Have you had an overdose of copywriting advice?
Frustrating, isn’t it?
You read copywriting tips every day. You listen to podcasts, and have read a few books.
But …
When you have to write your copy, you feel stuck.
Copywriting advice is swirling around in your head. You can’t make sense of it. Should you include more rational arguments? Or tap into emotions? Should you tighten your text? Or include more details?
Too many tips are fighting for your attention.
You’re not alone. Most copywriting advice is over-complicated, making your head spin.
So, let’s get back to basics, shall we?
Let’s focus on the 5 most common copywriting mistakes destroying your persuasiveness. Avoiding these mistakes not only makes your content more compelling; your confidence as a writer also grows and you can stop staring at a blank sheet.
Sound good?
Copywriting mistake #1: You don’t follow a proven process
Have you ever been staring at a blank sheet for more than one minute?
Perhaps you saw the clock ticking away and still hadn’t written a word after an hour or two?
Your problem is not a lack of inspiration. Your problem is not that your muse doesn’t want to turn up today. And your problem definitely is not that you’re a bad writer.
Your problem is a lack of preparation.
To write persuasive copy, follow a proven copywriting process. Write your copy step by step:
- Start with research—understand who you’re writing for and gather the right arguments to persuade your audience to hire you
- Plan your copy—arrange your persuasive arguments from most important to least important
- Write a rough draft—this simply means you turn your persuasive arguments into working sentences
- Edit your writing in several rounds, and check for spelling and grammar mistakes
- Read your copy aloud to adjust its rhythm
- Review how your copy looks in its final design and make any adjustments required
Copywriting becomes surprisingly easy, when you focus on one task—research OR planning OR writing OR editing.
Copywriting mistake #2: You’re afraid to scare off clients
Trying to attract a wide audience?
Your copy will surely become wishy-washy. That’s fine for big companies because they have enough money to promote their message and improve their brand recognition.
But, as small businesses, you and I don’t care about brand recognition among the wider population. We need to attract our favorite clients, so we can do our best work (and charge a higher fee!).
How?
It’s simple: Write for your favorite customer only. What exactly do you help her achieve? Why is she attracted to your personality? Why does she want to work with YOU?
Don’t try to do too many things for too many people.
Copywriting mistake #3: You’re selling your services
Are you selling your services?
Think again.
You don’t sell a service.
You don’t sell yourself.
You sell a better life. For instance, you help your clients:
- Save time
- Make more money
- Become happier
- Become more productive
- Become healthier
- Feel less stressed
- Become more creative
Famous copywriters like John Caples, Eugene Schwartz, and Joe Sugarman have all said it: To sell your products or services, you need to focus on the benefits to your readers.
Those benefits are often a mix of goals your customer wants to achieve and problems they want to avoid.
Imagine you’re a web developer. You build websites in WordPress. This means your customer can easily update the content on their website. Your customer avoids the hassle of having to ring or email you to change a word here or there because they can do it themselves.
You can reformulate most benefits as problems you help avoid. Your restaurant service is quick, so you avoid delays. You help people improve their presentation skills, so they can avoid those pesky uhms in their conference talk.
In your copy, show how you make your client’s life better AND highlight the problems, hassle, glitches, pain, and mistakes you help avoid.
Copywriting mistake #4: Lack of specificity
During my freelance writing career, I picked up a few projects messed up by inexperienced copywriters.
The biggest problem?
It was always lack of specificity.
As a copywriter, it’s an easy mistake to make. You have to write about something you don’t know much about, so you end up with grammatically correct sentences that don’t convey any meaning. Unpersuasive blah-de-blah.
As a small business owner or solo-flyer this is where you have a solid advantage: you know your offer inside out. And you know your customer.
So, review your sales copy, and ask yourself: Is this concrete or generic? Can I visualize this?
Blah-de-blah—generic and unpersuasive:
We take your marketing to the next level.
Specific and persuasive:
I help you optimize your online marketing budget so you can generate more leads and win more clients.
Don’t skimp on the detail. Design your copy so it’s both easy to scan and easy to read. Your real prospects check out the details to evaluate whether you’re right for them.
So share ALL your persuasive arguments and make people eager to contact and hire you.
Copywriting mistake #5: Lack of credibility
Why would readers believe you and hire you?
Let’s be frank. It’s easy for web visitors to doubt your claims, to hesitate to believe you, and to turn away to go somewhere else.
You can’t assume people believe your coaching will help them improve their marketing, or your ebook will teach them how to become a confident communicator. Readers want to see proof. Too often they’ve been disappointed already.
To build trust, provide external proof for your claims.
External elements of proof are provided by experts and other buyers. This can be reviews, review ratings, test results, press coverage, and social sharing numbers. For service providers, testimonials are probably the most commonly used external proof. Make sure your testimonials are persuasive and back up your claims.
Good copy describes what exactly you offer to your clients and how you make their life better; plus you prove why they should believe your claims.
How to Write Compelling Copy
Good marketing is the basis of good copywriting.
So define who your favorite client is. Know exactly why they would hire you. Then give them proof why hiring you is the right choice.
And remember, the best customers don’t hire you because of what you do.
But because of who you are.
So let your personality shine through.
“the best customers don’t hire you because of what you do. But because of who you are.” So true Henneke 🙂
Thanks for these wonderful copywriting reminders. No matter how much experience we have, it’s good to revisit these fundamental copywriting approaches.
And thank you for reminding me of this post. I’d almost forgotten about it! Thank you for stopping by, Cynthia. I appreciate it 🙂
Hi Henneke. Thanks for sharing this useful steps. But I have a question tho.
I didn’t really understand when you said “persuasive arguments”
Please can you explain what you mean by “persuasive arguments”?
Persuasive arguments are all the reasons why people should buy, why they should overcome their resistance or hesitation to buy, and why they should believe your claims.
Thanks so much for this article Henneke! Despite the time, it’s very useful, and you’ve just enlightened me. Blessings to you!
I’m glad you found it useful, Sam. Thank you for stopping by!
Thank you for the link to your article about How to Turn Features into Benefits, that is so concrete and useful. It really amplifies the value of today’s blog post for me ?
I’m glad you found it useful, Devshi. Happy copywriting, and thank you for stopping by.
Hello Henneke,
I saw your comment on SmartBlogger site, was looking for some new articles to read. Specially the way you write introduction of a posts is amazing.
Thank you for your compliment, Devendra
Hey Henneke,
Sometimes you have to go back to basics to cut through the noise. There’s so many strategies out there but without a basic foundation those strategies won’t work to our advantage.
I love these ideas but the one tip that stood out was #4. I can remember how some people use to ask me what do I actually do. I was too generic and wasn’t specific enough to a specific audience. Being specific is vital, especially with writing copy. The more laser targeted your copy is the better results you get.
Great post Henneke! Have a good one!
Yep, I agree with you – being specific about what you do is vital. Generic statements don’t attract the right audience. But it can feel quite hard to nail down your message.
Thank you for commenting (and sharing!) 🙂
Oh, I am a slow learner!
I finally GET the reason I should narrow my ideal client down to the narrowest possible definition, to be exact and really pin her down. It’s because only those who fit that narrow profile will be totally happy with what I present and will simply and naturally advertise FOR me, just by emoting about their happiness. And then things will grow. And then…
I have been working on this but for some reason, never really got it. Suddenly it is clear. Whew! Thanks!
I think we all somehow resist this idea of narrowing down our target audience (me, too!). It’s so counter-intuitive; and we’re afraid of missing clients and opportunities when we narrow down.
There are so many I could help if they would only LISTEN! I get so frustrated with those who argue instead of trying my advice and learning for themselves that it is the truth. And now, suddenly, I see it: I should stop arguing with them and enduring them and find the ones I can help NOW–the ones who want help badly enough to actually TAKE it. Haha. Silly me. So good to be on board, finally. Whew.
Hi Henneke,
Your copywriting advice here was really valuable for some jobs I’m working on. I missed the chance to see your webinar, and hear your tips about email copywriting! Is there any chance that you’ll be repeating the webinar in the near future?
Thanks
Corinne
Hi Corinne
I’m sorry you missed the webinar. I’m not sure whether there’ll be a repeat – I’ll drop you an email with some details.
Cheers,
Henneke
Oh Henneke,
This was masterfully written. Love this post.
Proof is important. You can’t claim something and expect readers to believe it blindly. The more proof you have then the more credible you are.
Also, I love the point of selling a better life for your readers. That’s important and I make that mistake when I write of not doing that. Will be making adjustments.
Excellent work here.
– Andrew
P.s. You did a great job on the webinar yesterday btw.
Thank you for your kind words, Andrew, and for attending the webinar. I saw your name passing by in the comment section, but it was all going too fast to keep track.
Happy weekend!
Henneke
Thank you for continuing to provide valuable and action-oriented information.
Your blog posts come straight into my Inbox and are read. They don’t go into the Daily Rollup. 🙂
Regards,
Trevor.
That’s great, Trevor! Thank you for stopping by to let me know. I appreciate it!
Hi Henneke. Thanks for sharing this list of tips. My biggest fault is that I have been targeting too big of an audience, trying to be too inclusive. Like you said, I need to narrow it down and work to draw in a more specific audience that I can better serve. That will get me more traffic and more sales, and more importantly, I will have more fun because I’m connecting with the people I want to connect with.
I’ve always found it hard to focus on a narrow audience, being afraid of driving others away. Plus it’s nice to be liked by everyone, isn’t it? But it really works to focus on the people you like to work with most!
Hi Henneke,
Start with research. Yea buddy. Once I understand the subject matter the writing becomes the easy part. “If you can’t explain it to a six year old, you don’t understand it yourself.” ― Albert Einstein.
I love that quote from Einstein. It reminds me of this one from Leonardo da Vinci: Simplification is the ultimate sophistication. That’s a bit like my mantra.
Thank you for #3, Henneke, this is definitely a much needed reminder!
You’re welcome, Antoniya. I’m glad the reminder is useful! 🙂
This is so awesome Henneke,
These are the most common mistakes we often make even without being aware they’re mistakes.
The one I’m usually guilty of is the 2nd mistake ( You’re afraid to scare off clients) most times when I’m writing, I do feel that I might scare them away if I include certain words even though I know I should include them, but at then end, I won’t all in the name of securing my clients.
However, I agree with your advice that we should write for our favourite customers only at least, this will help to filter out time wasters.
I’m surely going to be conscious of these mistakes from now on. Also, can’t wait to attend your forth coming webinar, I’m sure it’ll be very meaty as always 🙂
Thanks for sharing.
I think it’s natural to be afraid to scare off clients. But it really works when you try to attract the people you work with best.
Thank you for stopping by, Theodore. See you at the webinar! 🙂
Thanks for your response Henneke,
BTW: I like your social sharing buttons, what plugin is that?
It’s Social Warfare. You can change where you put the buttons plus change the color and style. I also like that you can write custom texts for your social shares and tweets (you don’t need to use your headline). You can also upload a different picture for sharing on Pinterest. I like it a lot.
OK Henneke,
Thanks for responding to my question. I’ll check out Social Warfare to see things for myself.
Thanks once again
Hi Henneke, I like all the advice, especially #1 Process and #3 Selling a better life. It’s what my dementia handbook for carers is all about – a better life for the person with dementia and the carer.
Again – wonderful insight. Paul – Sydney Australia
Glad you like this post, Paul 🙂
I hope your book is progressing well!
Confession: I saw your email announcing this post and I was too busy to check it out right away….until I saw the part about there being 5 drawings! And so I am here. I am such a pushover for your illustrations. They are soooo engaging. Anyway, enough gushing.
Haha! I wrote that remark about the 5 drawings especially for you. I knew it would make you curious 😉 🙂
Well, it worked. ?
Thanks Henneke,
thanks for your article. Can’t wait for the Aweber webinar.
Great! See you there, Andrew 🙂
A webinar FOR Aweber? Wow!
Cool, eh? They approached me. *blushes* A few in their content marketing team are fans of my snackable course.
And they even encouraged me to include my drawings in the presentation, so Henrietta will be there, too 😉
Thank you for the link to your article about How to Turn Features into Benefits, that is so concrete and useful. It really amplifies the value of today’s blog post for me 🙂
Every time I see that article, I cringe at my early drawing skills and I start itching to improve that drawing. Maybe one day I will …
Hi Henneke,
I love this.
Sometimes it’s more illuminating to look at the things that aren’t working than reading up on everything you “should” be doing.
Research is one of those things that are essential, yet done in a hurry or even completely skipped way too often. Everything starts with your market.
#2 is something I see happening when non-marketers write copy. They think they shouldn’t pick anyone to focus on, afraid to scare them away. If only they knew it was okay to repel the wrong audience and in doing so attract all the right customers!
Lack of specifity is another one. “We help you generate massive results” — it still doesn’t say a-ny-thing!
Rock solid tips, Henneke. No wonder I love visiting your blog. 😉
Have a lovely week.
– Jasper
Yep, so true. I somehow can’t believe that I hadn’t written this post yet! What have I been doing all these years? 😉
Good to see you again, Jasper. Thank you for stopping by to comment. I appreciate it 🙂
Wow, Henneke. I’m sitting here taking notes. Just had several lightbulb moments reading this. Some of this I had read before, but hadn’t internalized it. One of the reasons I took your Business Blogging course was not only were you addressing my pain points, I felt I “knew” you already through your writing and trusted you. And that course was life changing. Can’t wait for the Copy Writing course and more lightbulbs!
Yes, that’s another thing about blogging – it’s a great way to build a relationship and nurture trust with potential customers. It feels like I always work with friends or at least people who know me and my eccentricities already. That feels reassuring to me 🙂
Love these Henneke! I started writing a sales page the other day and wasn’t so happy with my hook. And then I went back to my process of starting with research, and of course the hook and much of the copy “magically” appeared. 🙂
All five of these tips are great, but for me the first one speaks to me the most because it helps me properly lay the foundation for everything to come after the research is done.
In the past, I sometimes got nervous about a writing job. It might seem too big or too complex, and I would waste my time procrastinating. Now, I’ve learned to focus on doing the work, step by step. Forget about the end result, just doing the work will get me there.
It does feel like magic 🙂
I love how you make the complex simple. I can follow those steps. It’s so much easier than staring blankly at the page wondering how to start, what to throw in and how to finish. 🙂
That’s exactly what I love doing – making the complex simple. Happy writing, Rev!
Thank you Henneke 🙂
You’re welcome 🙂