

I'm writing an eBook about integrating Stripe with Rails - zrail
http://bugsplat.info/payment-integration.html

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smartial_arts
Great stuff. Just one thing though - your copy reads 'me, me, me' - people
don't care about you, it's better to phrase it in such way that it addresses
_their_ problems, and talks about them.

See <http://www.kingofcopy.com/copywriting-tips-re-you-vs-me/>

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zrail
Copy updated. What do you think?

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smartial_arts
It still reads "... _I've_ written four web applications from scratch using
Ruby on Rails. ... _I_ learned new things ..."

It is understandable that you want to convey some sense of authority, i.e. you
being the domain expert. I could be wrong but that will not sell it as much as
highlighting the PAINS people face (provided they do).

I'd much rather sell them on pains - something that resonates deeply with them
- like "Did you ever try to implement Stripe integration and lost sales as a
result of some bug?"

If you do your market research diligently, you won't have to 'invent' those
pains/scenarios - people will tell you. As Ogilvy said initial customer
research is a must for good copywriting.

It is easy to focus on what YOU know, what YOU experienced, how it helped YOU.
But to take it a step further you need to talk to other people.

That's what I mean: [http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2012/05/18/quick-course-
on-e...](http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2012/05/18/quick-course-on-effective-
website-copywriting/)

Also, refer to Joanna @ Copy Hackers - she's got some great books on the
subject.

Hope it helps.

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zrail
This is extremely helpful, thanks. I actually bought Copy Hackers last year
but haven't actually picked it up and read it yet, much to my detriment.

I rewrote the whole first paragraph and added some bullet points. I promise
I'll stop bugging you now :)

~~~
smartial_arts
I think it's much better now, although id't test that with your audience and
ask them what they think this page is about, i.e. in their own words.

Don't confuse that with a market test - i.e. even if people say they would buy
the book - it's easy to trick yourself into thinking like that.

Selling infoproducts is a big topic, there are so many important things to it,
such as building a subscribers base, all te inbound marketing in form of
blogging/guest blogging, timing your launch, discounts to loyal subscribers
etc.

I'd recommend studying successful use cases such as Nathan Barry, Jim Gay,
Brennan Dunn, 30x500 course alumni in general - they seem to have nailed it.

