“Good Artists Copy; Great Artists Steal” – Pablo Picasso or T.S. Eliot or Igor Stravinsky (it's actually not known where this quote originated
[source])

While I never, ever, recommend stealing someone else's work … I do recommend using legal and ethical ways (ie. modeling) to use other people's work in order to gain inspiration, perspective, and direction.

This particularly applies to copywriting, where having a “swipe file” is a must.

What's a swipe file?

“A collection of tested and proven advertising and sales letters.” [wikipedia]

In this post I'll show you where to find copy, how to build your own swipe file, and the most important part – how to use the swipes.

Big Picture Stuff

The ultimate goal is to have a collection of proven ads in your swipe file; however, it's not always easy to tell if something is proven or not unless the advertiser comes out and says it (even then, they could make up their results).

My recommendation is – if you see something that catches your attention – swipe it.

Also, just because one ad worked well in one market, doesn't mean it'll necessarily work well in another.

For example, being buddy-buddy and using slang in your copy may work well when advertising to “hip” people; however, using slang around lawyers, doctors, and other professionals may not perform as well.

Bottom line: know your market.

Where To Find Swipes

Ads and copy are everywhere, so this shouldn't be difficult.

Facebook ads can be found on Facebook, Twitter ads on Twitter, etc.

Sales pages can be found in marketplaces like ClickBank and JVZoo.

Direct response copy can be found on sites like The Gary Halbert Letter or by joining a program like Copy Hour.

Email copy can be found by subscribing to peoples' email lists.

Banner ads can be found dang near everywhere.

My Favorite Place To Find Swipes

I recently came across Swiped.co which is probably the most useful resource I've found in quite some time.

There are hundreds of swipes across various niches, in every format imaginable from ads, to emails, to landing pages, and more.

Click here to go to Swiped.co.

How To Build A Swipe File

This is more of a personal preference.

I'm not going to go into anything technical here because it's pretty straightforward; however, here are a few ideas:

Evernote. Evernote seems like the “go-to” place to store swipe files; however, it's not for me.
Pinterest. Some people make secret boards and pin their swipes there.
Save the swipes in folders on your computer. This is what I do. Technically they're all in Google Drive and I just copy and paste the swipes into Google Docs. Simple and it works.

The point is, use what you're comfortable with.

How To Use Swipes

So what? You have a bunch of swipes … that's cool. But, how do you use them for inspiration, perspective, and direction?

I'm about to show you!

Formula Extraction

The idea is to take a swipe, examine its structure, and “extract” its formula.

By using the formula you'll be able to format the swipe to suit your needs!

Facebook Ads

From Swiped.co

Formula (Text): Call-To-Action (CTA) + product/service for only $X
Formula (Picture): Compare how realistically affordable your product/service is
Formula (Description): Social proof, qualify lead

Longer Copy (Emails, Sales Pages, Direct Response)

With the longer swipes, your goal is to extract the story and format.

Do not go line by line, sentence by sentence trying to extract the formula of every sentence. That'll take entirely too much time and be counterproductive.

Example Email