New blog post: LinkedIn's engagement theatre and the paid applause

The news about virtual assistants running LinkedIn engagement networks just confirms what many suspected: a lot of what you see on there is pure performance.

https://rhodzy.com/blog/linkedins-engagement-theatre-and-the-paid-applause

#linkedin #socialmedia #engagementnetworks #virtualassistants #digitalmarketing #onlineplatforms

5 Steps to Build a Swipe File: A Beginner Copywriter’s Guide

A quote I am fond of is by Austin Kleon, who says: “Nobody is born with a style or a voice. We don’t come out of the womb knowing who we are. In the beginning, we learn by pretending to be our heroes. We learn by copying.”

Great artists throughout history have learned by studying and imitating the masters who came before them. During the Renaissance, artists such as Raphael developed their skills by carefully studying and copying the works of earlier masters.

This practice wasn’t considered plagiarism; it was a method of learning. By recreating great works, artists learned important principles such as composition, perspective, color, proportion and technique.

Copying was a way to understand why a masterpiece worked so that they could eventually develop their own style. The same principle applies to copywriting through the use of a swipe file.

Swipe File

For those who don’t know what a swipe file is; it is just a personal library of marketing examples that you can study to understand the techniques behind effective persuasion.

It can contain examples of headlines, advertisements, sales letters, emails, product descriptions, landing pages, calls to action and any other piece of copy that effectively persuades people.

For a beginner copywriter, building a swipe file is one of the most valuable habits you can develop and sure is one of the fastest ways to improve as a copywriter.

Just as an artist studies the masters to improve their craft, a copywriter studies great copy to develop their own ability to write persuasive and effective messages.

1. Collect good copy examples

The first thing you need to do in order to build a library of good copy examples is to first learn how to recognize good copy.

This should also not be a difficult task because the world today is filled with great copywriters, both alive and from the past. Infact it won’t be an overstatement to say that great copy is everywhere. Purge the mentality of thinking that you need access to expensive advertising libraries to find examples. You can find great examples anywhere but you must put in the work to identify them.

You can find examples in:

• Email newsletters
• Websites (Home Pages, About Us Pages, Service Pages)
• Social media advertisements
• Product pages
• Magazine advertisements
• Sales pages
• Direct mail pieces
• Video advertisements
• Brochures
• Packaging

From now on, you need to be aggressive and keen enough that whenever you see copy that grabs your attention, makes you curious, creates desire, or convinces you to take action, save it. Keep it for later reference, study it to see why it made you react that way.

For example, you might see an email subject line that makes you open the email immediately. Save it. You might see a product description that makes a simple product sound valuable. Save it. You might see an advertisement that clearly explains a problem and presents a solution. Save it. You might see a sales letter that perfectly handles the objections you had in mind. Save it.

The goal is to train your eye to notice persuasive writing.

2. Organize your swipe file by category

“Organization isn’t about perfection; it’s about efficiency, reducing stress and clutter, saving time and money and improving your overall quality of life.”

In the quote above, Scalise argues that the real purpose of organization is not perfection but functionality. Organizing means reducing unnecessary friction.

When your belongings, tasks, information, or workspace are organized, you spend less time searching, making decisions, or dealing with chaos. The result is more efficiency, less mental pressure, and more time and energy for important activities.

The quote connects well to the process of building a swipe file. A swipe file does not need to be a perfectly categorized archive containing thousands of examples.

The goal is to create a simple system where you can quickly find useful examples when you need inspiration. The organization exists to support the creative process, not to become a task that prevents you from writing.

A swipe file becomes more useful when it is organized. You don’t want to find yourself saving random examples in one folder and later struggling to find what you need. You need to create categories based on the type of copy you want to study.

Some useful categories include:

Headlines

Headlines are one of the most important parts of copy because they determine whether someone continues reading. More people will read a copy with a good headline and bad body that a copy with a bad headline and good body.

Collect headlines that make people read the first sentence of the ad or the sub-headline because they: Create curiosity, Promise a benefit, Address a problem, Challenge an assumption, Use strong emotional language.

Study why they work.

Sales pages

Sales pages show the complete structure of persuasion and therefore a valuable resource to have in your file.

Study how they: Get the reader to read the first sentence of the ad through the headline they use, Introduce the problem, present the solution, Explain benefits, Handle objections, Build credibility, Create urgency, Ask for action.

Emails

Email marketing copy is a must have in your swipe file. 66% of consumers rank email as their preferred brand communication channel also because Email marketing is critical because it generates an average ROI of $36 to $40 for every $1 spent. Email copy teaches you how to communicate quickly and personally.

Collect emails that have: Strong subject lines, interesting opening, good storytelling, effective calls to action.

As I have listed them above there are several types of copy you could include in your swipe file as long as you know where it is categorized to be called up when needed for inspiration.

3. Analyze examples in your swipe file

Elon Musk often emphasizes the importance of reasoning from first principles. This basically means breaking a problem down into its most basic truths. His approach is that you need to understand the basic building blocks that make a complex problem work before trying to solve it.

“Treat nature by means of the cylinder, the sphere and the cone, everything in proper perspective so that each side of an object or a plane is directed toward a central point.”

This idea comes from a conversation Cézanne reportedly had with the young painter Émile Bernard in 1904. Cézanne was explaining his approach to painting: rather than copying the surface appearance of things, artists should understand the underlying structures that create what they see. By reducing complex objects into basic forms, painters could better understand volume, depth, and composition.

A similar idea appears in art through Paul Cézanne, who encouraged painters to treat nature by means of the cylinder, the sphere and the cone. This idea comes from a conversation Cézanne reportedly had with the young painter Émile Bernard in 1904.

Cézanne was explaining his approach to painting: rather than copying the surface appearance of things, artists should understand the underlying structures that create what they see. By reducing complex objects into basic forms, painters could better understand volume, dept and composition. The idea is that mastery comes from understanding the fundamentals beneath the surface.

The same principle applies to your swipe file. When studying great copy, you should not only look at the words and try to imitate the sentences. Instead, you should break the copy down into its fundamental components: What is the structure? How does the headline capture attention? What problem is being addressed? What persuasion principles are being used?

By understanding the basic mechanisms behind effective copy, you learn how to create your own persuasive messages rather than simply repeating someone else’s words. Just like an artist studies shapes and structure, a copywriter must study the principles that make copy work.

Create notes about every swipe

For every piece of copy, write notes such as:

• What is the headline doing?
• Who is the target audience?
• What problem is being addressed?
• What emotion is being used?
• What is the main promise?
• What makes the offer attractive?
• What objections are being answered?
• Why does this copy work?
• How do they ask for action?

This turns your swipe file from a collection of examples into a copywriting study system.

Practice rewriting great copy

One exercise you could use that helps you analyze the copy is rewriting successful copy by hand. Legendary copywriter Gary Halbert was a strong advocate for this and he advised that you should get yourself a collection of good ads and direct mail pieces and read them aloud and copy them in your own handwriting.

The purpose is to understand the rhythm and structure. When you rewrite an advertisement, you will notice the sentence lengths, word choice, transitions, emotional language and how the copywriter develops the argument in the copy. This exercise will therefore train your brain to recognize effective patterns and notice what makes copy persuasive.

4. Include your own work in your swipe file

The first person you need to learn from is yourself. Therefore, your swipe file should not only contain other people’s copy but also your own writing too.

You should save the headlines you write, emails you create, sales pages you include. Over time, you can compare your old work with your new work to see how far you have come.

Your own experience should become part of your education if this is not the case then you are not learning.

5. Keep adding to your swipe File

This is something that is obvious but will still remind you anyway. Peter when writing a letter to early Christians who already believe and understand the core teachings of Christianity told them in 1 Peter 1:12 that he will always remind them, even though they know.

A swipe file is not something you build once and finish. Serious copywriters continue collecting examples throughout their careers. Even though the core principles remain like the sphere, cone and cylinder in nature according to Cezanne, marketing changes. New platforms appear. New companies develop creative ways to communicate.

It is therefore a good habit to keep collecting and studying great copy. The best copywriters are successful because they have spent years studying what works.

In conclusion, a swipe file is one of the most practical tools you can create as a beginner copywriter. It allows you to study proven examples, understand persuasion principles and develop your own writing ability.

Finally, study different industries. Do not limit yourself to your own niche. You as a beginner copywriter writing about fitness can learn from technology companies.

A financial copywriter can learn from fashion brands. Different industries solve different persuasion challenges. A luxury brand might teach you how to create desire. A software company might teach you how to explain complex ideas simply. A charity organization might teach you how to create emotional connection. Great copywriting principles apply across industries.

Let me conclude this article with a qoute from a philospher I so much like:

“For men almost always follow in the footsteps of others, imitation being a leading principle of human behaviour. Since it is not always possible to follow in the footsteps of others, or to equal the ability of those whom you imitate, a prudent man will always follow the methods of remarkable men, and imitate those who have been outstanding, so that, even if he does not succeed in matching their ability, at least he will get within sniffing distance of it. He should act as skilful archers do, when their target seems too distant: knowing well the power of their bow, they aim at a much higher point, not to hit it with the arrow, but by aiming there to be able to strike their target.”

RT @glenngabe: Ich habe bereits erklärt, dass ein Rückgang der Sichtbarkeit in Google auch zu einem Rückgang in der KI-Suche (einschließlich ChatGPT) führt. Hier ist eine Website, die durch Google, AIOs und den KI-Modus stark an Sichtbarkeit verloren hat. Wie Sie sehen können, ist auch die Sichtbarkeit von ChatGPT stark zurückgegangen. Beachten Sie außerdem, dass Brand Radar seine Auswertungen nur einmal im Monat aktualisiert, sodass ein Rückgang bei KI-Suchplattformen wie ChatGPT langsamer sichtbar wird als bei AIOs oder dem KI-Modus, die fortlaufend aktualisiert werden. Unten sehen Sie jedoch, dass alle drei Bereiche stark eingebrochen sind. Also noch einmal: Rückgang in Google und Rückgang in der KI-Suche (einschließlich ChatGPT).

mehr auf Arint.info

#ChatGPT #DigitalMarketing #KI #KISuche #SEO #Sichtbarkeit #arint_info

https://x.com/glenngabe/status/2065461717325217995#m