The 10 Rules to Copywriting
This is a summary of the Ebook ‘Copywriting 101 - How to Craft Compelling Copy’. Copywriting is the art of writing text for the purpose of advertising or other forms of marketing. This summary might help you write better copy. Ask your questions, thoughts and remarks in the comments below.
The 10 rules
Put the reader first. It is our job as copywriters to tap into the hopes, dreams, and fears of our audience. This requires research, and the magic of the word “you”. Copy that establishes trust, authority, builds relationships, and gets people talking, sharing, and buying is in high demand.
Keep it simple. Good copy is written in clear, concise, simple words that get your point across. It’s conversational.
The primary purpose of your headline is to get the first sentence read. The purpose of the first sentence is to get the second sentence read.
Stress benefits, not features. Use the forehead slap test to determine if your copy truly contains benefits. The exception to this rule is with business or highly technical people. In that case, features can do the trick as they need a solution or tool to solve their problem rather them want one. Emotion can backfire.
People - we - are not as logical as we’d like to think we are. Most of our decisions are based on deep-rooted emotional motivations, which we then justify with logical processes. So, first help the right brain create desire, then satisfy the left brain with features and hard data so that the wallet actually emerges.
What is your offer? In the lingo of direct-response copywriting, an offer is a call to action. For bloggers, desired actions include having a reader subscribe, bookmark you, make comments, respond to surveys, share your post on social networking sites, and utilize your information resources that double as sales tools. Start making offers if you want some action.
The copy needs to be as long as is needed. Whatever works. Or more precisely, as short as is needed. The higher the price or the more complex the product is, the longer the copy needs to be.
A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. This requires not that the writer make all his sentences short, or that he avoid all detail and treat his subjects only in outline, but that every word tell (William Strunk, 1918).
Don’t reinvent the wheel. Study and draw inspiration from great copy that works. Make use of ‘swipe files’, examples of great copywriting from the past.
Use social media as a place to listen. Seek first to understand, then to be understood.
> Headlines
The primary purpose of your headline is to get the first sentence read. The purpose of the first sentence is to get the second sentence read. The following is crucial for headlines:
- a strong, compelling headline is critical (commonly 8 words or less)
- immediately focusing on the benefit to the reader is crucial
- you must make a promise to the reader that you later fulfill, and
- you must back up everything you’ve said with very specific proof.
- Four U’s – Useful, Urgent, Unique, Ultra-Specific
Headlines can be categorized into eight categories:
- Direct headlines (Free SEO E-Book)
- Indirect headlines (use curiosity and double meaning) (Fresh bait works best)
- News Headline (My exclusive interview with…)
- How to headline
- Question headline (readers can empathize with or like to see answered) (Do you close the bathroom door even when you’re the only one home?)
- Command Headline
- Reason why headline (8 ways to build blog traffic)
- Testimonial headline (“I Read Copyblogger First Thing Each Morning,” admits Angelina Jolie.
> Structure and Types of Copy
- Work from an outline. Even something as simple as a post-it-note with a few bullet points works.
- Focus on the reader – make an important promise early on that tells the reader what’s in it for her. Never allow readers to question why they are bothering to pay attention.
- Each separate part of your narrative should have a main idea (something compelling) and a main purpose (to rile up the reader, to counter an opposing view, etc) that supports your bigger point and promise. Don’t digress, and don’t ramble. Stay laser focused.
- Be ultra-specific in your assertions, and always make sure to give “reasons why.” General statements that are unsupported by specific facts cause a reader’s BS detector to go on high alert.
- Demonstrate large amounts of credibility, using statistics, expert references and testimonials as appropriate. You must be authoritative – if you’re not an existing expert on a subject, you had better have done your research.
- After building your credibility and authority, make sure you get back to the most important person around – the reader. What’s STILL in it for him? Restate the hook and the promise that got readers engaged in the first place.
- Make an offer. Whether you’re selling a product or selling an idea, you’ve got to explicitly present it for acceptance by the reader. Be bold and firm when you present your offer, and relieve the reader’s risk of acceptance by standing behind what you say.
- Sum everything up, returning full circle to your original promise and demonstrate how you’ve fulfilled it.
- The following types of copy prescribe certain formulas you can adhere to:
1. Plain Copy (Google)
2. Storytelling Copy (everyone loves a good story and we like hearing about people, their trials and tribulations and how they conquered their challenges) (opening, conflict, dialogue, solution)
3. Conversational Copy (a dialogue with someone from your audience)
4. John Lennon Copy (imagine X or Y, a painless way to lose weight)
5. Long Copy (for complex products such as google ads)
6. Killer Poet Copy (combine style and beauty with the act of selling)
7. Direct-from-CEO Copy (argument of authority, Jeff Bezos letter)
8. Frank Copy (be honest, example is selling a near-broken car that needs love, when honest and transparent about product weakness the customer trusts you)
9. Superlative Copy (extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof)
10. Rejection Copy (Cartman approach, beautifulpeople.com dating site, potential rejection startles readers, they don’t want to be turned down)
> 7 Ways to write damn good Copy
1. Make em’ feel something - Strong emotions can be conveyed through words. When crafting compelling copy, you have to understand what keeps your potential reader up at night. You have to speak to a feeling that’s already there -- not try to force one on your reader. If you’re selling beer, you need to invoke memories of good times spent with friends over an ice-cold beverage.
2. Be wary of “selling” savings - Selling time is more effective than selling money (savings). Writing compelling copy helps you speak to what really matters to your buyer — and that’s their time, troubles, and objectives. Ultimately, time is a more scarce resource — once it’s gone, it’s gone — and therefore it’s more meaningful to us.
3. Sweat the small stuff - You must take the time to measure, improve, and track the success of your craft. Great writers today have no excuses for not testing their work, so take sure you’re sweating the small stuff, and keeping tabs on how it performs.
4. Embrace your devilish side - Instead of trying to paint a picture of an infallible offer, point out common concerns that customers may have — then assure them with facts and evidence that they have nothing to worry about. When you’re listening to a persuasive argument and you think to yourself: But will that address xxx ? … you’re much more likely to be persuaded if the speaker says something like: Many of you are probably worried about xxx right now. … because your concerns are put in the spotlight, instead of being ignored or swept under the rug.
5. Don’t rely on adjective alone - Use verbs. Verbs get in your face, and since your competitors will be fluffing up their copy with adjectives they found in a thesaurus, you can win people over by describing what you actually do.
6. Include “power” words - Smart copywriters know that there are certain persuasive words that hold more sway than others. The top 5 persuasive words are as follows: “You” (the name), Free, Because, Instantly, New.
7. Use transportation for persuasion - Use stories, and their building blocks: detailed imagery, suspense, metaphors and irony, modelling.
> 7 Ways to write damn bad Copy
1. Lyrical – too difficult words
2 Sentimental – write like a bouquet novel
3 Outlandish – write like a snake-oil salesman, good on short-term bad for long-term reputation
4 Humorous – humour is a minefield, unless you are certain a majority of your clients like it, do not use it
5 Short – avoid too short copy that does not convey a message
6 Clever – “clever” advertisements are confusing
7 Advertorial – an advertisement dressed up as a piece of news. It is now overused