Did you know that only eight out of ten people will read a headline?
Here's the kicker: just two out of those eight people will read the rest of the copy.
In other words, you must draw attention right away.
Otherwise, your copy won't really matter, despite the effort you put into it. That doesn't mean a good headline will save you, though.
The rest of the copy needs to maintain that attention.
It sounds like a lot of work, but we've got you covered. We'll go through some of the best copywriting tips that will help you get readers past the headline and read your copy entirely.
What is the key to good copywriting?
The key to writing good copy is understanding whom you are writing for and ensuring your message connects with them. Writing in an authentic, engaging tone that empathizes with your audience's needs, desires, and challenges is vital to effective copywriting.
Good copywriting is simple to understand. Be concise and express your ideas clearly.
Technical jargon and buzzwords don't have a concrete meaning behind them and may confuse readers, so be cautious using them.
Additionally, great copywriting is consistent across every channel regarding brand voice and messaging.
Yet, you must write different types of copy depending on the channel—from a long-form article for your blog to a short yet catchy Twitter post.
Tailoring your copy to each specific platform while getting the same message across and maintaining a similar voice is a crucial skill.
Lastly, copywriting is a part of marketing, and marketing always changes based on consumer behavior, ranking algorithms, and so on.
Great writers adapt to these changes to craft relevant messages and not fall behind the competition.
14 tips for writing great copy
In this section, I'll discuss some copy tips that I've implemented in my own web writing. Most of them can be put to use rightaway and others can be honed with practice.
Here are 14 copywriting tips that can help you write effective content.
1. Write for your audience
As for our first copywriting tip, you must know your audience through and through.
Good copy does more than highlight a product’s/service’s benefits—it also aligns these benefits with the audience's needs and pain points and states how it can solve their issues.
Maids.com's advertisement is an excellent example of copy that achieves that.
The captions address the audience directly and mention that cleaning is more fun when someone else does it—a fact you can't deny, right?
The ad copy perfectly highlights the audience's main issue: keeping up with housekeeping chores.
The copy is in first person, reflecting a common thought in the audience's mind.
This shows that it thoroughly understands its main pain points and uses that information to appear relatable, get readers engaged, and encourage conversions.
2. Keep it simple
Your audience should also understand you with no effort.
Brevity is crucial—don't write walls of text if you can express an idea with just a few words.
Otherwise, you'll drag out your copy and readers will likely lose interest.
One way you can simplify your copy is by avoiding passive voice. Passive voice makes your copy vague, less impactful, hard to follow, and often lengthier.
Let's have a look at a basic example:
- "The copy was edited by you."
- "You edited the copy."
The second sentence is in the active voice.
It's generally shorter, easier to follow, and puts the main subject at the start of the sentence, which makes it clear who does the action.
Also, avoid complex words and other jargon. They don't impress readers—they just confuse them. A good copywriter can turn complicated subjects into digestible information.
Budget Bytes handles it nicely:
The blog post neatly lays out the necessary homemade chili ingredients under bullet points to improve readability.
It then explains the role of each ingredient through short, easy-to-follow sentences.
Notice how it doesn’t go into too much detail about the ingredients—it briefly explains their roles and provides actionable advice everyone can understand.
3. Make an emotional appeal
70% of purchase decisions are emotionally based according to Gallup, an analytics and advisory firm.
You need to establish an emotional connection with readers to write copy that sells.
But how do you know what emotions to target?
It mostly depends on the type of audience and marketing campaigns you write for.
For instance, limited-time offers usually employ Fear Of Missing Out (FOMO) to prompt users to convert quickly.
Here are a few more emotions you can target in your copy:
- Exclusivity: Instills confidence within your audience and adds an element of scarcity. Think of words like "special offer," "members-only," or "secrets," for instance.
- Security: Evokes reassurance and trustworthiness. "Safe," "reliable," "certified," or "guarantee" are common examples.
- Anger: Perfect to paint a picture that describes the audience's issues and helps you appear more relatable. Examples like "pointless," "infuriating," and "terrible" are common power words that trigger frustration.
Here's how Proton VPN's web copy banks on the safety factor to earn the visitor's trust:
The majority of the copy centers around words like "privately," "secure," "protect yourself," and "30-day money-back guarantee."
This reassures visitors and aims to eliminate any doubts that may cause them to leave the website.
4. Write the way you talk
Conversational writing helps maintain engagement and improves copy clarity.
Think of it as attending a seminar. A speaker that goes on and on and sounds like a robot is pretty hard to follow, right?
That's exactly why you should write how you talk—you'll capture and maintain interest, appear more relatable, and improve the reading experience.
Write in first and second person; don't be afraid to address the audience directly.
Ask questions, use contraptions, and maybe even throw in some slang words if it fits your brand.
Also, read your copy aloud to see how well it flows and if it sounds natural.
Check out ProWriter's email newsletter copy:
It almost sounds like a friend who's thrilled to write to you. It uses colloquial terms like "scare up" or "massive solid" to break the ice and give the copy an easygoing tone.
The included GIF and emojis further reinforce that effect.
5. Gauge interest with an interesting hook
You'll need a strong hook to spark the audience's curiosity and motivate them to keep reading.
Here are a few ways you can write effective hooks:
Use interesting questions
Start writing with a thought-provoking question that relates to your topic—it attracts the readers' attention, gets them engaged, and compels them to keep reading so they find the answer.
Include surprising facts and statistics
Interesting facts or statistics spark the readers' curiosity and earn their trust—it immediately shows your copy is backed by factual information.
Add relatable anecdotes
A short story that connects with your topic and relates with your audience does wonders for empathizing with readers, capturing and maintaining their attention.
Here's how QuickSprout's blog post implements a solid hook:
The copy captures attention through a compelling statistic. It then moves on to explain the statistics and why it makes sense.
A quick way to write effective hooks is to use a copywriting formula.
Here are a few popular formulas:
Problem-Agitate-Solution (PAS): Empathize with readers by acknowledging their issues. Get them engaged by aggravating their effects and compel them to keep reading by offering a solution.
Before-After-Bridge (BAB): Highlight the readers' problems, but paint a picture of how their lives would look without those problems. Spotlight your services or products as the bridge toward eliminating the said issues.
Attention, Interest, Desire, Action (AIDA): Capture the audience's attention through a strong hook.
Provide factual details that highlight service or product benefits to get them interested. Turn that interest into desire by establishing an emotional connection and conclude with a strong call to action.
6. Incorporate storytelling techniques
Storytelling can boost conversions by 30%, which is no surprise.
Stories are highly engaging and memorable—they paint a picture in the readers' minds and encourage them to imagine themselves participating in the narrative.
Here's how David Ogilvy's about page incorporates storytelling:
Although short, the copy' first line humanizes the brand by mentioning David Ogilvy and his achievements—not the agency's milestones.
It then tells readers how the agency evolved and continues the founder's legacy under a story-based format, contributing to an engaging reading experience.
7. Write with a purpose
Each marketing channel fulfills a specific purpose in the marketing puzzle.
For instance, here's how Arrae, a supplement company, uses social media posts and product page copy to persuade followers to make a purchase.
Users landing from social media will first see an Instagram post highlighting the audience's pain points and showing how Arrae is the solution—in the form of a testimonial.
The copy then highlights the product benefits and ends with a call to action to "Shop Now", leading users to the next step of the buying journey.
The product page then banks on the supplement's benefits.
It uses powerful phrases like "under an hour" or "clinically tested" as well as percentages to help readers quantify the product's effectiveness and nudge them to purchase.
Landing pages are copy-heavy, and they have one aim—converting users. So here's the place to make your product shine and include all the information buyers need to confidently make a purchase.
8. Embrace AI
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has completely changed the copywriting game. You can either embrace it or fall behind the competition.
And really, there's no reason you wouldn't want to.
AI writing tools can help you throughout the content creation process, from research and ideation, to generating first drafts and optimizing your copy.
With Surfer AI you can generate an SEO article in 3 simple steps.
One, type in your target keyword.
You can choose to target more than one keyword.
Then, customize your article.
Instruct Surfer on the type of article to write. Choose from Blog Post, Product Roundup and Singe Product Review.
Specify your tone of voice from the list of 13 options.
Optionally, you can enable the anti AI detector to pass AI content detection tools.
Use the custom knowledge feature to include specific information and research in your article by adding URLs or text.
You can also manually select your organic competitors.
Once you're done, click "Create Outline" and wait a few minutes while Surfer AI creates an outline for you.
And three, review and customize your outline.
Once you're satisfied, click "Let's write".
Voilà, you'll have an article that's ready to rank, complete with images and relevant keywords.
You can do in 20 minutes what would take hours of research and writing.
9. Show, don't tell
No matter how well-written your copy is, you need to back up your statements with statistics and examples.
This adds credibility to your content, helps you appear more relatable, and creates a more pleasant reading experience.
For instance, FirstSiteGuide's blog includes a graph showing the usage level of various blog solutions in the United States.
This adds a lot more weight and credibility than simply saying "WordPress is the most popular blogging platform."
That said, make sure to search for statistics that complement your statements.
Simply type your keywords followed by "statistics" in the search bar and you're covered.
Also, include links to the sources in your content, as it allows readers to verify your claims.
The same principle applies to sales copy. Back up your claims with testimonials or any other type of social proof to earn trust and motivate prospects to take action.
For instance, CrazyEgg's case study uses statistics to help readers quantify results and appear more convincing.
10. Look for appropriate words
Copywriting is all about clever wordsmithing.
Although many words have similar meanings, they can differ in impact—picking the right words draws the line between weak and solid copywriting.
For instance, a case study by GoCardless shows how changing the copy from "Request a demo" to "Watch a demo" brought in an increase of 139% in demo sign-ups.
In other words, switching a single word more than doubled the conversions.
Weigh the words within your copy and understand the difference between weak and strong words.
Weak words are ambiguous and general, while strong words are specific and concrete. Let's have a look at an example:
- "He was really tired after the marathon."
- "He was exhausted after the marathon."
"Exhausted" has more weight to it.
Avoid unnecessary adverbs to emphasize adjectives like "really," "very," "so," and "too", for example.
You should instead replace them with a single, powerful word. This helps keep sentences short, clear, and impactful.
And don't forget about your target audience. You need to pick words they're familiar with to get your message across.
11. Don't ignore the editing phase
Your first draft is just that—a draft.
High-quality copy rarely comes on the first try, but that's what editing is for.
Start by proofreading content, hash out any grammar or spelling mistakes, and check for sentences in passive voice.
Make sure your content primarily includes short sentences for better clarity and readability, while your copy's tone of voice fits your audience.
Again, read your copy out loud. This helps you determine whether your content flows naturally and is easy to read.
Also, copy has to adhere to your brand guidelines.
The brand's unique voice, core message, and unique selling proposition must be consistent across channels.
AI can also assist you with the editing process.
For instance, Surfy, our AI-powered writing assistant, can help you with specific tasks, such as improving sentence clarity and expanding on ideas—perfect for speeding up editing.
Just tell Surfy what you want to achieve - you can choose from automatic commands or be as detailed as you wish with your prompts.
Surfy will do the rest.
12. Break the rules
Sure, you need to respect grammar and syntax rules so readers can take you seriously—in most cases.
There's a thin line between written and verbal communication in copywriting.
Breaking common grammar rules sometimes helps you write in a friendlier, more engaging tone and ultimately craft more impactful copy.
Here are a few rules you can break:
Do (not) use contractions: Contractions sound friendlier and simulate verbal communication—perfect for connecting with readers through everyday language.
(Never) start sentences with "and," "because," or "but": Conjunctions at the beginning of sentences capture and maintain the readers' attention, motivating them to keep reading. They also help emphasize important ideas and break up long sentences.
(Never) end sentences with propositions: Concluding with prepositions like "from," "at," or "to" helps you write in a more conversational tone.
(Don't) use jargon: Well-placed jargon helps you connect with readers by using terms they're familiar with—especially when you target niche audiences.
Here's how ClickUp uses industry-specific jargon to appeal to its audience:
The advertisement uses project management-related terms like "OKRs", and "SMART goals", for instance.
Although they might not have much meaning to the average consumer, project managers frequently use these terms.
13. Create a "flow state"
I get it, creativity doesn't come on command, but you can still keep your creative juices flowing once they start seeping in.
Set up time slots specifically dedicated to content creation.
It’s best to split your schedule into a step-by-step process.
Start with brainstorming new ideas, move on to research, then to writing, and finish off with proofreading and editing.
Avoid distraction as much as possible during these timeslots—leave your phone in another room, turn off your email and social media notifications, and so on.
This trains your brain to maintain focus and creativity during these specific timeslots.
But, doing these all at once will cause you to feel overwhelmed.
So it’s best to take breaks in between these steps.
Besides, you can't force yourself to write a 3,000-word blog post in one sitting.
Breaks help disconnect your mind from the current task and slowly transition to the next step.
You should be refreshed once you get back on the keyboard.
Other productivity tips include:
Establish fake deadlines: If you have seven days to finish a project, why not do it in three? This prevents procrastination and makes room for extra work—or more free time.
Use AI for brainstorming: AI tools help you explore new ideas and generate outlines so you can skip to the research and writing process.
Have a clear vision: Brian Clark, one of the highest-paid copywriters, states that knowing exactly what to do is one of the most important things for productivity.
Leverage your audience, content format, message, and topic to develop a strategic approach to content creation.
14. Continuously work on your skills
Copywriting is a skill that's easy to get into, but hard to master.
You can work on your copywriting skills and get better at drawing focus and maintaining attention, as well as evoking emotions within your audience.
Ask for feedback from your managers or clients.
There are also numerous Reddit threads dedicated to copywriting.
You can always drop by and ask other writers for suggestions. Moreover, enroll in courses and check other blogs or books to upskill your copywriting.
Here are a few resources:
SEO Writing Masterclass: An online course that teaches you how to write copy specific to different stages of consumer awareness, perform keyword research, and attract more traffic to your content through SEO.
Copyblogger: A blog full of informative articles and copywriting tips for content writers and content marketers.
You'll find tips on developing content strategies and improving productivity, copywriting techniques, and more.
The Adweek Copywriting Handbook: A book of copywriting tips written by Joseph Sugarman—a world-class copywriter.
It's full of practical, easy-to-digest copywriting tips.
Either way, practice regularly, be it through work, personal blogs, or creative exercises. The sooner you imprint copywriting techniques in your brain, the better.
Key Takeaways
- Always write with your audience in mind. Appeal to their needs, deepest emotions, and pain points to craft copy that resonates with them.
- Use hooks, copywriting formulas, and storytelling to attract more attention and keep the reader engaged.
- Use simple, everyday language to relate with the reader. Adopt a conversational tone, break a few rules, and use active language to sound friendly and exciting.
- Include real-life examples and statistics to reinforce your ideas and boost credibility.
- Set up a schedule with dedicated time slots for each step of the content creation process and avoid distractions to increase productivity. Consider AI tools to speed up ideation and research.
- Strive for improvement. Ask for feedback, enroll in courses, and keep on practicing to upskill your copywriting.
Conclusion
And there you have it, some of the best tips to be a better copywriter.
Writing for your audience is the cornerstone of great copy. Get to know the needs, desires, and pain points of different consumer segments and learn how to engage with them through hooks, copywriting formulas, and storytelling.
Nowadays, you can also rely on AI writing tools and assistants to streamline your copywriting process. And remember that copywriting is a skill you can only master with time and practice.
