* make a sale or two. But *show* people why your offering works. Show them *how* it has helped others and *how* their challenge is solved by your offering and your payment processor will need to upgrade their systems to keep up with your orders.

It’s about a change in your attitude towards money – BUT NOT your own money. the hard-earned, precious, family providing money of your customer.

If your customer won’t be able to use what you are offering them to *measurably* improve the quality of their life in their business, finances, family, society, health, relationships, spirituality, level of contribution or education then why should they pay you?

I make no excuses when I sell my products on the Internet (and some of them cost a rather hefty sum of money) because I’ve personally proven the value of every one of them. If I haven’t tried a product, used a strategy or proven a program you won’t find me offering it to anyone else.

Usually, once I set a price it sticks and I make great sales at that set price (or sometimes I might raise the price because the value exceeds the cost) But the reason it sells at that price (whether a big-ticket item or a low-cost one) is because the product itself has exceeded the price-tag that I have paid for it or the effort I’ve invested in creating it.

In my opinion, I am not alone in making this common and ugly mistake of being in the “money-making” business.

Where does your business stand?

Check yourself and your products today and enjoy the financial rewards of ethical (or good-conscience) marketing.

This simple little attitude adjustment won’t cause an overnight flood of orders. It may take several days, weeks or even months to position yourself and your business in this new standing – but the benefits, once established, will follow consistently and enormously.

It might not be immediate, but the change will be sudden and dramatic when it comes.

Think about it.