November 5, 2009
Use These Copywriting Tips For Beginners To Instantly Become A Better Writer
These copywriting tips for beginners are not only for beginners, but also to help re-establish the basics even in the minds of more advanced copywriters.
It will be a very short and sweet one, since I've been crazy busy writing copy for clients.
So to make it short and sweet, here we go:
5 Copywriting Tips For Beginners To Help You INSTANTLY Write More Persuasive Copy:
1) Features vs. Benefits – This is one of the most important aspects you need to know as a copywriter. If you’re writing about features instead of benefits, your copy is going to be pathetic – no matter what else you write about. Take something ordinary, such as a pencil, and try to write out 10 benefits of it on the right hand side of a paper – and 10 features on the left hand side. Here are 2 just to get you started.
Feature - Made of wood and lead.
Benefit - The wood helps you create a sharp tip for easier writing and the lead prevents breaking of the point.
Feature - 12 inches long
Benefit - You can use it multiple times without needing to replace it so you save money.
2) Write A Benefit Driven Headline - Most headlines suck. They really do. When first starting out, what you need to do is focus on stating the main benefit in your headline. Don’t worry about coming up with a grand-slam until you understand the thought process of your customer and can afford to break the rules a bit.
3) Write In Short, Concise Sentences – Another copywriting tip for beginners is to write sentences that are short, punchy, and to the point. If you see a lot of commas in your sentences, see if you can break them up into shorter ones.
4) Include a P.S. in EVERYTHING – P.S.'s are, in my opinion, the third most crucial parts to writing great copy (behind the offer and headline). Everybody reads them, so it’s essential that you drive home the main benefit of the product you’re selling again. In offline print, NEVER include the price. You might be able to get away with it sometimes when you're online, but I honestly still wouldn't recommend it. People love scanning straight to the bottom and if the price isn't right - they're gone.
5) Write In A Conversational Tone – This one is very important. Don’t pretend you’re writing to a group, pretend you’re writing to an individual person. After all, you are! Only 1 person reads you copy at a time…they don’t gather a bunch of people in a group and have 1 person read it outloud to everybody, right? Picture a specific person to write to - the "perfect" prospect - and start writing.
These copywriting tips for beginners should at least get you started on writing better copy. For more tips simply look around for other posts and I'm sure you'll find some gems in there that'll make you write better copy.
Mastering the basics is essential if you want to become a better copywriter. If you truly want to be a great copywriter, I would highly suggest studying copywriting tips for beginners until you get so sick of them you can’t stand to read them anymore. Then it’s time to move into more advanced copywriting tips and propel your writing to the next level.
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