A Creative Venue is Not Enough. Check Out What Will Really Help You in Copywriting
A well-written copy brings benefits that cannot be overestimated. Interesting texts, perfectly tailored to the needs of the recipient, provided with appropriate keywords will make life appear on your website. Readers willingly share valuable content, recommend it as a proven expert text, naturally throw links into it, encourage reading, because they have learned a lot of interesting information from it. Does this sound like the crowning achievement of a good copywriter? I will add, that this is not only pleasant and satisfying, but it brings measurable effects on SEO: this increases traffic, conversion, sales – everything you need on your website. So, let’s dig into what can help you in copywriting!
Contents
1. Good Copywriting Begins Even Before Writing
Believe me, preparing for a long day of work with texts, requires proper preparation. A copywriter should arrange a suitable workplace, for example, a desk with a laptop, a comfortable chair that will support the spine, an orderly working space and as few distractions as possible.
You will find out for yourself, there is nothing worse than writing on your knee, in an uncomfortable position and in a place that distracts you and does not give you optimal focus.
I won’t start working until I have a tidy desk, a ventilated room, headphones, cold water, and tasty nuts at my fingertips. Each of us has different preferences: I like working in our cozy office, with headphones, but you can focus best in a busy cafe or in the complete comfort of your home. The most important thing is to know what works best for you and what can help you in copywriting.
2. If You Already Have Your Place And Nothing Distracts You, Check the Brief
Yes, without a decent brief, don’t even try to sit down in your perfectly prepared workspace, because, writing without a brief, may turn out to be writing only for yourself. Even if you were the most experienced and expert copywriter, you will not live up to the expectations… that you simply do not know.
When preparing, for example, a text for a newly created page, you need to know:
- what the client does, what they offer,
- what the scope of their activities and competences is,
- what the plan for the development of the company is,
- what makes the client stand out from the competition,
- what the client wants to achieve,
- what the purpose of creating the website and its individual subpages is,
- who the recipient of the content on the page is.
This is just the beginning of a good brief list, there are many more points. Consider, whether you have enough information and whether you know, what you will really create.
Ask And Clarify
Remember, that your client may or may not have a clue about how to write a useful brief. However, you should know exactly what kind of information you need to create a good, reliable text. So, if you have the impression, that there are more unknowns in the brief you received from the client than tips – contact them without hesitation. Ask for all the information, clarify and go back to writing with the full info package.
In his book How to Write an Inspired Creative Brief Howard Ibach writes about a very promising tip: “K.I.S.S. If you know this one (Keep It Simple, Stupid) you already know the essentials of writing a brilliant creative brief”[1].
| PROTIP
It is good practice to prepare several schemes for briefs that will simplify your cooperation with clients. E.g. a separate brief for writing texts on a page, a separate brief for articles. |
3. Do Really Good Research
A well-written text will ALWAYS be based on decent research. Full stop.
Believe me, a reader, who is looking for specific information on a given topic will quickly realize, that you wrote the text without preparation, only from your head, and the level of the unprofessionalism of the text will be so high, that it’ll be even difficult to get through it without chills of fear.
Are you wondering what good research is about?
Sources, Sources, And Sources Again!
Always base your content on reliable, verified information. Remember, that your reader is looking for unique and valuable paragraphs. The text that has been created as a result of fusing several already existing verses into one, will be useless. In copywriting avoid using the improbable pages that are based, for example, on unhealthy sensations to attract the attention of readers. The information they contain is usually not valuable and will not contribute much to your article. Look for sources for your articles on official, state websites that you know you can trust.
Check the footnotes, use the bibliography, follow the sources of the quote. These are places where you will always find valuable knowledge. If you still have any doubts, check your information in more than one source.
As you can see, I encourage you to use reliable sources, read footnotes and quotes. See, this means, that such articles are valuable, and you can find a lot of information on them. Why would you not do the same during your copy?! Place quotes, tables, references and charts based on sources. This will definitely help you in copywriting!
| PROTIP
Familiarize yourself with the Google scholar website, where you will find various scientific publications from various fields of knowledge. |
4. Write Interestingly, Take Care of the Structure And, Above All, the Reader
As a copywriter, you take responsibility for the entire text, not just in the shape of the letters. Just referring to the string of characters – have you noticed, that my article does not have a single paragraph that would be a concentrated, huge piece of text? I make sure that the article is not only helpful and substantive, I also make sure that my reader has comfort while reading. Have you noticed what I used in this article to make it transparent and coherent?
These will most certainly include:
- headers of different sizes (H1, H2, H3),
- bulleted lists,
- frames with interesting facts,
- bibliographic descriptions of quotes,
- bolds in the text,
- and moreover, I divide the paragraphs so that your eyes do not get tired while reading.
This is not over, of course. I feel respect for my reader, so I write in understandable language and choose a topic about which I know that they will be interested.
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Before I put the last point in this text, I put it away for an hour, go back to it after that, rewrite what needs rewriting, correct the typos and only after that can I post it on the blog. That is a really big help in copywriting for me!
My Dear Reader, You Have Come to the Last Point, to Summarize!
So, to sum up, in this article I have presented you with some practical advice that will make your start in copywriting really good. You have already learned that creative inspiration, although irreplaceable, is not all that necessary for good copywriting.
Remember that preparing a workplace and to have a rested mind are the first steps you should take before you start writing. When you start, use the undeniably strong power of the brief, do extensive research and rely only on proven, credible sources. Always keep the good of your reader in mind, create a clear, logical text for them with a transparent structure. All this will make your recipient happy to read the text, remember it and, with a clear conscience will recommend it to others. Ah, of course, this is not the end of my practical advice on efficient and effective tips that help you in copywriting – see you in the next sections of this topic!
[1] Howard Ibach, How to Write an Inspired Creative Brief, iUniverse, 2009, p.7. https://books.google.pl/brief+dla+copywritera
