by Paul Simister
on June 24, 2018
The full title of this book by Marcia Yudkin is
No-Hype Copywriting: The Keys to Lively, Appealing and Truthful Sales Writing
In my review posted on Amazon.co.uk, I gave it 4 Stars.
Here is my review.
Well meaning guide to copywriting
I believe there is a big difference between he British and the Americans when it comes to selling and “hype”. We are more sensitive and likely to be put off by the appearance of a long for sales letter or a website that screams “we want to sell” badly disguised as “you will want to buy” copy. [continue reading…]
by Paul Simister
on June 11, 2018
The full title of this book by Shlomi Shraga is
The Business Owner’s Scientific Marketing Handbook: How The Direct Response Marketing Legends Would Fix Your Broken Advertising & Sales System
In m,y review posted on Amazon.co.uk, I gave the book Four Stars. This means it is Good and Well Worth Reading.
Here is my book review.
Good summary of direct response copywriting
The book started by reminding me of the 40/40/20 rule of direct marketing. This emphasises the critical importance of the audience and the offer.
The book then follows through talking about the market and finding the big idea as a bridge between customers needs and wants and your product or service. It then looks at the offer, bonuses and guarantee. [continue reading…]
by Paul Simister
on June 6, 2018
When I reviewed this book by Jon McCulloch,
Why Your Copywriting Sucks
on Amazon.co.uk, I gave it a rating of Five Stars. This means it is Excellent and Very Highly Recommended.
Here is my book review.
A fascinating book split into two parts
The author concedes too many copywriting books and courses are sold through hype and admits that the copywriting isn’t as important as the offer, the people who get to see the offer and any existing relationship.
The book is split into two sections and it’s almost as if these are two different books rammed together, the first for beginners the second for more advanced copywriters. [continue reading…]
by Paul Simister
on June 6, 2018
The full title of this book by Daniel Kaplan is
How To Write Great Website Content: Get High In Search Engines and Increase The Leads, Sales or Donations Of ANY Website
In my review posted on Amazon.co.uk, I gave the book Four Stars. This means it is Good and Well Worth Reading.
Here is my book review.
Part SEO guide and part copywriting guide.
A useful guide to preparing copy for a website.
I wasn’t entirely convinced by the advice on writing for Google. Ten years ago it used to be fairly easy to write for a high search engine ranking position but Google have deliberately made it much harder to predict. Updates called Panda and Penguin punished aggressive action. [continue reading…]
by Paul Simister
on May 23, 2018
In my review of
Marketing Secrets That Eat Your Competition Alive
by Cadnam Barnes posted on Amazon.co.uk, I gave the book Three Stars. This means it is Worthwhile.
Here is my book review.
A short introduction to direct response marketing
I’m not too sure about the corny book title but this is an introduction to direct response marketing as popularised by well known marketers Jay Abraham and Dan Kennedy.
I believe this has been compiled from a seven day email course or several sources rather than written as a normal book. This is fine as far as I’m concerned. I used to wait until I could read all the emails together when I’d subscribed to an email course. [continue reading…]
by Paul Simister
on May 22, 2018
The full title of this book by Peter A Schaible is
The secret weapon of a master direct response online copywriter: How to position your brand for success, based on the research of Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung
In my review at Amazon.co.uk, I gave the book Four Stars. This means it is Good and Well Worth Reading.
Here is my book review.
Very interesting way to think about customers
The book explains how the three parts of the brain – reptilian (primitive fight or flight survival), limbic (emotions) and neocortex (rational thought) – are affected by marketing.
It then goes on to explain the 12 archetypes based on the work of the early psychologist, Carl Jung. [continue reading…]
by Paul Simister
on May 12, 2018
The full title of this book by Colin Martin is
Stealth Persuasion: The Complete Web Copywriting System to Fanatically Turn Your Visitors Into Customers
In my review posted on Amazon.co.uk, I gave the book Two Stars. This means it is Disappointing.
Here is my book review.
Needs to be better organised and edited
This is a bigger book than I expected. It has to be because the scope is wide covering websites, emails, videos, webinars, articles and content marketing together with shorter messages like SMS and tweets.
An early impression which you will probably see if you try the Kindle sample, is that the formatting needs a little attention. For example, after the content list, the very next line is the first chapter heading and it’s not in big letters either. Surely it would be nice to start a chapter on a new page. [continue reading…]
by Paul Simister
on May 4, 2018
The full title of this book issued by the people behind the Copyblogger website is
“How to Write Magnetic Headlines: The Fundamental Guide to the Most Important Copywriting Skill on the Planet“.
In my review at Amazon.co.uk, I gave the book a FOUR stars rating which means I consider it to be in the good to very good category.
Here is what I wrote.
Good summary of headlines for blog posts and Twitter.
Reading the Copyblogger website is on my list of things I should have done more but never seemed to find the time so it was interested when I saw this book about writing headlines.
Yet also a little nervous. A “how to” headline is probably the easiest there is to use and one I fall back on when I’m short of inspiration. [continue reading…]
by Paul Simister
on May 3, 2018
The full title of this classic book by Victor Schwab is
“How To Write A Good Advertisement: A Short Course In Copywriting“.
In my review at Amazon.co.uk, I rated it at the FIVE STARS level, which means I consider it to be excellent.
Here is what I wrote.
A classic copywriting guide
I’m not sure what else I can say to persuade you to buy this book when there is already a five star review from British copywriting legend, Drayton Bird, on here.
It seems to me that there are three types of copywriting books available. [continue reading…]
by Paul Simister
on April 29, 2018
The full title of this book by Maria Veloso is
Web Copy That Sells: The Revolutionary Formula for Creating Killer Copy That Grabs Their Attention and Compels Them to Bu: The Revolutionary Formula Grabs Their Attention and Compels Them to Buy
In my review posted on Amazon.co.uk, I gave the book Three Stars. This means it is Worthwhile.
Here is my book review.
Disappointing
I had high hopes of this book when I bought it soon after its release but I was left disappointed.
Writing for the Internet is different from writing long form sales letters. It’s much easier to get people to start reading but, with plenty of other information a couple of clicks away, it’s much harder to keep them reading. [continue reading…]