How to Improve Your Copywriting Skills – 10 Tips for Mastering Copywriting

Great sales copy can make you a pretty penny, but only if it is done well. You will only make money if you have great copy writing skills.

Writing compelling copy can be a bit intimidating. However, if you start to incorporate some of these practices of excellent copywriters, it will get easier and even more enjoyable.

1. Write to an Individual

As you are writing copy, you should write as though you are speaking to a friend. Grab their attention by writing something that is near and dear to them. Share your knowledge in the best way to possible. Be very personal and add humor. This can help you to stand out in a sea of marketing emails.

2. Master the Basics of Good Copy

This is a step that I am working on. I’m taking a copy writing course to break down the basics of effective copy through AWAI. I’m also a member of the Wealthy Affiliate community. These two writer’s communities provide me with great training and feedback on my sales copy.

Good grammar and spelling are also important. Make sure that your grammar and spelling are on point when you write an email or blog post for your audience.

3. Join Writer’s Communities

It is easy to get discouraged when you write on your own. However, when you are working in groups towards a common goal, you can learn from other writers. Whether you are starting your own blog or freelancing for a company, it is a great idea to join a writer’s community to help you improve.

There are free writer’s groups on Facebook and Reddit. You can also join paid communities that offer specific training and specialized knowledge such as AWAI, Barefoot Writer, and Wealthy Affiliate.

4. Master Writing Headlines

Without a killer headline, your emails and blog posts won’t be read. People are inundated with promotional emails and don’t have time to waste reading a mediocre blog post. Therefore, you need to master writing email subject lines and headlines.

“On average, five times as many people read the headline as read the body copy. When you have written your headline, you have spent eighty cents out of your dollar.” – David Ogilvy

5. Keep it Short and Sweet

Don’t write long paragraphs. People tend to have shorter attention spans. Keep it short, simple and sweet. People will be more likely to read it when it looks interesting and short.

Open your copy up with something engaging that draws in your attention. You can include an intriguing question, share some unusual statistics or an outrageous claim. This will spark the interest of your readers.

6. Imitate Great Copywriters

When you stumble across an email that grabs you and has you so interested that you are pulling out your credit card, you should save the email. Print it out and study the components of it. What is drawing you in? What is the unique sales proposition? How are the benefits articulated?

Does the copywriter use humor? Is it effective? Try to write an email that imitates the style of writing. Practice makes perfect and eventually you’ll have the skill of writing copy that converts.

7. Use Bullet Points and Numbered Lists

Bullet points and numbered lists are a great way to feature the benefits of a product. It also breaks up the texts and is easier on the eye. Many readers will scan down the page and look for bullet points. The bullet points will draw the reader to the most important benefits and features.

8. Edit, Edit, Edit

Your copy should be clean and easy to read. Therefore, you should go through it with a fine-toothed comb. Editing is a tough skill, but it pays off when you are able to articulate your point clearly.

Editing copies also can give you a ton of ideas about your writing level. Eliminate the extraneous words and make the sentences short. Ensure that your message is to the point. Be harsh on yourself and ruthless when you edit. You’ll love the results.

9. Research

Look up statics to support your claims. Make sure that you credit your sources and attribute the statistics to the articles that you find them. Statistics and supporting research articles will strengthen your copy.

When you are researching, do not plagiarize. You can gain ideas from other articles, but make sure that you are coming up with unique content.

10. Save Your Junk Mail

When you get sales letters and promotions in the mail, save them! These promotions are mostly working for companies. Take note of what grabs your attention in your attention in these mailings. Study the unique sales propositions.

Create a swipe file based on your junk mail and email promotions. Start a list of the headlines that worked well on you and what their components were.

Copywriting is more of an art than a science. Some of the things that work for one group fail with another group. Therefore, you will be continually testing out headlines and mixing up the body. For example, using the prospect’s name in an email subject line used to be very effective. However, now that everyone uses it, the efficacy has decreased a bit with that technique.

These ten tips can help to improve your copywriting skills and help you to increase your conversion rates. This will be very useful for you when it comes to writing affiliate marketing blog posts or creating a sales letter for a client.