I love using "we" when writing tutorials or guides.
It makes me feel like I'm having a conversation instead of dishing out instructions.
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Submitted by Ojaokomo Nathan
Simplify! Remove unnecessary words.
They can cause confusion and you want your copy to be as clear as possible.
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Submitted by Christine Quinn
Your first draft should always be the clearest, simplest form of messaging that gets your point across so anyone can understand it.
Edit for tone and style after.
Remember KISS? Still applies as a copywriter.
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Submitted by Valerie Shore
Always, always, always use 2nd person.
It helps people connect with you more!
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Submitted by Jason Vana
Assume your audience isn't interested in what you have to say.
Then make them change their mind.
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Submitted by Phil McFadden
Vary sentence length, and edit for sentence rhythm.
It’s a subtle way of projecting your voice.
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Submitted by David McCarthy
Being a good copywriter means you must be able to write in a voice other than your own.
You're not selling you. You're selling your client. So you have to be able to sound like them.
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Submitted by Aimee Rhodd
What are you selling?
Whenever someone has trouble with copy, I tell them to look at the product. Pull out an element of the product – an interesting fact that's just slightly out of plain sight.
For Ogilvy it was "at 60 miles per hour the loudest noise in this new Rolls Royce comes from the electric clock." For us at ActiveCampaign, we switched "easy to set up" to "You can set up this automation in 66 seconds (we tested it)."
First understand your market. But once you understand your market, the product tells you how to sell it.
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Submitted by Benyamin Elias
I often think to myself that philosophers were the original copywriters; rhetoric their copywriting techniques, the courtroom and public theatres their landing pages and ads.
So maybe we can steal from them.
Anaphora: repeating the start of a sentence for effect.
VeryGoodCopy teaches persuasion.
VeryGoodCopy teaches copywriting.
VeryGoodCopy is a continuous course of copywriting teachings, delivered one morsel at a time.
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Submitted by Sam Holston
If you begin your copy with a question, it will automatically trigger the reader’s brain to search for a response, which is engaging on its face.
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Submitted by Nithya S
Use the active voice.
Active: You see this.
Passive: This is seen.
Using the active voice puts your product/service and your reader into the story. The passive voice puts them to sleep... or worse.
Try this: If you can add “by zombies” to the end of the majority of your sentences, and they still make sense (except, you know, for the undead), you’ve got a passive problem.
The active voice helps keep your copy moving and your reader engaged.
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Submitted by Jean Matthias Breheney
The brain is a causality machine. It likes reasons BECAUSE they create causal links. The xerox study is crazy.
93% people said yes when given even a nonsensical because.
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Submitted by Sam Holston
I love starting an article or email with a question — it draws the reader right in.
Then, I use a lot of bucket brigades or what Joe Sugarman calls "seeds of curiosity" to keep people engaged.
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Submitted by Corina Leslie
Regardless of what you’re selling, your product or service must address a core emotion.
As may have heard, people buy with emotion but justify it with logic.
These emotions are what triggers your audience to take the desired action.
Before your launch your next ad, think about the deep-lying emotions your target audience desires.
Then address it in your ad and watch your sales skyrocket.
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Submitted by Adewale Adeyemi
If the stakes are low, the word "because" doesn't have to be followed by a related or logical explanation
For example: “Can I go first because I have to make copies?” 👉 Of course you have to make copies, it's why we're all queuing! But it’s still effective).
On the other hand, if the stakes are high, "because" has to be followed by a logical explanation 👉 Because the brain will start to analyse the situation.
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Submitted by Mathieu Osada
Remember that exercise in school where you cut a story to a page, then a paragraph, then a sentence, then a line?
Great practise for making sure every single word earns its place!
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Submitted by Katie Palmer
Pretend you are the reader. Apply WIIFM or as I like to call it, the WSIGAS principle:
‘What’s In It For Me?’ or ‘Why Should I Give A Sh*t?’
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Submitted by Eve Vickerson
Include calls-to-action wherever you think your prospects will be ready to click them.
This might be at the end of the page or above the fold, but it might be somewhere else. Don't assume. Test!
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Submitted by Alice Cuninghame
Even a beautifully written piece won’t get read if the title isn’t click-worthy.
Spend 80% of your time (according to David Olgivy) crafting your headline!
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Submitted by Neha Sharma