5 Tips for Writing Good Copy
Copywriting skills are probably the most important skills for an entrepreneur to have. Even if don’t write your own copy, you do need to recognize it when you see it. So, boning up on your copywriting is a very good idea.
Know Your Subject
Don’t bluff your way through a blog post or sales letter. If you don’t know what you’re talking about, it will show through. Now that doesn’t mean you need to be an expert on the subject or even that you have all the knowledge in your head. You can do research and sum up what you find. Just don’t make it up as you go.
Understand Your Audience
You have to know who you are writing for so that you can communicate effectively with them. This is true in all types of writing, from fiction to blog posts to sales copy. When you speak your target audience’s language, they will be more likely to listen.
Be Aware of Good Grammar
Do your best to week out misspellings, typos and mis-congugated verbs. I know that I’ve missed a mistake or two — dyslexia makes this a challenge for me — but for the most part my copy is clean. When you make to many glaring mistakes, it can undermine your message and the authority from which you communicate it.
Use Headlines Effectively
Headlines serve several purposes: they introduce what you’ll be talking about next, they summarize the content of your message (important for reaching scanners), and they break up the copy into manageable bits (critical for reading on the Web). Don’t get too caught up in being clever and cutesy — your headlines need to communicate your message just as effectively as the rest of your copy.
Remember, there will always be a segment of your audience who will not read every word. These scanners will just skim through your content, reading the headlines looking for the larger meaning, reading your copy only when a headline intrigues them. I know because I’m a scanner, too. 
Be Conversational
For most business purposes, conversational copy is more effective. Write like you would talk to a friend about the subject (except leave out the ums, ahs and waving hands). Avoid being too jargony … unless that is what your audience needs.
I think that marketers, internet marketers in particular, should know how to write good copy. Though outsourcing is an option, copywriting is just one of those skills we should all know how to do.
I also think that being able to write effective headlines is essential because no one will ever read our awesome copy if we don’t catch their attention first
~Angel
Excellent article, esp. the section on headlines. In addition to communicating the jist of the article, the headline should also be eye-catching and must command the attention of the reader. People are certainly seeking information, want to be “grabbed” and your headline can do just that, especially if it appeals to a negative emotion.
These are 5 solid tips that you are sharing. Here is another great tip…. When creating a sales letter, it’s all about figuring out your objective. If you can identify the following 3 components, you will get more sales or more opt-ins.
1) Problem
2) Solution
3) Offer
Cheers!
Christine
Nice post. Wish I have read it a year ago when I was struggling. The headlines are particularly important if you want people to even start reading your article.
I am studying this very topic at the moment and was delighted to find some useful info in this article.
What we do need to keep in mind is that there is a big difference between copy in the off-line marketing world and web copy. Two of the most important requirements for web copy are:
1.) Don’t make your website look like an advertisement. People just don’t want to see another ad. They want quality information in answer to what they’re looking for. Web copy should not look and feel like a sales pitch. Editorial style web copy has a dramatically higher conversion rate than ad style, sales pitch type web copy.
2.) The headline and sub-heading must grab visitors attention immediately and stop them dead in their track, so to speak
I have to agree that copywriting is the one skill that is essential for any marketer. Putting content out there every day is what we do and we need to make sure that it is attractive to the reader.
One of the best things I ever did was get my hands on a copywriting swipe file which I can pull from. It really lit up my writing and always gave me a great response.
Very nice article on the basics of copywriting. In my opinion, this is one of those areas that is impossible to know too much about.
Wanted to share a great free tool: Emotional Marketing Value Headline Analyzer – it lets you do just that: see how much emotion your headline is likely to invoke in your audience.
http://www.aminstitute.com/headline/index.htm
Your EIF friend,
YourNetBiz attraction marketing cafe blog/Ana Hoffman