The term 'copywriting' (writing for business and commerce), includes writing for brochures, leaflets, company manuals, sales letters and writing for web sites. There are many people who make copywriting into a fine art and many copywriters can command very high fees. The difference between something written by an amateur and something written by a professional is considerable.
However, there are a few fundamentals that most of us should apply to our copy. This will improve our writing considerably without having to call in the 'big guns' and pay them a lot of money.
- Spell check your writing - use your computer's spell checker. If you are in the UK ensure your wordprocessor is set to 'UK spellings'.
- Check your text yourself - don't rely on your computer's spell checker, read your document yourself. Remeber, if you use the wrong word, the computer will not pick this up, for example 'right' instead of 'write' and 'ass' instead of 'as'.
- Get some one else to read it and feed back to you - if you have been toiling over your document for a long time you need someone else to look at it. There is every chance they will spot things you have missed.
- Remember KISS - Keep It Simple, Stupid (KISS) means short punchy simple sentences read best unless you are writing for specific groups - ie University Lecturers or PhD graduates for example.
- If you can, put your document away for 24 hrs and read it again. You are very likely to want to update or improve your work after you have had some time away from it.
- Write with your audience in mind - Only use jargon if your readership will understand it.
- Don't be afraid to rewrite your document time and time again until you are happy with what you have written.
There are plenty of great books out there on copywriting. I particularly like the work of Robert W. Bly, for example. Start off following these seven points and build on them through reading and research to help ensure your writing is the best quality possible.
