In the last post, Back to school brings me back to basics, I discussed the importance of putting aside some time to re-read and re-learn past teachings in our particular areas of expertise. And since my area is copywriting and marketing, I tend to focus on the core fundamentals of writing to sell.

The interesting thing about the fundamentals of writing to sell is that they sometimes conflict with the standard fundamentals of writing (the grammar and punctuation rules) that we have all learned throughout the years.

When writing to sell, it is often ok to break some of the grammar rules we have all come to know and love. I am not talking about typos or jarring mistakes or anything that confuses the message as these are always no-nos.

Some examples of this acceptable rule-bending I am referring to are:

1. Opting for a sentence fragment vs. a full sentence, maybe in the form of a question in a headline or a subhead. This is a big one – I use a lot of fragments and Microsoft Word will almsot always flag these. Be bold and know you are generally fine doing this.
2. Opting to use slang or industry jargon when it makes more sense than a formal explanation. Along with this goes the “write like you would talk” advice that almost always trumps the “write like you are spekaing formal English” advice.
3. Going with different punctuations like the ….(ellipsis) or ending sentences with prepositions.

I always find it is more important to be consistent in style than to always be by-the-book right.

Web copywriting is expected to get your readers to respond to your call to action. Whether you want them to call your business, subscribe to your newsletter or buy your product or service, you need to find a way to generate a response. Using embedded commands in your copywriting can help. You can casually write a sentence that motivates your readers to take the action you want by using some very effective psychological tactics.

Using presuppositions

When you use presuppositions in your copywriting, you ask certain question that make your reader’s brain feel compelled to answer. You might ask a question like, “What will you do with the extra $500 you’ll save using X service?” This type of question causes your brain to start searching for answers.

You can also use presuppositions in statements starting with “obviously,” “clearly,” or “naturally.” For example: “Clearly you can save time and money by investing in Product X.” These trigger words make it easier for your readers to accept your message without resistance.

Reframing

Reframing is another powerful way to use embedded commands. Reframing alters another’s perception of something by offering another way to look at it. Infomercials are an excellent example of this. When the time comes to learn the price of a product, they share what it would “normally” cost saying something like, “You won’t pay 100 dollars or even fifty dollars. Instead you will only pay 25 dollars for Product X.” Reframing is a good tool to help you justify the price of your product or service.

Keyword research and selection is an important part of SEO copywriting. While keywords/phrases shouldn’t be so important that you miss out on writing copy that interests and engages your readers, optimizing your copy using thorough keyword research does have its benefits.

1) Find a keyword selection tool

A keyword selection tool will help you find the best keyword selections for a specific word or phrase. Enter a word or phrase in the search engine and it will bring up several of the most popular keyword/phrase results to choose from. Overture, Word Tracker and Keyword Discovery are popular keyword tracking tools.

2) Go for low competition in your keyword research

When you are launching a website you are in competition with thousands of other websites that are already established. Keyword research can help. When using a search engine tool, choose appropriate keywords with the lowest competition level. These keywords/phrases will help you get higher search engine rankings faster.

3) Narrowing down your keyword choices

After researching keywords, you might end up with hundreds of possibilities. You’ll need to narrow down your choices to the ones that can provide the fastest search engine results and return on investment. Again, these will be the keywords with the lowest competition levels with the highest searched phrases.

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1) Monitor industry and trade sites within your industry.

2) Follow the news in your industry. Know what’s happening, what’s considered a trend, what everyone is talking about.

3) Always be on the lookout for blog collaborators, alliances and potential JVs. Other bloggers out there, whether in your industry or a related area, are your best potential partners and sources of ideas and future business.

4) Hang out where your potential customers hang out.

5) Know what you are selling and what unique benefit or solution this provides. Nine times out of 10, your competitors are doing the very same thing so you need to stay on top of them and your audience.

6) Being consistent and staying on top of the writing, the competition, the business and the audience will require ongoing focus and attention. I’m not going to lie: It’s never-ending, like a beast with an un-ending appetite. If you’re going to start, do it right.

Good luck!

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