Copywriting Mistakes To Avoid Like The Plague
It can be fun to write sales copy for a living, but it can also be quite difficult unless you learn to stay away from some common blunders.
Don’t make the most common mistake which is to not take the time to study your product to every last detail. If you don’t study your products, your prospects will figure it out very quickly when they discover you can’t write about it either. That’s why you need to know everything there is to know about your products so that you can go into detail about them, as the more detail you go into, the more people will trust you and the more sales you’ll make. For example, if you’re selling an ebook on “dog training”, you should be able to write the benefits of this product in such a way that it gives away just ‘enough’ information and retains the main info. Good copywriters can use words to convince prospects that their products are useful to them, and that comes with knowing the pros and the cons of the product. When you have finally learned everything you can about the product, it should then become easy to explain in detail the prospects how they can benefit from the product and also why it’s necessary that they buy it.
Always remember that your sales copy’s success depends on how clear you’re in your approach. This has to do with the words you use and also how you manage those words in your copy. Lots of copywriters don’t remember this part and they leave out very important stuff like subheadings. This is something that should be obvious, but all copywriters need to make sure they don’t make it. Sales copy is nothing more than a lengthy piece of content that’s supposed to give the prospect the desired information about the product so that they’ll buy it. Now it’s important to make sure that prospects can not only read what you’ve written, but that they fully comprehend what you’re saying. If you aren’t using subheadings, your prospects won’t be able to glean the information they need if they just scan through it. Most people, when it comes to reading sales letters on their computers, don’t have time to go through the entire piece of copy. They will typically skim over the info until they come to a part that looks like something they’re interested in and they’ll begin paying attention at that point. Besides that, your sales copy should be presented in chunks of content that come together like a piece of a puzzle. Your subheadings make it easy for you to highlight the main points of the product by dividing your sales letter into consumable portions. But that doesn’t mean you’ll have subheadings at every little step. You have to make sure that you’re having them only when needed. Another mistake lots of copywriters make is either not giving enough information that prospects should really know, or giving too much away and not leaving enough for the product. It’s a common thing for copywriters to struggle with how much information to provide in their sales copy and how much to keep for themselves. However, it’s always important to give just the information the prospects need to make a decision, but you need to put in all the details that will let them know the benefits. It should be a healthy balance of both. For instance, if you are selling a tool that has to do with search engine optimization, and it was made using visual basic, your prospects probably don’t care about that. However, if the product you’re selling improves their search engine placement, then that’s definitely worth putting into your sales copy. In simpler terms, make sure you give just enough away to make them want the product, but at the same time hold back so you leave something for later. You may find that you need time to perfect this practice, but once you do you’ll definitely see your business grow. Always keep in mind that anyone reading your copy has already shown interest in what you’re offering, and all they want is a little more information so that they can make a good decision on whether or not to buy it.
Another common mistake committed by newbie copywriters is writing headlines that aren’t attention grabbing. Remember that if you can’t get people interested in your headline, they’re not going to read what you’ve written. You need to really focus on making headlines that grip people and make them read, but you’ll also want headlines that cause an emotional response. For instance, if all you do is make a headline about a product’s feature, that won’t do very good. But instead of that, if you insert a powerful benefit that they would derive from using the product, then obviously it will look interesting and the prospect will know what to expect in the sales copy. The benefit you write in your headline should include your USP, or unique selling point. If you’re not sure what your product’s USP is, then it’s about time you found it. If you don’t know what that might be, just think of one. However, make sure your refrain from making the mistake of writing headlines that are lackluster and that don’t differentiate your product from the competition’s product.
You need to make sure you’re also avoid the mistake of not putting a P.S. at the foot of your letter. It doesn’t take much to write one, so don’t forget adding it because it re-enforces the call to action. That is the most essential part, except for the headline.
All in all, the copywriting mistakes you just read about may seem tiny, but you have no idea the negative impact they can have on your business if you don’t avoid them.