Learning to write copy that sells

The mission of the copy is to grab the reader’s attention and persuade the potential customer to make a purchase.

Whether it’s copy for the Web site or writing a sales letter, you’ve got to have an idea of what will get you customers. You want to write a piece of copy that will trigger an inundation of orders; something so attention-getting that it almost forces the reader or visitor to your Web site to buy your product or service.

Learning to write copy that sells is an art – with a capital A. Few people have mastered it. Even copywriters in top advertising firms fail to grasp the essentials. They forget that good writing is simply that which accomplishes its mission, and that the mission of the copy is to grab the reader’s attention and persuade the potential customer to make a purchase.

Much of writing effective copy that sells is intuitive. Much is not. Here are a few do’s and don’ts that can make or break your online copy – or you off-line copy.

• Write to “him” or “her” – not to them. Always think of the audience that you’re writing the copy to as a person. In fact, take a few moments before you actually start writing and visualize a person (man or woman) who would be representative of your target market. Then write your copy directly to this person.
• Write like you talk, using the current phrases of the day (within limits, of course). Many pieces of copy read like a Victorian essay written by your seventh grade English teacher. No offense to her unbearably correct writing, but nevertheless, unbearable. Let your own personality come through in your copy.
• Keep it simple. The quickest way to turn off readers and visitors is to confuse them, make them wade through long, complex sentences, or use words they may not understand. Especially on the Web, when people run across this type of writing, they immediately click to another site. Say what you mean. Don’t get lost in a literary jungle. Use short, punchy sentences, simple words.
• Do some brainstorming. No idea for your copy is too wacky (in the beginning). Put as many ideas down on paper as you can come up with. Then reread your ideas, combine them, and pare them down into workable copy.
• Endow your words with power. Build your copy into a theme, and keep the theme consistent throughout your entire writing. Use words like “new,” “improved”, “the best”. Look for ways to creatively use words. Develop an “advertorial,” for instance, and explain your views on a particular issue or product rather than use your copy to overly sell your product. Or build your copy around a testimonial from a satisfied customer.
• Feel free to “borrow.” Start a swipe file of the best copy you’ve seen and liked. Visit other Web sites in your field and see how they put their product or service in the forefront, words and ideas they use. Don’t forget to pick up ideas from those pieces of hard copy you receive in the mail and see how they affect your thinking and your response level.

Above all, your copy must appeal to the underlying needs and desires of your readers – who you hope, in the future, to make your customers.