I’m not one to make yearly review type posts. I mean, for MainWP, I usually do some kind of recap of blog posts, but here and other places I own, I usually don’t them.
Call me a tad inspired.
Today I will look back (veiled of course) at the year of 2019 and what it means for me and Copyflight. With that in mind, here is my year end review for Copyflight in 2019.
Tough year…
The year started with the usually inspired thoughts about having a great year and doing great things. That lasted a few days. As the year started my energy level continued to drop.
I have a handful of chronic illnesses and one of them is sleep apnea. As the year went, it was obvious that the sleep I was getting wasn’t going too well.
I hacked my existing machine and made a slight change and noticed I felt better, but my doctor ordered a new sleep study so I could get a new machine.
The sleep study revealed the machine needed adjusting. I got a new machine and the adjusted levels and began to feel better.
Another strange thing that happened was that we had a plethora of thunderstorms that seemed to roll in the first half of the year on every Saturday. That combined with the sleep apnea changes, I didn’t do much on Saturdays.
But in the middle of the year, I started to feel better.
Launching of projects
In spite of how I felt, with the help of friends like Davinder, Paul Lacey, and Rob Cairns I launched the Website Copy Framework (WCF). Not only did I launch it, but I actually sold enough to earn $2K.
I have some plans for 2020 using the WCF. I am going to create some additional supplemental content and create an agency package. This will allow agencies to use the documents with their own branding to help their clients create their website copy.
I am pretty excited about this actually. This was something that was requested.
Another thing I launched was a Youtube channel and a new show called the Copychat Show. This show is a video show that intersects content marketing with copywriting and digital marketing.
I have two and ideas for a few more. I am hoping to have a few shows featuring guests. I really need to make myself do at least one or two per month to keep some consistency.
Guest Appearances
I need to update my guest appearances. Rob Cairns had me on his podcast a couple of times, I visited with WP Builds in December, visited with WordCamp Meetup Tulsa (more on this later), participated in Jan Koch’s WP Agency Summit, appeared on a video for the WaaS.Store, and wrote a guest blog post for Elegant Marketplace.
Additionally, Ben Townsend did a Q&A article about me on his blog. Very blessed.
That’s not too bad. I feel like I’m missing something and will update if I remember.
At times, 2019 felt like a blur.
Continued to learn more about copywriting.
Nothing in my business has been as valuable as learning more about copywriting. I believe that there is a blurring of lines between copywriting, content marketing, SEO, and digital marketing.
I started learning more about copywriting a few years ago when I discovered Ben Settle emails.
I also started sitting at the feet from the conversion copywriting queen herself, Joanna Wiebe. Through her, I learned about Talia Wolf. I’ve been watching Talia’s videos and reading her content as well.
In January, I will start a Funnel Bootcamp with Talia. I am pretty excited.
Others I learned or felt support in terms o copywriting include Josh Garafolo, Joel Klettke, Nabeel Azeez, Misha Hattie (she’s awesome!), Rob Marsh and Kira Hug (The Copywriter Club Facebook Group), Steve Roller (Cafe Writer Facebook Group), my good friend Sofia Dagnon, Hilary Weiss Presswood, Chanti Zak, and so many more.
In fact, I enrolled in Chanti’s course for creating quiz funnels. If you want to do something unique for the front side of your funnel in 2020, do something interactive and a quiz is a very efficient piece of content.
I also enrolled and participated in Brendan Hufford’s SEO for the Rest of Us. Brendan and his ideas have definitely reignited my love for SEO. Brendan understands the role that copywriting plays in the entire digital marketing ecosystem. I highly recommend getting in the next time it opens.
Also, I happily introduced Josh Garofalo and Joel Klettke to a couple of people for podcasts. These two guys have taught me a ton about website copywriting. Of course, it helps me learn more because I listen to their wisdom in the podcasts.
I recorded some teardowns with no tears shed
I started really working on my thoughts on About pages earlier this year. As a result, I did some About Page Teardowns which you can find on my Youtube Channel.
The first one I did was for Amy Porterfield. This was mostly to highlight all the things she did right which was pretty much everything.
Then I followed up with nine more. I sent out a tweet and people responded. I video recorded all of them (with their permission) and they are now part of my content.
I guess word got around that I did those and I was contacted by the fine folks at the Tulsa WordPress Meetup. They asked me to do one live. This was new territory, but I accepted and hopped on Zoom with the group in December.
There were a few questions as I went over the About page. I followed up with another one for one of the hosts.
What did About Page teardowns teach me? Good question.
I think it reinforces the importance of stories and storytelling. Someone once said that stories are 22 times more memorable than data.
If I have a calling card when it comes to content, it is storytelling. I am learning even more about how we can use storytelling in our business.
“Those who tell stories rule the world.” Depending on your source, that was either said by Plato or it is a Native American Proverb. Regardless, there is a reason that people who spend millions on TV ads use storytelling.
Wrapping it up
Even as I write this article I am listening to music which is another form of storytelling. What story will you write in 2020? What story will I write in 2020?
The longer I live, the more I realize that the story doesn’t always turn out how I imagine it to. You create in your mind a path to take, you head down that road and then you encounter various obstacles that alter your path.
Or, at least I do.
We become very introspective at the end of the year. That’s what happens when we get to the end of the road. We evaluate, we assess where have been and where we are going.
So what is next?
Tell more stories.
Make more connections.
Nurture more relationships.
