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Copywriting is one of those skills that’s as much of an art as it is a
The problem is that while it’s easy to write within a flexible framework, it can also
Fortunately, writing copy isn’t hard as long as you follow a few guiding principles, and keep
This being the case, here’s a look at five reasons your copywriting might suck, and how
Sales copy is the story of how the reader improves their lives through purchasing your product or
In the case of story-style copy, the “main character” is meant to be a stand-in for the
If the reader can’t relate to this character, then the copy probably won’t convert
In instances in which the copy is written as if coming directly from an expert on the
Many writers forget this and spend too much time building up the speaker as an expert with
Another common mistake in the same vein is focusing too much on the product or service
This may sound counterintuitive, but as we just went over, the reader doesn’t care about the
Copywriters can screw this up by focusing too heavily on the features rather than explaining the benefits
All you need to do is put yourself in the shoes of the reader, and double down
Remember, sales copy is a story about the journey of the reader and how they overcome their
Interestingly enough, this also applies to copywriting for charities
Don’t get so caught up with tugging on the reader’s heartstrings that you forget that
Making the reader feel guilty for not contributing to the charity works in some cases too
If you’re not confident in using this technique, then you should probably stay away from it
When it comes to branding, a company should focus on “who” they are, not “what
” This mindset should carry over to their copywriting as well
This problem can even manifest itself in story-based copy as well
Real people have personalities, they’re not just cover identities for a piece of copy
If you forget this when you’re writing, then your copy won’t be believable because your
You must have an in-depth understanding of the brand you’re writing for, and the demographic that’
This will give you a good idea of what’s working, and what their demographic will respond
You wouldn’t be able to make it in this business if you weren’t
Even so, a writer proofreading their own work is just one small step above not proofreading at
The reason for this is that when you proofread your writing, your brain tends to skip ahead
This can damage your credibility, cause fewer clients to rehire you, and negatively impact the number of
This means that in a best-case scenario you should be hiring a professional proofreader/editor to go
Naturally, it helps if this person is knowledgeable about copywriting and isn’t just a generalist
The downside is that hiring a proofreader/editor is expensive
There are tons of these programs out there, and some of them are even free
Just remember that even grammar checkers can miss things, so don’t let your guard down, and
If your sales copy doesn’t have a call to action, then you shouldn’t have even
Your goal as a copywriter is to get the reader to take action, and if you don’
Blog posts are particularly guilty of this, ending either with the author’s bio, or nothing at
Even if the ad’s main purpose is branding, there’s no reason not to have a
This is especially true now that smartphones are so common, making it easy to get your audience
Every part of a sales funnel should lead the reader/viewer to the next step until they
You don’t want people having to jump through a bunch of hoops just to do business
The most basic form of CTA follows the “Do [something easy], get [something amazing]” formula
A generic example of this would be: “Click Here to Get Your 50% Discount Now!”
In any case, just tell the reader what to do, what they get for doing it, and
This is because focusing too heavily on keywords and the keyword count can make your writing feel
In most cases having a sales letter or landing page rank in the search engines doesn’t
There are exceptions of course, but most of the time it’s putting the cart before the
In a worst-case scenario, having a sales page rank high in the search engines can skew your
And of course, there’s no guarantee that the new copy will perform any better
If you’re writing a sales letter, landing page, squeeze page, product description page, about page, or
If your client won’t listen, you can just grit your teeth and do it anyway if
The easiest way to get better at copywriting is to just keep writing
That said, you need to have a decent understanding of what makes good copy, otherwise, you’ll
This can apply to both your clients and copywriting “experts” out there who review your work
If you were to have 10 different people review a piece of copy you wrote, you’d likely
The only real measure of a piece of copy’s worth is how well it converts
This will give you an objective and unbiased account of what’s working, and what isn’t
As long as you stick with copywriting and don’t give up, it will reward you
In the hyper-consumerist society that we live in, creative copywriters will always be in demand, and will