Copywriting

The geeks have done their part for social media. Now it’s time for the writers.

by

social media writing toolboxWhat do I mean by this?

Let me explain with a story from 1998.That was the year I began to work full-time as an online writer and copywriter.

By that time hundreds of thousands of companies had already launched websites. Generally, they looked reasonably good and worked reasonably well. But the writing was not so good. What many of them did was simply cut and paste text from their old print materials.

They didn’t understand that writing for the web was different. And that was the message I shared with my audience and my clients.

The developers and designers had done their part. But to make websites achieve their potential, these companies needed good writers who understood the medium.

Read the full post…

When to use your copywriting skills, and when not to.

by

copywriter as magicianI receive a lot of email from all kinds of people, including freelance copywriters.

Some are saying hi, some are asking questions, and some want me to do something.

I have no problem receiving the emails. I like to keep in touch with other writers. But I do have a tip for anyone writing to me by email.

When you send me an email, don’t “copywrite” at me.

In other words, don’t use your copywriting skills to try to persuade me to read something or do something.

Strange as it might seem, I can recognize when I’m being “copywritten” at from 50 paces. And I can hit that delete button in about 50 microseconds.

Why is it wrong to use your copywriting skills when writing to an individual by email? Because the context is wrong.

Read the full post…

Web writers: For every great performance, you need to rehearse.

by

web writing practiceWhen you watch a live performance of your favorite play in a theater, you are looking at a performance that has been preceded by weeks or months of rehearsals.

And those rehearsals take place without costumes, without scenery and without the pressure of an audience watching.

The rehearsals allow the actors to get things right, outside of the public eye. There are fewer constraints. There are no downsides to making mistakes, missing lines, and so on. No pressure.

OK. Now let’s consider how we go about writing interior pages on websites.

As an example, let’s assume we are working on the rewrite of an insurance company website. The company offers home insurance, auto insurance, commercial insurance and farm insurance. Each of these areas has an interior page of its own.

Read the full post…

To write a great homepage, try the “no-body-copy” test.

by

write homepage

First things first. This test and approach applies to static home pages for sites that sell stuff — products, services and subscriptions etc. It does not apply to publishers, blogs or websites which have a blog on the home page.

With that out of the way, let’s begin.

When working with clients on their home pages I will often suggest the following:

“Let’s take a screenshot of the first screen of your homepage, erase all the body text, and then see how much of your core message survives.”

To put it another way, I want to see how much of the site’s message survives if people read only the headlines, subheads and text links.

What’s the point?

Because that’s how first-time visitors actually behave when they arrive on your homepage for the first time.

Read the full post…

Monday Spark: Seek out the best, and then remix [VIDEO]

by

dylan creative remix

In the early stages of their careers many freelancers try to totally reinvent the wheel when it comes to building their websites or doing their next project for a client.

It doesn’t have to be that hard.

When it comes to writing and designing your own website, why not print out the home pages of the 5 best freelance websites you can find, and then make yours a remix of the best of the best?

If you are writing a sales page for a client, why not find some really good sales pages for similar products or services, take the best from them, and then remix?

Read the full post…

To close more sales, flatter your readers.

by

better golfer celebratingYou’re a good online copywriter. You do good work, and your skills are growing with each passing month.

Judging from other copywriters’ websites, you’re probably way above average when it comes to your craft. Ramp up your skills a little more, and you’ll rise up the ranks even further.

Yes, flattery will get me everywhere.

Actually, it really will.

In a classic psychology test, a group of drivers were asked if they believed their driving skills were above average.

90% said yes.

Something is not quite right there, because mathematically you can’t have more than 50% of drivers having better than average skills.

Read the full post…