Entries from November 2008 ↓

Welcome to my laboratory. Take a seat and prepare to be marvelled as I reveal the secrets of magic words. 

In a moment I shall reveal the words that will transform your sales writing by rendering your reader helpless. They will encourage them to continue to read even when they might not want to. But first here a few extra tricks you might like to try.

Are you sitting comfortably? Here we go:

1. Use broken lists – everyone likes lists. If you promise 3 things it is human nature to read all 3. Why not split your list over two paragraphs to keep them reading? They’ll be compelled to read the second paragraph.
2. Teasers – at the end of your paragraphs add things like ‘But that’s not all…’ or ‘And here’s why…’ or even ‘So why subscribe?’
3. End pages mid-sentence – humans have a great need for completion. If your sales letter goes over the page, by ensuring your page ends mid-sentence will render your reader helpless and they’ll just have to turn over to continue reading.
4. The promise of more to come – this is great for long copy. For example ‘In a moment I will reveal to you the five most important conversion techniques to increase your sales. But first…’ It is just like dangling a carrot in front of them.

Are you getting the idea?

Just so long as you deliver what you promise your reader will become putty in your hands, hanging on every word. Satisfy their curiosity and you will have them hooked.

OK, you’ve waited long enough. Below are the six magic words that will help you cast your spell over your reader:

1. Easy – we are all inherently lazy. Give your readers and easy option and they’ll love you for it.
2. Quick – not only are your readers lazy but they are impatient too. Enough said.
3. Free – this is very powerful so long as you don’t murder it by adding ‘absolutely’.
4. Now – it can be used to show something new when used in a headline, it is highly effective in the CTA, or it can be seen as turning a problem into a solution in the body text.
5. Please – didn’t your mum always ask you what the magic word was when you were after a biscuit?
6. Guarantee – immediately allays fears and uncertainty.

Now you are free to go off and weave your very own brand of magic into everything you write.

Sally Ormond

Do you remember those wonderful English lessons that we all endured at school? Numerous spelling tests, essays and book reports on texts that you never wanted to read but were forced to.

Although I was never taught explicit grammar at school – apparently reading was sufficient for us to grasp the many foibles of English grammar – one thing always stuck in my mind. It was drummed into us over and over again.

‘Never start a sentence with and.‘

It was a rule that I have lived by for numerous years. Throughout University you would never find an ‘and’ with a capital ‘a’ anywhere in my assignments. So I was rather puzzled when I saw a sentence in a recent copy of The Observer starting with And.

I reached out for my faithful Fowler’s Modern English Usage and was aghast to read that the enforced prohibition that I and many others had stuck by all these years had been ‘cheerfully ignored by standard authors from Anglo Saxon times onwards’ (Fowler’s Modern English Usage, Third Edition, p.52). Even Shakespeare used it in King John.

Now I find myself rebelling against my old English teacher. As a copywriter it is my job to create copy that is persuasive. For example I have to be able to attract the right people to my clients’ websites and, once there, get them to buy or sign up for something. Basically the copywriting services I provide involve building rapport with the reader. Through my writing I am holding a conversation with them and therefore the inevitable happens. I start a sentence with ‘and’.

The only rule that counts in this business is to make the writing real, persuasive and friendly. If you do that, your reader will trust you, your clients will love you and you will be kept in work for many years to come.