On Copywriting

Winner #8 - Mike Sansone

This weekend was interesting to say the least. My son Owen's 2nd birthday was today, and we had a family celebration on Saturday (St. Patrick's Day).

About 45 minutes before the get-together, my son fell off the love seat backwards. My wife and I didn't see him fall, so we're not sure exactly how it happened.

Owen seemed fine, although he was unusually fussy, which persisted throughout his birthday celebration.

Long story short, we wound up in the urgent care center and discovered Owen had fractured his wrist. Not a bad fracture, but a green fracture. It would heal on its own, without a cast, but he needs a cast anyway... because if he were to fall on his wrist again, it would be a nasty compound fracture.

So now Owen is in a splint (see picture here) until Thursday when he gets his cast. Oh, the joys of parenthood. :-)

All that is to say, my son Owen drew today's winner... Mike Sansone!

Mike Sansone is the guy who turned me on to MyBlogLog (see the pictures in the right column). He also prompted me to continue the "5 Reasons Why I Blog" meme, and has recently educated me about the nuances of blogging.

Mike now gets his choice of the remaining audio programs listed here. As soon as he indicates which one he wants, I'll cross it off the list and mail it out to him.

All Caught Up

Today, I mailed out three audio programs to the three most recent winners of The Great CD Giveaway. One package went to Indiana (Terry Dean), another to England (Eldo Barkhuizen), and yet another to Scotland (Ali Manson).

You know, at the beginning of this, I was hoping to avoid shipping to international addresses. Why? Because I hadn't done it before. It was out of my comfort zone. And I was worried it would cost a lot.

Well, my non-U.S. blog readers are making a strong showing. Out of the seven winners so far, three of them live outside the U.S.!

So I'm getting more comfortable mailing to international addresses now. For instance, I found out today that it only costs about $14 to send 6 CDs to Scotland.

Speaking of Scotland, Ali Manson picked my favorite program: The 80/20 Principle by Richard Koch. I thought for sure somebody else would have picked it sooner. Richard Koch's work should be required reading (and listening) for online marketers. Seriously.

By the way, I'd love it if you'd participate in The Great CD Giveaway by linking to my blog and shooting me an email at rhealy [at] gmail [dot] com to let me know about it. There are still nine audio programs left to give away.

Winner #7 - Ali Manson

The Great CD Giveaway seems to be working very well. Or maybe I'm just writing things that are more "linkworthy" than before. Nevertheless, I'm getting lots of new incoming links, which has prompted me to create a new rule:

You will not be included in The Great CD Giveaway unless you send me an email at rhealy [at] gmail [dot] com to notify me of your participation.

In the beginning, I simply added folks who I noticed were linking to me. I added Terry Dean (unbeknownst to him) as recently as last week.

But here's the problem. Let's say someone links to my blog and doesn't tell me about it. How do I then notify that person if/when I draw his/her name?

So if you want to participate, you must send me an email. (By the way, this is GREAT news if you're already participating in the contest. I don't expect most folks to send me an email because of the effort involved.)

Okay, enough about rules. :-)

This week's winner... Winner #7... is Ali Manson!

I'm glad my daughter drew Ali's name. He's made some excellent comments on my blog recently.

Now Ali gets to choose an audio program from among the remaining programs listed here. Six of them have already been claimed.

By the way, the CD protector sleeves I ordered have arrived, so I will be shipping out the "backlog" this week. That includes Eldo's program, Terry's program, and whatever program Ali chooses. (I apologize for the delay, but I especially wanted the protector sleeves for sending the CDs over to England.)

Winner #6 - Terry Dean

We have one newcomer this week--Terry Dean. He pinged my blog last night, so I added his name to the list of contest participants.

Okay, here are the people currently participating in The Great CD Giveaway. (Those whose names are crossed off have already won.)

1. David Airey
2. Michel Fortin
3. Cory Fossum
4. Shaune Clarke
5. Eldo Barkhuizen
6. Joseph Ratliff
7. Edward Santosh
8. JP Maroney
9. Mike Sansone
10. Jason Moffatt
11. Simon Payn
12. Ray Edwards
13. John Manley
14. Chris Custer
15. Ali Manson
16. Barak Strickland
17. Tony Funderburk
18. John Ritskowitz
19. Brian Ochsner
20. Elizabeth Purvis
21. Stephen Dean
22. Terry Dean

I had my daughter Annabelle draw today's winner. And the winner is Terry Dean!

I laughed when I saw Terry had won since I literally just put his name into the Ziploc bag I'm using to store all the slips of paper. I even scrambled them up and made sure they were not stuck to one another. Still, Terry's name was drawn and he is this week's winner.

Terry can choose any of the remaining audio programs listed here and I will mail it to him.

Today's takeaway lesson is... It's not too late to join The Great CD Giveaway. ;-)

P.S. So far, I've mailed all the CD programs except for Eldo's. I ordered some CD sleeves and I'm waiting for them to arrive. I want to make sure the CDs arrive in good condition.

Winner #5 - Eldo Barkhuizen

Okay, here are the people currently participating in The Great CD Giveaway:

1. David Airey
2. Michel Fortin
3. Cory Fossum
4. Shaune Clarke
5. Eldo Barkhuizen
6. Joseph Ratliff
7. Edward Santosh
8. JP Maroney
9. Mike Sansone
10. Jason Moffatt
11. Simon Payn
12. Ray Edwards
13. John Manley
14. Chris Custer
15. Ali Manson
16. Barak Strickland
17. Tony Funderburk
18. John Ritskowitz
19. Brian Ochsner
20. Elizabeth Purvis
21. Stephen Dean

Four people have already won. You'll see that their names have been crossed out on the list above.

So, I just now had my daughter draw today's winner based on the current list. And today's winner is...

Eldo Barkhuizen!

Eldo lives in the U.K., so this will be the first package I ship "across the pond." He gets his choice of the remaining audio programs I've offered up for this promotion.

If for some reason I've overlooked you... or you'd like to participate in this giveaway... then please read about The Great CD Giveaway here.

P.S. I think it's funny that Eldo is number five on the list above and is also Winner #5. Coincidence?

Winner #4 - Simon Payn

Okay... I'm late again. I've decide to announce new winners of The Great CD Giveaway on Mondays, since I'm always working on Monday. The weekends can get crazy, and I don't always pull out my laptop. In fact, I try to stay away from it to spend time with my wife and kids.

That said, my daughter Annabelle has drawn Winner #4... Simon Payn!

Simon lives in Canada, which makes him our first winner who lives outside the U.S.

Also, we had one new contest entrant last week... Elizabeth Purvis. If you'd like to find out how you could win one of the 16 audio programs I'm giving away, you can read my original post here.

Update: Simon has chosen Vocal Power by Roger Love. So that program has been crossed off the list.

Winner #3 - Chris Custer

I'm a day late with this announcement, so my apologies.

Winner #3 of The Great CD Giveaway is Chris Custer!

With the exceptions of Stomping the Search Engines and The Power of Clarity, which have already been claimed, he can choose any of the 14 audio programs listed here.

I figured out a good way to mail the CDs, so Jason's and Barak's selections are in the mail. I'll put Chris's selection in the mail this week, after he tells me which program he wants.

There were no new sign-ups this week, which is good news if you're currently participating in the giveaway. If you're just joining us, you can read how to participate here. Thanks!

Update: Chris has just chosen The Maverick Mindset by John Eliot. Great choice!

Winner #2 - Barak Strickland

This morning, I installed an undersink water purifier with my father-in-law. After that, I vaccuumed and got the kids down for naps. My wife just got back from the grocery store, and I'm typing this as fast as I can... because... we have a birthday celebration at my parents' house. And we're late! :-)

I know you're dying to know who won this week's drawing. As you already know, Jason Moffatt won last week. Since my daughter is sleeping right now, she couldn't draw today's winner. So my wife drew the winner's name instead.

And the winner is...

Barak Strickland!

Barak now gets to choose any of the remaining audio programs listed here, except for Stomping the Search Engines, which Jason Moffatt claimed.

A total of 18 people have joined so far. And there have been two winners, which leaves 16 people for next week's drawing, not counting any new entrants. Here are the names of those currently participating as of February 3:

1. David Airey
2. Michel Fortin
3. Cory Fossum
4. Shaune Clarke
5. Eldo Barkhuizen
6. Joseph Ratliff
7. Edward Santosh
8. JP Maroney
9. Mike Sansone
10. Jason Moffatt
11. Simon Payn
12. Ray Edwards
13. John Manley
14. Chris Custer
15. Ali Manson
16. Barak Strickland
17. Tony Funderburk
18. John Ritskowitz

Note: Since Jason and Barak have now won, their names will be removed from all future drawings. I will announce the next winner Saturday, February 10.

P.S. If you would like to be included in next week's drawing, simply read about The Great CD Giveaway here.

Winner #1 - Jason Moffatt

Okay, I have completed tallying the names and selecting a winner for Week #1 of The Great CD Giveaway. Here's what I did...

I wrote all the names on a sheet of paper and cut them into slips. I folded each slip in half and put them into a bowl. I had my 4-year-old daughter close her eyes and draw one slip. The Week #1 winner is...

Jason Moffatt!

Jason will now get his choice of the 16 audio programs listed here. If your name wasn't drawn, don't worry... you still have 15 more chances to win.

Now, I must say I was surprised. Only three people have responded since I started the contest on Monday. Those three are:

1. Eldo Barkhuizen
2. Joseph Ratliff
3. Edward Santosh

I didn't do a lot of digging, but I am aware of some other folks who've linked to me. So I included their names as well. So far, 13 people are in the contest. If nobody else enters, that means they're all guaranteed to win. (That also means I'll have to keep three of the audio programs, which I had not planned to do.)

The odds of winning are quite high at this point... like 100%. :-)

If you haven't qualified for the drawings yet, I suggest you take a moment to do it now. You can read about how to join The Great CD Giveaway here.

That said, here are the names of those currently participating as of January 27:

1. David Airey
2. Michel Fortin
3. Cory Fossum
4. Shaune Clarke
5. Eldo Barkhuizen
6. Joseph Ratliff
7. Edward Santosh
8. JP Maroney
9. Mike Sansone
10. Jason Moffatt
11. Simon Payn
12. Ray Edwards
13. John Manley

Note: Since Jason has now won, his name will be removed from all future drawings. I will announce the next winner Saturday, February 3.

The Great CD Giveaway

Today marks the beginning of what I'm calling "The Great CD Giveaway."

You see, I love to get new audio programs from Nightingale-Conant. They publish all kinds of success training and personal development programs. I think I've purchased somewhere close to 20 of them now.

But I have a problem. Actually, two of them.

Problem #1: I don't have enough time to listen to all my audio programs. I really need to give them away so I can get new ones.

Problem #2: I need a compelling offer to encourage you to link to my blog from a quality web site that you own.

Solution: For the next 16 weeks, on Saturday, I'll be selecting a new winner to receive one of my audio programs, which I have listed below. To qualify, all you need to do is this:

1. Link to this blog from a high-quality page on your web site. Please link to http://ryanhealy.typepad.com/copywriting

2. Send me an email at rhealy [at] gmail [dot] com telling me you've linked to my blog, along with a link so I can see it.

Simple, yes?

If you do these two steps, I will enter your name in my weekly drawing for your choice of one of my 16 audio programs. If your name is drawn, you'll get to choose which program you want. I will then promptly mail it to you. (You can only win once.)

If your name isn't drawn, you'll automatically be included in the next week's drawing. This means the sooner you decide to participate, the more chances you'll have to win--although you're still welcome to join even if we're on Week 15.

Note: If you set up a junk blog just for the purpose of this promotion, you will not be included. I'm really looking for quality links from quality sites. That said, I encourage you to participate so you have the chance of winning one of these 16 audio programs:

1. Secrets to Power Negotiating by Roger Dawson (6 CDs)

2. The Power of Clarity by Brian Tracy (7 CDs)

3. Stomping the Search Engines by Brad Fallon & Andy Jenkins (10 CDs)

4. Close the Deal: The Sandler Sales Institute's 7 Step System for Successful Selling (8 CDs)

5. Multiple Streams of Income by Robert Allen (8 CDs)

6. Mentored By a Millionaire by Steven K. Scott (10 CDs)

7. Lead the Field by Earl Nightingale (6 CDs)

8. The Psychology of Winning by Denis Waitley (6 CDs)

9. Lessons In Mastery by Anthony Robbins (6 CDs)

10. Laws of Inner Wealth by Sir John Templeton (6 CDs)

11. How to Be a No-Limit Person by Dr. Wayne Dyer (6 CDs)

12. Vocal Power: Speaking with Authority, Clarity, and Conviction by Roger Love (8 CDs)

13. Rich Dad's Road to Riches: 6 Steps to Becoming a Successful Real Estate Investor by Robert Kiyosaki (5 CDs)

14. Maverick Mindset: The New Science of Exceptional Achievement by Dr. John Eliot (7 CDs)

15. The Burning Desire: The 10 Greatest Lessons My Mentor Taught Me by Doran J. Andry & Joseph McClendon III (8 CDs)

16. The 80/20 Principle: The Secret to Success by Achieving More With Less by Richard Koch (6 CDs)

Excited? You should be. I've paid roughly $80 for each of these. :-)

Alright, it's time to get started!

I look forward to hearing from you and announcing the new winner every Saturday for the next 16 weeks.

P.S. I realize you may have already linked to my site from yours. If this is the case, and I'm aware of it, I will automatically include your name in the drawings. Nevertheless, it would still be helpful if you would send me an email to ensure I don't accidentally exclude you.

P.P.S. Participating in this promotion can be as simple as adding me to your blogroll, which takes less than 3 minutes.

P.P.P.S. If you don't participate, I have to assume either 1) you don't like my blog or 2) you have no interest in the programs I'm giving away or 3) you don't have a web site yet. Although I can't do anything about numbers one and two, I can do something about number three. Watch for a new post in the next couple of days about how to start your new copywriting web site.

List of Winners

Winner #1 - Jason Moffatt

Winner #2 - Barak Strickland

Winner #3 - Chris Custer

Winner #4 - Simon Payn

Winner #5 - Eldo Barkhuizen

Winner #6 - Terry Dean

Winner #7 - Ali Manson

Winner #8 - Mike Sansone

Winner #9 - Stephen Dean

Winner #10 - Cory Fossum

Winner #11 - JP Maroney

Winner #12 - Joseph Ratliff

Winner #13 - Brian Ochsner

Winner #14 - Michel Fortin

Winner #15 - Edward Santosh

Winner #16 - David Airey