Thinking about Copywriting? Avoid These Common Mistakes

Any businessperson knows that copywriting is an essential part of advertising and marketing. Content is important for ads and brochures, and it is especially important when using the Web to promote your business. However, there are plenty of pitfalls that many businesses fall into when creating content. Here are six things to shun if you want to avoid creating content that is irrelevant, boring, and fluffy.

1.Repeats. A drawback in content is repeating yourself. Copywriters often repeat themselves because they are eager to ensure that the point is made. However, this is often ineffective, and can cause a loss of interest. Make your point and support it. Do it well and do it once.

2.Tangents. Adding back stories and extra information to copy is a good way to annoy and bore readers. Focus your ad, brochure, Web content, newsletter articles, on one point and make it clearly. Pace your work so that it is easy to read and moves along comfortably.

3.Extra modifiers. Words that add to nouns and verbs are called modifiers. Adjectives are modifiers that add to nouns (i.e. blue, perfect, stunning) and adverbs modify verbs (i.e. very, rapidly, jauntily). These words slow the pace of the piece and can distract the reader. Instead of writing “My work is very good,” write “My work is good” or “I do good work.”

4.”20 dollar” words. Words that are long and obscure are known as “20 dollar” words. Rather than sounding smart, the copy will seem pretentious. It annoys people and appears patronizing. Additionally, your readers may not understand the words and become confused by the awkward sentences such words create.

5.Ornamentation. This is related to the use of “20 dollar” words. These are attempts to show a clever use of the language. These are extra words that perhaps look and sound nice, but do not actually advance the point of the piece. They can bog down the flow of the content and give the reader an excuse to leave.

6.”To be.” Forms of the verb “to be” slow the pace. Besides, these verbs are passive and bore the reader. Active, solid verbs create a dynamic feel that is interesting. Writing “Our company is an industry leader” does not move the reader forward the same way “Our company leads the industry” propels the reader through the copy. Eliminating forms of “to be” is not always possible, but you should look for ways to do so.