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Freelance Copywriters
Copywriting is a useful skill in any business, but not everyone can write well. It can come off as an elusive skill that only the best writing professionals are blessed with.
Knowing how and what to write seems like a magic wand that can transform words into gold. Words can be used to improve sales and increase conversions, but which ones should you use, exactly, and how?
If you feel a bit jealous of the accomplishments of the best freelance copywriters, do not fret as you can do it, too. Writing effective copy is an art, and as with other crafts, there are hacks you can learn to make your artwork more appealing to the masses.
Don’t believe it? Here are five copywriting secrets that can help you become the copywriting guru you’ve always dreamed of:
1. Know Your Audience
Although this cannot be considered a secret since most writers understand the importance of the readers in their job, it is still worth mentioning because many tend to forget it in the writing process.
More than that, it can be difficult to create a piece that suits everyone, considering the different types of people who will be reading your copy. And with over 200 million pieces of content created every minute, you might find it daunting to create a copy that stands out.
Fortunately, there is one strategy that copywriters have found effective in cutting through the competition: using a target persona.
Essentially, a target persona is your ideal audience. They are the readers you’re attempting to connect with and attract with your copy.
Once you’ve established who you’re targeting, coming up with effective copy can be much easier. It will influence the language you use and the tone of voice that the target persona will resonate with.
2. Catch the Eye and Make It Easy to Digest
It has been established time and again that people have an attention span of a goldfish. As a content copywriter, your job is to catch your readers’ eyes from a single glance and keep it there long enough to cut through the noise of digital distractions.
Improve the readers’ ease in skimming your copy by:
- Weaving an awesome headline;
- Leaving plenty of white space;
- Breaking up text with graphics;
- Using bullet points and subheadings; and
- Writing concise paragraphs.
3. Practice Simplicity
When writing copy for inbound marketing, remember the true purpose of your task — and that it is not the right place to show off your impressive vocabulary. Keep it simple.
Keep in mind that keeping things simple works best, 90 percent of the time.
For instance, rather than writing “accordingly,” you could use “so”; instead of “adjacent to,” write “next to” instead.
Also, it is strongly recommended that you steer clear of jargon, or words that are recognized as technical or corporate speak. Terms like de-massification, re-conceptualize, judgmentally, and attitudinally should be nowhere near your copy. That is, of course, unless your audience is a group of people who are likely to use the same words.
4. Use Psychology to Your Advantage
As with other artistic territories, copywriting can also benefit from leveraging psychology. In fact, there are psychology-supported writing strategies that have been studied and seen as useful in raising the effectiveness of a copy.
Below are some examples:
The Illusory Truth Effect
In the illusory truth effect,the human brain is assisted in making decisions to avoid overloading. It is essentially a shortcut in decision-making.
When using illusory truth, you need to repeatedly expose readers to ideas and concepts until they believe it to be true. This is what happens when people share a bunch of things and start going viral on social media, and readers get exposed to it multiple times.
Rhyming
Rhyming is also a useful trick in creating a copy that drives sales and conversion. Besides giving it a fun and quirky vibe, it can also add to the validity of what is written.
For example, researchers from Lafayette College compared the effects of the phrases “What sobriety heals, alcohol reveals” and “What sobriety conceals, alcohol unmasks.” They found out that the first one (which employed rhyming) is seen to be more accurate than its non-rhyming counterpart.
According to psychologists, these findings indicate that rhyme makes it easier for the brain to process statements fluently, which is often equated with truthfulness.
5. Copywriting Exercises From Famous Authors
Perfecting writing as a craft is much like a pianist practicing scales or artists sketching hundreds of human hands to master drawing it realistically. It takes a lot of patience and a lot of practice.
If you intend to sharpen your copywriting skills, you need an effective way to do so. This is where writing exercise comes in handy.
Take famous fantasy author C. S. Lewis, for example. When asked by a young fan for some tips on how to write well, he offered five rules he lives by.
In the letter, the best-selling author of “The Chronicles of Narnia” shared one interesting tip. He says to avoid using adjectives that straight out tell the readers how you want them to feel about the thing being described in the written piece. It is equivalent to asking them to do your work for you.
Instead, Lewis advised his fan to describe something to achieve the exact emotion you want readers to feel. For example, rather than saying “terrifying,” weave words in a way that will leave readers terrified. Rather than saying something is “delightful,” make the readers come up with that word after reading your description.
Although writing fiction may be an entirely different world to copywriting, the idea presented by Lewis in his writing exercise echoes the idea of making readers feel something instead of just telling them what to feel directly.
Take It to Heart
Whether you’re writing a killer email marketing copy or creating content for your website, copywriting can be challenging. But if you take the secrets presented in this article to heart and apply them, you can watch your copy improve and convert leads into customers.
