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Writing Your Own Ticket - Copywriting Advice with Jacob McMillen

Written by Jacob McMillen | January 4, 2021

TRANSCRIPT

Motivational Mondays is now available on all podcast platforms!

Google ‘copywriter’ and chances are you’re going to see JacobMcMillen.com as the first result. That’s no accident. That’s the result of developing a content strategy, executing that strategy with strong writing, and lots of hard work.

In this week’s episode of Motivational Mondays, we’re proud to have Jacob McMillen as our first guest of 2021. Jacob shares his journey from door-to-door sales to majoring in accounting to now running a successful copywriting business.

Listen to this week’s episode or continue reading to learn Jacob’s keys to copywriting, why copywriting is so important in today’s business environment, and how to become a stronger writer.

Keys to Copywriting

Jacob found that there is a huge market for copywriting because every website relies on visitors reading the words on the page and taking a specific series of actions, whether that is making a purchase, subscribing to a newsletter, or registering for an event. The key for a copywriter is to understand a company’s business model, the actions they want their users to take, anticipate a visitor’s questions, and ultimately have a conversation with those users so they take the desired steps.

Jacob likens copywriting to selling shovels during the California gold rush. At the time, people swarmed the area trying to strike it rich. However, in hindsight, besides a few prospectors who got extremely lucky, many gold rushers didn’t make much money. In fact, merchants who sold shovels and other supplies were much more likely to become wealthy.

Today, many entrepreneurs are trying to disrupt a market or create something new to become the next Uber or Airbnb. However, just like the prospectors, most struggle to make money. On the other hand, all of these startups (as well as existing businesses) need copywriters to persuade their website visitors to take specific actions and buy their products online.

Luckily, anyone can become a stronger writer.

How to Become a Stronger Writer

People assume that copywriting requires a lot of creativity. However, Jacob believes that being an effective copywriter is actually 90% science and 10% creativity. That’s because being a good copywriter really comes down to understanding how people make decisions and how they think.

Therefore, anyone can learn how to be an effective copywriter by learning writing principles and persuasion techniques. This requires an understanding of the core framework people use to make decisions, following the formula, and adapting it to a specific business. 

To learn these skills, Jacob provides many resources through his website, his copywriting crash-course, and his weekly 10-minute podcast, Write Bites

Try his free course today to learn valuable copywriting skills!

Anyone Can Be a Copywriter

Throughout this episode, Jacob shares great tips on how important copywriting is for modern businesses and how that skill can impact your career. The best part is that anyone can become a copywriter by learning essential writing techniques and understanding persuasion. 

But his advice doesn’t stop there! NSLS members, click here to listen to the bonus episode in the Members Area for even more copywriting insights and actionable tips.

Don’t forget, Motivational Mondays is now available on all podcast platforms! Subscribe on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Pandora, or your favorite podcast platform to receive instant notifications when new episodes are released!