Everyone’s a writer these days.
Except they’re not. I’ve lost count of the number of people that have said to me over the years, “Oh, I can’t write”.
Sometimes, they really can’t but sometimes they can, they just need a little help.
We all make errors with our content, often because we’re just too close to it. You may be making some of these.
I’m about to show you how to spot the easy-to-fix booboos and how you can correct them quickly. There are, of course, no guarantees, but I’ve been using these techniques to gain more readers and more customers for a few years now. They do, however, depend on you taking action to implement them.
1. You think it’s all about you.
I sometimes tire of this, but you can’t say it enough. Imagine you’ve gone to a party. You talk about your product or service. All your prospects want to know is “what are you going to do for me?”
No one cares about your mission statement, your clever new slogan, how many offices you have, how many people you employ and all that malarkey. They do, however, care about what you believe in and if that relates to their concerns. If that matches, you may be able to do business together.
As a guide, take a look at the number of times you use the word “You” in your copy. Now compare that to the number of times you use “Us”, We” or “Ours”. If the former doesn’t outstrip the latter by three to one, may I suggest you do some editing?
2. You don’t get to the point
You must have read the stats about online attention spans, haven’t you? Yep, less and less every year. If you don’t grab people very quickly with news of a benefit for them, you’re toast.
You don’t pour over every word on a website, do you? You scan and look for what interests you. Why should anyone else be any different?
Does your site drone on about your company history or every possible feature of your product or service?
Our attention span is dwindling every year. It probably takes you two or three seconds to lose interest. The same applies to your prospects.
Get to the point. Quickly.
3. You use fancy language
Too many people think using long words makes them look intelligent. That may well be true in some fields, but nine times out of ten you’ll lose your audience. So why risk it?
Use short words, lively sentences and lose the pompous business jargon. If your text doesn’t sound like a natural conversation, bin it and start again.
Many people dictate for a more flowing style and transcribe the result later. If you don’t like writing much, this could be a winner.
4. You don’t give people a benefit (or an outcome)
While people are interested in features, they are nothing without an accompanying benefit.
People are drowning in promises. They are sceptical. Don’t tell me I’ll get rich or lose weight. Tell me how rich or slim I’ll get. And how fast.
5. You think people are rational
Buying is an emotional act. Sure, your brain might justify wanting that flash car or that fantastic holiday with an entirely logical explanation. But the truth is you want it, you don’t need it.
What emotional triggers can you use to encourage people to buy? What are their fears, their hopes or their aspirations? How can you serve those?
6. You’re trying to be a smartarse
It’s tempting to use content that you think is ingenious, funny or smart.
Remember two things, what you think is funny, I may think is boring, unfunny, or worse, offensive.
If you do hit on something I find funny, will I still find it funny after seeing it the thirtieth time or will I want to wring your neck?
It’s a huge temptation to try to be clever as ideas are sometimes hard to come by. It’s also tempting to feel very pleased with yourself when you spawn these magnificent gems.
It’s a double-edged sword, and you could easily fall flat on your face.
7. You don’t give people a reason to buy
Let’s leave the worst until last, eh?
Why, oh why do websites, brochures and even sales letters (I’ve seen them!) not first give readers a reason to buy and then ASK them to do so?
There are so many other ways to ruin your copy and many ways to improve it.
But just remember is this.
Good copy costs no more than bad. You don’t need to be a brilliant copywriter to do so (why am I saying that?) The important thing is knowing the difference. Otherwise, you are probably turning down sales – and killing your business in the process.
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