Online Copywriting Advice
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Human visitors read. Bots scan and rank, but bots do it for human visitors. It will be moms, dads, sisters and brothers who read the page, and it's those people who have the wallets with credit cards, and PayPal accounts. In this article we discuss core online copy writing techniques to help make your website more effective at selling and making money.
Speak to One PersonWhich one gets your attention? Speak to one person. (Read those two salutations again to feel the difference =)).
Talk "For Real"
Talk as if you're speaking to a person. Imagine yourself walking down the street and talking to your buddy. How does the conversation sound? Casual, relaxed, maybe even a few bad words here and there, and a couple of jokes. Talk to your visitors as if you're talking to your buddy. Keep it casual.
The Internet is a very social, casual place. It even has its own language: LOL, LMAO, BRB, TY, etc. If you act casually you'll be perceived more as a friend than a faceless corporate company. Check out Google's approach, I think they caught the essence:
"More specifically, we're updating 'the backend' (to employ that catchy, catchall moniker coined and lent to us by engineering folks who work on all of the technical fiddly bits behind the scenes but know we communications folks can't very well say 'We're updating all of the technical fiddly bits behind the scenes and expect you, an enlightened Google user, to take us seriously or at least not wonder aloud 'Wait, what sort of bits were those again?'"
They're acting playfully. You can feel a real person behind those words, someone alive. Compare that to a faceless "we're sorry for the inconvenience, XYZ Corporation strives to deliver quality services to it's customers..."
Be friendly and drop the "corporate" veil. People will like you a lot more.
This principle also works in day-to-day communications. If you meet new people and ask "official" questions like where you work, where you live, where you go to school, and so forth, you'll notice that the conversation is pretty dry until you hit a spot to which you both can relate. If, on the other hand, you cut through the BS and start out with a joke, you'll see the "walls" melt a lot faster.
So drop the "official" BS and don't be afraid to be playful in your writings... You dig me bro? =)
Next: Avoid Corporate and Technical Speak >>
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