I stumbled across this site, with some *terrific* boardroom-style long-copy financial advisory service salesletters, best I've seen in a long time, here:

"Monday Morning Millionaire":
S&A Short Report - "Monday Morning Millionaire"

also see:
True Wealth - Wisconsin Paper Mill Worker uses "Pinchot Retirement Plan" to collect $18,850 in one day
Advanced Income: California Overnight Dividends
The 12% Letter - Government Restricts Ads for "U.S. 801(k) Plans"
Phase 1 Investor - S&A's secret “L-2 Indicator” predicts which tiny gold stocks will jump 80% or more in next 30 days
Sjuggerud Confidential - A Penny Stock Safe Enough for Steve Sjuggerud?
S&A Prospector
(I like that one above, "California Multimillionaire Discloses Full Details on: US Govt's "Secret Golden Gate" Project, nice headline!).
Extreme Value - Why Dan Ferris is Giving Away His Top Stock Pick of 2008 – FREE in this Letter*
Inside Strategist - U.S. Govt. circulates "USG-4 Tipsheet" detailing stocks that will rise in next 3 months
International Strategist - My British Uncle Albert's Filthy Rich Retirement Secret...
Porter Stansberry's Investment Advisory - Secret “Pasadena Investment Society” Helps 100-Year-Old War Vet Earn 10,525%

Letters for the swipe file, for sure. A rare find, because they're very well done.

Anybody heard of this outfit (I haven't, just saw it advertised via banner ad in a yahoo email account, re Nevada Gold promo spot), or their copywriter?

-k

Are you familiar with Agora financial, who puts out some of the hottest financial newsletters/services? All the promotions you cite are theirs. Stansberry, Sjuggerud, etc, are all Agora franchises. Mike Palmer, who signed one of those promos, is one of their hottest copywriters. Some of their newsletter editors write the copy; others are done in house, still others are freelance.

Thanks Ken there's some great stuff in there.

Thanks, Eileen - that's good to know, I wasn't aware of that being an Agora brand...it's hard to tell who's part of/works with whom... very sharp copy in all those promo spots, it's top-notch. Hadn't heard of Palmer before - thanks for the tip.

Ken

Mike Palmer is one of the best financial writers in the industry. Not only that, he's one of the best teachers of writing financial copy...he has (had?) at one count 14 copy cubs (all at one time) he's bringing along...

And by all accounts, they're cranking out some really good copy rather quickly, as Mike has set up a system to shorten the learning curve and hone their skills.

Eileen mentioned some of Agora's newsletters...I believe Andrew Gordon is another who falls under Agora's financial newsletter wing. Copy for his services is superb!

Those are truly great letters. Thanks for sharing them, Ken.

Sure thing - great copy is such a treat to find, and it's rare -- so it's nice to see some examples (like Michel, Clayton, Carlton do) from others who have solid copy chops, especially for the financial industry.

-k

I agree, it is rare to find true gems in the heaping piles of rubbish that is online copy.

Gary Bencivenga was kind enough to write me once...

He told me his advice for becoming a top level copywriter is to read a great letter every day, and ask how I could make it better.

If we all do that with letters like these, maybe stumbling across great copy can become less rare. Until then... keep 'em coming!

It's a nice goal to have but not likely to happen.

As long as there are people who throw together what they think is a sales letter and put it online, there will be bad copy on the web.

Great advice from Gary B... everyone should follow it. I read proven sales letters (offline and online) 6-7 days per week. I find it's a great way to brainstorm for ideas I can use with current or future projects. Sometimes I get ideas just from chatting with friends too.

The good news is, smart marketers and business folks don't want crappy copy. So they pay us the big bucks to give them sales copy that actually works.

Since few people can do what we do well, it makes copywriters a valuable specialist... like a franchise QB in the NFL.

Take care,

Mike

Interesting how simple and clean the design is on all these -- black headlines in many cases, very limited use of yellow highlighting, no headers, white background, no video or audio, etc. Basically offline letters put online.