As a somewhat new, but serious student of copywriting & direct response marketing, I've often read other copywriters and marketers talking about those epiphany "ah ha" moments...but, never really appreciated what one was -- until today.


Today was the first session of Clayton Makepeace's - Virtual Hot Seat Webinar and now I know...

Oh Baby -- do I now know

It was a near 90 minute serial ah-ha experience.

Bulbs flashed and ideas clicked....one after another.

Suddenly all of the bits and pieces of technique, theory, concept and application -- all flowed together...and finally made sense.

BAMM! -- my first real "ah-ha" moment as an aspiring copywriter.

The Sultan of 'Suasion in Print didn't just over-deliver -- he hit a damn 567 foot Home Run over the third tier of the upper deck and out of the park.

Clayton's analysis and critique of today’s package was absolutely riveting.

He made the complex – simple and explained advanced concepts and techniques in ways that even a new to intermediate level student of copy could grasp and understand.

His final recommendations and fatal flaws section of today's critique brought light, focus and clarity to what was formerly a still somewhat muddy picture as to what separated truly great copy from merely good copy…and most importantly, he showed us exactly how great copy is written.

Today I actually saw a master copywriter at work.

And now I must find a way to come up with an extra $5,000 for his 2007 Marketing Summit.

...scratch the "must"

I WILL find a way... I'm going.

...even if I have to deliver newspapers on a damn bicycle at 4 a.m. to raise the extra cash -- I'm going.

Thanks Clayton...for throwing a little gas on my fire today!

Martin R

Did Clayton mention 50 word MEGAheadlines as an AHA moment?

AHA...hahahahaha



(Even Carlton's famous one legged golfer HEADline is "only" 28 words.)

Ah -- No.

Jay Kay, your points of late about the immutable laws of great copywriting, layout and graphic design have been duly noted…and have been much appreciated.

…at least from this aspiring copywriter.

I’ve often wondered if all of this cookie-cutter, cluttered, comic book style of copy is working online in spite of , rather than because of… itself.

Virtually every landing page and long sales letter now being written for info & marketing products looks the same.

Its clunky, it’s junky and it’s funky -- and I don’t like it.

You have to literally fight your way thru the copy. It creates skimming, scanning and scrolling -- it doesn’t prevent it.

Forget the slippery slide…

While I am completely ready, willing and able to crawl on my hands and knees through broken glass to get what I really want… I don’t particularly want to have to feel as if that’s what I’m doing every time I hit a landing page… to merely find out -- what it’s all about.

I just don’t get it?

It echo’s the points you have pounded home about the fundamentals of copywriting, layout and graphic design. Maybe the answer is that we have a lot of working copywriters today who have mastered the art of “swiping and cloning” – but, not the fundamentals of the art of salesmanship, of persuasion, or copywriting.

Getting back to Clayton Makepeace and my comments about the first session of his “Virtual Hot Seat – Webinar.” I come from a background in the sports world where great players rarely, if ever make great coaches. Talent alone does not guarantee the ability to teach; nor is it a guarantee that the fundamentals of the game have been completely mastered.

Many who have reached levels of mastery in their chosen field also often lack either the ability, or the desire to share and/or communicate their knowledge.

What makes Clayton Makepeace so rare, is not the level of mastery that he’s obviously reached in his craft, but rather it is his ability to teach his craft that has separated and elevated him from the mere mortals.

A little over a year ago, after a great personal tragedy; I decided to take my future into my own hands and began studying marketing and sales in great depth. Having a stronger background in direct sales, I began my quest by studying direct response marketing.

From a couple of initial “google” searches my world was soon opened to the likes of Jay Abraham and Dan Kennedy.

… a good start.

Soon there after -- the power of being able to leverage my foundation in sales via “salesmanship multiplied” and “salesmanship in print” (Thank You John E. Kennedy) led me into the fascinating world of direct response copywriting…and the hook was set.

They say it’s always better to be lucky than good… and lady luck smiled brightly upon me, when Clayton decided to launch his – “ The Total Package” ezine right at the very moment that had I begun spending hours upon hours reading everything and anything that I could access about direct response marketing and copywriting.

Of all the copywriters who’s work I had come across, from the great classic writers of yesteryear like Hopkins, Sackheim & Kennedy (John E.)…to the top guns of direct mail like Dan Kennedy and John Carlton, to those presently dominating the online copywriting world, such as the very talented and most generous host of this forum -- Michel Fortin. One writer’s work stood head & shoulders above all others for me. And that writer was -- Clayton Makepeace.

Well actually to be honest, two writers stood out from the crowd. Clayton and Gary Bencivenga.

Gary Bencivenga in his “Bencivenga Bullets” took only a couple of paragraphs, or pages to distill powerful lessons into just a few words …in what took other copywriters hundreds of pages and thousands of words to say…and to say, not nearly as well.

While I am firm believer of long copy beating short copy -- sometimes, less is more.

The other thing that made the writing of Makepeace and Bencivenga stand out so strongly from the crowd was -- transparency.

They created emotional reactions…deep visceral, Eugene Schwartz-esque “Monkey-Brain” reactions in their copy and they did it with words set in simple type and clean, uncluttered layouts.

No forty-eight word headlines (Lies, Lies, Lies…Thank You Gary) for these masters, no hyper-manic use of yellow highlighting, underlining, bolding and mucking up the copy with stars, bells, or whistles.

Just powerful transparent copy that hit hard, hit home and produced control, after control, after control.

That’s proof and that’s mastery.

Their copy did not stand out. Neither did it look like a Batman comic book cover.

It was all about “me”… about that conversation that was ongoing within “my” head… they triggered “my” core emotions, their copy resonated with both “my” deepest fears and “my” strongest desires…and they took “me” down that slippery slide without being sidetracked, or distracted.

Pure, solid, masterful copy -- no cookie cutter template, no comic book clutter – just powerful, hard hitting copy.

As Gary Bencivenga has now retired and as his “Bullets” series has now ended… Clayton’s “The Total Package” ezine has now become the greatest learning resource for serious students of copy since Eugene Schwartz’s classic – “Breakthrough Advertising.”

I count myself very lucky to have begun my quest, literally at the same time as “The Total Package” was launched and as Clayton burst upon the public scene.

If Clayton Makepeace never writes another word of copy, if he decides tomorrow to do a “Bencivenga” and just suddenly walk away at the zenith of his career… his talent, his body of work and his ability to teach, has already earned him a spot in that very special corner in the Hall of Fame amongst the greatest of the great copywriters of all time.

And his generosity in what he’s given away for “free” via the “Total Package” is simply amazing. If my house ever catches fire, I can honestly say that my 3-ring binder of the “Total Package” ezine, mucked up with all of my personal notes , along with printed copies of his ebooks, my handwritten notes from his teleseminars with Bob Bly and now his virtual hot seat “webinar” -- will be the first thing I grab as I flee for safety…

If this sounds like an over-the-top testimonial… it is…because Clayton got my testimonial the old fashioned way -- he earned it.

Back in 1997-98 I bought some oil stocks when the cover of “The Economist” magazine talked about an endless glut of “$5 Oil”…and later in 2000, some gold stocks when the Bank of England was dumping gold onto the market and crushing the hopes and dreams of gold bugs everywhere… at what ultimately became the bottom of a brutal 20 year bear market in commodities.

My point in mentioning that is this:

The $347 I just invested in Clayton’s – Virtual Hot Seat Webinar, is the single best investment I’ve ever made -- period.

Better than gold stocks like Kinross Gold back in December, 2000 at .60 cents, better than oil stocks like Occidental Petroleum at $19 in August, 1998; because a personal tragedy wiped out those investment in the blink of an eye…but, what I’ve received from Clayton Makepeace – no one can ever “take away” from me… and that is truly the greatest investment anyone can ever make -- the investment in ones self.

Thank You Clayton Makepeace…and thanks to everyone on this forum who so generously contributes to those of us climbing the ladder of success.

Wow, Martin -- now, that's what I call a testimonial! You'll get the link today for re-watching the session and of course a CD-ROM containing all five sessions when the series is done.

And remember -- that was just the first one -- we still have four more to go!

-- Clayton
http://www.makepeacetotalpackage.com...lhotseats.html

P.S. May I use your testimonial to invite others to join us next week?

Clayton, I just wanted to say I really like your ezines, they're one of the top 5 I read.. and your AWAI presentation on writing for the financial markets DVD was brilliant ... thanks for sharing... you're on the 'short list' of authentic pros I study.

ken

Hello Clayton;

Please feel free to use my testimonial in any way you wish....I'd be honored.

Your first session alone was worth the price of the entire 5-part series...and I sincerely mean that.

I'd also like to salute the rest of "Team Makepeace." I was really impressed with Daniel Levis's -- "Selling to Human Nature" series -- Kudo's for adding Dan to your team.

As a subscriber to some of your earlier teleconference calls, I would like to compliment your team. Everyone has always been professional and I always received the follow up CD's and links to the events on a timely baisis -- unfortunately that is not the rule industry wide.

Julie McManus in particular does a great job in hosting your events. Considering the technology involved in this webinar series -- I was amazed at how cool, calm & collected she was in setting up the initial session Wednesday.

...super job Julie!

Fwiw, I was actually somewhat initially intimidated by the technology and was worried about being able to successfully log on to the webinar -- as I usally don't mix well with new technology.

Your sign up page, tutorial guide and the instructions from Fast Web were very well done and easy to follow.

I logged on to the system... clicked "configure your browser" ... clicked to remove my pop up blocker... received the green light... and there I was -- logged in and live.

...couldn't have been any easier.

Great job Clayton -- I can't wait for the next four sessions!

PS: My copywriting niche of choice is writing for the financial newsletter market and you are -- The Man.

If time permits -- you'd make my day if you could squeeze in some time about writing for the finanical markets.

Thanks Again,

Martin

We're busting our humps to help any way we can. Nice comments from nice folks make it all worthwhile for us.

Michel and I will be announcing a teleseminar soon -- hope to see you there!

-- Clayton

Clayton and the Crew always overdeliver!

Love em' guys over there!

Agreed. Every time I listen to him or read his newsletter, I always get "aha" moments! Truly remarkable stuff.

John

Awww Shucks, you guys! Thanks so much for the sweet nothings. It makes all the hard work so worth while.

Martin R. - you mentioned an interest in learning more about the Financial Markets. Anyone else interested? I'll talk to the big boss about doing something specific.

Best,

Julie McManus
The Total Package
www.makepeacetotalpackage.com