Captivating Copywriting By John Romaniello

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There’s one key jingredient keeping your business mildly successful instead of wildly successful: coppywriting

Words. Are. Magic.

With 26 little letters, you can paint the whole fucking Universe. What would you call that, if not magic?

Today, I’m going to share some magic with you.

In a few minutes, I’m going to tell you:

• ​How I once generated $250,000 for my company with a selfie (7 years after it was taken)
• ​How a single email about olive oil made me $43,000 in a week.
• ​How an Instagram post about Denzel Washington and avocados landed me a book-writing contract
• and how writing a client spotlight in the form of a fairy tale brought in over $518,000 in coaching sales

Now, don’t get me wrong. Making money isn’t magic. Most decent marketers can create income on demand.

That’s not it.

The magic is how excited people were to read it all. How these pieces still make money today. How I’ve used each of them over and over to make 7-figures, without doing more work.

The magic isn’t just the money, but the magnetism: the way each of these cast its own spell that has ripples to this day.

For example: that olive oil email I mentioned?

The first time I sent it out to my mailing list, it generated over $25,000.

That was a pretty good day.

Over the last few years, I’ve sent it out in newsletters, put snippets of it on social media, even used it in some of my keynotes.

Each time, it makes money.

Now, it’s certainly not my most profitable piece of copy, but it’s one of my favorites.

I mean, we’re talking about over $160 thousand dollars generated by writing about olive oil.

In one email. Which I wrote at the gym…between sets. Over six years ago.

More importantly: to this day, people still tell me it’s one of their favorite things I’ve written.

And every time I use it, people are excited to read it, even if they don’t buy. (And many of them do.)

THAT is magic.

So, let me ask you:
Are you creating magic?
Are you casting spells with your words?

Are you dazzling your audience, your prospects, your clients with wordcraft that makes them eager to take action?

Let’s make it even simpler….

Think about your last piece of marketing: the most recent thing you created to tell the world about what you do, how it’s special, and why they should work with you.

Does it really reflect you?

Do the words on that page, email, or caption truly describe what it’s like to work with you, learn from you, grow with you?

Do the words showcase your talents, your skills, your heart?

Does the writing make everyone who reads it excited to work with you?

It should.

And, I promise, it can.

• ​Even if you don’t love marketing
• Even if you mostly focus on social media
• ​Even if you don’t consider yourself a writer
• ​Even if you’re overwhelmed managing all the moving parts in your business

You can craft brilliant word-art that does both…

What you need it to do: inform, education, and convert.
What they need it to do: inspire, entertain, and connect.

This is so important.

But most entrepreneurs (especially coaches) gloss right over it. Or worse, ignore it completely.

Every time I snoop around the coaching industry, I’m amazed at how many people are half-assing it (at best).

We’re talking slipshod pages with no structure, emotionless emails that ruin the reader experience, or captions telling people what they’re getting (instead of why they need it).

And I hear all the excuses:

• “My webpage doesn’t matter, all my clients are on IG”
• ​“I have a direct outreach strategy, so I barely market”
• “My audience loves me, so everything is easy”
• ​“I let my content do all the work”

Oooof. Okay.

All of that is wrong. So, so, so very wrong.

They just can’t see how wrong it is, because it’s working.

“But,” let’s pretend you asked, “how can it be ‘wrong’ if it’s working?”

Just because something’s working doesn’t mean it really works. Not forever, not long term.

Back when I was coaching professional athletes, we had a phrase in the gym:

“some people are successful not because of what they do, but in spite of what they do.”

And there are a lot of online business owners who are pretty successful in spite of what they’re doing.

They’re doing a lot of things wrong, but they’re working, so…good enough?

Hardly.

There are hundreds upon hundreds of coaches, consultants, and other business owners out there leaving tens of thousands of dollars on the table…

….who knows how many clients unserved?

People just like you are keeping their businesses small by doing “good enough.”

And the worst part is: they’re setting themselves up for failure.

For example…

• What happens when IG goes from “dying” to dead and you can’t use it to fill your programs any more?
• That’s good for low-end offers…for another 6-8 months. Then it’ll just be another annoying marketing tactic people roll their eyes at.
• “Die-hard” audience? Love it. Are you going to the next platform with them? Or are they gonna stay…just for you? (Aw, it’s cute that you think so.)
• ​You can have the most amazing content in the world, but if you’re not getting them to buy, you don’t have a business, you have a hobby.

These aren’t random predictions. This is empirical, data-driven forecasting: everything has a life-cycle.

So if you’re focusing more on what’s working now than what works, all the time, always, forever, you’re messing up.

Which brings us back to words.

In business, there are trends and there are constants. Trends come and go. Constants will make you money forever.

Of those constants, none is more valuable than
the ability to write words that sell:
copywriting.

And that is where so many people are dropping the ball.

Statistically speaking, you are probably one of them.

When I polled my audience, 83% flat out said they didn’t feel confident in the power of their words. Only 17% of people felt their copy was “good.”

Geeze. That’s 8 out of 10 people who think the words on their pages are NOT GOOD.

That’s crazy.

Even crazier?

My audience is largely coaches and consultants—people who literally depend on their communication skills to serve their clients, generate income, and change the world.

In that group of people, more than 80% of them feel their words don’t do them justice, don’t accurately reflect the value of what they do, don’t connect with their audience in the way they’d want.

And, certainly: don’t convert the way they’d want.

Which brings us to, well, you.

And this question:

Is your copy doing what it’s supposed to?

If we’re looking solely at the numbers, there’s a better than average chance it absolutely is not.

What if you could change that?

• What if you had a page you never had to stress about?
• What if your copy didn’t just tell people about your offer, but gave them a look inside of ? Just a bit?
• What if you had a place to send your audience that was more than just a website telling them they can buy or they can work with you?
• ​What if you had something different than everyone else, that told people how YOU’RE different from everyone else?

Something alive? Something that feels like you?

Something just a little bit, well, magical.

Something that’s as fun for them to read as it was for you to write.

You’d want that. Of course you would.

Everyone would.

EVERY one of us— every consultant, every content creator, expert, teacher, entrepreneur, service provider, influencer—would want that.

We’d all want emotionally evocative, intellectually stimulating, wildly entertaining copy.

So why don’t you have it?

With most people, the problem arises when you start trying to communicate to your audience how much you can help them.

Look, I get it.

Like so many people, you likely struggle getting it down into pretty words.

Then taking those pretty words, putting them all in tidy little rows, sentence after sentence to really get to the heart of it.

It’s no easy thing to take the magic of what you do and put it into black and white.

To capture the service you offer your clients—the growth, the support, the connection, the community—into a few paragraphs.

I mean, how, HOW do you explain to people who’ve never worked with you:

• The way your course can help them achieve their goals.
• ​Or how your systems can save them time and energy.
• ​Or how, with your guidance, they can avoid the mistakes you made, going further than they thought possible in less time than they imagined.
• ​Or how, through working with you, they can get the body of their dreams, the relationship or their fantasies, or the business they truly deserve.

We’re talking about some big, big changes in people’s lives.

That’s HARD.

But it’s what they want. It’s what they need. And it’s what you offer.

So you’ve got to do it.

And you’ve got to do it right.

If you don’t…

There’ll be too many potential customers walking away from your business.

Too many people who need your help walking away unserved.

You must fix this. Now, before Instagram withers, or the next algorithmic shift happens, or your ideal client goes somewhere else, to someone else.

And it all comes down to the copy.

The kind of copy that makes people feel heard, seen, understood, and valued—while falling just a little bit in love with you. (Or, at least the thing you’re selling.)

Copy that gets them down the page, showing them how you can help can solve their problem.

Even if—no, especially if—they can barely imagine a world without that problem.

You can do that.

Just like I’m doing it now.

Before we go any further: allow myself to introduce…myself.

Hi there.

My name’s John Romaniello. I’m a coach, tattoo collector, and I proudly follow a lot of snack accounts on Instagram.

If you don’t know my work and want me to check a few credibility boxes for ya, I’ve got that whole “New York Times bestselling author and 7-figure entrepreneur” thing going on.
Oh, look, here’s a bunch of logos from places I’ve been featured.

My, my. How impressive.

Give me another 5 minutes and I’ll show you how focusing on one skill has built me a 7-figure empire, and allowed me to help dozens of people build empires of their own,

From the time I started running my first online business, I’ve focused on writing.

Let me tell you right now: if you want to make money, if you want to build your business, fast; if you want to become an in-demand consultant or coach…

…the fastest path to the top is copywriting.

Because you don’t just get paid for being world class; you get paid every step along the way.

Copywriting has been the mainstay of my
business for the better part of 10 years.

If you haven’t put it together yet, this is a sales page. It is, beyond anything else, a sales page for a copywriting course.

So, in effect, as I type these words, I am writing copy about writing copy, on a sales page about sales pages.

And that’s meta as fuck. It’s also setting a high standard.

Because if you’re gonna write a sales page about how to write sales pages, it’s gotta be one dope-ass fucking sales page.

Now that we’ve set the frame, let’s set a few expectations…

I’m pretty sure you’ve read a few dozen sales pages in your time, so I don’t need to tell you how lame most of them are.

This one’ll be fun to read.

So give me a few minutes, and if nothing else, you’re gonna enjoy reading it.

Along the way, I’ll be demonstrating credibility and displaying startling levels of authenticity and authority.

For example, I’ll be telling you some interesting and impressive facts, like how I’ve written emails for my own products that have generated $60, $75, even $150,000 (per email).

As mentioned above, I’ve written content pieces about selfies that’ve created over $250,000 in revenue.

As a copywriter for hire, I’ve penned sales letters for other business owners a that’ve gone on to generate millions.

But my own adventures in copywriting aren’t relevant to you.

What’s far more important is that I’ve taught copywriting to hundreds of people….

Whether it’s been on stage at packed events, leading workshops at high-end masterminds, or guest-lecturing at places like Lehman University in NYC.

And then there are my private students…

• Textbook lawyers who wrote in stiff, stagnant legalese turned into captivating wordsmiths.
• Business owners who admitted to me upfront that they absolutely hated writing and soon fell in love with the copywriting process.
• Broke influencers who had huge audiences and were able to monetize when they added copywriting to the mix.

Not to mention dozens (and dozens) of coaches: business coaches, life coaches, fitness coaches, relationship coaches, self-development coaches, spiritual coaches.

Like, all the coaches.

Coaches who now use what I taught them to solve what was once their biggest problem: not knowing how to get what they offer into the right hands.

I’ve been in the game a while, and I know the power of great copywriting.

Which is why I know it’s going to keep your business thriving for YEARS to come…

…and why I will be not-so-subtly suggesting my ability to help you do the same is just on the other side of the add to cart button you’ll find below.

Copywriting is one of the most high-leverage, high-value skills in the world.

For your business and marketing, copy is the foundation upon which everything else rests.

I want you to learn how to write copy because you want to learn how to write copy.

You want to write incredible, high-converting, entertaining, next-level sales pages. I want to teach you how to do that.

And just like that, we’re in agreement.

You and I are on the same page. (Quite literally, in fact.)

Which is where you want to be with your customers: on the same literal page—your sales page.

The sales page telling the world about what you do. About what you can do for other people.

The one people read and rave about, the one that’s not just informative, but entertaining.

You know, that sales page.

You…you do have a sales page like that, right?

The sales page leading to your offer—the course, product, or program you’ve worked so hard to bring into the world…

…the offer you know can change things for your audience, your customers, your future clients.

That killer offer that could change their LIVES.

If only they’d see it.

If only they’d understand, deep within them, how life changing your offer is. How it could make them feel better. Perform better.

How you could help their business. Or their relationship.

You could. You know you could. You do it all the time.

Your clients know it, too…

…if only there were more of them.

But there aren’t. There aren’t more of them.

Not as many as there could be. Not as many as there should be.

That’s why I’m here: to help with that whole, “more of them” issue.

And the first step to getting more of them is making sure your copy doesn’t suck.

So let’s talk about how to make that happen.

Writing Copy That Doesn’t Suck:
a Dissertation in 279 Words

Here’s the thing to know:

Good copy makes people willing to buy.
Great copy makes people excited to buy.
Captivating copy makes them excited to buy from you.

That’s all wonderful, but let’s lower the bar to just Not Sucking.

Everyone knows bad writing when they see it, but there’s no universal definition for what makes writing good.

Each writer needs to come up with their own

Here’s mine: good writing is words that go from your head to their heart with as little lost in translation as possible.

You see, when you write anything, there’s an inherent disconnect:

Other people know what you wrote, but only you know what you meant.

If you’ve ever spent hours trying to decipher a cryptic text from someone you’re dating…

…you know there can be a huge difference between what one person types and what the other person reads and receives.

Same words on the screen, vastly different interpretations.

No matter how well two people speak the same language and use the same words, there’s a chasm between them.

Good writing narrows that gap.

When you’re writing copy, miscommunication isn’t an option.

You need to speak their language, be precise and intentional with your words and clear in your message.

So the first step to not sucking is to determine:

• How likely is it that my words are being misconstrued? (Quite likely.)
• ​Can I be more clear? (Probably.)
• ​Can I be more precise in my word choice? (Almost definitely.)

Then, you know… just fix those things.

In other words: take 5 minutes and edit your copy.

That’s it. That’s literally it. Just go back and edit before you hit publish.

Congratulations, you’ve just advanced to the Not Sucking phase of copywriting.

Why “Good” Copy Can Be
Terrible For Your Business

So, it’s easy to avoid copy that sucks, but let’s talk about the problem with “good” copy.

Never forget: copywriting is one of the first things people see.

Whether they find you on Google, through a referral, or your social media, they’re gonna click over to your page and read your copy.

This is great. Unless you’re fucking it up.

In which case…not so great.

By fucking it up, I mean writing copy that doesn’t sound like you.

In other words, writing generic, nondescript copy like some basic bitch because you followed a “formula” or template.

We’ll talk more about this in a bit, but let’s just establish right now:

Using a proven a framework is fine, but a paint-by-numbers, a fill-in-the-blank style copy template is a bad move.

Maybe the copy is “good,” in that it’s mechanically sound and touches on all the things copy needs (problems, solutions, pain points, value stacking, etc.)…

…but “good” copy that doesn’t sound like you is actually far worse than shitty copy that does.

The worst thing you can do is sound like everyone else—and 90% of copy sounds the same.

Let’s clear this up right now:

News Flash: following a copy formula does not mean you’ve written great copy.

Please don’t do this.

Your copy needs to sound like you. In the marketing world, we call this congruity. In the literary world, we call it a consistent voice.

When people read your copy, it should sound like you, not like everyone else in your industry.

• Great copy does NOT sound boring and professorial; no need to be stiff and write like an academic to prove your worth.
• Neither should it sound smarmy and gross, so you do need to get hyper-aggro, like the so-called “high-ticket closer crowd.”
• And it absolutely should sound like you’ve been taking amphetamines all day, so for the love of all that is good and right with this world: with the exclamation points.

Good copy—and especially captivating copy—sounds natural. Informative, interesting, and helpful. When you get it right, it connects.

You’ll know, because it’ll be just as enjoyable for you to write as it will be for them to read.

That’s what you want. It’s what they want. (And, not-so-coincidentally, it’s what I want to show you.)

Before we take it to the next level, let’s cover some of the most pervasive myths about copywriting.

Copywriting Myth #1:
You have to be a master wordsmith to write great copy.

Absolutely untrue.

Most of the best (and most profitable) copywriters I know have no formal writing education.

However, learning to write copy made them better writers in other areas, as well as better speakers, podcasters, and presenters.

Being a “classically trained” writer doesn’t always help.

Here’s an example: one of my most successful students of all time came to me during his second year of law school; he wanted to learn copywriting to start paying down student debt.

After years of academic writing, shifting to a conversational tone in copy was a challenge for him.

Once he mastered it, he was able to churn out high-level copy with that law school work ethic. (He paid off half of his student loans before he even graduated.)

Admittedly, I personally do have a writing background. I studied it in college, and I’ve been writing stories since I was a kid, switching to articles and essays in my 20s.

So, yes, that did help a bit when I learned copy. But I also had to unlearn A LOT of ingrained habits to make the shift.

Once I understood my copywriting voice was different, everything got easier.

That’s what it comes down to: writing in your natural authentic voice, while following time-tested copywriting principles.

And you can do that whether you create content all the time or haven’t picked up a pen in years.

Copywriting Myth #2:
You need otherworldly powers of persuasion to create amazing copy.

Nope! Copywriting isn’t like door-to-door selling or hard sales.

You don’t have to be some incredibly suave character with a silver tongue, spilling eloquent words with every sentence.

You don’t need reality-distorting charisma.

In fact, many copywriters become copywriters BECAUSE they aren’t masters of persuasion and the art of closing deals.

When you learn copywriting the right way, you realize it’s not about making the sale, it’s about making 15 or 25 or 50 little sales.

Each section has an idea you’re offering them, and if you do it correctly, they’ll take it and move on to the next.

Great copy is about reaching consensus: communicating information to help them agree with you point by point, idea by idea.

Here’s the secret: you really don’t need to persuade them to buy; all you need to persuade your audience to do is read the next line. And the next one. And the one after.

That’s it. Just convince them to do that, over and over and over.

You can do that, can’t you?

Exactly. I knew you had it in ya.

Copywriting Myth #3:
Writing copy is really, really hard.

Untrue…mostly.

Look, copywriting isn’t easy, but given how quickly you can pick it up (more on that later), it’s not really fair to say it’s hard.

You know what’s hard?

Writing Hamilton.

I mean, Lin-Manuel Miranda spent 6 years writing it, sometimes spending an entire day on a single lyric.

That’s hard. Writing something that wins 11 TONYs, a Grammy, and a mother-effin Pulitzer is hard.

We’re not over here trying to hit EGOT status.

We want you to be writing words that connect to your audience and move them to action.

This myth persists because so many copywriters constantly crow about how hard copywriting is.

What the hell do you want them to say?They’re copywriters!

They’re preaching their importance; they talk about how hard it is to help people who don’t know anything about copywriting understand the value of what they offer.

Good for them, as it adds to the allure of hiring a copywriter instead of learning this; bad for everyone else, as it keeps people in the dark.

Or, said in a more Hamiltonian fashion:
“Copywriters commiserate to communicate complexity and collect compensation commensurate with their contribution to the collaboration concurrently clouding clarity—confusion created, cultivated, never sated or abated, problematically perpetuating procrastination instead of inculcating translation, rumination, education, or consolidation; widening the divide between those who know it and who need, a chasm to be bridged not with verse—but with commerce. “
My point is, while copy isn’t easy, it’s very learnable.

Sure, it’s a tough task to learn alone.

Proper guidance helps you go faster, which is exactly why you’re reading this.

How Forgetting My Hoodie Almost Cost me $465,000

All great copy needs a story, of sorts. This is mine.

The day I first learned about copywriting, I had goosebumps.

Not because I had some preternatural sense of how important it would become to my life and business; nothing so mystical.

I had goosebumps, very simply, because I was drastically underdressed.

But, let’s set the stage.

“This story of adventure and excitement begins,” said almost nobody ever, “in New Jersey.” (Not exactly Gatsby, but bear with me.)

Like all New Yorkers, I view the Garden State with appropriate scorn, avoiding it whenever possible.

Yet I found myself, contrary to all good sense and taste, in the township of Wyckoff, New Jersey: a place noteworthy for being home to the Jonas Brothers and entirely forgettable otherwise.

A drive-through, drive-past, afterthought of a town, Wyckoff is replete with diners, pizza joints, and aggressively mediocre hotels, like the one in which I was shivering my ass off.

I was attending a marketing conference, and so it follows I was in the conference room at said mediocre hotel.

Hotel conference rooms feature thermostats equipped with only two settings: Brutal Hellscape or Frozen Tundra.

This one was set to the latter, a situation made worse by the fact I’d forgotten my hoodie in my hotel room.

Leaving your hoodie is a rookie mistake, and this being my first conference I made it like the rookie I was.

I was 27-years-old, a successful fitness pro with a 6-figure personal training business, and was, to use common parlance, killin it, bro.

I was ready to take it to the next level, to Build and Scale and Do All The Things. It was time to bring my business—gasp!—ONLINE.

That old chestnut. Old now, at least. At the time, it was still a fairly new idea.

It was 2009, and conferences teaching online business were still perceived as kind of sketchy.

I can’t imagine why, with names that just oozed credibility, like the one I was attending: Fast Track To Fitness Millions.

That was the title, and I am not unaware as to how absolutely terrible it is.

That said, I’m the one sitting in the conference room, freezing my ass off in a tank top, trying to learn how to make these so-called FITNESS MEELIONS, so who the fuck am I to talk?

Anyway.

I’d gone into this event not knowing a single thing about marketing…

…and halfway through it, felt like I still didn’t know a single thing about marketing.

Except now, I was starting to grasp just how much there was to know.

I felt overwhelmed.

I felt dejected.

Put bluntly, I felt pretty dumb. That’s a lot of things to feel at once, none of them especially pleasant.

Seeing no reason that “suffering from near-hypothermia” should remain on the list of uncomfortable feelings, I took advantage of the lull between presentations and moved towards the door, poised to make my exit.

Just as I was about to slink back to my room (and the comfort of my longed-for hoodie), the lights went out and the next speaker took stage.

I was unaware of it at the time, but that hoodie almost cost me $500 grand, because the next words I heard absolutely changed my life.

“If you can write great copy,” he said with no preamble, “just about everything else is secondary.”

I perked up.

“Write good words, words that sell—that’s the key to everything.”

Before, this speaker had my curiosity. Now he had my attention.

Words? Words, you say?

The speaker on stage was a Canadian entrepreneur named Craig Ballantyne, who would go on to become one of my early mentors and dear friends.

At that moment, he was the first person I’d heard speak who was making anything resembling sense.

For five hours, I’d been hearing about numbers. About tech. About data. I’d been inundated with marketing terms that didn’t excite me: conversions, optimization, split-testing, funnels.

But words! Finally. Something that made sense, something comfortable and familiar.

Attention caught, I moved away from the door and sat down in the back of the conference room, cross-legged on the ground, interested, curious.

I reached into my bag and pulled forth a battered Moleskin notebook, one typically reserved for article ideas, movie quotes, and angst.

And in that book, directly opposite a page half-full of doodles, two games of tic-tac-toe, and a Fall Out Boy lyric, I scrawled, for the first time, the word COPYWRITING in block letters atop a fresh sheet of potential.

For 90 minutes, I listened in rapt attention, still freezing, and covered in the aforementioned goosebumps.

“But now,” I said to myself, “the ROI makes sense,” using a marketing term I’d heard thrown around that day, thinking myself quite clever.

My copywriting education had begun.

Here are just a couple of things I learned from Craig’s presentation, insights that serve me (and my students) well to this day.

Copy Clarification #1

Copywriting doesn’t take that long to learn

This one didn’t surprise me that day, but the way Craig presented it did.

He said, “You could spend your whole life trying to become a legendary copywriter, but you don’t have to. You can learn it in a few days and be decent in a few weeks.”

This immediately reminded me of poker, and a common maxim around the table: “Poker takes an hour to learn and a lifetime to master.”

Putting it in those terms made so much sense to me.

First, you learn the rules, then you learn to play your game.

In terms of copywriting, that means make sure you have all the components, then put them in your voice, your way.

Now 11 years later, I still teach copy this exact way.

Copywriting really is like poker: once you have the basics, it’s fairly easy to understand. From there, you can start playing right away

Like poker, you may not have any major wins your first day, but you’ll be able to play.

With practice, you’ll be able to play well—and start writing captivating, high-converting copy.

In less time than you think, too.

My first real sales page was written just a few months after that conference; I wrote it after studying and practicing quite a bit. But, start to finish, it only took me about 10 hours spread over a few days.

Some of my clients have written amazing first drafts after spending ONE call learning theory with me, then practicing a bit.

Again: I fully believe anyone can become a proficient copywriter in just a few weeks.

Proficient is the goal.

Like poker, copy takes a lifetime to master, but your goal isn’t to master copywriting, because you do NOT need to be a master copywriter to write compelling, captivating, high-converting copy.

I’m serious about that.

(Remember, we don’t need to write Hamilton.)

In Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell puts forth that it takes approximately 10,000 hours to become a master in any given field.

The craziest thing about copywriting?

Practicing for just 15 or so hours puts you in position to write copy that can generate thousands of dollars.

My first sales page generated a few hundred thousand dollars. After just a few months of practice.

This is where copy is quite different from poker: lemme tell you, you can lose a lot of money on your way to being a mediocre poker player.

All things considered, copywriting is a much better investment of your time.

(Perhaps not surprisingly, I quit playing poker shortly after I learned to write copy.)

Back at the Conference: Holy Shit, It Works?

After Craig’s presentation, I was feeling confident. So confident I listened to the rest of the talks and even took a few notes.

The rest of the event was spent the way most events are: at the lobby bar, in conversations that seemed to be about 50% hyperbole and at least 30% old fashioned bullshit, interspersed with some real value, if you were willing to put up with the braggadocio to get to it.

Through the day, I met several people who’d had successful product launches—releases of new courses that made them $20,000, $100,00, even $300,000 in a single week.

Impressive numbers, to my inexperienced ears, and every single time, accompanied by some variation of, “the copy on that page was sick.”

Copy, I repeated to myself. Copy.

Copy, copy, copy. Got it. That’s what I have to learn.

And so in my hotel room that night—swaddled, at long last, in my glorious hoodie—I pulled up the sites I’d learned about and read, for the first time, long-form sales copy.

Sat before my eyes was a salespage.

It was okay. Just okay. But, reading, it definitely made me interested in the product. So interested that, before I knew it, I was at the bottom of the page.

Cackling like a madman, I clicked add to cart and bought the damn thing. It was 37 bucks and turned out to be a trash ebook full of typos.

But, it didn’t matter. The copy was decent, and I got to the end of the page, and felt compelled to click. I cackled some more.

At that moment, I realized something: Craig was absolutely right. This is the game. The website doesn’t matter. The graphics don’t matter.

To an extent, even the product itself doesn’t matter! (Please don’t take that literally and put out shitty products. Just because you can doesn’t mean you should.)

In terms of making sales, what matters is how compelling the offer and the copy are.

And as I was reading this sales page, the thought resounding my head was “I can do this. I can do this better. If this is ‘good’ sales copy, I’m going to write great sales copy.”

That First Sales Page, Tho

I went home determined to be a kickass copywriter—and to crush all the records I’d heard celebrated at the conference, FAST.

That was May 2009.

Fast-forward nine months to February, 2010, I launched my first info product: a training program called Final Phase Fat Loss—a series of ebooks and videos to help people get into peak shape.

In 6 days, that product generated $465,000 in gross revenue.

• It was a great product. But I knew from my research that the product itself didn’t make the money; it was the copy that made the money.
• It was the way I positioned the product, the angle I’d chosen to present it—the exact right angle for the customer.
• ​It was the way I explained, in the copy, the problem the product would solve…a problem I knew the people reading the page wanted help with.
• ​And the way the copy agitated the pain experienced as a result of the problem; how I painted that pain in descriptive language, using the right words that would resonate with my prospects.
• ​The way I sang the solution—told them exactly how my program would solve the problem they had, and take away the pain of having it.
• ​It was the way the copy led them down the page, persuading them, gently. Not to read the entire page, just to read the next line. And the next. And the next.
• ​And the way I predicted what objections might come up; the excuses or rationalizations they might make not to take action—and how I overthrew those objections one at a time, just as they came up.
• ​Finally, it was the way I offered an incredible opportunity. Not just to buy the product, but to solve their problem.

THAT is what sold nearly half a million dollars worth of downloadable fitness ebooks.

It all worked. It still works. It’ll always work.

And here’s the thing: learning copy took me a few weeks. Practicing a few more.

By the time I actually sat down to write the page, I’d put in maybe 30 hours of studying and 15 hours of practice.

Add in another 10 to write the thing.

Just 55 hours, start to finish. Now, I’m no math whiz, but some quick calculation puts that at about $8455 in profit per hour spent.

Seems like a pretty great ROI to me.

And the funny thing is, looking back at it now, that sales page was maybe B+ copy.

If it were A+ copy, I’m positive we could’ve broken $650,000, possibly $700,000.

Who knows?

But that’s the point: Nearly 500 THOUSAND dollars in revenue created with B+ copy.

You. Do. Not. Need. To. Be. A. Master. Copywriter.

You have to be good. And the better you are, the more money you’ll make (up until a point).

But you can start making more, now, from improving your copy today. And you’ll just keep getting better, and better, and making more, and more.

My story is “impressive” but not unique.

What I did was just start.

I learned a formula.

I improved upon it.

And then, I made it my own and put myself into it.

That’s what I’ve been teaching on a higher level for nearly 8 years and what I want to instill in you.

Because that is the magic.

The magic is already in you. I’m just here to give you the spells to help you get it out.

Introducing…

Captivating Copywriting

Captivating Copywriting is a comprehensive, self-paced course that’ll take any online business owner and turn them into a capable, confident, profitable copywriter in 8 weeks or less.

Taking everything I’ve learned about copy over the past 10 years through aggressive study, practice, and experience, Captivating Copywriting simplifies and delivers it to you with the perfect balance of information and entertainment.

With nine modules released over 8 weeks, every week gives you new training and new lessons, breaking down another piece of the copy puzzle.

Each training covers a specific aspect of copy, from research to building out the perfect offer.

Every module is packed with video training and accompanying workbooks, covering copywriting from the psychology of sales, the process of building out perfect headlines.

All taught using priceless frameworks to help you churn out magic words in less time than you’d think possible.

There are three options to get your magic out into the world…

All right. So you’ve gotta have copy for your offer.

Everything in the offer is incredible, and since your copy is front-facing, it has to be at that same level.

We’ve got to get that copy out of your head and onto the page. We’ve got to find the words to describe to your audience, in exactly the right language, what you do and you can help them.

You’ve got to create copy magical enough to match, to truly capture the magic of what you do, and communicate in the most evocative, connective, captivating way possible.

You need some copy, and you need it now.

At this point, you’ve got three options…

Option 1: Outsource it

First up, we have the obvious: if you don’t know how to write copy, just hire someone else to do it.

It’s a logical idea, especially in the world of entrepreneurship, where you’re constantly being bombarded with aphorisms like focus on your zone of genius and all that.

• You’re not a designer, so you hire someone to create your brand kit.
• ​You’re not a coder so you hire someone to build your website.
• ​You’re not an audio engineer, so you hire someone to edit your podcasts.

And so on.

The difference between those things and copy, though, isn’t one of degrees, but of dimension.

Those things are the paintings on the walls of your house; copy is the bricks from which the house is made and mortar holding the house together.

It’s too important to trust to “just anyone.”

So, of course, you try to solve that problem by hiring someone great. Someone experienced, which typically translates to expensive.

But, let’s say you’re okay with that.

Let’s say you don’t mind investing $5,000-$15,000 on a copywriter.

The ROI should be there, since that copy might sell $50,000, $100,000, or a million dollars worth of product!

That would be amazing, who wouldn’t take that deal?

You shouldn’t, and here’s why:

If you don’t know how to write copy, you simply cannot work well with a copywriter.

Even a great copywriter isn’t going to get it right on the first pass.

They don’t know your voice (you don’t even know your voice)…and so begins the dance.

You’ll need to tell your copywriter to make edits…but you won’t know copywriting well enough to tell them what to change.

Slowly, you get pulled into a nightmarish back-and-forth trying to get it right without really knowing what right is.

This is the cruel irony: you’ve hired a copywriter to “save time”…but the opposite happens.

You saved yourself maybe 15 hours of work by getting someone else to do the writing…

…only to spend 30 hours working with them through edits, revisions, and rewrites make it usable.

In the end, you’ve spent a ton of time and quite a bit of money.

When you could have just written it yourself.

That’s why it’s vital for you to become a proficient copywriter. Not “masterful,” not “world-class.” Not if you don’t want to.

Just aggressively, ruthlessly proficient at creating personality-driven copy that sings.

That converts.

That captivates.

Option 2: Spend half a decade in monk-like pursuit of copywriting mastery

Remember when I told you about my $465,000 launch? Well, I also told you I thought I could’ve done better.

If a few weeks of studying was good, then years must be better, right?

So I read every copywriting book you can find Amazon (6 of them were helpful, 13 of them were okay, and the other 35 were useless).

Nearly memorized every “ultimate guide to copywriting” you can find on the internet, plus about two hundred other articles.

And so one.

By the time I got through my 5th online course, I was at the point of thinking if I get just ONE nugget from this course, it’s worth it…

Along the way, I kept writing copy. And I kept getting better.

But was I SO MUCH BETTER after doing 500 hours of research than I was at 50? Not really.

Was I even noticeably better at 5000 hours than I was at 500? Nope.

My copy was dialed in and it was impressive to other copywriters. But after a certain point, conversions stayed the same.

That time wasn’t wasted, because the lesson I learned was invaluable: being really, really good in a few months is better than being really, really, really good in a few years.

You’re not going to get 10X better or make 10X more money for putting in 10X more work.

With copy, as with so much of life and business, the Law of Diminishing Returns is a bitch.

The lesson? Put in optimal learning, not maximal learning.

Which leads us to option three.

Option 3: Enroll in this course, obviously.

I’ll tell you why this course is the course in a moment, but first let’s establish the absolutes.

Learning copy requires investment. You’re gonna spend time or you’re gonna spend money, but you’re probably gonna spend both.

But you don’t have to spend a lot of time or too much money.

As we said earlier: hiring a copywriter usually winds up costing you a lot on both fronts. Getting your copy PhD is an eternal slog with limited pay off.

So, we need to Goldilocks this bitch. Invest a bit of money, a bit of time, and make the magic happen.

If you take the right course, you learn fast and implement faster. You can save the headaches of reading sales letters from guys who died before the advent of the internet.

And, if by some chance you decide to outsource your copy in the future, you’ll be knowledgeable enough to tell the good from the bad.

Enter: Captivating Copywriting.

I’ll be taking all the lessons I’ve learned from my decades of experience and giving it to you in eight easily digestible modules.

Everything from how I generated millions of dollars, to how I can enter the conversation through my readers doors, and how you can do the same.

Captivating Copywriting isn’t a course on plug-and-play templates or how to write fancy words.

It’s a step-by-step process that will teach you everything from how to research to writing copy that makes them think, “wow, this person gets me.”

This is not only the simplest and most logical option, it’s also the most direct path to success.

Of course, if you’d prefer to go with option 1 or 2, go for it.

I truly thank you for reading this far—but, alas, we’ve reached the end of our road: there’s no need to go any further, because what I’m about to share won’t interest you.

If you’re still with me, let us carry on.

Because now I want to take you inside Captivating Copy and tell you exactly how it’ll change your business.

A Deeper Look at Captivating Copywriting

If you’ve come this far you’re either really enjoying this sales page…

…or you’ve skimmed the page looking for the section of where I tell you what’s in this damn thing.

Either way you got here, let me tell you what’s in this damn thing.

With well over a dozen in-depth video training sessions across 9 modules, Captivating Copywriting is robust in its robustness. (I love that word. Robust. It’s just fun to say.)

The trainings are data-driven and battle-tested, giving you all the tools to learn, practice, and harness the power of your authentic voice and capture it in compelling copy.

Now, as a reminder: these are the enhanced, evolved, and elevated versions of the toolsets I used to write my very first sales page over 10 years ago; the one that generated over $450k, (despite being quite imperfect).

I started improving them shortly after, and the next sales page I created broke the million mark.

Now those were just some wins.

But the biggest win is just how much better I’ve gotten at this over the years. And that all shows in my students–and in the course itself.

Framework 1: The Intimacy Funnel

My rubric for assessing everything about the client and their relationship to every aspect of the copy and offer.

How close is your prospect to you? How aware are they of the problem you’re solving? How does this change the language you use?

The Intimacy Funnel is like your Rosetta Stone: using it, you’ll always know what to say and how to say it.

This is a priceless asset that puts you inside your readers head.

Framework 2: The Hierarchy of Doubt

When writing copy, it’s important to always be aware of what your reader is thinking—and especially, what they’re doubting.

Are they in the “is this a scam?” phase? Are they wondering about how and when they’d use the product?

Are they debating if now is really the “right time” to buy?

When you write captivating copy, you walk the up through hierarchy of doubt, helping them achieve a feeling of safety at every level, slowly eroding skepticism and replacing it with curiosity—which is the necessary ingredient for conversations.

Framework 3: The Foolproof 5-Point Assessment

When you’ve written your copy, how do you know if it’s good? The first step is to ask, is this doing it’s job?

The 5-Point framework gives you a no-fail process to assess and grade your copy, making sure you’ve got the right angle, used the right positioning, included all the important data, and constructed an offer that loops perfectly to overcome their objection.

If your copy holds up against the 5-point framework, it’ll holds up against the most important test: the market.

Each of these frameworks could be a masterclass unto itself, but they’re built right into the 9 modules of the Captivating Copywriting Core Curriculum.

I packed so much value into this course for two reasons:

1. I want Captivating Copy to be amazing for you and change your business in the best way possible
2. ​I am horribly competitive and I want everyone else who has a copywriting course to look at this and say, “fuck, this is better.”

So: is Captivating Copywriting a Good Fit for You?

If I’ve done my job and written this page specifically for my ideal customer, then there’s a good chance it is. I mean, you’ve ready pretty far down the page, so seems like this whole Captivating Copy thing is working.

But, since it’s definitely not for everyone, how do we know?

Firstly: Captivating Copywriting is not like most copy courses. As I said earlier, we want radical, reliable, profitable proficiency.

We don’t need you to become a master wordsmith or a so-called “A-list” copywriter for this to work for you and for you to start making some serious money from your copy.

You don’t need to write Hamilton. We’re not trying to turn you into a master copywriter.

While Captivating Copy covers some theory, you’re not a super geek like me, and you don’t wanna waste time breaking down ad copy written by whiskey swilling, skinny tie wearing copywriters for magazines in the Mad Men era of the 1960s.

You’ll find out why everything works, but you’re much more interested in what to do and how to use it—which is why you’re getting all the proven frameworks, tools, and strategies to start writing compelling copy today.

(In fact, to make it even faster, the Copy Crash Course bonus included with the program can have you writing captivating copy by tonight.)

Captivating Copy is actionable from the moment you enroll.

So please read the following carefully to make sure enrolling is the right move for you:

Captivating Copywriting Is NOT For Your If..

You have no idea what kind of business you want to create. It’s okay if you don’t have a business yet. When you start one, you’re going to need to write copy, so there’s no harm getting ahead of the game.

That said, if you’re still in the ideation phase, I’d rather you focus on figuring out your direction before you enroll.

Captivating Copywriting is ideally suited to business owners who already have something to sell and need to make their copy as awesome as their product—whether it’s ecommerce, coaching or consulting, info products, coaching, or crushing the OnlyFans game.

Whatever you want to do, copywriting is a factor. I’d just prefer you figure out what that is, first.
You think this’ll take you from zero to hero in a week. Captivating Copywriting isn’t about getting rich quick without putting in the work and giving it time to pay off. No dreamers, schemers, scammers, as they say.

If you already have an existing business and you apply the principles, I absolutely believe your revenue will increase dramatically. Maybe double or triple. That kind of thing happens when mildly successful businesses fix their copy.
You don’t like puppies. Gross, go away.
​You want paint-by-numbers, done-for-you type templates. Nah, brah. You’ll hear me say this over and over, but templates are terrible; frameworks are fantastic.

Templates just show you where things go; they stifle creativity and stunt your voice. And, in truth, they don’t make things go much faster.

Frameworks, on the other hand, bridge the gap between concept and execution, teaching you exactly how to do the work the right way.

You’re here to learn how to write your copy, not just fill in the blanks.

Captivating Copywriting IS For You If…

• ​You’ve got a dope product or course and you’re excited about—and you’re eager to get it to more people.
• You have a coaching program or other service that’ll help people, and you want to write amazing copy to help promote it.
• ​You like puppies.
• You’re excited at the idea of people telling you how excellent your copy is because you’re like me and words of affirmation is your love language.
• ​You have a modicum of patience and a generally grounded view of reality. In other words, you’re gonna put in some time.

Basically, you’re cool smart and don’t expect things to work overnight…

…and a few hours a week and do the heavy lifting up front, you can enjoy the rewards for years to come.

Copy Clarification #2

Copywriting is eternal

“Almost everything you learn at this conference has an expiration date,” said Craig back in 2009. “But not copywriting; that’s eternal.”

I was too inexperienced in online business at the time to realize how right he was, but in the decade since then, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve repeated those words.

Here’s the thing. All the A-list marketers, coaches, and online business owners talk and talk about what’s working right now: little things to improve performance by 1%, ‘tricks’ and ‘hacks’ to get open rates up a bit.

And that’s fine. When you’re talking big numbers, a 1% increase can mean a lot of money.

But what Craig alluded to in 2009 is even more true today: all of those things have lifespans.

Everything is always changing: one day Facebook is hot, the next it’s terrible. Your webinar is killing it until it isn’t.

Right now it’s Instagram story templates, chat bots, LinkedIn for lead generation.

When Craig said copy is eternal, he meant that no matter what else comes or goes, copywriting is a constant.

It’s not just that copywriting matters; it’s that none of the other shit matters at all if you don’t have your copy dialed in.

But he also meant that good copy will keep working for you, long after you’ve written it.

Check this example…
Just as I did with the olive oil email, you can use the same great copy over and over and over—and it’ll just keep bringing you clients, connection, and conversions.

Great copy is like a high performing stock in your portfolio: it just keeps making you money.

Here’s another example: back in 2015, I wrote up a client spotlight blog post on my fitness site.

I wrote about my client’s transformation in the form of a fairy tale, casting myself as a wizard, instead of a coach.

The result was $96,000 in coaching sales for the rest of 2015…and it was published on December 10th.

At the time, I was charging $450 per month with a minimum of a 6 month commitment; so each client who signed up paid about $2700.

This post led to 35 new clients, all before the New Year: $96,000 in 21 days.

I sent traffic to the post twice in 2016. Three times in 2017. Once in 2018.

It also brought in about $45,000 in “accidental” revenue in 2019…which I made from referrals to other coaches, because I’d shut the program down a year before.

That’s an average of $103,628 per year on a single piece of copywriting.

With no ads, no paid promotion. Just my existing audience.

When I say copywriting is eternal—that’s what I mean.

The Obligatory Disqualifying Moment

My programs aren’t for everyone…

I know, I know. Every asshole with a course says, my courses are not for everyone.

That’s part of copywriting; the whole qualifying thing. But, it’s also true: no course is for EVERYONE.

My course isn’t for everyone, just everyone cool who likes making money with copy that reflects how fucking awesome they are.

People who want case studies like those above.

People who want to put some upfront work into creating something incredible and getting value from it for years.

But, also people who are at a certain level, and are comfortable investing some time and money into doing that.

On the other hand, people who just wanna watch some videos in the background while they scroll IG and hope they’ll learn through passive exposure probably aren’t gonna do too well.

This is a pretty radical notion, but my data clearly indicates that the people who get the best results from my courses are those who…

::checks notes:: actually do the course.

Which is to say: yes, I want you to get the course. But please use the course.

Copy Clarification #3

Copywriting Creates Longevity

Look, anyone who wants to run a profitable business needs to focus on good copywriting.

You need to understand: copy gives you an advantage in terms of efficiency. You make more, sure. But you lose less.

You lose less attention, because the writing is compelling; they want to stick around and read it.

More importantly, fou lose fewer sales. And let me be clear about that. Losing fewer sales is not the same as making more sales.

When you make more sales, it’s a matter of immediate conversions. Someone who reads every word and, in the end, decides to buy. They go from a “maybe” to a “yes.”

Losing fewer sales, though. That’s something entirely different.

Losing fewer takes into account all the people who were going to say no.

You see, your business isn’t just one product, program, or offer. Your business is everything you do. And I cannot begin to tell you how many people forget that when writing their copy.

They write aggressive, hyperbolic, this-thing-is-the-Holy-Grail type marketing that creates disconnection and distrust.

Sure, the people who were already likely to say yes will still buy. Maybe a few extra people do, too. That’s making more sales.

But what about all the people who just went from a maybe to a no; from no to fuck no. Or from probably not to eww.

Once you lose those people, it’s very, very hard to get them back.

With great copywriting, with Captivating Copywriting, that doesn’t happen.

You keep people interested and informed without even trying. You keep them educated and entertained all at once.

And you maintain the connection, even when they’re not the right fit for that program.

One of the most important lessons you’ll even learn about marketing is this:
for a business to have true longevity, you can’t make 2 sales today if it means losing 3 sales tomorrow.

Captivating Copywriting is built around that very principle.

Captivating Copywriting By John Romaniello, What Is It Included (Content proof: Watch here!)

• 01-COMMENCE – Introductions, Outlines, and Essentials
• 02-CRASH – Captivating Copywriting Crash Course
• 03-CRAFT – The Captivating Copywriting Core Curriculum
• 04-CRUSH – Additional Resources
• 05-Tools & Practices
• 06-Bonus Trainings
• 07-CLOSURE – Captivating Copy Wrap Up