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Calls-To-Action: Making Them Fit Makes All the Difference
by Karon Thackston © 2004 http://www.learn-copywriting.com It was going so well, so what happened? Many copywriters get off to a wonderful start: The headline is compelling, the body copy is benefit-filled, but then comes the call-to-action and...
Copywriting that Sells
The first thing I learnt after writing my first copy was – it all boils down to how much your copy sells. No matter how good it is, no matter if it beats Hemingway and Dickens in the efficient employment of language, if it does not sell, it is...
How Freelancers Can Expand Their Business Using Personal Coaching
Back in 1985 when I first started copywriting, the only help I could find on the subject were books by Herschell Gordon Lewis, Bob Stone, David Ogilvy, and a few others. I didn’t even look for books on how to build a copywriting business because it...
How To Write Little Tiny AdWords Ads That Bring Giant-Sized Profits
by Karon Thackston © 2004 http://www.copywritingcourse.com It seems to be a phenomenon. You try Google AdWords Select, your ad gets “disapproved” by the powers that be at Google, you count your losses and give up. It doesn’t have to be that way....
Lower Cost & Increase Conversion of Your AdWords Ads
by Karon Thackston © 2005 http://www.copywritingcourse.com
Comparison shoppers are the mortal enemy of pay-per-click (PPC)
advertisers. When you're paying each time someone clicks your
AdWords (or other PPC) ad, the last thing you want is a...
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A Copywriter Never Mumbles – and Other Principles of Effective Ad Copy
H.L. Mencken, the author, jounalist and social critic observed that most people "write badly because they cannot think clearly." And the reason they cannot think clearly, he went on, is that "they lack the brains."
Putting aside H.L.'s cricisim for the moment, let's assume that all copywriters have the "brains" and, more often than not, we are capable of clear thinking. It follows then, that we stand a very good chance of being able to write well. But clarity of thought is only step one. The following principles will help you move on from there, so that you can put down in writing exactly what you have in mind.
1. Don't mumble.
Advertising is most effective when it is easy to understand. (Take a look at any advertising effectiveness study.) In other words, you sell more stuff when you write copy that is clear.
Copy that speaks out commands attention; copy that mumbles doesn't. So once you've thought about what you want to say, come right out and say it. Don't mumble your message by being short on specifics or long-winded in your sentences. And don't use big words, cliches, jargon or borrowed interest.
Keep in mind E.B White's sobering advice: "When you say something, make sure you have said it. Your chances of having said it are only fair."
2. Get to the point.
Start selling with your very first sentence. Try to make it and every sentence that follows simple and declarative. Factual. And short. Short is powerful. Lincoln used only 266 words in his Gettysburg Address. And many believe that the shortest sentence in the New Testament – "Jesus wept." – is also the most moving.
3. Don't write like a nerd, a lawyer or a bureaucrat.
In his Simple and Direct, Jaques Barzun says, "The whole world will tell you, if you care to ask, that your words should be simple and direct. Everybody likes the other fellow's prose plain." Don't inflict technical jargon, pompous words or fancy phrases on your readers. Remember, you're trying to communicate with them, not impress them with your grasp of show-off fad words or vague abstractions. Why write "sub-optimal" when you mean "less than ideal?" Why write "interface" when it is more clear and direct to write "discuss, "meet," or "work with?" Why take the chance of annoying your reader by writing "net net" instead of "conclusion?"
4. Use short paragraphs,
In 'Four Fish,' Humans Get Schooled On Seafood
Lifelong angler Paul Greenberg fuses investigative journalism, travelogue and personal memoir into one grand meditation on humankind's relationship with the ocean. <em>Four Fish</em> asks readers "to reevaluate whether fish are at their root expendable seafood or wildlife desperately in need of our compassion."
Jay Roach, Steve Carell Pair Up For 'Schmucks'
Actor Steve Carell stars as an amateur taxidermist who enjoys creating elaborate dioramas with his stuffed rodents in the new Jay Roach film, <em>Dinner for Schmucks.</em> The two comedy vets talk improv, pathos and more.
short sentences and simple words.
The professional copywriter always practices this simple principle: Short sentences and short paragraphs are easier to read than long ones. And easier to understand. Rudolf Flesch, in The Art of Plain Talk, says that the best average sentence length is 14 to 16 words, 20 to 25 words is passable, but anything over 40 words is unreadable. So write in crisp, short, snappy sentences. A trick of the trade -- using sentence fragments -- can help keep your average sentence length to a respectable number of words. And add drama and rhythm to your copy.
Paragraphs should also be kept short. Long, unbroken blocks of text intimidate readers. If it looks hard to read, they probably won't read it.
As for short words, John Caples, the Hall of Fame copywriter said: "Even the best-educated people don't resent simple words. But they are the only words many people understand."
Plain writing in simple words simply communicates more effectively than writing with a lot of big words. Keep in mind that in Shakespeare's most memotrable sentence -- "To be or not to be?" -- the longest word is only three letters.
5. Write simply and naturally
People like to read simple, easy-to-understand writing. And the simplest, most easy-to-understand style is to write conversationally, the way you talk when you're at your best -- when your ideas are flowing smoothly, when your syntax is fluent and your vocabulary accurate. A simple test to check on your conversational tone is to imagine yourself speaking to your reader instead of writing. Are you expressing yourself clearly, or are you mumbling? Are you using only those words, phrases and sentences that you might actually say to your reader if you were face to-face? Or do you sound stiff and impersonal? If you wouldn't say it, why write it?
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©2003 Burek Group
About the Author
Walter Burek is an award-winning copywriter who learned his craft at some of the finest advertising agencies in the world and has been a writer and Creative Director on some of advertising’s most important accounts.
Currently, he offers freelance copywriting services through his company, walterburek.com.
Walter also writes, edits and publishes Words@Work, a free newsletter for marketing communications professionals.
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