Are you getting the most out of your copywriting?
The two key elements of successful copywriting
Writing to persuade your visitors is a necessary skill for anyone selling on the Web.
But the way we think and the things that will persuade our customers are two different things. You need to get past your usual way of writing and include the two key elements that all successful copywriting has.
The two key elements of successful copywriting
Those key elements are emotion and action. And they're the exact opposite of the process our minds go through when we write.
Why our writing misses these elements
When you sit down to write, your brains kicks into gear gathering and organizing all the details you want to include. Emotion and action get kicked right out. Your mind gloms onto those details and treats them as sacred. They must be covered at all costs!
And if that isn't enough to derail the writing process, you subconsciously revert to the way you wrote to get a good grade from your fourth-grade teacher, Mrs. Schmarkfelder.
Remember how that dear, old lady drummed into you that good writing had to be logical and objective?
Well, Mrs. Schmarkfelder didn't know beans about copywriting!
So you write as a slave to detail and objectivity. And what you write loses any hint of the emotion or action that makes a connection with your readers.
Persuasion does't happen in the head; it happens in the heart!
We won't add yet another set of rules to the intellectual process of writing. Go ahead and write to please Mrs. Schmarkfelder.
But don't use what you write on that first attempt.
Incorporating these elements into your copywriting
Set it aside for a while - long enough that those details that enslaved you lose their power over you so you can look at them with fresh eyes. Then come back and look for ways to rewrite it so it has emotion and action that connect with your customers.
When you sit down to write persuasive copy for your products, you can automatically assume that what comes out won't work in its original form. Applying your intellect to a style of writing that seeks to engage your readers' emotions and move them to action ends up doing neither.
So let it sit for a while. Once you've cleared your head of all the details and guidelines that raced around as your mind organized what you wrote, go back to it with fresh eyes.
10 things to improve
There are 10 things to look for after you finish writing to help you orient it toward the emotion and action that can persuade your visitors. We'll look at the first five in this newsletter and the rest in the next.
1. Does your writing show enthusiasm?
I don't mean the phony kind you see in hyped up copywriting peppered with exclamation points, "wows" and gushy language.
But does you writing convey a genuine enjoyment of the product you're writing about? Don't be afraid to be yourself. Despite what your fourth grade teacher said, good writing is NOT detached and intellectual.
The goal in good copywriting is to make how you feel about your product contagious. And there's nothing contagious about detachment unless you want them to feel indifference.
2. Does your writing use the terms your customers use?
Being professionally involved with our products, we can easily fall into using industry lingo instead of common terms.
Listen to hear what terms people use in everyday speech to talk about your products. Pay attention to the terms they use in their -mails to you. The more you can talk in their language, the better you can persuade them.
3. Does your writing use vivid and compelling words rather than generic ones?
The first words that come into our heads when we gather our thoughts usually are the most generic choices.
When you go back to rewrite, you have the chance to rethink your words and make them more specific. For example, why use the word "smooth" if the word "silky" is more specific.
The word "smooth" is too common to elicit any emotional response. "Silky," on the other hand - you can almost sense the luxurious feel. The more specific your words are, the more you engage your reader's emotions, which is exactly what persuasive writing is all about.
And that leads us into number 4.
4. Does your writing lead them into picturing themselves enjoying the benefits of your product?
Picture the relief they'll get from having their problem solved. Help them imagine the better life your product will provide.
Oh, but never ASK them to imagine the better life. Never say, "Just imagine that..." Asking them to IMAGINE puts them back into using their heads. That's not what you want at this point; you want to engage their emotions.
YOU paint the picture for them of how much they'll appreciate what your product will do. This is why top copywriters get paid big bucks.
But there's no reason you can't write good, compelling copy for your product. If you genuinely believe in your product and understand the problems your readers are trying to solve, you have the two main tools you need to engage your readers' emotions.
Most businesses end up settling for a fraction of the sales they could achieve because they try to convince their customers of the logical reasons to buy their product instead of getting them to connect emotionally with it.
The reality is, when customers buy, it's because they first made an emotional connection.
Giving them logical reasons to buy once they already have the emotional desire merely lets them rationalize the buying decision and make themselves feel that they are acting logically.
Write first to engage their emotions; then back up their emotional desire with logical reasons.
5. Does your writing seem genuine?
If you're trying to engage your readers' emotions, it's easy to go too far the other way and use artificial devices to try to simulate emotion.
You've seen the type of writing I'm talking about, writing that stuffs four "amazings" and "spectaculars" and "beautifuls" in every sentence.
People see that as artificial, as hype, and it actually makes them more skeptical of the product. Think of how you react to that kind of writing. You blow it off, don't you?
That kind of writing is actually the lazy person's attempt to accomplish numbers 3 and 4 above. Instead of finding specific nouns and verbs that engage the customers' emotions, they hope that putting in enough adjectives will generate excitement in the customer.
It doesn't work, though. Make sure your nouns and verbs do the heavy lifting. Use adjectives sparingly and only when they feel natural.
6. Use active verbs instead of passive ones
When we write, we usually slip into using passive verbs. The difference is emotionally significant.
Passive verbs feel more disconnected from the person doing the action. Active verbs feel more real.
For example, doesn't, 'you'll see this special offer as soon as you click the link' feel more real and immediate than, 'this special offer can be seen as soon as the link is clicked'?
The action connects to a real person instead of hanging indefinitely in space. And, as an added bonus, defining WHO does the action eliminates possible confusion that your reader may have.
Look for passive verbs when you read what you wrote and turn them into active verbs.
7. Don't use a noun when a verb will work better
Plenty of nouns in the English language are nothing more than dressed up verbs. This applies especially to many of the words that end in -sis or -tion.
Again, which sounds more real and immediate, to say, 'we analyze your problems and solve them' or to say, 'we conduct an analysis of your problems and provide a solution'?
The formality of the second option doesn't make an emotional connection with your reader. The direct and active approach of the first option does.
Look for these 'nounified' verbs when you reread what you wrote and turn them into verbs that give your copy a more direct and active feel.
8. Eliminate -ing words wherever you can
We often use -ing words when the regular verb is a stronger choice. -ing words combine the worst features of points 6 and 7: they give a more passive, indefinite feel to your copy, and they rob it of strong, vivid verbs in favor of weak helpers.
For example, which statement feels more definite, 'When you SHOP for door flanges, COME to us,' or, 'When you ARE SHOPPING for door flanges, CONSIDER COMING to us'?
Look for -ing verbs when you reread what you wrote and look for ways to turn your sentences into more definite ones.
9. Don't be afraid to invent a word for emotional impact
Now I don't want to you get carried away and cutesy with this one, but don't obsess over being grammatically perfect, either. Your goal is to connect with with your readers, not to impress them with your perfect grammar.
If the best way to communicate the feeling you want your reader to feel is to jar them with an unexpected, made-up word or a not-quite-proper sentence structure, don't be afraid to do it. Just make sure you do it for the right reason and not just to be cute.
10. Repeat key elements as often as necessary
In the same way, don't let the fact that you've already made an important point prevent you from repeating it as often as necessary to make sure your reader gets it.
Don't feel that because you told your reader some key point once that you dare not repeat it.
Have you ever noticed how sales pages for info products scatter order links all over the page? They want you to order and they remind you of that as many times as they can to make sure you get the point.
In the same way, make sure your readers get the key points you want them to get. Don't be afraid that you'll repeat yourself.
Paraphrase it. Scatter it throughout your copy. But don't let them read your copy without they getting your key point.
And if you do this well, you have no reason to fear that readers will find you repetitive. After all, did it feel like I repeated the same point seven times (in slightly different words) in the last seven paragraphs?
Use these guidelines as an aid, not as a law
Use these guidelines to help you write copy that is more vivid, more direct, more definite, and more effective.
None of these guidelines is absolute. For example, don't replace an -ing word with an awkward and artificial-sounding phrase just to get rid of it.
Use the guidelines instead to help you identify places where you potentially can improve what you wrote.
Your goal is to communicate, vividly, directly, effectively. Improve whatever you can and your readers will find more that leads them to do what you want them to do: connect emotionally with your product, and take action.
Helping you become the successful business owner you want to be.
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