I started attempting to make money online sometime around 1995-’96. I was 13 or 14. I didn’t make a dime until I was 17. I did it by taking my hobby (magic tricks), writing a short report teaching some of my favorites, using free software to turn it into a .pdf file, and selling it from my website.

Most of the tools I used back then are either no longer available… or I simply wouldn’t use them now. Here are the tools I would use to recreate that business…

Create A .PDF file: PDF files are the standard format when selling information. It’s getting easier and easier to create .pdf’s these days. Many programs can do it, but I use the Open Office Writer that is a free program similar to Microsoft Word. You simply write the report like you would write any paper, then click a button to quickly convert it to a .pdf file.

Domain Name: Your website will need a domain name. You can purchase one from either GoDaddy or Namecheap. I use them both and have had no problems.

Web Host: You’ll need a place to “point” your domain name to. That place is a “web host” where your web page files are stored. For this, I use MeWebHost. They have some extremely affordable options and great customer service, 24 hours a day.

Accept Credit Card Payments I’ve used Paypal to accept credit card payments for close to 8 years. There have been a couple problems during that time, but for the most part they’re the best way to get started accepting credit cards online. (And it’s free.)

Of course there’s more to it than just these 4 resources. You’ll need to actually write the report, create an advertisement for it, and start sending traffic to your advertisement. But we’ll get to that soon.

In the meantime, remember to bookmark this blog or subscribe to the RSS/email announcement lists.

I decided Stephensblog.com wasn’t the best domain for my business. My name (Stephen) is kind of hard to spell. Many people spell it wrong. And it’s spelled differently than it sounds.

Ideally I’d move to StephenDean.com, but that domain is not available and likely not for sale. Apparently there’s a French artist with the same name as me who got it first. (I have emailed about it, but never got a response.)

So what to do…

CopywritingDean.com makes a lot of sense to me.

* It does have my last name in it “Dean.”
* It contains the keyword I’m targeting most.
* It kind of has a double meaning. Copywriting Dean, or Dean of Copywriting. You know?!
* And it better explains my site.

This site currently gets a lot of search engine traffic, and I don’t want to leave it all behind. So I’m going to keep it up for a while and see what I can do with the traffic.

Hopefully I’ll be able to build up links to http://www.copywritingdean.com quickly. If you already have me in your blogroll, I’d really appreciate it if you changed the URL to copywritingdean.com.

If you don’t have me in your blogroll, I’d really appreciate it if you added me

Again, thanks for reading everyone.

The 4 point plan was to exchange links with me, comment on my posts, link from a post of yours to mine and to follow me on Twitter.

Many of you did these things and I greatly appreciate it. I’m also glad to see you’re being proactive.

But I am disappointed with 2 things.

One, no one has exchanged links with me. I know, cry me a river. But I’m really trying to make this Wordpress Link Directory work. My next post will be on how to set it up on your blog just in case you’re unsure how to do it. And then hopefully you’ll exchange links.

Two, some of the comments that have appeared since I invited you to comment for SEO reasons have been, I guess predictably, skeptical. There were a couple that forced me to make a decision on whether or not they were spam or legitimate comments by a reader.

I want people to get some link love back to their sites, but I also want comments that constructively add to the conversation.

So here’s what we’re going to do.

I’ve changed the “DoFollow” plugin I’m using. It’s now Lucia’s Linky Love and it only changes your links from “nofollow” to “dofollow” after you’ve made 5 comments. This will protect the blog from drive by commenters.

At some point, I may raise the barrier to 10 comments before you receive link love from me. But for now it’s 5.

Now I don’t want you to leave a bunch of “junk” comments in order to hit the 5 comment barrier. So if you don’t have 5 comments yet, don’t worry! You can still get some link love from me by exchanging links in the link directory It’s here: http://www.stephensblog.com/dir

And if you want to start boosting your comment count now, why not let me know what you think about this policy? Leave a comment

Justin Brooke just wrote a great blog post called “The Formula For Failure.” It shares several failure secrets. Check it out!

He just got a new golden retriever puppy. Talk about cute.

Growing up our golden retriever once had 13 puppies that we got to watch grow up. Watching them walk out of the dog house one by one, single file and line up in front of the fence was an AMAZING experience.

Speaking of amazing experiences, have you ever had to potty train a puppy? Oh boy, that’s what my brother is dealing with now.

The last time I was visiting he told me he searched Google for how to potty train a dog. And he was having trouble finding an answer.

He did find one page and this is how he described it…

“I was reading it and it kept talking about all this stuff I didn’t care about. Then they were trying to sell me a bunch of different products and all I wanted was some tips to potty train my dog.”

I knew right away that he had found a sales letter. And one that did NOT work.

I decided to trace his steps so I could learn from the process.

* He searched Google for “how to potty train my dog.”

* He clicked on a sponsored link that is ABOVE the search listings, without knowing it was an ad.

* He read or skimmed most of the copy… even though that meant clicking through 3 different pages… and even though he didn’t understand why they were telling him all this unnecessary information. (It lacked a clear logical argument that mattered to him.)

* He saw a ton of bonuses (which were unnecessary) and thought they were trying to sell several products, when all he wanted were some tips to potty train his dog.

* The order link was finally on the third page, but with no call to action.

* He didn’t buy.

I have no clue why the site owner made the prospect click through 3 pages. Sometimes I’ve seen this done strategically with good results, but this was done very poorly and hid the solution my brother was looking for.

Lesson #1: Keep your sales copy on one page unless you have a good reason.

Lesson #2: Make sure to craft a strong logical argument in the copy that FLOWS from the conversation going on inside the prospects head… and not a logical argument that flows from the copy formula you saw someone else use once for a product in a completely different niche.

Lesson #3: You don’t need to have 10,000 bonuses ever. And you don’t need to have a half-dozen bonuses when your prospect is trying to solve one specific problem. You’re just confusing the prospect.

Lesson #4: Your copy can’t just give a couple compelling arguments for why they should buy, then drop them off at an order link. Finish the job. Build up the value of the product. Explain why they’re getting a good deal IF they act now. Then tell them how to act (usually clicking an order button).

What does everyone think? Please leave a comment.

Title: Message To New Copywriters
By: Stephen Dean

If you’re a new copywriter, this is my message to you.

Hi. I used to be where you were at. I started writing copy for others 5 years ago. At the time, I had just enough copywriting know-how to pass myself off as a copywriter.

Because my copy skills were very young, I barely charged anything. Only $97 for my first few sales letters. Then $197. Then $297.

(That pattern is important, but I’ll get back to that.)

At that rate, my clients were essentially hiring me for manual labor. This was good because I knew I wasn’t ripping anyone off. I didn’t want to claim to be the best copywriter in the world and charge thousands…

…when I was still learning the trade.

At the time, I was pretty much the only copywriter working for so cheap.

HOW TIMES HAVE CHANGED.

Now everyone seems to be starting a copywriting career.

While people were shocked to see me offering copy services for so cheap, it’s now commonplace to see people writing sales copy for $197.

And actually, now that the economy is worse… these same copywriters are DROPPING their prices. I’ve seen offers for writing copy for $50!

Listen. As a copywriter you should know better than to compete on price. “Cheap” is not a benefit of strong sales copy. More sales is the benefit!

Instead of positioning yourself as a “cheap copywriter,” use your copywriting brain to come up with a unique angle that doesn’t COST YOU MONEY. An angle you can CHARGE FOR!

If you pick a niche, you can charge more than the guy who brands himself “the cheap copywriter.”

If you offer more bells and whistles than just the sales copy (emails? graphic design?), you can charge more than the guy who brands himself “the cheap copywriter.”

If you come up with a strong guarantee, you can charge more than the guy who brands himself “the cheap copywriter.”

DO pick a unique angle, but don’t try to sell your services based on price. It’s bad from a sales perspective and it’s bad business in the long run.

On the other hand, if you want to start at $50, go ahead. Maybe you’re working at manual labor prices… but you need to consistently raise your rates!

When I first started, I often DOUBLED my prices from one month to the next.

In fact, I once double my rate from $1,000.00 to $2,000.00 without any drop off in work!

Sure, start small and charge less. But treat your clientelle well, stay in touch with them after you finish, and keep raising your rates.

Continue to IMPROVE your skills by reading classic copywriting books like “Tested Advertising Methods” and “How To Write A Good Advertisement.”

Read my blog (http://www.stephensblog.com)

Read Michel Fortin’s blog (http://www.michelfortin.com)

Read Clayton Makepeace’s blog (http://www.makepeacetotalpackage.com)

Whatever you do, don’t keep the same price from one year to the next. It’s like running on a hampster’s wheel. And you’re better than that.

The 7 Deadly Copy Sins ($35).

Tapping Michel Fortin’s Brain Vol. 1 ($35).

Tapping Michel Fortin’s Brain Vol. 2 ($35).

My Personal Sales Page Template ($20).

These are just some of the copywriting products I’ve had for sales over the past couple of years.

Whenever someone comes to me to learn about copywriting (including my family members), these are the tools I point them to.

Until 2pm tomorrow you can get all of these products (and a few more) for $19.95 TOTAL. Not $19.95 each, but $19.95 TOTAL.

To read more about it, click here: http://www.stephensblog.com/wso/24hour.htm

At the top and bottom of the page, you’ll find an order link. I’ll manually send you the access information shortly after your purchase.

This offer will be taken down at 2pm tomorrow.

Click here ->> http://www.stephensblog.com/7copysins

This guy is a productivity machine. He’s constantly writing articles, making videos, creating products and more… all while holding a full time day job. Ya, even though his online income vastly surpasses the income from his job… he still works there full time.

For February he’s set a goal of earning $30,000.00. Because February only has 28 days, that’s more than a $1000.00 a day… and so far I believe he’s on track to do it. Nice job Robert!

And oh yeah, he’s 23.

A while back Robert wrote a post detailing how he makes thousands of dollars essentially just writing articles.

The idea is to write an article a day, package them in to an ebook and sell them. Sound simple? Well, that’s just the beginning.

He also gives a great suggestion for cashing in on the ebook before you’ve finished all the articles… AND a great way to add scarcity and urgency to your offer.

I’m going to try it out and see how it goes.

I might post my first article tomorrow, or I might post something else. We’ll see

If you want to try it with me, leave a comment and we can encourage each other.

Maybe Zazzu? Lowell Rieger? Or maybe Tony when he gets back from his self imposed information abstinence.