ust starting out in internet marketing? Never written a sales letter before? Have no idea where to start? Don't worry - we've all been there before.

It's not easy getting started. Luckily, I have an excellent method for accelerating your learning: Steal from the best.

Of course, I don't literally mean "steal." A better phrase might be "Get inspired."

Copywriting is an art that has not changed much over the decades. The fundamental impulses that drive purchase behavior today are the same as they were decades ago. So read the books of the great copywriters of the past.

Their techniques will work today as well as they did then.

My own personal list of the greatest copywriters follows. You can learn a lot from studying these guys.

* Robert Collier
* Joe Karbo
* Claude Hopkins
* Bob Stone
* John Caples
* David Ogilvy
* Joe Vitale
* Bob Bly
* Dan Kennedy
* Joe Sugarman
* Dave Garfinkel

Head over to the library, and look up some of their books.  You will be glad you did.

How to Create Your Own Swipe File

Before your start writing, you need to find out what the best sales pitches in the business look like. You can start by going to Clickbank.com Marketplace.

Select a topic of interest, and look for the products that have the highest gravity score. Gravity is a measure of the number of affiliates who earned a commission selling that product.

Now click on the "pitch page" link, and you will be taken to the sales letter for that product. If the product has a high gravity, chances are it has a great sales letter and website.

So here is what you do. You study that website. Look at the words they are using, look at its layout, at the headlines, the arguments. How long is it? What do the graphics look like? Remember, if you are looking at a high gravity website, you are looking at a website that WORKS.

So do that with a dozen Clickbank sites, and record the things you like.

You've just created your own "swipe file."

When you are at a loss for words, just look back at your swipe file.  I guarantee you'll find something to kickstart your creativity.

Instruction is inspiration.

So get inspired!