So you’ve been writing for a while.
You know that you’re skilled.
You follow all of the rules of grammar and you proofread your work for errors.
But your copywriting is failing you – no conversions, no traffic, no reTweets, no comments, no new clients. Blech. It stinks. And I bet you’re pulling your hair out wondering what you’re doing wrong.
I feel your pain. I’ve been there. And I’m here to help.
I’ve learned one vital lesson that has helped me to craft strong copy, successfully, effectively and consistently, and I’m going to share it here with you today. Settle in folks; get comfy….
12-year-old girls are bitchy
Yup, evil bitches. Several weeks ago, my pre-teenage daughter came home from school distraught over a classroom incident. She shared that one of her apparent ‘friends’ had suddenly stopped speaking to her, without warning, spreading mean-spirited rumours and doing her best to turn others to her plight. My daughter was devastated, confused, angry.
I spent the next hour explaining that 12 year old girls can be horrible, and sharing in intimate detail how my sixth grade year was spent mostly alone, enduring the taunts and ridicule of an especially malicious clique of girls who made it their singular focus to bring tears to my eyes.
I shared my pain, my frustration, my feelings of isolation. And when I was done with my rant, my daughter looked up at me, doe eyed and teary and said, “that’s great Mom, but that was YOU, this is ME.”
And she was right.
Nobody cares about YOU!
What does this lovely family anecdote have to do with copywriting?
Here’s the deal. Most copywriting today fails miserably because it is fraught with ‘me’ language and doesn’t address the reader’s needs. Unless your personal story directly relates to your readers’ interests, it’s not going to cut the mustard.
Whether you are writing a blog, a press release, a case study, sales copy, web copy – unless you are demonstrating how you are solving the reader’s problems, adding value to their lives and confronting their specific pain points, I’m afraid that your copywriting stinks.
How do you fix it?
Fortunately, there are simple things that you can do to make sure that your copy resonates with your readers. And once you get into the habit of integrating these tips into your copywriting, it will become second nature.
Survey your copy for ‘me’ references
You want to make sure that your copywriting is overwhelmingly about the reader. Review your copy and if you have overused the term ‘I’, ‘we’ or “name of Company”, rewrite it.
Know your audience
You can’t really anticipate your readers’ pain points if you don’t know who they are.
Before I contract with a client, I always make sure that I understand their target market – is the project meant for prospective clients? Partners? Existing customers? It’s also helpful to know the intended use of the piece you are writing. Will it be distributed at a trade show? Will it be circulated through social media channels? Is it a sales pitch or a thought leadership article?
The more you know about the project and its target audience, the better prepared you are to write in a way that will resonate with readers.
Make your copy interactive
Ultimately, you want your readers to feel engaged and invested in your message or sales pitch. In some ways, you are seeking to build a relationship through words and communication. One way to take that dynamic to the next level is by crafting copy that is interactive. Ask questions. Include surveys. Invite follow up discussion.
Good copywriting builds relationships. So if your reader walks away at the end of the last paragraph, never to be seen again, consider yourself dumped!
Put yourself in the reader’s shoes
After you have finished writing, walk away. Come back to the project after a few hours and try to approach your work from the reader’s perspective. Ask yourself:
- What’s the take-away?
- Have you read information that will help you to solve your problems?
- Is this article/press release/case study/newsletter/webpage helpful?
- Are you likely to come back and read more from this writer/blogger/company? Are you more like to purchase their product or service?
If you can’t ask yourself these questions objectively, ask someone else to do the exercise on your behalf. You might be surprised with the responses.
Your turn
So, now it’s your turn to evaluate this post based on the principles that I’ve detailed. How did I do? Have I helped you to solve a problem? Do you feel engaged? Will you visit my blog again?
Share your comments below (interact!) – I promise to take them to heart.
If you found this post useful, I would be most grateful if you would use the social media buttons to tweet and like me on Facebook.
{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
Hey Ruth,
Ah, I see what you mean now.. What we were talking about over at my blog. Stop putting yourself into the writing and put your readers there instead.
I can see though why doing freelance work would be a lot different then writing for your own personal blog. You are actually paid to write for someone else so putting yourself in that content may not go over as well.
If you are writing about a certain topic then it is best to put yourself in your readers shoes. What would they want to learn or read about. I’m sure if I paid someone to write for me I wouldn’t want it on more of a personal level. I guess really it has to do with what the subject matter is.
By the way, you did make me feel engaged and I will definitely come back for more. I also wanted to say that I absolutely love your headers within your posts. That is one cool font. I love that, your blog looks so great.
Wonderful job Ruth! Loved it!
Adrienne recently posted..Stop Obsessing About It And Do It Anyway
Hi Adrienne. Yes – I think that the threshold is different for freelance copywriters – we want to demonstrate how we are solving a problem or making our readers lives easier. We are usually trying to sell a product or service, and to that end, we want to preemptively address our readers’ pain points.
But it’s not entirely different for bloggers. If every post is about you, it’s unlikely that the readers will flock. If you’re always talking about how great your blog is, how fabulous your Ebook is, how phenomenal your coaching services are, your going to bore your readers and alienate them.
Now, in your case – you use your experiences to create a sense of relate-ability – in fact, as I understand it, you were motivated to launch your blog in the first place as a result of your own feelings of frustration. You wanted to spare your readers the difficulties that you encountered and your services and products do just that, right? So in sharing your personal experiences, you are actually identifying with your readers; you’re demonstrating the challenges that you encountered, and then offering to spare them those same frustrations.
In my opinion, you have actually found the perfect point of convergence between drawing from your own experience and solving your readers problems. And you leverage that beautifully in every post, as a way to build relationships, invest your readers, and share your ‘human’ side.
Wow – I am so pleased that you like the look of my blog. Design is NOT my strength, and I’ve been fiddling with it – trying to create something that looks professional, but a little lighter and still different enough that it distinguishes me. The next step is a custom designed logo/header. I’ll lose the generic pencil and put in something a bit more interesting. Your kind thoughts mean the world Adrienne – you were really instrumental in putting me on this path and making me feel excited about the blogosphere. Thank YOU!
Hey Ruth,
I’m back!!!
I definitely can understand if you are a freelance writer and you are writing about products and services that you don’t want to put a lot of you in there unless you’ve actually used them and can draw from experience.
I also relate to what you are saying about a lot of people just writing for themselves and it’s all about them. That’s just their egos talking I’m afraid.
You are right about how I write. I want people to be able to relate to what I share because I once struggled understanding a lot of things online as well so I want them to be able to relate to how I was able to get through it and come out on the other side. I’m glad you enjoy this, that sure makes me feel a whole lot better.
I’m so glad I was able to get you excited about the blogosphere. I love hearing that and I really do love the look of your blog. I like it almost better then my own. You did a real great job with it Ruth, I’m very proud of you.
Keep up the excellent work you are doing. I enjoy visiting your place.
~Adrienne
Adrienne recently posted..Stop Obsessing About It And Do It Anyway
I couldn’t agree more to what you wrote Ruth!
You do need to make a connection with the readers, and what you write in your post should have some meaning and value to them. It is always about them and not about you- this is something people rarely follow and it is the very thing that may divert your readers to other blogs where more value is given to them.
Thanks for sharing
Harleena Singh recently posted..5 Tips to Develop Your Inner Strength and Power
Thanks for stopping by Harleena – and your agreement with my post certainly means a lot! At the end of the day, we are trying to build a freelance writing business, and it often boils down to the relationships we cultivate with our readers. Unless they feel invested, we haven’t done our job, right?
Excellent post Ruth. I really like the anecdote about your daughter. It drives home the point that everyone wants their needs met. If you are talking about yourself they feel like you’re not in touch with them. It’s not easy to do, but if we are aware then we can strive to make it happen.
Hi Wade – thanks for stopping by! Ya, that little exchange with my daughter really got me thinking about how easy it is to fall into a ‘me’ mindset. And as freelance writers, we do this all the time!
Hi Ruth, this is a truly helpful post. I once found a website (how I wish that I had bookmarked it!) that actually evaluates your blog based upon how much you use “I” and “me” versus “you”. The more “you” the better.
I think of that when I respond to comments on my blog. If the commenter has made a good point, I will try not to say “I agree” but instead “You’re right” or “You have a good point.” Readers want to read about themselves, as you said.
I’m very happy about this because I struggle when I have to write about myself!
To another point, Ruth. Having raised three girls through being 12, I respectfully disagree with you and your daughter. What happened to her wasn’t about you and it wasn’t about her. It was about the other girl. When someone was mean to my girls, I would say, “Oh, I feel so bad for Sue (fictional name).” When my girls asked me why, I would respond, “Because people who are happy with themselves aren’t mean to others. She must be very unhappy with herself to act that way. Best to stay away from people like that and find friends who are happy with themselves.” This applies to adults as well.
Thanks for an insightful and delightful post, Ruth. I will certainly be back! (And I happen to like the look of your blog, including the pencil header, but it’s more important that you like it!)
Carolyn recently posted..Mr. Rebates – It Pays to Shop!
Thanks Carolyn for that very insightful comment! And you are so right! I’ve never paid much attention to how I phrase my responses to comments, but arguably, this is the BEST opportunity to engage your readers and make sure they feel valued. I’m going to be more mindful of that now that you have pointed it out!
I trump you on the number of daughters raised through 12 (I have four!….with a 7 year-old son coming up the ranks), but you really do shed some important light on my example. Ultimately, it was about the nasty (and probably unhappy and insecure) girl. But my daughter was looking to have HER feelings of disappointment and sadness acknowledged and validated. I suppose I missed the mark on all fronts. No doubt there will be much more girl drama in the years to come (even with my son!) so I’ll be able to redeem myself. Perhaps I’ll just come to you for advice?
Hi Ruth.
You made a very good point about a lot of people using first person pronouns. Indeed, if we want to involve more readers into conversation and make them understand the situation may occur to them, it’s better to address to them and not only speak about yourself. So I absolutely agree with you.
To be honest… my writing stinks when I’m not interested in the subject.
It’s hard to fake enthusiasm and it comes thru in the words.
But, other than that, I’m not so bad
Anna Thompson recently posted..10 Ways to Write B2B White Papers That Generate Leads
Hi Anna – you’ve raised a really interesting point. As writers, I think that our best material is borne from the things we care about most. No question! But as freelance writers, we need to drum up a sense of enthusiasm for our clients, or else we will fall short. Perhaps we are motivated by the pay, or the exposure or the relationship that we have with the client. It’s not always a function of the content. If we can’t create authentic content that resonates with our readers and puts their needs first, we will not be very successful in our business. Thanks so much for sharing Anna!
Putting yourself in your readers shoes is very important especially if you really want to make an article just for them. You need to be considerate enough to be aware of their feelings, opinions about your writings. Know what they actually expect or need to make it more interesting for them.