Copywriting
Archived Posts from this Category
When being funny, isn’t
Posted by Sandra Cosser on 24 Jul 2008 | Tagged as: Copywriting, Social Media
Humour is one of those rare things that has global appeal. While it is true that humour does differ from nation to nation (think dry British humour vs. the more slapstick physical humour favoured by Americans), there are some cases where humour is broad enough to bridge the widest divides (the bizarre antics of pets are usually always good for a laugh, as are people falling or hurting themselves in unusual ways). Humour has the ability to unite, but injudicious use of humour has the ability to divide, insult, affront and incite anger, which is way you should approach humour with caution in your writing.
Back-stories: boost your advertising campaign with some well-chosen personal details
Posted by Sandra Cosser on 01 Jul 2008 | Tagged as: Copywriting, SEO Strategy
Advertising campaigns, both online and offline try to tap into the emotions of their target audience. They try to evoke feelings of pleasure, joy, happiness, contentment, pride and desire; feelings that can only find release or be brought to fruition with the purchase of the product or service concerned. However, these efforts often fall short as advertisers fail to relate to their audience. They fail to get the audience on their side and this usually results in consumer apathy. People shop out of habit, or chase prices and can seldom be convinced to switch brands. One of the most effective ways to gain consumer sympathy and generate loyalty is to share something personal that relates in some way to the campaign at hand. Revelations of this kind are known as back-stories.
Learn to write sexy-useful straplines
Posted by Caitlin Smythe on 15 May 2008 | Tagged as: Copywriting
I recently wrote straplines/taglines/spirit lines for MVI Data Recovery. It proved to be a difficult task, or at least, not something a writer can pull out of her hat of preferred epithets (not that I ever do, of course). To clarify, a stapline is a short sentence, sometimes a fragment of just three words (“Just Do It”), which escorts a company’s logo into the public eye. I’ve seen it referred to as business’s war cry. I’d add that it’s like the Lunar Module landing on the Moon: delicate, precise, and if all goes well, an opportunity to explore new territory between business and client.
Write calls to action that convert
Posted by Caitlin Smythe on 16 Apr 2008 | Tagged as: Copywriting
You’ll notice it most when you’re looking to buy something online. You arrive at a top-ranked site, you’re convinced by its flowery and flattering copy, and now you want to take action. Usually, there’s a “click here for a 15 day free trial” or “contact us now via our number/email address” or even “register and receive a discount on your purchase” or whatever. If there isn’t a call to action, you move on, feeling frustrated for wasting your time. Persuading a reader to take action is so important in terms of conversion optimisation. A simple sentence inserted here and there can crush the bounce-rate, bump up sales, and by extension, improve your site’s ranking simply by flagging your customer down.
Duplicate content in laymen’s terms
Posted by Dylan Brent on 13 Mar 2008 | Tagged as: Copywriting
Duplicate content is often seen as substantial chunks of content across two or more domains that are identical to each other or noticeably similar. The reason search engines frown upon duplicate content is that when bringing up results it would be best for there to be as many diverse interlinking pieces of content as possible, without having several of the same or obviously similar pages of content popping up in the SERPs.
Fresh vs. stale content: develop a unique site identity
Posted by Sandra Cosser on 28 Feb 2008 | Tagged as: Copywriting, Social Media
Maki, from www.doshdosh.com, wrote an interesting post lamenting the lack of originality in blog writing. She refers specifically to the glut of “top tips” blogs and the “How to increase your traffic” posts that litter cyber space, which she feels rehash every other blog on the same subject and offer nothing new. She has a very good point.
When I first started writing blogs I sought refuge in these types of posts. They aren’t particularly challenging. Someone else has already done the research so you don’t have to think too much about your writing. My editor must have done her nut every week as I spewed out one generic post after the other. It took a while but fortunately I have learnt better, at least I hope I have.
Say it plainly
Posted by Caitlin Smythe on 20 Feb 2008 | Tagged as: Copywriting
It’s true that the Internet uses language to get its myriad meanings across. I don’t need to prove that point. But do old-fashioned tips for writing still apply to today’s web writing?
Steve Jobs, in response to Amazon’s awful e-book, Kindle, says that nobody reads anymore (possibly he meant that nobody reads books anymore, but it’s okay Steve). Internet marketing language is less a decorative art than a skill that takes into account many concealed truths about search and intention. George Orwell, English author of such unforgettables as 1984 and Animal Farm, had a few things to say about spreading ideas through effective writing. And some of them are useful now, in a world that even Orwell, who died in 1950, did not envisage (in print, anyway).
Subtle persuasion of hypnotic writing
Posted by Sandra Cosser on 18 Feb 2008 | Tagged as: Copywriting, SEO Strategy
Hypnotic writing is an ethically cloudy, but effective method of improving sales and conversions. Rex Steven Sikes of Idea-Seminars.com, http://www.mrfire.com/article-archives/guest-articles/hypnotic-questions.html, says that to take full advantage of hypnotic copy, we need to consider the three languages that occur inside English.
The first language, according to Sikes, is the language of pictures, which is how we view items in our minds as well as in the real world. The language of sounds is second, and incorporates our internal monologues, as well as how we interpret what we hear. Third is the language of feelings, which is when a particularly emotive word or turn of phrase elicits a strong positive or negative emotional reaction.
Conversational English vs. bad grammar
Posted by Sandra Cosser on 01 Feb 2008 | Tagged as: Copywriting, Social Media
Online communication tends to be more informal and relaxed than written text. This conversational style has resulted in everyone sending an email or writing a blog, adopting his or her own version of poetic licence. It’s debatable about whether some rules can be bent to suit a writer’s will or particular style. Other rules are less flexible. By not observing them we detract from our credibility, and effectively announce our carelessness to the world.
Is registering your copyright really worth the trouble?
Posted by Sandra Cosser on 18 Jan 2008 | Tagged as: Copywriting
No one really likes wading through the ins and outs of legal issues. I’m not sure that lawyers even like the law. So the thought of registering copyrights and willingly entering a legal quagmire is not something that appeals to our sense of fun. Most of us would rather sleep on a bed of nails and walk through fire than endure a trial. We don’t believe that we would ever file a suit against anyone, so the need for copyright is negated. There are, however, two important theories advocating copyright that counteract this reasoning.
