Copywriting: 6 Copywriting Tips for Non-Writers

Writing copy for your blog, website, and promotional materials is easy. Writing copy that grabs your readers’ attention, however, requires a special skill set. A professional writer can clean up copy quickly, but not every business owner can afford a professional writer.

Would you like to see better engagement on your website? How do you write a better blog post? How do you get a better response to your promotions without hiring a professional writer?

There’s no possible way to share decades worth of education and experience in one blog post, but there are six writing mistakes that every business owner can avoid to create more effective business copy.

1. Very Irrelevant Words. The word very doesn’t show your readers anything measurable – what’s the difference between colorful images and very colorful images? Similar words include somewhat, really, and rather. If the modifier doesn’t provide a measurable description, cut it. (Instead of being rather punctual, be punctual.)
2. Vague Descriptions. Designing pretty gardens doesn’t show your reader what kind of gardens you create as everyone’s definition of pretty Instead, be specific – you design flower gardens using only indigenous plants of varying size and color. (Let the readers decide for themselves whether or not it’s pretty.)
3. It’s All About You. You may have the most experience and best education of anyone in your field, but how will that help your clients? They aren’t really interested in who you are – they want to know how you can help them. Show them.
4. Starting with Your Pitch. Before you tell people what you’re doing, show them the value of your product or services. Show how you can help, then invite them to try your product or attend your event.
5. Using Technical Jargon. My dad was a banker. Growing up in our house, MBA stood for Michigan Bankers Association. My point? Don’t assume that everyone reading your copy will understand technical acronyms or terms (unless you’re a Business-to-Business, or B2B, company). Spell things out so the uninformed reader will know what you’re talking about.
6. The Website Introduction. Hi, I’m Karin Beery! Thank you for visiting my website! As long as you have your company name and logo on your website, people will know who you are (and they already know that they’re looking at a website – they are, after all, online). Skip the intro. Get right to the point.

With the exception of #6, you can apply these tricks to any of your copy – newsletters, promotional fliers, blog posts, etc. When you give your readers more direct, descriptive copy, they’ll know exactly what you’re selling and promoting, which increases your chances of turning readers into clients.