To Write Your Own Copy or Not to Write Your Own Copy - That is the Question

By Jenny Bosworth

If you haven't yet learned to discern good copy from bad copy, you will have a difficult time writing your own. Tim, a graphic designer friend of mine, recently learned the difference when he tried to write his own web copy.

Tim had a phenomenal website. His work was not only the best in the state, but the best in all the surrounding states. He had done high-end graphic work for a number of national clients. But suddenly the work dried up.

Tim asked me to take a look at his website to tell him what I thought, not of his web copy, but of his work. However, being a professional copywriter, Tim's real problems glared out at me. His work was great. His copy sucked.

Not only was Tim's copy filled with spelling and grammar errors, but most of it was fluff. He included copy just to fill space, ignoring the fact that potential clients would want substantial information that could not simply be provided in samples of his work.

Tim made all the mistakes of a novice copywriter: awkward sentences, too much technical jargon, misused words and punctuation, and the worst mistake that any copywriter can make, lack of clarity and failure to communicate. If copy doesn't communicate there is no purpose in it's existence. The number one communication barring culprit is unclear writing and confusing ideas.

When you write your own copy, keep in mind that, just because you know what you're thinking doesn't mean anyone else will. Most people can't get away with simply writing what they think. It's better to consider what your audience needs to hear.

Highly skilled copywriters follow approximately seven basic guidelines. They may not follow all of them all of the time, or they may follow all of them all of the time. But you can be assured that they follow at least some of the seven all of the time:

1. Know Your Audience - Society is broken into different demographics: men, women, teenage girls, teenage boys, single moms, working moms, middle aged men, business people, Gen Xers, etc. The tone and focus of your copy depends on which demographic you need to target.

Before you even begin to write your copy, you must ask yourself:

 Who will be interested in my product or service?
 Why will they be interested (Price, delivery, performance, reliability, service maintenance, quality efficiency, etc...)
 What motivates the buyer?

 Web Design for Marketing
 General Web Marketing
 Newsletter Marketing
 Search Engine Optimization
 Marketing by Writing Articles
 Marketing by Writing Copy

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