Copywriting

Copywriting

Humans do the Buying

Inevitably, it will be human eyes that see your web page. For example, if my first six chapters had no good advice, you would not read chapter seven.

I am unaware of any automated buying-bots that surf the web just to buy things. (There are, however, automated clicking agents that defraud people, and the people who create them should be shot.)

Copywriting Books

How do you write for human eyes? I recommend investing in a copywriting book. Some of the books I have read are Net Words by Nick Usborne, The Online Copywriter’s Handbook by Bob Bly, and Persuasive Online Copywriting by Bryan Eisenberg. Of the three, I most highly recommend the third; Persuasive Online

Copywriting contains a ton of information packed into small convenient chapters, which works out well if you ever need to look at the information again.

Copywriting Bible

The above books are a great introduction to copywriting type books, but if you are looking for thorough copywriting and advertising advice, I could recommend no better book than Tested Advertising Methods by John Caples. It is like an encyclopedia of advertising knowledge from one of the world’s best copywriters. It is a bit dated and speaks primarily of print ads, but if you are primarily writing sales copy, this is a great book to read.

The above books will also enlighten you with coverage of subjects such as the sales process and different personality types.

Horrible Copywriting

We here at XYZ Corporation know what it means to be successful. In fact, sometimes we forget that at one point a long, long, long time ago we weren’t the premiere information distribution technology enhancement resource agency facilitator. Times have changed though, and we have transfused our corporate mission to account for the discrepancies in the post-modern publishing phenomenon. We are…us…greatest…best…us, us, us…selfish, etc.

Basics of Online Copywriting

•       Use varying style. Lose the corporate speak.

•       Be yourself.

•       Make it a conversation.

•       Make your point up front.

•       Don’t use jargon.

•       Use shorter text, or, as E.B. White would say, “omit needless words.”

•       Break up text using headers, sub headers, bulleted lists, and other text breaking devices.

•       Stress benefits before features (unless it is a tech-heavy product).