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5 Keys to Copywriting for Site Visitors and Search Engines
When it comes to writing your Web site copy, you must balance the needs of your target audience with search engine optimization. Here are the 5 keys to help you succeed with both site visitors and search engines. 1. Comprehension and Attention...
5 Secrets of Successful Copywriting
5 Secrets of Successful Copywriting © 2004 David Garfinkel Would you like your sales to go through the roof? Of course you would. Who wouldn't? I have found five secret "keys" that dramatically improve the money-making ability of just about ANY...
Does Your Copywriting Trigger What Makes Your Visitors Buy?
You study your website stats and see the amount of traffic coming through. Nice numbers. But when you compare your traffic against your sales, what do you get? A small fraction of 1%? Wouldn't you love to see those conversions grow? But how can you...
How To Find Freelance Jobs - Writing About Food
Did you know that jobs writing about food are available? These opportunities are available in a variety of areas. Employment in these fields is an exciting concept. For many, getting their foot in the door is the most important and most...
One Simple Idea
Right now, no matter what time of the day or night you are
reading this, someone's website is making money -a lot of money-
using one simple idea.
It's an idea you should be using to increase the profitability
of not only your...
The No. 1 Ecommerce Solution Tip For You
The number one ecommerce solution you need to be a success on the Web is learning to write for the internet. You will be able to capture your visitors attention and hold it, otherwise it's click and off to another site.
You need to be able to put...
The Story: The Most Powerful Marketing Tool on the Planet
The Story: The Most Powerful Marketing Tool On the Planet
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What's the most memorable novel you're read in the past year?
Saturday, by Ian McEwan? Mary, Mary, by James...
What is Advertising - and What Does it Mean on the Internet?
Today’s Quick Tip answers the question “What is advertising?” “Advertising is salesmanship. The only purpose of advertising is to make sales. It is profitable or unprofitable according to its actual sales.” - Claude Hopkins, one of the early...
What SEO Copywriting Is... and Isn't
© 2005 http://www.marketingwords.com
I've been frustrated lately. It seems people just don't get it.
There's lots of talk about SEO copywriting these days, but
hardly any of it is on target. The majority of the
conversations, posts and...
What's So Different About Writing Web Copy?
To write persuasive web copy, it really is an advantage to know how to successfully write for off-line publications. Because Copywriting techniques that work off-line, also work equally well on-line! We have to make some changes of course to...
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A Copywriter Never Mumbles – and Other Principles of Effective Ad Copy
H.L. Mencken, the author, jounalist and social critic observed that most people "write badly because they cannot think clearly." And the reason they cannot think clearly, he went on, is that "they lack the brains."
Putting aside H.L.'s cricisim for the moment, let's assume that all copywriters have the "brains" and, more often than not, we are capable of clear thinking. It follows then, that we stand a very good chance of being able to write well. But clarity of thought is only step one. The following principles will help you move on from there, so that you can put down in writing exactly what you have in mind.
1. Don't mumble.
Advertising is most effective when it is easy to understand. (Take a look at any advertising effectiveness study.) In other words, you sell more stuff when you write copy that is clear.
Copy that speaks out commands attention; copy that mumbles doesn't. So once you've thought about what you want to say, come right out and say it. Don't mumble your message by being short on specifics or long-winded in your sentences. And don't use big words, cliches, jargon or borrowed interest.
Keep in mind E.B White's sobering advice: "When you say something, make sure you have said it. Your chances of having said it are only fair."
2. Get to the point.
Start selling with your very first sentence. Try to make it and every sentence that follows simple and declarative. Factual. And short. Short is powerful. Lincoln used only 266 words in his Gettysburg Address. And many believe that the shortest sentence in the New Testament – "Jesus wept." – is also the most moving.
3. Don't write like a nerd, a lawyer or a bureaucrat.
In his Simple and Direct, Jaques Barzun says, "The whole world will tell you, if you care to ask, that your words should be simple and direct. Everybody likes the other fellow's prose plain." Don't inflict technical jargon, pompous words or fancy phrases on your readers. Remember, you're trying to communicate with them, not impress them with your grasp of show-off fad words or vague abstractions. Why write "sub-optimal" when you mean "less than ideal?" Why write "interface" when it is more clear and direct to write "discuss, "meet," or "work with?" Why take the chance of annoying your reader by writing "net net" instead of "conclusion?"
4. Use short paragraphs,
short sentences and simple words.
The professional copywriter always practices this simple principle: Short sentences and short paragraphs are easier to read than long ones. And easier to understand. Rudolf Flesch, in The Art of Plain Talk, says that the best average sentence length is 14 to 16 words, 20 to 25 words is passable, but anything over 40 words is unreadable. So write in crisp, short, snappy sentences. A trick of the trade -- using sentence fragments -- can help keep your average sentence length to a respectable number of words. And add drama and rhythm to your copy.
Paragraphs should also be kept short. Long, unbroken blocks of text intimidate readers. If it looks hard to read, they probably won't read it.
As for short words, John Caples, the Hall of Fame copywriter said: "Even the best-educated people don't resent simple words. But they are the only words many people understand."
Plain writing in simple words simply communicates more effectively than writing with a lot of big words. Keep in mind that in Shakespeare's most memotrable sentence -- "To be or not to be?" -- the longest word is only three letters.
5. Write simply and naturally
People like to read simple, easy-to-understand writing. And the simplest, most easy-to-understand style is to write conversationally, the way you talk when you're at your best -- when your ideas are flowing smoothly, when your syntax is fluent and your vocabulary accurate. A simple test to check on your conversational tone is to imagine yourself speaking to your reader instead of writing. Are you expressing yourself clearly, or are you mumbling? Are you using only those words, phrases and sentences that you might actually say to your reader if you were face to-face? Or do you sound stiff and impersonal? If you wouldn't say it, why write it?
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©2003 Burek Group
About the Author
Walter Burek is an award-winning copywriter who learned his craft at some of the finest advertising agencies in the world and has been a writer and Creative Director on some of advertising’s most important accounts.
Currently, he offers freelance copywriting services through his company, walterburek.com.
Walter also writes, edits and publishes Words@Work, a free newsletter for marketing communications professionals.
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