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Copywriting Tips - Know the Product, Make Sales

June 10th, 2008    Subscribe To Our Feed

You’ve read dozens of copywriting tips. Your brain’s crammed with the importance of the headline, the sub-head, the call to action… but hear this. Unless you know the product, none of the nuts and bolts of writing copy matter.

Copywriting is sales, so copywriting is selling. You must know what you’re selling, intimately.

Because of this, you may occasionally find yourself refusing perfectly good copywriting jobs, when research - discovering the product - will either take too long, or will bore you senseless.

For example, I’m quite at home writing copy about construction equipment and concrete rebar, but I’ve refused jobs writing about electrical conduit. Horses for courses. Only you know what you can write about with authority and confidence.

Although confidence comes with practice, you do need some enthusiasm for your product. Enthusiasm comes as you familiarize yourself with the product (or services or business) that you’re writing about.

1. Get to know the product. Day dream about how you would use the product

Good research is the foundation of good copywriting. If you don’t know anything about the product, you can’t write about it. So get to know the product. Imagine who would use it. Imagine yourself in the shoes of the users.

2. Get as much information as you can

Often your client will be terse in your brief (the description of the copywriting job.) I once write a four-page full-color brochure about dog treats after receiving a faxed brief with exactly four lines.

In the dog treats brief, I couldn’t even talk to the client, since I was sub-contracting for an agency. However, I did manage to talk to pet shop owners, and some friends who own kennels, and this got me the information I needed.

If you’re working for the client directly, getting information becomes easier, although you’ll be amazed at how many of your clients can sell a product for years, and yet not be able to communicate the benefits; this is why they hire you.

3. Got questions? Get answers

So even after talking to the client, you’ll have lots of questions about the product. Sometimes you can find answers to the questions online, in forums. You may read newspaper articles about the product, and if so, journalists will often be able to help you with more information.

If you’re working for a large company with a PR agency, then turn your questions over to the flack. She’ll be able to set up interviews with people in the company who can help you.

4. The magical “click”

There’s no particular rule which tells you you have enough information to start writing the copy. I wait for what I call the “click” - where suddenly I’m bubbling with ideas for the copy and can’t wait to write about it. Sometimes the click happens within hours, occasionally the click can take a week to arrive.

So remember - get to know your product. Once you do, writing the copy is a breeze.

Want copywriting instruction? Angela Booth’s “Copywriting Master Class - Ten Weeks to Copywriting Genius” teaches you copywriting secrets of the masters.

Angela Booth’s ebook “Seven Days To Easy Money: Copywriting Success” takes you from novice to pro copywriter in just seven days. You could be signing up your first clients within two days.

Become a copywriter and get paid to write

Did you know that most business people struggle with their writing? It’s true. If you enjoy writing and find it easy, you can write for money, for business. In short, you can become a copywriter.

Copywriting is writing for business: promotional writing. Copywriters write material like advertisements and compared to most writers, they’re VERY highly paid.

The explosion of the influence of the Web means that copywriters are flooded with offers of work. Even new copywriters find it easy to get copywriting gigs and to build their copywriting services business.

If copywriting intrigues you, join me in my Copywriting Master Class. I’ll take you from copywriting novice to pro.

“Copywriting Master Class - Ten Weeks to Copywriting Genius” gives you a comprehensive copywriting course, as it helps you to set up your copywriting services business.

Copywriting - Clarity is King

April 9th, 2008    Subscribe To Our Feed

Copywriting is salesmanship in print, and if you can write a clear email message which gets the results you want, you can write copy which sells.

There’s only one thing you need to remember about writing copy, and it’s this: if people can’t understand your copy, they won’t respond.

In this article let’s look at five simple tips in which will help you to improve all your copy, by improving its clarity.

1. Have someone else read your copy

After you’ve finished creating the copy, have someone else read it. Often what’s on the page is not what you meant.

Just ask the reader: “do you understand this?”

Then ask him to tell you the copy’s message is in a simple sentence.

If he can do that, you know your copy is clear and easy to understand.

If you find that your audience hasn’t understood the copy, you can use a similar process to rewrite it. Just write, in a simple sentence, exactly what you want your customer to do. Keep that sentence in front of you as you rewrite the copy.

2. Eliminate jargon

“Jargon” is vocabulary which is particular to an industry, and is not in common usage. All industries have jargon, but you should avoid using jargon in your copy.

There is a simple reason for this. Jargon is sometimes used to deliberately mislead, and this makes many people inherently suspicious of advertising which contains jargon.

3. Eliminate $100 words

Use a simple words. Simple words are easy to understand. Don’t use “$100″ words. $100 words are those which very few people understand. Remove them and use simpler words.

The reason you should use words which are as short and simple as possible is that most people aren’t paying attention when they’re reading your advertising message. They’re just glancing at it. If they can understand your message when they’re thinking of other things as well, you have a greater chance that they will pause and will read the copy with more attention.

Using simple words is even more important if you’re writing audiovisual copy. When you’re writing for a DVD, a speech, or for a short video on YouTube, use short simple words.

4. Plan it before you write it

Plan your copy before you write it. If you plan, not only is your copy easier to write, but it also ensures that no essential parts of the copy go missing. You’d be amazed at how often phone numbers and addresses and other vital information are left out of copy.

5. Deliver offers which have punch

After the headline, the most important part of your copy is the offer.

Since you’ve taken so much time over the copy all your hard work is wasted if the offer isn’t good enough. Make your offer extraordinary. The best copy in the world can’t sell if the offer is not good enough.

So there you have five tips which will help you to improve your copy by making it clearer. Implement these tips and you will see your conversion rates go up.

Get Copywriting Clients In Seven Days

You can earn $250 an hour as an in-demand copywriter…

My ebook/ course “Seven Days To Easy Money: Copywriting Success” has been taking the mystery out of copywriting for new copywriters for five years.

I love it when writers call me and say “I got a client!” or “I’m booked solid for three months” – I expect that, so it’s very satisfying.

The fact is – if you can write copy, you can write your own ticket. You WILL get clients, you WILL make as much money as you want to make. Copywriting is a necessity for every business. In just a week, your life can change.

“Seven Days To Easy Money: Copywriting Success” is your key a great lifestyle and security for you and your family - start building a wonderful, exciting career today.

Copywriting - Five Tips to Get Organized for Top Results

April 1st, 2008    Subscribe To Our Feed

If you’re a new copywriting, one of your primary copywriting challenges will be getting organized, so you can complete your commissioned projects and exceed your clients’ expectations. Let’s look at how you can do this.

One of the benefits of organizing and streamlining your copywriting workflow is that you’ll gain confidence once you know exactly what you’re doing, and have created a workflow. You’ll know that you’ve covered all the bases. And you’ll eliminate procrastination too.

1. Understand the brief

All copywriting projects start with a brief: your client describes his needs. Very few clients know how to do this, so you have to help them with a questionnaire.

Create a template for your questionnaire, or present it as a form on your Web site. This means that you simply direct clients to fill in the form.

2. Research - the audience and benefits

Once you have the brief, your next step is research. The more you know about the product you’re writing copy for, the better. Ideally you’ll have personal experience with the product. I’ve gone on field trips to housing development companies’ estates, to factories, and to laboratories in the name of research, and you should too.

3. Use the product if you can

Can you use the product? If you’re writing a sales page or Web site for piece of software, you can. If you’re writing a direct response package for a realtor, you can visit the houses he’s selling.

Sometimes you can’t “kick” or test-drive the product, so you’ll need to talk to customers or users.

4. Talk to users

It’s vital you talk to users if you can. If you’re writing as a sub-contractor for an agency, they may be protective of the client and try to fob you off. Insist.

If the agency still baulks, decline the project - you can’t write copy when you don’t know the product. Usually the threat that you’ll leave the project is enough, and the agency will come to its senses.

5. Write in drafts

Finally, write in drafts. It’s possible to sit in your chair, and type your way through a project from go to whoa, but it’s not recommended. If you have no choice because the deadline is tight, ship the first draft to the client pronto, then work on the second draft while the client gets around to looking at your preliminary draft.

So there you have a copywriting workflow - you’ll be much more relaxed when you’re organized, and will be able to focus on the writing with confidence.

If you find writing easy, you become a copywriter and write for money…

Did you know that most business people struggle with their writing? It’s true. If you enjoy writing and find it easy, you can write for money, for business. In short, you can become a copywriter.

Copywriting is writing for business: promotional writing. Copywriters write material like advertisements and compared to most writers, they’re VERY highly paid.

The explosion of the influence of the Web means that copywriters are flooded with offers of work. Even new copywriters find it easy to get copywriting gigs and to build their copywriting services business.

If copywriting intrigues you, join me in my Copywriting Master Class. I’ll take you from copywriting novice to pro.

“Copywriting Master Class - Ten Weeks to Copywriting Genius” gives you a comprehensive copywriting course, as it helps you to set up your copywriting services business.

Get Copywriting Clients In Seven Days

You can earn $250 an hour as an in-demand copywriter…

My ebook/ course “Seven Days To Easy Money: Copywriting Success” has been taking the mystery out of copywriting for new copywriters for five years.

I love it when writers call me and say “I got a client!” or “I’m booked solid for three months” – I expect that, so it’s very satisfying.

The fact is – if you can write copy, you can write your own ticket. You WILL get clients, you WILL make as much money as you want to make. Copywriting is a necessity for every business. In just a week, your life can change.

“Seven Days To Easy Money: Copywriting Success” is your key a great lifestyle and security for you and your family - start building a wonderful, exciting career today.

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Copyright © 2008 Seven Days To Easy-Money: Copywriting Success

Credits: Seven Days To Easy Money: Copywriting Success | Matteo Turchetto | Andreas Viklund