There’s no need to be shy. You’re reading this because you’re worried your content, well, sucks. You get a few positive comments on your work, but you’ve noticed the results aren’t backing up those friendly comments. Great content drives traffic, is engaging, and sparks discussion in the comment section. Excellent copywriting doesn’t become popular right away, so if you just wrote a piece, you need a little patience. But, there are cases where your content just isn’t great.
Great Copywriting? Let’s Have a Reality Check
Great content can still go unnoticed. If your blog or website is relatively new, you’re not going to have the same following as a blog that has been around the block a few hundred times. Readership alone isn’t a great way to gauge how bad your content is.
Also, just because some people say they like your content doesn’t necessarily mean it’s great. Think of who is complimenting you. Are they family, friends, and coworkers? You’re not going to get an honest opinion from your close friends — after all, what kind of friend would say “hey, this sucks?”
There’s not a single clue that tells you your content sucks. To help you decide if your copywriting is lacking, we’ve compiled a list of 23 ways to tell if your content needs a re-do.
1. You Yourself Don’t Give Your Content High Scores
Ask yourself what you really think of your own content. Be honest here. On a grade of A (for awesome) and F (for bad), what would you give? If you can’t give your own content an A, then it is probably a good indicator you’re not doing what you should be.
2. You Don’t Have Any Comments
Let’s face it: people read and comment on stuff that is great, and they skip right over the stuff that sucks. If you don’t have any comments or just a fine trickle here and there, you’re visitors are telling you something. If you have a new blog you probably won’t have hundreds of comments, but if you have a lot of subscribers and no one is saying “boo,” there you go.
3. You’re Not Really Targeting Your Readers
If you aren’t addressing your reader’s issues, problems, or frustrations, it’s unlikely you’ll have a high engagement level on your blog. These days, readers want it all about them – and one of the most useful practices for good copywriting is to create content that actually targets them. What are your readers looking to solve? What problems do your readers face? Think about the issue from your reader’s perspective next time you write, and you might boost how many comments you get.
4. You Only Post the Good Stuff for Paid Accounts
There are some sites that only give the good stuff to their paid accounts, but how on earth do they expect people to buy a subscription if there is nothing but crap to preview? It’s true. If you want people to pay, you need to show off what they’re going to find in a paid account. Give them some good reads for free as a preview of what more is to come if they pay.
5. You’re Negative
No one wants to read a downer. If you have lame excuses, “poor me” styled posts, or you’re just down right moaning all the time, no one wants to read much further. You need a positive spin and something that is uplifting to your readers.
6. You’re Throwing Out Journal Entries Instead of Blog Posts
You might not start your posts out with “Dear Diary,” but your content and blog posts read like a journal entry. Yes, back in the day that is what blogs were for, but today blogs and websites serve a purpose and read like magazines. Take a look at what you’re writing about. If you’re blabbing on about your dog, the weather, etc. you have a problem that needs serious fixing.
7. The Average Visitor Bails Fast
Websites should have Google Analytics installed — if you don’t it’s time to get on that. See how long your average visitor sticks around. If they bail less than two minutes into their visit, it’s obvious your content isn’t holding their interest. SearchEngineWatch.com has an interesting post about how reports in Google Analytics can give you more insight.
8. You Spend 30 Minutes or Less Creating Your Work
Most of the best copywriters write their pieces by taking no less than 30 minutes for short pieces and anywhere from two to eight hours on longer pieces. Copywriting is a work of art — not a short essay assignment. The more time you spend on your content, the more appreciated it will be by your readers.
9. You Have Very Few Followers
Popular people get all the love. If you have no followers and haven’t ever received a “hey your site is awesome” message, then you have definitely got a copywriting issue. When your copywriting does it all, people will be compelled to tell you how great it is.
10. You Don’t Have Any Haters
Great content gets those people who dislike the content too. They aren’t saying you suck; instead, they want to argue with a point you’ve made and start a debate. Haters who mock and disagree are a sign you’ve written something great just as much as fans are.
11. You’re a Keyword Junkie
There’s no better way to write horrible copy than stuffing it with every keyword imaginable. If you are focusing on keywords or basing your posts around keywords, you’re tainting the quality of your work. Focus on real, high-quality posts — not keywords. Read more about the SEO trends for 2014 in this article by Entrepreneur. You’d be surprised how little focus there is on keywords these days.
12. You Care Too Much About SEO
If you think SEO is the way to create a popular site or blog, think again. SEO doesn’t make your site popular — it just helps people find it. But what is the point of a person finding your site only to bounce right off of it because it’s awful? You need awesome content before you can worry about how many people are coming to see it.
13. You Are a Repeat Offender
Do you repeat yourself in your copy? Do you cover the same points over and over until you’re blue in the face? If so, you’ve got some bad copy. Great copywriting doesn’t need to repeat. Sure you can throw a conclusion or recap at the end, but you don’t need to repeat and repeat throughout the content.
14. Your Copy is Ridiculously Long…And Boring
Hey, long content can be great, so we aren’t saying all long content sucks. We are, however, saying that long, boring content definitely sucks. If you are going to make it long, make it compelling and something people don’t mind reading. Google is putting more emphasis on longer copy, but that doesn’t mean you need to slap up text written by a drone and bore your readers to death.
15. You’ve Put Your Best Ideas on the Back Burner
You have tons of great ideas, but they’re on the to-do list. Instead you’re filling your pages with boring, useless content just to fill the pages. Never, and we mean never, use content as a “filler.” Every piece of content you publish needs to be engaging, unique and high quality. Period.
16. You’re All Over the Map
If you’re covering topics regarding food, the local news, and back to finance, you’ve got a serious problem. Effective copywriting is consistent. No one wants a site they can’t pin down. If readers don’t know what you focus on, they won’t really have a reason to come back for more. Pick a single niche and write within it. If you want to cover other niches, start separate sites for those.
17. You Offer Zero Benefits to Readers
We’ve already mentioned that readers want it all about them, but great copywriting takes it a step further. The best copy offers benefit after benefit to the readers. Ask yourself what a reader would get for following your site. What would they gain over the hundreds of other sites out there? If you can’t answer that question, stop writing and don’t start again until you can.
18. You Wrote in the Third Person
The most compelling copywriting really speaks to the reader, and you can’t speak to the reader in the third person. Third person isn’t relatable. What is relatable is when the reader feels as though you are right there talking in person by using the “you” “your” and even first person language. If your copywriting is in the third person, revamp it and make it more personable.
19. You Don’t Proofread Your Work
Like we said before, great copywriting takes some time. If you wrote your stuff in 15 minutes, you probably didn’t proofread it either. Grammar and spelling errors are really hard on a person’s concentration. Read through your work before you post it or have someone else read it. Get rid of those silly mistakes that make your content subpar.
20. You’re a Techy — And It Shows
Hey, we love techies. You guys are super smart, and we have nothing against you. But, when it comes to writing, people with more technical backgrounds have difficulty breaking old habits. Technology backgrounds train you to be detached, objective and even passive in your language. You’re not stuck with this forever though. If you can break free and just write naturally, your content will see significant improvement.
21. You Skipped Over Copywriting 101
If you haven’t learned the basics about copywriting, how do you expect to write awesome copy? Just saying. In Copywriting 101 you learn the basics about headlines, things to do, not to do, etc. These are very basic principles, but for first-timers, these aren’t something you would readily know. We’ve written about the 5 Commandments of Copywriting, and perhaps you should familiarize yourself with those before writing anything else.
22. You Don’t Beat Up Your Readers
No, we aren’t meaning you should go punch a reader in the face physically — do it with your copywriting! People need a punch, something that catches their attention and makes them compelled to act further. People shouldn’t have time to think and rationalize; they will want to act right away because of what you just said.
23. You Have a Wall of Text and No Pretties
Great copywriting isn’t just the text. It’s also about how you break up the text for reading. If readers have nothing but a wall of text, they aren’t going to stick around long. Use some photos, videos, something! Make it visually appealing and easy to read. Smaller sections, lists, and items also make it a lot more appealing. When people know they can take breaks and not miss anything, it’s a good thing.
A Few Tips for Success
You now know what makes your copywriting suck. You might be an offender of all of these or just one or two. But it’s time to fix your copy so you’re not longer that guy or gal. A few things to remember:
- Don’t focus solely on keywords. Instead focus on compelling, high-quality content and let the keywords flow naturally. If you can’t do that, forgo the keywords altogether. Trust us, Google cares more about the quality than keywords.
- Be critical of yourself in a good way. You can’t be so sensitive about your copywriting. If it sucks, it sucks, but you can fix it. Have an open mind when reviewing your content and see where you can improve. If you’re not sure, ask for a second opinion.
- Learn the basics about copywriting. You honestly can’t write great content if you don’t know what great content is.
- Enlist the help of an expert if you’re out of your league. Not everyone can write compelling content and that is okay. Sometimes you need the help of someone who has been doing it for a while and knows how to “wow” the readers.