My special weapon against copy writer’s block

Are you like me? When it comes to writing the copy for your website or emails do you find yourself staring at your blank computer screen for what seems hours. You type in a few lines, read back over it, and then hit the delete button. AHHHH!!!!!

You know that the headline is the most important part of your sales letter on your website and you’ve seen heaps of really good headlines that caught your attention when you were surfing the net – but what were they again?

And then there is also the layout of the page, deciding what graphics to use, what colours to use – the list goes on. What you really need is a swipe file. If you haven’t heard of this term before, a swipe file is a folder (either in your filing cabinet or on your computer) where you keep copies of sales letters, ads etc that you really like or that you know have been effective. That way, you don’t have to start from scratch. When you need ideas for headings, you simply look over all the ones you have collected and adapt one to suit your needs.

Here’s the problem though. When you have been collecting copies of your favourite websites, emails, etc for a while, it can be really hard to find what you have been looking for. You may have them bookmarked in your browser or organized neatly under folder headings. But what you really need is some kind of easy to use search facility to find them, and a really simple way to save and catalogue them.

Here’s the solution and even better, it’s free and dead easy to use. Go here to download the program called Evernote. They have an upgraded paid version but I’ve never had a need for it. The free version is excellent.

When you are browsing around the internet and see a sales letter with a heading you think is very powerful, all you have to do is click the Evernote icon that will be at the top of your browser. You can add a snap shot of the webpage to Evernote and categorise it under as many listings as you like (for eg headings, sales pages, great graphics – all for the one page). And not only does it save a copy for you, it also automatically includes a link to the website so you can go back and check it out even years later.

I use this tool every single day. Because it’s so quick to add new pages and categorise them I now have a huge swipe file that I can refer to when I get that inevitable mental blank.

A word on copyright (and netiquette). Although searching through your swipe file is R&D (Research & Development), don’t be tempted to do the Internet version of R&D (Rip off & Duplicate)! Use your swipe file for ideas and build on them from there. Add your own twist – who knows it may be so good someone adds your copy to their swipe file.

Tags: Articles, Copywriting, Copywriting