Entries from January 2009 ↓

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The title of this blog probably needs a bit of explanation before I am ‘virtually’ pelted with stones by the world’s copywriting population.

I don’t mean to infer that every freelance copywriter (or in-house copywriter) is aesthetically challenged. But rather that they understand the value of plain talking.

More often than not, as people grow and mature, they like to try to sound clever by using big words; words that make them feel intelligent. That’s all well and good and our school teachers were always pushing us to extend our vocabularies, but when it comes to copywriting you should resist the temptation.

In sales writing you are trying to connect with your reader therefore a great place to start is using basic, simple and clear language.

Here is a list of 10 words that you might be tempted to use and their simplistic counterparts:

Disseminate                            Spread

Residence                               House

Procrastinate                           Delay

Grandiose                                Showy

Innumerable                            Lots

Investigate                              Look at

Prevent                                    Stop

Construct                                 Make

Implement                               Carry out

Obtain                                     Get

This should be applied to any sales writing, whatever tone or voice you are using. Even the most powerful business people on earth are human and would much rather read something simple than waste their time having to look up the meaning of every second word.

I’m sure you’ve all heard the buzz about keywords and SEO.

As a freelance website copywriter, it is something that I deal with regularly for clients. And something that I often see done badly. Time and time again people try to cover all their bases in one hit. Don’t!

What do I mean?

Well, often people decide on their keywords and stuff a typical paragraph (about 200 words) with them. Does that work? No.

Think about this for a second. Who is going to be influenced by what is written on your website enough to make them want to buy your product? Your reader or the search engine spiders?

Your reader right? That is why you should only use 2-3 keywords per page. Don’t forget, the overall text must be reader-friendly.

3 Golden SEO Rules

1. Location, location, location – This is the next thing you must think about. Get your keywords in the right places – title tags, headings, links and your content.
2. Keywords aren’t the be all and end all – The structure of your site, links (inbound, outbound, internal, external) and number of pages all have an influence on your Google SERPs.
3. Be patient –If you start on your SEO campaign expecting instant results, you will be VERY disappointed.

SEO takes time, patience and stamina. Get it right and you’ll be laughing all the way to a top ranking.

Don’t forget there are people who can help you. By working with an SEO website copywriter you will get the best possible copy for your site.

What do I mean by keeping your copywriting active? Well, I don’t mean filling it with adjectives which simply increase your word count without actually adding any value.

Still not sure?

Think back to the best years of your life – your school days (well, apparently they were the best years of your life, although I’m not entirely sure that applies to every single year of my academic youth). What did your English teacher constantly bang on about?

“Verbs are ‘doing’ words”

Like a stick of rock, if you cut open a copywriter (not that I am suggesting for one second that you should) those words will go right the way through them.

Just as they were in fiction, verbs are important in your sales writing. They drive your writing; they make it active and vigorous. Copywriters love verbs.

But there is a tendency in some in-house copy to turn perfectly good verbs into nouns.

I think an illustration is required:

Nouns

“Our specialization is the provision of high quality IT solutions“ (10 words, 55 characters)

Verbs

“We specialize in solving IT problems” (6 words, 31 characters)

I think that speaks for itself. So remember keep your copywriting active – it will have a much greater impact.

Sally Ormond

Q: What is the one thing that freelance copywriters are always asked for?

A: Snappy copy.

Ask your client exactly what they mean by ‘snappy copy’ and the response is usually:

“Erm…you know…snappy…punchy…that sort of thing.”

Very insightful.

In order for a copywriter to create powerful copy, they need to utilise power words. These are very basic, simple words that don’t require defining or explaining. Your reader should be able to connect with them immediately.

You want to see some examples? OK. Power words are things such as:

• Love
• Hate
• Cash
• Care
• Best
• Crash
• Worst
• Win
• Lose
• Huge
• Risk
• Fizz

Once a copywriter has created a first draft, their next job is to read through the copy and clear out all the flabby worn-out words and replace them with something more powerful. Of course, the choice of words is going to depend on what you are writing and who you are writing for.

If you are still unsure of what I am getting at, I have listed below some worn-out words and given a powerful alternative.

Worn-out                                                                   Powerful alternative

Cost-effective                                                             Cheap

Impact negatively                                                       Hurt

Optimal                                                                       Best

Upgrade                                                                      Boost

See how much ‘snappier’ the power words are? They will give you copy far more impact.

Sally Ormond