What's your favorite copywriting course?

[Dr Beck]

There are a lot of courses out there, usually with nice price tags. I plan to invest in one in about 30 days. But there are so many good ones.

Which one is your favorite and why? (not books, actual home study courses by successful copywriters)

[Bensettle]

Hey Dr. Beck,

Here are a few of my favs:

1. Gary Bencivenga's "100 Seminar" DVDs -- pretty much everything you will ever need to know about copywriting, direct marketing and selling is here. And a LOT of it really is different and even "new" when compared to what everyone else is teaching.

2. Ken McCarthy's "Advanced Copywriting For Serious Info Marketers" -- extremely good info. I actually consider this one a "must" for info marketers, especially.

3. Doug D'Anna's "How To Write Long Copy That Sells" DVD & workbook -- I don't know if you can consider this a "course", but it's extremely solid info for the money, and well worth going through several times.

Ben

[Dr Beck]

Thanks Ben. I had not heard of #2 and #3 you listed. Do you have links?

All I ever hear about is John Carlton's course from other people. I'm not sure if it's the hype or it's just that good. The only other copywriting courses I hear about are the ones that launch or are being sold from the stage.

Anyone else?

[Bensettle]

Thanks Ben. I had not heard of #2 and #3 you listed. Do you have links?

Doug D'anna's DVD is at: http://www.dougdanna.com/how_to_write.html

Ken McCarthy's is at: http://www.kenscopyclinic.com

John Carlton's is also excellent, too.

The key is to find the one that suits your learning style and is easiest for you to follow and take action with -- that's always the "best" course

Ben

[RyanHealy]

Although I haven't gone through them, these might be worth considering.

1. Web Copywriting Explained by Ray Edwards.

http://www.webcopywritingexplained.com

2. Yanik Silver's Ultimate Copywriting Workshop.

http://www.ultimatecopywritingworkshop.com/

FWIW.

Ryan

[Oregon Coast Guy]

My favorites so far have been a couple by Ken Evoy.

Make Your Content PRE-Sell and Make Your Words Sell. Both are free.

Good, solid information in a nice, friendly format.

Regards,

Tony

[JosephRatliff]

Dan Kennedy's Copywriting Seminars are good solid info...plus any of John Carlton's stuff...

Copywriting Secrets Of a Marketing Rebel etc...

But nothing beats adding yourself to mailing lists, getting a heapful of direct mail letters that work, and handwriting them until your hands get sore.

AWAI has a book called "Hall of Fame", which has the 50 or so top selling letters of all time.

I have hand-written most of the letters in that book repeatedly.

[Kyle Tully]

My personal fav's...

Bencivenga 100 DVD's
These are classic. Not a step-by-step copywriting course by any means, but a must see for any copywriter.

Shaune Clarke's copywriting coaching
Not sure if Shaune is still running this program, I know he's really busy with his own clients. It had a huge effect on my copywriting. Very intense and you really go in-depth on the art of writing -- a skill not taught in many copywriting courses.

Clayton Makepeace's Easy Writers Club
This is a newsletter not specifically a copywriting course, but each issue looks at a specific area of copywriting -- like the guarantee, testimonials, headlines, emotions etc -- dissects winning controls and explains the topic in great detail. In fact, Clayton's new $800 copywriting course is made up of about 70% of these newsletters -- so while I haven't seen the course I'd still be confident in recommending it as well.

[Dr Beck]

Thanks guys. This is a good list for me to start on when I go full time in the fall.

I'm doing Shaune's course now, and have Yanik's. Surprising, these two courses alone have taken me from nobody to 4% conversion rates on my copy.

But as I love to learn, and love copywriting, always looking for other courses.

[Bensettle]

Another one (and no, it's not a course, but has more "for real" value in it than most courses -- and is priced rather like a course) is Eugene Schwartz's "Breakthrough Advertising" book.

I've read it probably 13 or 14 times now and I STILL find myself taking notes and learning things I missed before.

In fact, I'm looking forward to reading it again...

Ben

[MommyEnterprises]

I have the AWAI course but have not started it yet.

[Dr Beck]

"Gary Bencivenga's "100 Seminar" DVDs" as in the $5000 DVD's?

Rate them on a scale of 1 to 10 for me, and give a few other recommendation ratings. $5k may be worth, but how much better are they than other copywriting courses?

[Kyle Tully]

"Gary Bencivenga's "100 Seminar" DVDs" as in the $5000 DVD's?

Rate them on a scale of 1 to 10 for me, and give a few other recommendation ratings. $5k may be worth, but how much better are they than other copywriting courses?

Yup those ones.

9/10.

They're about more than copy. Gary talks about the big picture stuff as well -- how to great a blockbuster product, productivity secrets, research, list selection, direct response design, wealth creation etc. He lays down everything he learned about direct marketing throughout his career.

I took 15 pages of notes... and that was "light" note taking.

And he breaks down everything into nice little lists so even the more complex ideas become step-by-step to implement.

But like I said, it's not a "copywriting course". You can't watch the dvd's and become a good copywriter. But if you're already a copywriter thee are ideas in there that will make you a hell of a lot better. And if you're in direct marketing there are gems that will make you rich, if you apply them.

I second "Breakthrough Advertising". My favorite copywriting book by far, by my favorite copywriter. 10/10.

As for comparing courses... that's kinda hard. They're all different, and you'll pick up different things from each. Depending on how you learn and whose style you prefer -- both in writing and in teaching -- will also affect how you rate them.

I'd say if you're already making money as a copywriter and have $5k to drop then Gary's are a no-brainer. One idea, executed well, will more than pay for the dvds. But if you're just getting started you're better off with a few books and some adwords money.

[Dr Beck]

Let me just say I read Gary's letter, and I haven't stopped wanting those DVD's for the last 3 days. That is a very powerful letter, and you can bet I added it to my swipe file.

Great, now I've gotta get my membership site launched ASAP to get this set of DVD's

[JosephRatliff]

Another "copywriting" course...well, not really a "writing" course per say, but a marketing and success course that anyone interested in business should read...

Ben Saurez "7 Steps To Freedom"