This question is from Hugh, who took my 21 Copywriting Hacks course.
He asks, “I have taken your course and love it. But I can’t help feeling there are more hacks I could use. Only 5 hacks for writing great headlines? Surely there are more.”
I’ve been hoping someone would ask this question!
Could I write a version of this course with more than 21 hacks? Sure I could.
Give me a little time and I could probably ramp it up to 101 hacks.
But here’s the thing…
With a checklist of 101 hacks, nobody would use it.
The whole point here is that you have a checklist you can use to improve your copy before you submit it.
A single page checklist, itemizing 21 hacks, is something most of us will use.
A five page checklist with 101 hacks? I doubt it.
Truth be told, my own checklist is shorter still, simply because I have developed a kind of personal shorthand that allows me to bundle some of these hacks together.
But I think 21 hacks is about right.
Make it longer than that, and I think fewer people would use it, and those that did would use it less often, or feel tempted to skip over hacks in their hurry to get to the end of this list.
That’s been the challenge for me from the day I decided to share this.
I want to share as many of my own hacks as possible… but without making the list so long that people wouldn’t use it.
In other words… this list is imperfect. Incomplete even.
It doesn’t cover every single way you could improve your copy.
But it is short enough to be used regularly.
And to my mind, that’s a win.
Hugh, I hope this answers your question.
Learn more about my course – 21 Copywriting Hacks That Deliver Quick & Easy Wins.
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I wholeheartedly agree with you Nick. There are already many great multiple page guides and lists to copywriting. Bob Bly and Dan Kennedy and Awai have filled countless pages. The serve a purpose of course, but they are not practical when scanning your almost finished copy. That said.
I will buy the course soon to get these hacks!!!
This is a good point. I’ve often downloaded sheets of 101 tips on this or that, only to put them to one side and never use them again because they feel overwhelming. Sometimes shorter is better.
John and Jon… ; ) Thanks for the feedback. Working online sometimes feels like swimming upstream against of a flood of information… 1001 tips on just about any topic imaginable! So like you say… and I say… there is something to be said for a short version that one actually uses, even if it’s imperfect and incomplete.