From the dusty overworked keyboard of my Dell Studio XPS…
Chances are you’re trying to figure out how to write web content, articles or sales pages. Save yourself time and make more money by copying what already works.
That being said, two genius copywriters are Tim Ferriss and Eben Pagan.
Just how does one define genius?
Tim Ferriss
Timothy Ferriss, nominated as one of Fast Company’s “Most Innovative Business People of 2007,” is an angel investor (StumbleUpon, Digg, Twitter, etc.) and author of the #1 New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and BusinessWeek bestseller, The 4-Hour Workweek, which has been sold into 35 languages.
Tim has amassed a diverse (and certainly odd) roster of experiences:
- Princeton University guest lecturer in High-Tech Entrepreneurship and Electrical Engineering
- Finance and Entrepreneurship advisor at Singularity University at NASA Ames, co-founded by Peter Diamandis and Ray Kurzweil.
- First American in history to hold a Guinness World Record in tango
- Speaker of 5 languages (6 if he’s reactivating something previously studied)
- National Chinese kickboxing champion
- Horseback archer (yabusame) in Nikko, Japan
- 2009 Henry Crown Fellow at the Aspen Institute
- Political asylum researcher
- MTV breakdancer in Taiwan
- Hurling competitor in Ireland
- Wired Magazine’s “Greatest Self-Promoter of 2008″
- Actor on hit TV series in mainland China and Hong Kong (“Human Cargo”)
“Bio – The Four Hour Work Week Blog”
Hmm…
So what’s the secret formula to becoming Wired Magazine’s “Greatest Self Promoter of 2008”?
The Tim Ferriss Cheat Sheet To “Create Headlines That Get Retweeted”
My suggestion was (and always is): focus on an obsession that makes you a bit weird. Then tie it to something that interests more people…
Into trapeze or German techno? Our starting headlines might be “How to Perform 5 Tricks on the Flying Trapeze” or “German Techno 101.” That’s just a starting point. Then we expand to what your wider circle of friends or co-workers might be interested in. For example:
“How German Techno Can Make You a Better Agile Programmer”
“5 Principles of Flying Trapeze for Better Hiring Decisions”…
Seth is a brilliant copywriter and outstanding headline craftsman. I notice one of his repeating headline patterns appeared to be “The Difference Between [A] and [B]“, which I tested successfully with “The Difference: Living Well vs. Doing Well.”
…
Never tell the whole story in the headline if you want optimal click-through.
“Home Prices Drop 47%, Largest Single-Quarter Drop in 50 Years” isn’t nearly as good as “Largest Drop in Home Prices Since 1960: The Reasons, Numbers, and What You Can Do.” There’s another element in the latter that makes it superior: it’s prescriptive instead of merely descriptive. People don’t want more information about their problems; they want solutions to their problems.
- Blogging by Numbers: How to Create Headlines That Get Retweeted by Tim Ferriss
This is enough to get you started and fast.
Naturally, the devil is in the details and I encourage you to read not just the full article but subscribe to his RSS feed and look at his headlines.
The content is golden but just study the headlines and struggle not to click through. I dare you.
And now for Exhibit ‘B’.
Eben Pagan (aka David DeAngelo)
Eben W. Pagan also known as by his pen name David DeAngelo is an online entrepreneur, author, uber guitar enthusiast, and closet psychologist.
Covering two main topics, dating advice and business training, his online information publishing business grossed $29 Million in 2009. A couple of his products include “Double Your Dating”, “Get Altitude”, “Guru Mastermind” and “Get Ignition”, among others. Clearly, the man knows his stuff.
While info on Tim is more visible through his mass market advertising (books, websites, appearances and public talks), Eben is somewhat underground and builds his business primarily through email marketing.
His email lists include over 200,000 people who’ve invested close to $10 million in just his “business” niche.
To put this in perspective, an estimated 400,000 attended Barack Obama’s inauguration.
That means around half the amount of people who flew across the country to see Obama become inaugurated as the first black president, listen and spend millions of dollars with Eben Pagan.
That’s influence.
Obviously, he’s doing something right which brings me to…
Eben Pagan’s “Magic Formula” for turning “Content into Cash”
Information doesn’t sound like it has a lot of value. Systems have more perceived value.
But the average busy person doesn’t want to invest a ton of time learning a bunch of “random information” – or trying to wade through a bunch of “trivia” to get to the SOLUTION they want.
Even more, they want their Solution packaged up into a “Magic Formula” with simple action steps that deliver the result they want predictably and consistently – with as li!le risk and hassle as possible.
– Eben Pagan’s “Content is CASH Training”
Here’s one of his magic bullets:
Listen to these two different way of explaining what’s in a book. You tell me which one sounds more valuable.
Example #1:
“Hi, I’m a PhD in psychology with over 20 years of experience in relationship counseling and I’ve received numerous awards for my innovative research and books. In my book, finding compatibility, I explain the psychology of compatibility, how it works and how to experience it.Example #2:
If you’re a single man and you’re afraid of even talking to an attractive woman, you’re about to learn a fool-proof 10 word phrase that you can use to start a conversation with any woman in any situation plus a little trick that guarantees you won’t get rejected. It’s all inside of my new book.So what’s the difference? In the 1st example its all about the author. In the 2nd example, its all about the prospective customer’s needs. It also says ‘I know what these things are and I’m gonna help you solve them’.
Eben gives a 42 minute video training AND a downloadable content exercise (PDF) to create your own “Magic Formula” for free. While this magic bullet is enough to get you started, watch the entire video for the full meal.
What’s Next?
Drop me a line in the comments. Let me know how Tim or Eben’s stuff has or will help you.
This is good stuff Marc. It’s always important to create content that motivates your prospect to take action! Whether that action is to click to read, like, subscribe or buy headlines that captivate will do most of the work for you and the quality of content does the rest.
Funny how it’s all very scientific while most of us think it’s random “luck”… Which reminds me, I like the words ‘cheat sheet’ you used in your headline
.
BTW, I like the keys included in that snapshot too: Control… Caps Lock… Shift. That’s what we do!
Thanks M.D.! We’ll call you the doctor of fitness with those initials. I wondered if anyone was gonna catch the symbolism of my keyboard lol
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