It is worth knowing some basic, yet effective copywriting tips, if you are at all planning on marketing your business online.
In the marketing industry, good copywriting skills are essential, and the more effective copywriting you use, the higher success or conversion rate you will have.
Good copy is required in order for you to create pull for your readers, and hold their attention so that they continue reading.
And once you implement these tips into your writing regularly, you will see increased click through rates and reduced bounce rates.
Easy and Effective Copywriting Tips
Many people realize once they have begun writing that, even if they had had an aversion to it, it really is rather easy once you practice it a bit.
So before I give you the nuts and bolts, I want to just point out a few important considerations:
- You should always write from your heart, and make it your own. Even if you have just finished reading another post on the topic, take away the highlights and add your own value.
- State your purpose from the onset, in the first paragraph or two, and the benefits they will gain from reading.
- Create rapport with your audience, for example by starting out with a fact or two before you propose your solution. It’s also a plus to be positive and upbeat. Creating a personal association by your own example also helps to build rapport.
- One way to get your message across is to tell a story. Whether it is something that has happened in the course of your day or someone else’s, you can often relate some aspect of that event or situation to the point you are trying to make. People love a story and will usually stick with it until the end!
- Avoid wearing out your welcome by providing TMI (Too Much Information!). I’ve been guilty of this myself, as I can be long winded when writing. But it’s easier to create multiple articles out of sub-topics and you will be far more likely to hold your readers attention! Between 500 and 800 words is good, so be to the point but concise, and avoid redundancy.
- And finally, proofread at least a couple of times, giving it a bit of a rest between finishing writing and when you publish your post. This gives you a fresh set of eyes that you can approach your article as an objective reader.
Effective Copywriting Tips – The Ground Rules
Now here are your four keys – the ground rules of effective copywriting tips. These been well known in the marketing world throughout the ages, and are known by an acronym:
A.I.D.A.
A. Capturing your readers’ Attention is necessary for good ad copy, and your attention to this will be not only on the headline, but the first sentence and first paragraph as well.
Any list of effective copywriting tips will tell you that a good headline is crucial!
One tool I use consistently which I believe adds a bit of pull to my headlines is the Marketing Headline Analyzer. Just put in your title and see how you rate, play around with it until you reach a Master Copywriter’s percentage!
And the first sentence should go a long way to capturing attention, creating curiosity, and holding on to your reader, pulling them in to read more.
I. Grab their Interest and hold it throughout your piece. Tell them the value of what you are offering, and create curiosity.
Pay attention to readability. Use short paragraphs with plenty of white space, and avoid run on sentences.
Use different fonts, subheadings, lists, and images to provide some visual variety. Sources like fotosearch.com provide royalty free images by just copying the thumbnail, and very inexpensive otherwise.
D. Create Desire for what you are offering. Present the problem(s) that you are solving for them, and how they will benefit from taking advantage of what you are offering.
Give them enough information to make a decision, and focus on the benefits, so that they will want to take advantage of your solution!
A. Have a call to Action. You want to evoke some kind of response from your reader, so be sure to ask them to take advantage of any offer you might have, provide feedback, or read more.
If your writing is for advertising, then this is the most important piece of the puzzle. If they like the value you have provided and it has helped them there is a good chance they’ll be back for more!
Paying attention to these key aspects of copywriting will pay you well in your marketing results.
And if you want to quickly become a master copywriter, and go well beyond just a few of these tips, the Copywriters Guild is a seriously powerful and in-depth copywriting course that will really have your conversions on the rise. I’ve listened to the audios more than twice over and learn something each time to help me to be better at effective copywriting.
As you decide that you want to increase your traffic and conversions, you will rely on some of these effective copywriting tips, and combined with keyword research, SEO and social media you’ll have all the traffic you want!
Coach Freddie (28)
Oliver Tausend (28)
Gabriele Maidecchi (24)
Amy Hagerup (23)
Chris Fairchild (21)
Jennifer May (20)
John Engle (18)
Ryan Yokome (17)
Audrey Ross (15)
Steve Nicholas (15)
Hey Vickie,
Thanks for sharing such a valuable post! Call to actions are one of the things that most people forget about!
Shaylee
.-= Shaylee´s last blog ..Identify Negative Thoughts With This Fun Exercise =-.
Thankyou Shaylee!
I know, sometimes I forget about the call to action, especially if I am just trying to provide value, I feel like I shouldn’t ask for something every time I post!
Thanks so much for stopping by!
Wishing You an Awesome Weekend,
Hi Vicki,
great article. The A.I.D.A formula is easy to remember and shouln’t be too hard to implement. I embrace especially the idea of writing from your heart. Have a blessed weekend and take care
Oliver
.-= Oliver Tausend´s last blog ..We don’t need another pre-launch- we don’t need another ground floor opportunity =-.
Thanks Oliver!
It is a very easy formula indeed isn’t it! I find the writing from the heart part the easiest, sometimes I have to remind myself of the formula! Formula? What formula! LOL!
Wishing You a wonderful weekend too!
Excellent post, Vicki. Like most people, I often forget to apply this formula!
.-= Dr. Dick´s last blog ..The Most Memorable Graduation Speech Ever =-.
Thanks Dr. Dick!
I am guilty of that myself, I just enjoy writing and it’s hard to stop and think of it as a marketing exercise, so, sometimes i do, and sometimes I don’t! But writing this was a kind of reminder to myself to keep it in mind!
Wishing You Brilliant Success!
Wow Vicki!
You just showed me some great tools I never heard of! Thank you! I do forget the call to action myself sometimes
I enjoy writing but this has given me more insight to be a better one. Great post Vicki
.-= Emily Giuffre´s last blog ..Sugar- The Good- The Bad- and the Ugly =-.
Hi Emily!
Thank You! I am glad to share these tools, I especially have fun with the Headline Analyzer (albeit it’s best scores will not always align with your keywords!). It’s a bit of give and take I suppose. And I do forget that call to action too – I just like writing and try to provide value enough that maybe folks will opt into one of my lists without promoting them everywhere!
Wishing You Tremendous Success!
Hi, Vicki. That was a pretty interesting tool. However, I must admit that I am surprised what would give the highest and lowest scores. Just for fun, I ran through all of my blog post titles to see what kind of score I got. I was surprised at the highest (#1 was my post on Paul, #2 was about the show Community, at 71.43 and 71.28) and the lowest (Investing Like Warren Buffett and Under-Appreciated Albums: My December both got a 0). I was also surprised that I did some things just for fun to see what would happen because I thought that it would increase the score, but it decreased it. Do you know anything about the algorithm they use?
.-= Steve Nicholas´s last blog ..Contact Me =-.
Hi Steve!
It’s really interesting to play around with these scores, but I have no idea of the algorithm they are using. It’s just interesting to read about the three areas of consideration they give, and if you read all about it on the first page and your results pages you get an idea that it’s based on certain weights given particular words. I have no idea how they come up with those weights. Being the Advanced Marketing Institute I suppose they have lots of statistics to go by!
Have a Great Weekend!
Hi Vicki! Great post and tips! I personally loved the basics where you share to write from your heart. People can feel and connect with you when this is a part of your writing. Energy is such a powerful thing and you can definitely create this through your Posts and Videos!
I am going to use all of these tips, they truly are so very helpful! Great stuff girl! HUGS!
.-= Jennifer May´s last blog ..My Top 5 Tips On Overcoming Any Fear How I Overcame My Own Fear Of Video Marketing =-.
Hi Jennifer!
Thank you so much! Great to see you here today, thank you for stopping in and taking the time to comment! I’m so glad you found this useful and that you enjoy my content!
Have an Awesome Weekend! < -HUGS-> back!
Wishing You Wonderful Success!
Great tips Vicki and will keep in mind when writing my next article!
.-= Sharon Whyte´s last blog ..Twitter For The Newbie – Part Two =-.
Thank you Sharon! I’m glad it helped!
)
Wishing You Terrific Success!
Vicki,
These are great copywriting tips. I really like this A.I.D.A. formula, has great value.
I think this could really boost my writing skills.
Thanks for the post.
Tommy D.
.-= Tommy DiPietro | MLM Prospecting Hero´s last blog ..A Pretty Little Plug-In For Your Home Based Business Blog =-.
Thanks Tommy! I’m glad you found the A.I.D.A formula useful, it really does help keep in mind the key goals in writing good copy!
Wishing You Awesome Success!
Hi Vicki, I never knew about the headline analyzer. Thanks so much for the great value you always give us. blessings, amy
.-= Amy Hagerup´s last blog ..Getting Kids to Take Vitamins- Six Tips =-.
Hi Amy!
You are quite welcome! I just think that is one of the best little tools! For getting people to click on your ad or title it’s best to aim for a high score on the emotional as opposed to the intellectual scale, but it’s really fun just to plug in your headlines and see what you get playing around with it!
Wishing You Wonderful Success!
Vicki, the tool shows you are a gifted copywriter, congratulations! Thanks for the reminder about that tool, I’ve seen it before and had forgotten to use it all the time.
bye for now, Julieanne
.-= Julieanne van Zyl´s last blog ..A Popular MLM Blog 7 Secrets to Running It =-.
Hi Julieanne!
Thanks! I have come to habitually use that little tool to help select my headlines and I must say I think it helps me to improve my copywriting skills!
Glad to see you again today, have a wonderful week!
Wishing You Brilliant Success,
Vicki,
Came across this on the TUT feed. Learning how to copywrite is a MUST for anyone in our industry…even if you can afford to outsource it.
I look at it as knowing how to fish. Even if you can afford to go to the grocery store and buy your own fish, knowing HOW to fish means that no matter what, you can feed yourself.
Copywriting is that same way.
Thank you for another quality post.
.-= Yemi Ogunbase´s last blog ..The Staggering Truth About Mindset From “The Matrix”- Tony Robbins- Katie Freiling- Javon Walker- and Aquamantra- Part 1 =-.
Hi Yemi!
You are so right, this is a valuable skill that we simply cannot overlook. Without this in our toolbox it’s like going fishing without bait or lures! And yep, if we know how to fish for ourselves we’re so much better off!
Thanks so much for stopping by and for your comment!
Wishing You Brilliant Success!
Hi Vicki!
I love this post! Great Job. I’m guilty of the Too Much Information comment you made too. I think I get excited and want to share as much content as possible, but I’d be better to break it up in to smaller bites so my readers don’t feel like they’re drinking from a fire hose!
Thanks for the reminder!
Heather
.-= Heather C Stephens´s last blog ..Facing A Fear of Video Marketing for a Network Marketing Internet Business =-.
Thanks Heather!
I know what you mean, I feel like I’m sitting right in front of the fire hydrant sometimes! It’s our duty to shield our readers as much as possible from that gushing flow of information LOL!
Great to see you, thanks so much for stopping by and commenting!
Wishing You Brilliant Success!
Vicki Vicki Vicki…all I can say is…YOU’RE AWESOME!
You gave away some amazing value in this post and the thing that stood out the most for me was that you always want to make sure that you don’t overload your reader with content. If you write an essay here’s what is going to happen and what the reader will think.
TLDR -Too Long, Didn’t Read
Thanks for sharing this and I can’t wait to see what you’re going to come up with next
See you at the top,
Michael Stead
Michael Stead´s last [type] ..How To Overcome Your Deepest Fears- Getting Comfortable Outside Your Comfort Zone
LOL Michael!
All I can say is that has taken years of practice! I tend to be soooo verbose! But if I can do it, anyone can. Takes a bit of re-reading, always asking yourself where are the redundancies and where is there uneccessary information, where can I shorten this? Yep, to keep from losing the readers’ interest!
Thanks for stopping by, it’s always nice to see you!
Wishing You Tremendous Success,
Hi Vicki,
Oh, I love this post! Copywriting is a huge passion of mine. And, yes, all the way with the Copywriters Guild! AIDA – That is a great abbreviation. I have fallen into the same trap in times past -TMI. Just enough info to digest in one setting, that can speak to the individuals interest and desire. So many HUGE nuggets to really pat attn to, and you nailed them precisely here.
thanks
Joe
Joe Young´s last [type] ..Think- Before You Copywrite Or Don’t Copywrite At All!
Thank You Joe!
Great to see you again here! And thanks so much for your comments. You know, I am still working on it, as I continually go back and ‘trim’ content that I’ve previously written, and I have a long way to go there too!
Thanks again for stopping by, I hope your day is amazing!
Wishing You the Very Best in Success,
Hi Vicky – thanks for the info, very straight forward and ‘readable’, unlike some copywriting posts.
I’m a big fan of using questions to pull in the reader and create interest – as well as an emotional attachment. However, I’ve had a couple of copywriting jobs recently where the client has removed the questions and wanted re-writes. They HATED questions in the copy!
What’s your opinion on that one?
Regards
Chris
Chris Henry´s last [type] ..ADD ROCKET FUEL TO YOUR COPYWRITING
Hi Chris,
Thanks for the comment! Asking questions is definitely going to create pull and engage the reader, that’s exactly what you are looking for. If the customer ‘hates’ it then I suppose they should get what they want, but then why is he hiring a copywriter, right? You can explain this to him and if he still doesn’t want it you can just tell him the copy won’t be quite as effective. These things can also (and should) be split tested to confirm that!
Wishing You Continued Success,
Vicki
Vicky,
GREAT POST!
I used the A.I.D.A. formula in the offline world, after I acquired this great skill set via Brad Richdale.
However, I do find that the online world is MUCH different than the offline world, when it comes to copy-writing.
The headline should be the “attention grabber”. The very next IMPORTANT step is to address THE PROBLEM, and then IRRITATE the problem…yada…yada…Give Value, and then a POWERFUL call to action.
Nevertheless Vicki this is a POWERFUL post!
Thanks for the value…YOU ROCK!
Antonio
Thank you Antonio! You have brought additional value here as you make a good point, offline marketing is definitely different but still has a lot in common! I’m glad you stopped by and provided your comment, thanks again!
Wishing You Tremendous Success,
Hi Vicki,
You certainly practice what you teach — great post that Aida’d me quickly. I will RT this for all the new bloggers and writers to capture and use.
Many thanks,
Kate
Kate Nasser, The People-Skills Coach´s last [type] ..Sudden Teamwork- The Voices of Success
Hi Kate!
Thanks, glad I got your attention!
And thanks for the RTs as well, much appreciated!
Wishing You Fabulous Success
Hi Vicki,
Simply Excellent!
I have been on Twitter now for a few months and often open and read your post. I do not usually comment on blogs, it is just something I have not acclimated myself too. The one time I did was to leave a brief comment on one of your post. I really enjoy your writing, and as one who usually remains silent, I thought it appropriate to take a moment to let you know that your fan base is likely larger than you realize. If I followed only one person on Twitter, it would be you.
Sincerely,
Warren Waite
Hi Warren,
Thank you so much! I can’t tell you how much it means to hear your kind words and to have your support! Especially coming from someone who doesn’t normally take the time to do so on the many blogs I am sure that you see.
Thanks for being a regular reader and letting me know about it!
Wishing You Tremendous Success,
Thanks for sharing!
You’re welcome Jacqueline!