Best web-copywriting book?

If you had to choose only one copywriting book about web copywriting what would it be?

My favourite book so far is Maria Veloso's "Web Copy That Sells". It has some practical advice, eventhou style is a bit too hard selling for my taste.

There are so many poor/average copywriting books around that it would be nice to hear if you've found some really good ones.

 

Steve Wagenheim offers a great course.

 

Thanks for the tip. His homepage looks awfull but luckily I found a blog too. Have to give it a shot.

 

There aren't many good web copywriting books. There are books about writing sales letters but not how to approach a menu-driven site.

 

While it is not strictly a copywriting book, I would recommend Eats, Shoots and Leaves. I think it would help you with your English and it is written with a bit of humor. I don't have my copy handy right now but I will look for it if you can not find it by the title. It is something of a rant by the author of her pet peeves about English style and usage. If you do not see the mistake in the sentence, "The giant panda eats, shoots and leaves." it should be a good investment for you.

Michel Fortin has a number of sites where he shares good copywriting advice. He is a fan of long and hard selling sales letters and does hope that you will buy his course but he provides quite a bit of useful information for free.

 

Maria Veloso's book is good, though basic in many aspects
and designed not for professional writers but for website owners
who want to write their own copy.

Lenny Eng's "Confessions of a Website Copywriter" is first-rate.
It's a download product available on Clickbank.

Neither of them are definitive copywriting books. You should
be reading Caples, Oglivy and Hopkins if you are serious
about making your writing pay.

 

Neither of these are exactly books about web copywriting, but I use them together as reference books in writing copy for the web:

1. Copywriter's Handbook - Bob Bly provides you with the fundamentals of copywriting and writing different types of copy including landing pages.
2. Call to Action - Brian and Jeffrey Eisenberg's book on ways on how you can improve your site's conversion rates.

 

Robert W Bly (Bob Bly, but be careful when you run searches, there is another famous writer/poet by the name Robert Bly!) writes excellent copywriting books.

Eats Shoots and Leaves is a great book but it is important to note that it is organized around British English. American English has different rules (some of the time anyway).

 

Please excuse me, I know the thread is about books, but I couldn't resist recommending The Gary Halbert Letters.

 

The book Hot Text is also great. I like what others have suggested too.

 

I love Bob Bly. I have three of his books. The last one is The Online Copywriter's Handbook which is a bit dated, but nonetheless has great information. His books are what actually got me into copywriting in the first place.

 

Ah!!!

Thanks very much for clarifying this! I'd always wondered how on earth he found time to write all those books, and how a writer of sales materials could be such a well-known literary figure as well!

 

I still wonder how he writes his books. Over 70 books on 25 years. That's almost three books a year on copywriting&marketing...

 

I just finished Veloso's Web Copy That Sells as well, and I have to say it is worth the read.

 

ummm, its good to find someone from the clickbank's forum in here as well, you are on the right track

Maria Veloso's book is vey good and easy to follow. Its very clear even for the beginner copywriter that want to improve his writing skills to write killer sales letters.

Its important to note that Maria Veloso used to work with Mark joyner and he actually tought her how to write killer sales letters.

Thers no need to say that Mark is a legend, Maria's writing ability and the way she explain are excellent as well this is a must have even if you never wrote a sales letter in your life!

 

My favorites:

• Tested Advertising Methods by Caples
• Copywriter's Handbook by Bly
• Words That Sell by Bayan

Been meaning to get Sugarman's Adweek book, and Web Copy That Sells... I'll probably start with the latter, since that was mentioned here.

 

Sugarman's book is sometimes hard to find.

 

...but act now and you can claim one of the few remaining copies... don't miss out!

http://www.amazon.com/Adweek-Copywriting-Handbook-Advertising-Copywriters/dp/0470051248/

P.S. Haha, couldn't resist... copywriting humor

 

I also like and learned a lot from 'Web Copy That Sells'. -e-

 

Can you provide download links for any of these books you guys are talkin about?