Posts Tagged ‘copy’

Unleashing the Power of Your Words: How to Write Enticing Copy

Posted on: December 19th, 2011 by Deborah Plouffe No Comments

CLICK HERE for a formatted copy of this article that you can use in YOUR business.

I LOVE to write! I love to sit at my keyboard and let the thoughts flow from my brain down to my fingertips. To me, it feels wonderful, but it is NOT copywriting. I figured that I would be a great copywriter because I could weave wonderful stories and because I always got As on all my essays. It didn’t take long for me to learn, however, that writing sales, advertising or any other kind of promotional copy is NOTHING like writing an essay for history class.

Essays, not unlike the older advertising models for print ads that we followed decades ago, are meant to instruct and inform. Writing for the web, however, is very different. We’ve come to expect online copy to be less formal and more engaging and inviting. It also tends to be interactive, aiming to create a bond with readers.

Here are a few suggestions to enhance and improve how YOU write copy for your online correspondence.

  • Remember that you are writing TO someone. You will also communicate with them much more effectively once you understand who that someone is! Take time to define your ideal client and tailor your approach to that specific audience so that they can recognize that you are speaking directly to them.
  • Use words like YOU and WE (not “one” or “some people”). For instance, write “You never know when you will need a widget” NOT “One never knows when he will need a widget.”
  • Write backwards. Put the most important information first, then give details and wrap it all up with an action step.
  • Watch your language. It should be clear, informative and personable (meaning that it has personality!). Don’t use boring, passive language like “A good time was had by all.” Change it up to “We had a wonderful time!”
  • Keep it clear, concise and organized. The use of things like bullet points, sub-headings, bolding and shorter paragraphs all help to make it easier to read and navigate.

There are also FIVE essential elements that you absolutely need to include in your sales copy, and they work best if you organize them into the following order:

FIRST, show them that you both understand their needs AND that you can fulfil them. Relate to their problems by explaining a common scenario that will show you the kind of problem you can solve.

SECOND, empathize both with them and their problem.

THIRD, offer a solution to the problem.

FOURTH, explain your solution and why how they will benefit.

FIFTH, include next steps that tell them what to do next.

Finally, do expect to go back over and over again to revise your work until it is well polished and you’re happy with the result. In addition to eliminating any grammatical or structural errors, you also need to be sure that it sounds well and is inviting and enticing to your reader. I encourage you to follow these suggestions and you’ll be pleased with the result.

CLICK HERE for a formatted copy of this article that you can use in YOUR business.

Notes from Deborah’s Desk – November 2011

Posted on: November 23rd, 2011 by Deborah Plouffe No Comments

As published in the Timed Write newsletter for November, 2011

I LOVE to write! I love to sit at my keyboard and let the thoughts flow from my brain down to my fingertips. To me, it feels wonderful, but it is NOT copy writing. I figured that I would be a great copywriter because I could weave wonderful stories and because I always got As on all my essays. It didn’t take long for me to learn, however, that writing sales, advertising or any other kind of promotional copy is NOTHING like writing an essay for history class.

Essays, not unlike the older advertising models for print ads that we followed decades ago, are meant to instruct and inform. Writing for the web, however, is very different. We’ve come to expect online copy to be less formal and more engaging and inviting. It also tends to be interactive, aiming to create a bond with readers.

Here are a few suggestions to enhance and improve how YOU write copy for your online correspondence.

•    Remember that you are writing TO someone. You will also communicate with them much more effectively once you understand who that someone is! Take time to define your ideal client and tailor your approach to that specific audience so that they can recognize that you are speaking directly to them.

•    Use words like YOU and WE (not “one” or “some people”). For instance, write “You never know when you will need a widget” NOT “One never knows when he will need a widget.”

•    Write backwards. Put the most important information first, then give details and wrap it all up with an action step.

•    Watch your language. It should be clear, informative and personable (meaning that it has personality!). Don’t use boring, passive language like “A good time was had by all.” Change it up to “We had a wonderful time!”

•    Keep it clear, concise and organized. The use of things like bullet points, sub-headings, bolding and shorter paragraphs all help to make it easier to read and navigate.

There are also FIVE essential elements that you absolutely need to include in your sales copy, and they work best if you organize them into the following order:

FIRST, show them that you both understand their needs AND that you can fulfil them. Relate to their problems by explaining a common scenario that will show you the kind of problem you can solve.

SECOND, empathize both with them and their problem.

THIRD, offer a solution to the problem

FOURTH, explain your solution and why how they will benefit

FIFTH, include next steps that tell them where to go and what to do

Finally, do expect to go back over and over again to revise your work until it is well polished and you’re happy with the result. In addition to eliminating any grammatical or structural errors, you also need to be sure that it sounds well and is inviting and enticing to your reader. I encourage you to follow these suggestions and you’ll be pleased with the result.

New article published in the SUCCE$$ Newsletter!

Posted on: September 1st, 2011 by Deborah Plouffe No Comments

Check out our newest article published in the SUCCE$$ Newsletter

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What DO you do?

Posted on: April 27th, 2011 by Deborah Plouffe No Comments

It’s the “elevator pitch” question that we business owners love to answer…“What do you do?”

When I answer, “I’m a rewriter” I often receive a funny look, but I’m happy to expound. Traditional editing services often include PROOFREADING, which corrects spelling, punctuation and grammatical errors. The text is largely left as it was written.

EDITING continues a step or two further to include changing sentence structure and word choice, reorganizing the text, and making whatever changes are necessary to improve the “flow” of the finished product.

REWRITING (that’s me…the REWRITER) takes it one step further–often rewriting and adding whole new sections between existing parts of the text. I love the challenge of taking what my clients have written and rewriting their words according to the tone of their writing and the intent of their message. It’s one of my favourite things to do!

For the next few months, we are offering a FIRST JOB FREE promotion to help YOU to find the words YOU need to say.  Here’s how it works. We offer the first hour of your first job free—just so that you can see first-hand what we can to for you. Why not EMAIL US and see for yourself what we can do for your business?