Copywriting

“If you have a business right now and I were to take away everything,  If I were to take away your lists, your money, your client base, everything! you can build back up and make a million dollars pretty fast, if you’re left with one thing and that’s the skill of writing great copy.”

Michel Fortin

Copywriting is THE skill of the internet age. This is an enormous subject on its own. Below is a checklist I use in writing copy, which is over 95% for the internet market.

Copywriting Checklist

1. The Three Viewpoints - switch between these to test your copy as you write it.
   1. Creative Writer
   2. Inner Salesman
   3. Your Customer
2. Research - This should be a fundamental part of your business plan, so you should be able to just pull this out and refer to it.
   1. Customer – Identify your audience
      1. How they talk
      2. Demographics
      3. What they need/want
      4. What they avoid/dislike
      5. Where they go - websites, forums, stores, social networks.
   2. Competition - competitor analysis
      1. Outlets offline & online, especially web domains.
      2. Customer base - demographics as well as traffic estimates.
      3. Prices
      4. Unique Selling Proposition
      5. Products
      6. Customer Service
      7. Profitability
      8. Advertising - their best ads
      9. Copy samples
   3. Market Place
      1. Previous advertising
      2. Size
      3. Maturity
      4. Saturation level.
      5. Pricing
      6. Marketing strategies.
3. Unique Selling Proposition
4. Delivery Methods
   1. Direct mail
   2. Website
   3. Email
   4. Newspaper Ad
   5. TV Ad
   6. Infomercial
   7. Multimedia
5. Desired Outcome
   1. Primary sales objective – Most Wanted Response.
      1. One Step Sale
      2. Lead Generation
   2. Secondary objectives
6. Writing Style
   1. Talk to the prospect almost intimately – use ‘you’ as often as possible.
   2. Positive language
   3. Generate excitement by showing your own excitement.
   4. Short sentences
   5. Paragraphs no more than 5 sentences, keep it to an average of about 3.
   6. Underline key passages.
   7. Simple words – write for 12 year old reading level.
   8. Give structure to the content.  Use white space well.
   9. Use page turners and cliff hangers to keep the momentum and position them so they have to turn the page or click the link to read the ending.
   10. Should be fast paced, up beat, exciting, page turning copy and make you want to buy.
7. Word Play
   1. Power words
   2. Presuppositions
   3. Sensory neutral
   4. Unspecified nouns
   5. Mind Reading
   6. Lost Performative
   7. Cause Effect
   8. Complex Equivalence
   9. Presupposition
   10. Quantifiers
   11. Modal Operators (necessity & possibility)
   12. Nominalizations
   13. Unspecified Verb
   14. Tag Questions
   15. Conversational Postulate
   16. Referential Index
   17. Comparative Deletion
   18. Pacing
   19. Ordinal Numbers
   20. Double Bind
   21. Selectional Restriction Violation
   22. Ambiguity
   23. Utilization
   24. Embedded Commands
8. Headlines
   1. Show main benefit
   2. Simple direct Times Roman Font
   3. Get their interest by making a promise or arousing curiosity.
   4. Visual image. The header banner or logo, must suit the offer.
9. Flagging Your Prospects - Call them by name if you can. If you don't have the names so you can't be personal, the trick is to get as close as you can to who they are. Their professional or social group.
10. Opening Paragraph. Must be captivating – tell a story
    1. The first line should lead the reader to the second line… and so on down to the offer.
    2. Sub-Headlines. – Emphasis on important points.  Handwriting in the margin.
11. Hook Lines, Money Shots, Sales Clinchers, Big Ideas
12. Images - they have to work for you, tell a story, not head shots unless that is useful, always use a caption and restate your USP or a benefit or the offer.
13. Product Benefits - brainstorm all you can. What does it do for them. Always ask 'So What?, What does it do for me?' and don't confuse with a feature.
14. Proof.  Prove what you say is true. Best are testimonials. Someone else doing it for you. But you might include bank statements, letter photostats, links to respected sites that can confirm your status or identity.
15. Product Features
16. Objections - answer them in advance.
17. Psychology
    1. Authority - get someone else to tell this if you have testimonials.
    2. Social Proof - testimonials and any photographic or documentary evidence you have about you and your business worth.
    3. Reciprocity - give away value, build up their obligation.
    4. Commitment & Consistency
    5. Contrast
    6. Liking - build rapport, show how you are like them. Build affinity.
    7. Scarcity - develops urgency. Limited supplies are a bit cliched and sophisticated markets see through this on the web. Your limited time is much more believable. Be convincing.
    8. Emotions are powerful - Invoke emotions,
    9. Imagination is powerful - paint images and pictures in their minds.
    10. Rapport and familiarity - establish respect and admiration as well as a general linking.
18. Guarantees - "Your guarantee", prove it, be specific.
19. Testimonials
20. Offer
21. Call to Action. Tell them what to do.
22. PS, PPS, PPPS.  Include PS’s after the headline they are the most read.  Add more than one, better is three. If there are three then the middle one is always read. Use it to restate benefits and your USP.
23. Bonuses & Incentives
24. Sale
25. Follow Up
1. Bumps
2. Up-sells
3. Buyers Remorse
4. Fulfilment
26. Customer Service & Support

Copywriting Resources