3 Rookie Copywriting Mistakes to Avoid
Written by: Eric Brantner on December 8, 2009 – 7:33 am
As a freelance copywriter, I’ve worked on several projects where I was hired to clean up the mess left by the last copywriter. For one reason or another, the copy they wrote wasn’t working, and of course, the client wasn’t happy with it.
Most times, this happened because the client tried to save money on hiring a copywriter. They hired the cheapest copywriter they could find, and as a result, they got what they paid for.
When cleaning up the mess left by rookie copywriters, I’ve noticed there are 3 common mistakes they tend to make.
- Rookie Mistake #1: Focusing on the wrong benefits—My good friends over at The Write Blog, wrote a post a while back titled “Don’t sell the car. Sell the Nissan.” The title sums it up perfectly. You need to write copy that focuses on the benefits specific to your products and services. It’s all about identifying your unique selling point. Like Wintress says in her post, you wouldn’t sell a car by telling the reader that “it’s a faster way to get around town than riding a bicycle.” Instead, you would probably focus on the miles per gallon the vehicle gets and the unique features specific to the vehicle (and more importantly, the benefits of said features).
- Rookie Mistake #2: Not asking the reader to take action—At the end of the day, the success of the copy depends on whether or not the reader takes action. All copy has a purpose. It could be to close the sale on the spot or to get an email address to gather leads. Identify the purpose of your copy, and ask the reader to take the action you desire. If you don’t ask for an action, your readers will never snap out of their passivity.
- Rookie Mistake #3: Using too much fluff—I’ve seen some copywriters make a living out of saying nothing at all. Oh, they write a lot of words, but they aren’t actually saying anything. Their copy is nothing more than a bunch of fluff that takes up space but never gets results. Here’s a tip. Print out your copy, and cross out non-essential content that doesn’t add to your main message. Just be careful not to go overboard as you don’t want to strip the personality and conversational tone from your copy.
Which rookie copywriting mistakes would you add to this list? Leave a comment with your thoughts.
December 8th, 2009 at 9:13 am
Hi Eric,
Thanks for the mention on your blog! Here's another big rookie mistake: Assuming you know more about the client’s clients than your client does. A lot of copywriters try to fit clients into their own mold, rather than really listening to what the client needs.
So, for example, if the copywriter is used to getting response with short, pithy copy and using a lot of chunking on a website, sometimes they get in the habit of trying to write every client's copy that way. Then if the client wants longer, more technical copy, the copywriter's first response is to think “well, I'll do it their way, but the client is obviously an idiot and this will never work.”
The thing is that, surprisingly, a lot of times the client is right. Clients who have been in business for a long time tend to know their customers — and they have often attracted customers that are very similar to them. So, if, for example, the client is fascinated by the mechanics of shot peening — their clients really may be interested in that too. As hard as that is for you to believe. You may think someone would never read all that, but you may be wrong.
The trick is (and it is a very difficult balancing act) to balance what you know about best practices in writing with what they know about their clients. There is a perfect medium in there — but it requires you giving them the benefit of the doubt (and visa versa).
Wintress Odom
The Writers For Hire, Inc.
http://www.thewritersforhire.com
December 8th, 2009 at 9:25 am
I would add to #3 by suggesting it's not effective to write fluff content solely for SEO purposes. This is doubly annoying, because not only is nothing being said, but it's clear the content is only there to improve organic rank.
December 8th, 2009 at 1:47 pm
Wintress–
Excellent point. There are a lot of know-it-all copywriters who can't handle input and advice from their clients. I also think many copywriters are just lazy, and they would rather stick with what they know than spend the time truly researching the client's business to determine what strategy will work best for them.
December 8th, 2009 at 1:50 pm
Suzanne–
You've just hit on one of my biggest pet peeves. Obviously, there's nothing wrong with wanting to target important keywords in your niche, but you should never write low quality, filler copy just for this purpose. Like I always say “What's the point of ranking well in the search engines if the content doesn't convert visitors?”
Thanks for the comment!
December 8th, 2009 at 11:35 pm
“Don't sell the car. Sell the Nissan” I guess this copy is intended to deride the quality of Nissan. May be it can be interpreted in that manner also. So I can't agree that the copy is clear.
December 22nd, 2009 at 4:47 pm
This may be overstating the obvious, but two common issues spring to mind:
1) Failing to spell check. If I had a nickel for every misspelled word or misplaced punctuation mark, I wouldn't be writing this now (because I'd be on the beach sipping Mai Tais from thousand-dollar bills.) People! You must check your work for errors! If you can't do it, team up with someone who can.
2) Failing to achieve an economy of words. Here's an example: "What happened was that, in order to ensure that the reader was getting the point, the writer went way far off base and overdid the whole thing." (This is a real example of someone's writing, collected during one of my writer's coaching sessions.) This could be just as easily expressed as, "To ensure the reader got the point, the writer went beyond what was necessary." One of my favorite Internet marketers, Nick Usborne, discusses the importance of short, concise sentences, especially for web copy, at http://www.wilsonweb.com/design/usborne-skimmers-...
Hard to argue with, isn't it?