No copywriter worth his salt will ever sit down to write an ad without it. (If you haven't already started your own collection of ...PROVEN... successful sales letters, keep reading and discover the 'quick and easy' way to begin).

Here's how to get the most from your swipefile...

1) First Impressions - How Does It Look?

If you can get hold of a good quality image of the ad, you can discover what captivated the prospect and made them read, and ultimately purchase the product or service.

Priceless information such as:

How is the letter structured?

Do the paragraphs have formatting like first line indentation?

Is there a picture with caption?

Does the letter have a johnson box with tantilising FREE offer for the reader?

What font type and size did they use for the pre, main and sub-headline?

Where are the bullet points placed?

You get the idea...

2) Scissors, Paper, Printer... and Some Glue

Bet you've not done this for a while :)

Once your collection of ads starts to grow, so does your swipefile of winning headlines, openings, bullets, guarantees and closings.

So whenever you sit down to write your next ad, you'll instantly have at your disposal ready made templates to model and swipe.

This will provoke fresh new ideas and help you to come up with that killer headline or hook for the foundation of your ad.

The best way to take advantage of this goldmine is to print out each individual component, and glue them onto 6x4 rolodex cards.

Using visual cues like this to stimuluate your brain into copywriting mode, is second only to what I share with you next.

(If you have word-for-word transcripts of the ads, this will save you typing them all out).

3) You May Have Heard This Before. But Do You Do It?

You absolutely MUST handwrite ...with pen and paper... the great ads we have been talking about. Why? Because you neurogically embed the writing style of the copywriter deep within. And then you get to channel that into your own sales letters.

Let me repeat! Your brain will adopt the secrets of each ad when you copy them out in your own handwriting.

It takes commitment, and a little push. Most folks don't want to put in the effort. But if you master ALL 3 of these simple, but deadly effective strategies, you'll considerably shortcut your education of Salemanship-In-Print.

Just make sure you model the right ads ;)

Andy Murray is creator of "Handwrite The Great Ads" A unique free copywriting system proven to help you write better sales letters. Getting started is quick and easy at: WriteYourOwnAds.com