guide to copywriting

Everything in life or work has rules attached. Copywriting is no exception. Make no mistake: This is not an instance where breaking the rules will lead to better results. Rule-breaking may work if you’re writing a novel or creating fiction, sure. In stark contrast, copywriting is all about speaking to specific audiences and moving them to act. There are tried and tested ways to do this. In other words, don’t try to reinvent the copywriting wheel. There’s a right way and a wrong way to write copy. Following these simple copywriting rules will ensure your words have a fighting chance to make an impact on the audience you’re targeting. [bctt tweet=”‘There’s a right way and a wrong way to write copy. Follow these simple copywriting rules to ensure your words make an impact on your audience!’ – @JuliaEMcCoy on #copywritingrules” username=”ExpWriters”] 5 Copywriting Rules You Should Never Forget Ready to learn the “write” stuff and create copy that gets results? These 5 copywriting rules are ones you should always remember: Copywriting Rule #1: Simplify In the world of copywriting, complicated is NOT better. Your goal always should be to communicate ideas and information in the clearest way possible. You want every single person who reads your copy to understand it perfectly. That means you need to simplify as much as possible. Write concisely and avoid redundancy. This example from Michele DeLima shows what I mean. The first version of copy is full of fluff – unnecessary words that add nothing to what she’s trying to say. When she omits the fluff, we get down to the meat of that first loaded paragraph: Michele was able to cut the first paragraph down from 50 words to 9 and say the exact same thing. While doing your initial editing passes for your copy, look for nonessential words and phrases that pad your writing. Then, cut them ruthlessly. Here’s the nonessential stuff from the above example. I’ve highlighted them so you can see exactly what was cut to get to the final, clean and simple version. [bctt tweet=”Copywriting Rule #1: Write concisely and avoid redundancy. Read more about @JuliaEMcCoy’s top 5 #copywritingrules” username=”ExpWriters”] Copywriting Rule #2: Spend as Much Time on the Headings as the Body Copy This next copywriting rule is not just referring to the H1 (also known as the title or headline). It also alludes to your humble H2s, H3s, and even your H4s – the subheadings. Yes, technically the latter is less important. However, that’s just from an organizational standpoint. The H1 conveys the overall main idea or takeaway, while the lesser subheadings sum up the major ideas that contribute to the overall main idea. From a copywriting standpoint, though, ALL of the headings in a piece need to be creatively and intelligently constructed. They need to grab the eye, inform, and sum up the content for a scanning reader. They need just as much care and attention as the body copy. If instead, you dash them out carelessly or neglect to include some subheadings, your entire content piece will suffer. It will be flatter, less interesting, harder to scan, and more difficult to understand. For inspiration on making ALL of your headings interesting, creative, and engaging, look at this blog post by Brian Dean of Backlinko: Not just the H1 is compelling – each and every subheading draws your eye, makes you think, and effectively outlines the piece. Even your sub-subheads should get this kind of attention if you truly want to create a winning content piece. [bctt tweet=”Copywriting Rule #2: ALL of the headings in a piece need to be creatively and intelligently constructed. Read more about @JuliaEMcCoy’s top 5 #copywritingrules” username=”ExpWriters”] Copywriting Rule #3: Focus on Benefits, Not Features Think of this next copywriting rule as the Golden Rule of online copy. Drill it into your head and practice it everywhere you possibly can. Benefits over features. To see what I’m talking about, look at Evernote’s homepage. Here, you’re presented with the benefits of using Evernote straight out of the gate: Evernote will help you feel organized without any effort. Evernote will help you record all your ideas, projects, and to-do lists wherever you are, so you don’t miss a thing. The focus, as you’ll notice, is on YOU – not Evernote. If Evernote instead focused on features, this page would look very different. Let’s imagine that for a second. It might read like this: Evernote has organizational features like Notebooks and tagging. Evernote has both desktop and mobile apps. Features are great, but they aren’t personal. They don’t relate this product to your life. That’s exactly what makes features forgettable. Here are the differences between features vs. benefits spelled out in black-and-white: Benefits show you how a product or service will benefit your life – A.K.A. make it better. Benefits are personal and memorable. Features tell you what a product or service can do (without reference to what it can do for you). That’s it. To sum up, when you stay benefits-focused, you stay focused on your audience’s human needs. You tell them how your product or service fulfills those needs. You relate it to them and make it personal. Of course, when your copy is personal to your readers, it’s more compelling – and that’s the entire point. [bctt tweet=”Copywriting Rule #3: Focus on benefits, not features. Read more about @JuliaEMcCoy’s top 5 #copywritingrules” username=”ExpWriters”] Copywriting Rule #4: Don’t Write AT Your Audience – Write TO Them What’s the difference between writing at someone and writing to them? Hint: It ties into copywriting rule #3, above. Still stumped? Here’s the answer: One is impersonal and cold. The other is personal, warm, and engaging. Writing at your audience is similar to the way flight attendants go over the safety guidelines at the beginning of every flight. They aren’t really talking TO you or engaging with you; they’re talking AT you. They’re presenting information – nothing more, nothing less. In contrast, think of writing to … Read more