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10 Things to Expect from Your SEO Copywriter
From the perspective of a business owner, webmaster, or marketing manager, the change exhibited by the Internet is profoundly exciting, yet profoundly disturbing. The information (and misinformation and disinformation) it offers, the...
The $12,500 Copywriting Formula
Have you heard of Brian Keith Voiles? Probably not, but if you have eyes you've seen his ad campaigns and you probably even bought products that he created ad campaigns for. Would you like to have the formula he gets paid $12,500 to put into use...
Three ways journaling can boost your creativity and your business
I have a friend who has struggled with her creativity for a long time. She's extremely uncomfortable thinking of herself as "creative." We've been working together on it, and making progress. One of the tools that's really helped her has been...
What is Your Unique Selling Proposition? You're Leaving Money on the Table if You Don't Have One...
If you've done any freelance work in marketing, you may be familiar with the phrase "unique selling proposition" (commonly known as the "USP").
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Wild Bill's Top 30 Copy Writing Principles!
1. The Right Product for the Right Target Group: Make sure that you are promoting a product that is useful and/or desirable to the audience you are targeting. 2. Use Attention Getting Headlines: You web site will have or should have much...
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Use Grammar as a Marketing Weapon
If you're like me, you're not writing that ad, Web page, or
radio script to make your English teacher proud. You're writing
to sell.
If you get an "A" while you're at it, great. But don't count on
it. To get prospects to click, call, or buy, you'll need to take
some liberties with the English language.
As direct-response legend Herschell Gordon Lewis so aptly said,
"Grammar is our weapon, not our god."
Although copywriting requires a different approach than Strunk
and White would advocate, don't burn your grammar books just
yet. It's important to know the rules before you break them.
Following are some rules to keep and some rules to bend or
break. But first an important principle.
Clarity
Next time you face a grammar grappler, ask yourself this
question: Which word construction will be clearer to the
prospect or customer?
Clarity comes first because it's the prescription for fast
comprehension. Copywriting that blurs meaning (which sometimes
includes grammatically perfect writing) slows reading and
jeopardizes interest -- and sales.
WARNING: This isn't license to play havoc with the English
language. Literacy must prevail. Following are some rules to
keep.
Rules to Keep
Subject and verb agreement. Whether you're writing an
infomercial or War and Peace, singular subjects take
singular verbs and plural subjects take plural verbs. Always. A
simple rule, execution is sometimes problematic. The key is to
clearly identify the subject of the sentence.
The active voice. If you want your copywriting to have
maximum punch, use the active voice at every opportunity. Active
voice: I wrote the sentence. Passive voice: The sentence was
written by me.
Use of Modifiers. Modifiers can cause a variety of
problems. There are the questions of which and how many
modifiers to use. Again, let clarity be your guide. Also, poor
placement of modifiers results in confusion, your enemy. To make
comprehension easy, put modifiers near the words they're
modifying.
Rules to Bend or Break
The Adventures of Huckleberry
Finn by Mark Twain ushered
in a new era in American literature. One of the main reasons was
Twain's use of vernacular. He wrote the way people talked, a
departure from the stiff, formal English common during the
Victorian period.
For copywriters, writing the way people talk is absolutely
essential.
Why? Because copy that is friendly, informal and conversational
stands a better chance of getting prospects to click, call or
buy. Which is exactly why sacrificing the following conventions
can be in the copywriter's best interest.
Ending sentences with a preposition. To some a no-no,
ending a sentence with a preposition can warm up your
copywriting. Which sounds friendlier to you: "Here is the
information you requested" or "Here is the information you asked
for"?
Beginning sentences with a conjunction. Beginning
sentences with conjunctions (and, or, but, nor) is more common,
even in journalism. Not only is it the way people talk, it can
shorten sentence length, a plus in delivering sales messages.
Other informal devices. Use contractions to warm up your
message. Also, use sentence fragments. Not only do they shorten
average sentence length, they add rhythm. And drama.
Punctuation. Use punctuation to your selling advantage.
I'm inclined to use more dashes and an occasional exclamation
point and ellipsis to add drama and excitement to the sales
message. Commas can be pretty subjective, so I have a tendency
to use the minimum amount to keep readers moving through the
copy as quickly as possible.
Parting Reminder
Keep that grammar book, stylebook, dictionary and other writer's
references nearby. You're still going to need them.
But don't let grammar be your god, or your next marketing
communication could be a giant sales flop.
(c) 2005 Neil Sagebiel
About the author:
Neil Sagebiel is a veteran copywriter who has served clients
such as Microsoft, The Seattle Times, Lucent Technologies, March
of Dimes, Airborne Express and Unisys. To sign up for his FREE
expert tips to help you write better and sell more, visit
http://www.neilsagebiel.com.
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