Adjectives and adverbs – they have their place but not in your sales copy.
When writing to sell, be to the point, clear and precise. Littering your copy with qualifiers detracts from your message. They will turn an excellent piece of copy into a lame, unexplosive whimper.
To make an impact your copy should be littered with high impact verbs – powerful language that will make your reader sit up and take notice. This isn’t always easy to attain and may take several drafts before you are anywhere near close.
Ali Hale has written a great post about these vampire words sucking the life out of your writing on Copyblogger. If you want your writing to stand out and be noticed grab that garlic and stake and banish the little critters from your headlines and body text.
4 comments ↓
Thanks for the link – glad you enjoyed the post!
I think adjectives and adverbs are occasionally acceptable – but they need to be used very sparingly. (Like garlic. Unless you’re as much of a fan of the stuff as I am…)
A pleasure Ali – it was a great post 🙂
Sally
I think one reason copywriters use those vampire words is that they’re afraid to sell. It takes time for writers to understand that, while they should be ethical in their claims and promises, they are being hired as advocates for a product or service. Just as a lawyer must mount a strong defense even for lousy clients, a copywriter must mount a strong sales pitch for clients even when they’re selling lousy products.
I’m planning to write a post over at Pro Copy Tips about how to write copy for lousy products, so your post is inspiring.
Hi Dean,
Thanks for your comment, I look forward to reading your post.
Sally
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