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4 Major Mistakes to Avoid when Writing an Article
By avoiding these common mistakes, you will greatly improve your article. The Internet has an overabundance of disregarded content that was written in the same rambling way that the author normally speaks in. Many of these articles would never have...
Creating A Search Engine Copywriting Plan
by Karon Thackston © 2005 http://www.copywritingcourse.com/keyword Search engine copywriting has become an extremely important part of the overall search engine optimization process. However, in addition, search engine copywriting has developed...
Custom Writing Services Market Overview
In this article the author is going to carry out custom writing services market overview providing comprehensive survey of the market divided into the following categories: market identification, market size, market segmentation, market growth...
Platform Development Tip #1: Switch Writing Hats!
Platform-Building Tip #1: Switch Writing Hats! Around eighty percent of nonfiction books today are written by “experts,” that is people who have a) earned credentials in the field they’re writing about, b) germinated information via articles, live...
Realizing the Potential of Your Writing Output
Achieving publication for your extra income ideas is removed from the improbable dream category and becomes instead a calculated certainty when you follow the strategies contained in my 'Writing for Profit' tutorial. That's the beauty of niche...
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Business Writing: When Not To Be Professional
It’s time to write your next ad or brochure. Maybe some web content. You’ve done all your research, and you’re staring at a blank computer screen. You want to look good in print. You want to put your “best foot forward.” And, of course, you want to make a barrel full of money.
Well, you’re going to have to pick one, because you can’t do all three.
Not, that is, if “looking good in print” means sounding like an educated professional. Or using perfect grammar. Because unless all of your prospects are English teachers, they’re going to respond better to more natural writing – writing that reads like people actually speak.
Real people don’t speak like “professionals” write. (Neither, for that matter, do most professionals.) Real people use sentence fragments. They start sentences with “and”, “or” and “but.”
Every now and then they kind of trail off like…
One thing real people do not do is use big, fancy words when shorter ones will do. And neither should you.
Real people do not say things like, “I am committed to finding the lowest cost alternative.” Why, then, would you want to be “focused on providing” it?
Copywriting that uses stuffy, complex language just doesn’t sell. You know what I mean: The verbose, impersonal, corporate-speak that sounds more like a mission statement (which nobody cares about) than a personal communication. The
kind that strokes the CEO’s ego when it should be stroking the prospect’s.
With that in mind, here are some tips to help bring your writing back “down to earth”:
1.Picture your prospect. Get a mental picture of the one typical person you’re writing to. If you have to, get a real picture from a magazine or even your family album and tape it to your computer screen as you write. Then write like you’re talking to that one individual.
2.Read your copy out loud. If you stumble over anything, so will your reader. Rewrite until your words flow smoothly and sound natural.
3.Read your copy to someone else. Preferably a group of people. If, when you are finished, they tell you what a great job you’ve done, you have failed. You’ve succeeded when they ask you how to get what you’re writing about.
Never be afraid to be personal in your ads, web pages, sales letters – any time you are communicating with a prospect. Make it sound like you are actually speaking to them.
If you still want to “look professional”, use the money you make and go buy some nice business clothes!
About the Author
Lisa Packer, author of "How To Dramatically Increase Your Business... Without A Blockbuster Budget" is an independant copywriter and marketing consultant. For more helpful articles like this one, visit www.dramatic-copy.com.
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