The #1 Skill You’re Missing To Make Money Online Easier

There are a million different skills that you can develop as an online business owner to help you make more money online. Things like creating content, building products, improving your website design, talking to customers, collaborating with other creators, and so on. The list literally never ends. But there's one skill in particular that makes everything else easier or totally unnecessary when it comes to earning more money online. And that number one skill is copywriting. When you get good at copywriting, you can literally have a sales page that will sell for you 24/7, 365, that never takes a day off, never asks for time off, never asks for a raise. It is literally an employee that is booking calls for you and selling your products day in and day out all the time. So today I'm going to share with you 9 of the best copywriting tips that I have learned from investing a ton of money and time into learning this skill. I'm not the best copywriter in the world, but I have come so, so far in terms of learning the skill and just my getting better at my writing skills really. And I want you to know this stuff that way you can shortcut your success, develop the skill faster with these 9 tips and ultimately start making money online a whole lot easier. So without further ado, let's dive in. Welcome to episode number 19 of the Profit Your Knowledge podcast. I'm your host, James Allen, here to help you turn your knowledge, passions, and skills into an online business so that you can be your own boss, do work that you love, and live a life of freedom. And hey, one of the best ways to actually build a life of freedom is to focus on creating passive income. So if you want a 5-step action plan on how to earn your first $100 or more and passive income, just go over to ProfitYourKnowledge.com/guide. I can tell you right now, nothing beats that first hands-off passive income sale that you see come through. And when you learn how to create your first $100 or more in passive income, you realize that, wow, I can replicate this. I can do this 100 times over, 1,000 times over or more. And it's really an amazing feeling. So this 5-step guide is short. It's concise, it's actionable. It's going to walk you through step by step how to do that. Even if you don't know what your big idea is or what your product idea would be, I walk you through all of it inside of the guide and then turn it into a passive income machine. So it's my gift to you. It's free, it's short, actionable. It's in the description, profityourknowledge.com/guide. When you click on that, it'll take you over to a squeeze page. Put in your best email and I will send you over your action plan immediately. Let's dive into the content. So I'm talking about copywriting. You might be wondering, James, what is copywriting? Copywriting, simply put, is persuasive writing specifically for promoting or marketing a business. That is the important part. Copywriting is specific to promoting and marketing a business. So think about headlines for newspapers or for magazines, for blogs as well, advertisements that you see, Facebook ads, marketing emails, sales pages, all that kind of stuff is copywriting. And you know, it's good copywriting if it made you want to pick up the magazine, to click on the article, to click on the ad, or to buy the product or service that the person was presenting to you. That's good copywriting. Okay. Now, what makes copy work? What makes this copywriting stuff really work? Before we get into these 9 tips, which I'm going to get into in just a second, I want you to understand that great copy first starts with a strong message and understanding that message before you get into what it is you're actually writing. So having a strong message that is worthwhile, that's compelling, and that you can explain in plain language. That is the first place that you want to start because all the writing that you do has to come back to that core message. And you could have the best copy, the most fancy copy in the world. But if your message isn't there and you're not clear on that message, then no amount of fancy copy is really going to fix that. Okay. So that's the first thing I want you to do. And what's helpful is just to write, write down like what is, what is the core feeling, insight or takeaway that you want your reader or viewer to walk away with after consuming this? I do this every time that I write copy or that I create a lesson, whether it's a free lesson or a paid lesson. I always ask myself that question. Okay, so let's dive into 9 copywriting tips. Now that you know about creating a strong message, the 9 copywriting tips I'm going to share with you first, keep it skimmable. Skimmable is so big because people skim online. People— I mean, most people aren't like fully reading unless you can really hook them. Then they're going to want to read all of your content. But people skim online. So having this like huge essay with these massive paragraphs is not going to serve you or your reader very well. So give your page some breathing room by using bigger fonts and short paragraphs. Bigger fonts meaning usually around like 18 pixels or 21 pixels, uh, the size font, that's usually great for like blogs and whatnot. So think about that range. 18 is like a pretty, pretty solid size. We just want some bigger fonts, short paragraphs, keep your paragraphs 1 to 3 sentences long and then do the enter, enter or return, return. And, um, yeah, I mean, what sometimes one single sentence as a paragraph is really powerful, but Bigger fonts, shorter paragraphs. That's going to help you have some breathing room and allow people to skim, and it's going to make the reading experience so much better for them. Next, keep it simple. Write as if you are telling your core message or your idea to a third grader so that they can understand by using simpler words and phrases. Okay, I'm not saying to like downplay or like dumb it down, but just if you notice that you're using big jargon words or those kind of things, then think, how can I say this in a more simple way but still get my point across? Okay, so keep it simple. Next one, this is one of the biggest ones. Every word counts. I learned this from Ramit Sethi in a copywriting course that I am currently taking from him and that I have taken. It's, he said every word has to earn its way onto the page. So when you read your copy, whether it's an email, social media post, advertisement, a sales page, whatever, a blog post, does every word and sentence easily connect to the next so that you want to keep reading? Okay. There's no fluff filler words, and we'll get into that in just a minute, but every word has to count. Just think every word has to earn its way onto the page and knowing that will help you in taking things away from whatever your copy is. All right. Next, we want to keep it concise and specific. This dovetails into that last tip concise and specific. What words can you eliminate that will still get your point across and still make sense with your message? So obviously you can get rid of too many words, but here's an example. Let's say you said, he said that we— or he said that he could get a reservation versus you saying, he said he would get a reservation. Just eliminating the word that is a common filler word, by the way, in terms of writing. But eliminating the word 'that' still got the point across. It still makes sense and it's eliminating a word. Okay, so that's just a quick example of what you want to do. If you read through it, you're like, I could get rid of that word and it would still make sense. Okay. He said he would get a reservation versus he said that he would get a reservation. You get the, you get the point. Next, review and edit. Always review what you wrote every time you write it. Don't just do a first draft of an email or a blog post. Or a sales page at all. For God's sake, please don't do that. There's always room to improve. There are always words that you can cut out, ways that you can make more sense with your writing, phrases you can eliminate, maybe a different example that you can add. Okay, always review and edit. You don't need to necessarily write a completely new draft, but just make sure that you're always running through, reading through a couple of different times. Okay, with a big sales page, you can just do bit by bit, but make sure that you're always reviewing and always editing to make your message as short and concise and clear as possible. The next tip is another big one. Write like you speak. Read what you wrote out loud. This is the best way to make sure you're actually sounding like you and make sure that it actually does sound like you. The big thing that is going to make your copy stand out from everybody else's or from making it sound too, like, jargony or corporate is to add your personality into the mix. And the best way to do that, just simply read what you wrote out loud. So, so simple. A lot of times I'll be writing something and I think it sounds good, and then I read it out loud and I'm like, I sound like a robot. I sound nothing like me, which is so important. Okay, so write like you speak by reading it out loud and adjusting it and thinking, how would I actually say that? And write it out that way. Next, metaphors, examples, and stories. Make sure that you use these. Metaphors, examples, and stories quickly put your concepts and ideas into perspective so that people can better understand what it is that you're saying. For example, I shared with you talking about keeping it concise with the "he said that he would get a reservation" versus "he said he would get a reservation," eliminating those words. By me giving you that, giving you that example, it helps you put the idea into perspective and kind of simplify it so you had a better understanding. So make sure that you're using metaphors, examples, and stories to really hit your points home with whatever it is that you're talking about. Next tip, focus on emotion. As you write, pause and ask yourself, how does this make me feel? That is the important part. If you're, for example, writing a sales page and you're sharing your personal, like, story of how you left your job and the experiences that you were going through in terms of that, You really want to focus on the emotions that you were going through. And as you're writing it, you read it out loud. Can you actually feel that emotion that you're trying to portray? Okay. Also the same thing when it's an uplifting moment of like when you had success from leaving your job in this example, that is so important. So what's a good practice is to Google sensory word list or emotional words list. Google both of those and it'll give you a really good idea on the different types of words. That will really portray emotions. Okay? Because words really matter and emotions really matter, especially when it comes to getting people to actually take action by promoting your materials, your paid materials. So focus on the emotion that you really want someone to get. Make sure you're clear on it and use those words, sensory and emotional words. Look them up on Google. My last tip is to read great copy. This is a big one. Read great copy. Pay attention to the headlines, to the advertisements, to the blog posts that catch your attention and that really pull you in and consider to yourself what was so compelling about that headline or that magazine cover that made me want to just pick it up and go to that section of the magazine or click on that blog post or click on that ad and buy that product. What was it about? And read through it. One thing that I've actually shared with you is in the description, I've put a link to a LinkedIn article that I found on 5 of the best copywriting newsletters to be on. When you're on a great newsletter in your email or a couple of different ones, you can read through really good copy and that's going to help you understand what great copy really is. So when you start writing great copy, you'll have a good reference point. So make sure that you're reading great copy. Okay, so I know I just kind of blasted through those, but let me just do a recap. The 9 copywriting tips that have helped me improve my copywriting and earn more money online is to make sure that it's skimmable, to keep it simple. Remember that every word counts. Every word must earn its way onto the page. Keep it concise and specific by eliminating as many filler words as you possibly can. Review and edit your work. Always. There's always words to cut out, phrases to change. Ways to make it more understanding for your people or for your reader. Write like you speak by reading it out loud, making sure it actually sounds like you. Use metaphors, examples, and stories to really hit your points home. Focus on the emotion and using sensory and emotional words in your copy and make sure that you can feel it. And then lastly, read great copy. Just get in the habit of reading it, and just reading it is going to help you become a better copywriter. Now you might be wondering, well, James, that sounds like a lot. Couldn't I just hire a copywriter to do all this for me? And the answer is, of course you can. There's, there's plenty of places that you can find great copywriters, but it's going to cost you. Okay. If you have the money, go for it. I look, I actually did some research on this and typically a good copywriter is going to be anywhere from $100 to $1,000 or more. Per page for them to write for you. It's a lot. And you know that that's going to add up super fast, like per page, $1,000 per page. Can you imagine? It's a lot. Okay, so if you have the money and you don't have the time and you don't want to develop the skill, by all means, be my guest. Go for it. You're going to make someone super happy and give them a ton of work, which is awesome. But remember that copywriting is a skill that you're going to be using for a lifetime, or at least the lifetime of your business that you're promoting this. Maybe you're focusing on just being a copywriter, you're an online business owner and you want to develop the skill of copywriting. I'd say focus on developing the skill because the amazing thing about skills is that when you develop a skill, no one can take that away from you. Nobody can take away the knowledge that you have inside of your mind. Okay, so that is the most important thing. Develop the skill. I would say if you consider hiring a copywriter, write out your emails, write out your sales page, some important document that you have and then hire your copywriter to come in and review it all with you or, and make, make those necessary tweaks. That's like the biggest tip that I would say if you're going to consider hiring a copywriter, but really develop the skill yourself using these 9 tips. I'm going to give you a bonus tip because I'm feeling generous today. Bonus tip. This is tip number 10. Write more. Simply put, just write more. Great ways to do this is to start blogging. to start sending regular emails to your email list, practicing these 9 tips that I shared with you in today's lesson. I, in my own life, started to focus on blogging. I would put up a YouTube video and a podcast and convert the YouTube video into a podcast. And I would just write like a short little blurb for my blog. But what I started doing was, uh, I would always make an outline for my YouTube videos like I'm doing right now, or my podcast episode. And then I just started to fill in the gaps and turn that into a blog. So in my outline, I would fill in the gaps and make sure that all made sense and just turned it into a blog of like 1,000 to 2,000 words, which is like a good-sized blog. And it doesn't take me that much time and it's helped me just get better at being a copywriter and working at my copy. I also started— I used to only like send one email per week to my list, just promoting my content. And then I decided to send a second email where I would actually write out a little like blurb of something that I learned. It was just like a tip that I learned or something that I wanted to share, or maybe an article, helpful article that I read that I wanted to share with my, with my email list as well. Okay. So just get in the habit of writing more. That's really the biggest tip that I can share with you, practicing those 9 tips. Practice these things. This is really going to help you get better at copywriting. When you get better at copywriting, making money online is going to be so much easier for you because your emails, your sales pages are all going to be just written well. That's really the biggest thing. Okay. And they can work for you 24/7. Now, if you enjoyed this lesson, you like these tips and you want that 5-step action plan on how to make your first $100 or more in passive income and build a business around passive income or passive income style business, then go to ProfitYourKnowledge.com/guide. Pick up my 5-step action plan. Click the link in the description. It's going to take you over to that squeeze page. Put in your best email and you will— I'll send over the guide right away. Biggest thing is that you take action on it. It's short, it's concise, it's actionable. That's the biggest thing. Okay. And if you did get value from today's lesson and you want to show me some love, just give me a like, give me a comment in the comment section if you're on YouTube and let me know what you think. What was the biggest takeaway or the tip that you got that really stood out for you in terms of getting better at your copywriting skills? And if you have another copywriting tip or a couple other ones, throw them down in the comments section if you are on YouTube. But that's all I got for you today. Take what you learned here, get out there, start developing the skill of copywriting. And I will see you in the next one.