When I am looking for inspiration for a new project or sales letter, I can leaf through my swipe files – folders containing hundreds of past sales letters, ads and copy – just to get the creative juices flowing.
Often I see a headline, for example, which grabs my attention and simply have to reword it slightly or adapt it to what I’m offering. The same is true with any Web Ad I use, sales letter, order form, web copy etc.
I simply base it on an already similar successful piece, so I don’t ever have to come up with anything from scratch myself if I don’t want to.
It’s enormously useful and is why I encourage all my students to start creating their own Swipe File.
Even if you use it for nothing other than creating headlines, it will be worth the effort in building your swipe file.
Having a HUGE collection of winning sales letters would give you the chance to look at other PROVEN HEADLINES and base your one on one of these … EASY!
In fact, one of the spin offs from collecting your own swipe file is that by just studying and reading successful copy and mailing pieces over and over again, you start to educate your mind to think in the same way as the person that wrote it.
You begin to automatically train your mind so you end up being able to write your own copy in a similar way.
Actually a great tip is to write out really successful copy which appeals to you word for word. Just copy it down. Write it a few times.
Not that you’re going to use it, but you do get into the mind of good copywriters.
It’s an amazing experience…
A bit like if you were to be a top author. If you actually sit down and write out a best selling novel which appeals to you word for word, you begin to get a feel for how the author thinks and feels. You begin to get a feel in how the writing flows.
Then as you begin to write your own Novel your words may be different, but you will be in the right mindset … you will be in a similar flow and you’ll find your book taking shape.
Try it … try it with cash on demand copy … it’s an amazingly effective process.
By the way, you might be interested to know that the day I bought a swipe file from an American lady for $10,000, she also sold another similar package for a different niche market for a similar amount, on ebay too.
So all in all that was around $20,000 for the day … and all for stuff she’d collected in a cardboard box for the last five years.
However, as I said the real value in building your own swipe file is the immense help it can give you in producing profitable copy.
And of course as a incredible idea generator … and not just for copy … for projects/products too…
Take a look at successful copy in your swipe file and see what niche products were being sold. Instantly you’ll know what kind of products actually sell. All you’ve got to do is to source a similar product or adapt one yourself.
In actual fact, it makes reeling out projects a piece of cake virtually guaranteeing your success .
You can end up with a winning product … with a winning sales letter … yet one which is brand new to you. In other words, it makes it as near to being risk-free as you can get.
By the way, if you have a scanner then you could if you want ditch the cardboard box and scan in all the copy you collect and save it on your PC and/or save it to CD. In fact I recently done this myself and turning the saving one large swipe file of display ads, classifieds, sales letters, postcards etc onto my PC and turning them into PDF copies.
That way I have created my own Cash On Demand swipe file