How do you find your hook? I've heard a lot about this from some of the great copywriters out there and I realized, I can't find my hook if I don't really understand what it is.

I think that your hook is the ONE benefit that will really motivate your target audience to buy. The one that, after becoming aware of the hook, makes them say, "I gotta get me one of those!"

Am I right? If so, how do you find that and if not, what is it?

I've heard Gary Halbert and Dan Kennedy both talk about the difficulty in identifying the hook. What do you guys do?

I think of the hook as the thing that will make a prospect stop and go "HUH? did you really say that? i gotta find out more!"

IE: One legged golfer

And to find it you have to dig, research and ask questions until you experience an A-ha, I uncovered it moment.

Carlton's was one of the best descriptions of the hook (and sound advice, to boot!) I've read. Plus, the article itself was great bait for his own copywriting course, so he's using the technique even as he discusses it.

Great promotional writing...

While I love what Carlton wrote and it's a geat promo piece for him, I always understood the "hook" as being another word for the "lead." The lead "leads" the reader from the headline to the "Dear Friend". The hook as i understood it would "hook" the reader and deposit them at the Dear Friend."

Now what Carlton said... that sounded more like how the term "hook" is used in entertainment. The "angle"... the "twist" the thing that's gonna get talked about at the water cooler on monday.

Exactly. You yourself have a pretty good hook on your site. It made me do a double take. Maybe you have your own ideas on the hook (as used in the entertainment biz), I'd love to hear it.

I just checked my copy of his manual - the "one-legged golfer" is probably the best example of a hook.

B

Probably the most famous (although not accurate) hook from tv is from Seinfeld.

It was never "a show about nothing." It was quite the opposite. It was a show about everything. They would weave 5 stories into 22 minutes and usually wrap all of them up in one scene. Kind of a nested loop if you will.

You could easily find the hook in any current show. They're more blatant these days.

That's a great entertainment analogy/example, Vin!

Since many people can relate to that, do you use similar imagery in your copy to illustrate a hard-to-describe point? Because when I read that, I "got it" right away.

Absolutely john... it's kinda my "thing." I figure go with your strengths.

Your site's good Vin...

And, I like the audio "update" thing...

Can I offer an unsolicited suggestion?

After having listened to the audio thingie...

I'd suggest changing ONE word in your text for it...

I think that would GRAB curiosity better than "Update."

Just a thought... again, I know it wasn't asked for!