9 Tips to Improve Your Copywriting Skills

We all learned how to jot down in school, but taking part in advertising, there are a number of down-to-earth techniques that veteran writers apply to convey messages with greater effect and brevity. Lacking being too tutorial, you’ll discover these 9 tips quite usable as writing style for your subsequently sales letter, brochure or webpage.
Get round the wimpy verbs - is and be.

These “do-little” verbs simply occupy space and state that something exists. So don’t put in writing “There is a single down-to-earth omission that can transform a sentence from boring to brilliant.” Do write “One down-to-earth omission can transform a sentence from boring to brilliant.” Similarly, circumvent “We will be running the new-found program from our Dallas Company.” As an alternative, opt in support of “We want run the recent program from our Dallas Company.”

Place the longest item at the end of a series.

Start with the down-to-earth and exert yourself on the way to the complicated. It’s less confusing and makes a more memorable finish to the sentence. If you have a sequence like “He was every time shortly after Joan, loud and boring.” Go for “He was loud, boring and every time shortly after Joan.”

Details are often more convincing.

Unless you must for legal reasons, except you must for officially authorized reasons, don’t make use of terms like many, several, approximately, virtually and other such mushy weasel modifiers. Information tells your audience that you know what your product can do based on tests, research, results, and so forth.

Modify thy neighbour.

Neighbouring clause that is. Make guaranteed your modifiers apply frankly to the significant clause inside question. Sort out this and you’ll dodge such gaffes equally “I collided with a stationary truck approaching the other way. (The truck wasn’t approaching the other way, it was stationary.) Better to tell the judge “I was approaching the other way and collided with a stationary truck.” (You’ll still shell out the penalty for running into a truck, but at least you’ll come across as sober.)

Use single verbs to avoid doublespeak.

Single verbs can often sort out two comparable verbs. As a replacement for of “The notebook was operating and running smoothly,” choose “The notebook was running smoothly.” Otherwise, as a replacement for of “He was unfilled and ran made known of chatter,” go for the more direct “He ran made known of chatter.”

Vary sentence part.

A thread of sentences all the same part can be very boring. Start with a short sentence or at least a medium-length, then go long, short, medium or any combination thereof. Imagine a person talking in sentences that are all the same length. Robotic.

Are your sentences like the Energizer Bunny?

They go on and on. Just because you’re conveying legal or complex technical information, doesn’t mean you have to use serpentine sentences that never seem to end. Instead of saying “Laser beams, which have many properties that distinguish them from ordinary light, result from the emission of energy from atoms in the form of electromagnetic waves.” Break up and re-phrase to “Laser beams have many properties that distinguish them from ordinary light. They are produced when atoms emit energy in the form of electromagnetic waves.”

Go short and sweet.

Why use a 4- to 5-word phrase when a 1- to 2-word version will do nicely—with no loss in meaning? Statements like “in view of the fact that” can be easily reduced to “since” or “because.” Word economy is particularly important, especially when you’re paying for premium ad space in a major publication.

Don’t overstate the obvious.

Redundancy is good for space travel, but not for clear writing. Phrases like "anticipate in advance," "totally finished," or "vital essentials" will drive your readers crazy and communicate very little. The same goes for stringing two or more synonyms together like "thoughts and ideas" or "actions and behaviour.” It makes readers wonder if you really meant to say two different things or just wanted to reinforce one word with a needless synonym.

So the next time you’re struggling with that sales letter, mailer or webpage, follow these simple rules. They’ll help you communicate your message more clearly and with greater selling power. Remember, there are 26 letters in the English alphabet. Use them wisely.

Richard Onebamoi is a pastor, motivational speaker, author and success facilitator, empowering people to unlock the power to succeed. Visithttp://www.Copywritingsystems.Com