Every once in a while I go through my spammed comments to make sure any real comments don’t accidentally get filtered out. And let me tell you, these spambots, they’re trying REALLY HARD to sound like real people.

Too bad the majority of us have half a brain and can see right through it. I mean, it’s easy, right? Huge blocks of text with mostly links: spam. Generic statements paired with a username like “SellGoldWatchesforCash”: spam. Comments that call me “man” when it’s clear I’m not: spam.

You can recognize spam in half a second when someone else is schlepping it onto you. Can you recognize it that easily in your own copy?

4 signs that your copy is reading like a spambot wrote it

1. Huge blocks of text that just go on and on. Readers will take one glance and that will be their last. Break it up into small, more digestible and relevant pieces to ensure you grab visitors instead of scare them off.

2. Cheesy domain names, headlines and slogans. Domain names like “BestCoatHangersForYou.com” are the online equivalent of a sleazy used car dealership. And even when they say “For You,” I’m guessing my needs will be the last thing on these sellers’ minds.

3. Clearly not knowing your audience. Spambots have an excuse because they’re not real. When they call me man or dude I delete them, but at least they had a 50/50 chance of being right. Real people, real businesses, have no excuses not to know their customers.

4. A whole lot of words that say nothing at all. Here’s a new little trick I’ve noticed the bots are trying to pull. They’re trying to sound intelligent and genuine by leaving comments that are flattering, but could apply to ANYTHING. Here’s one from my spam queue (typos included):

This is a smart blog. I mean it. You have so much knowledge about this issue, and so much passion. You also know how to make people rally behind it, obviously from the responses. Youve got a design here thats not too flashy, but makes a statement as big as what youre saying. Great job, indeed.

Could you be guilty of this same tactic? Does your copy go on and on about how passionate you are, or how innovative your company is? Could someone pluck that copy from your website, paste it on someone else’s, and the same would still apply?

What other spam traits do you think we should watch out for?

Copywriting is so important because it basically boils down to this:

Words carry your message.

How can you be sure you’re doing it right? Today I’m guest blogging (and also venting a little) for Brass Knuckles Media about the six most common copywriting mistakes and how to avoid them.

Check it out and leave your thoughts in the comments.

Are there other copywriting mistakes that should be on the list? Are there any (uh-oh) that you might be guilty of?

If you’re obsessed enough with something, you’ll find yourself learning about it in the most unexpected places. Ever since I met my husband seven years ago, this unexpected place has been DVD commentaries.

My husband’s quite the film enthusiast. Anytime we finish watching a movie on DVD, he’ll check the special features and see what he can find about how it was made. And, because of marital osmosis, I end up learning a thing or two about the craft of storytelling.

Take Disney’s Aladdin. Those Disney guys did some serious reworking to the script.

– Initially, Jasmine and Aladdin met in the palace, after Aladdin tries to hide from guards that are after him. There’s a whole scene where Abu hangs from a tree, and Aladdin talks to Jasmine

– Aladdin had a mother whom he wanted to make proud. This, in addition to his love for Jasmine, is an important motivator for him wanting to be a prince. There was actually a whole song dedicated to this, and many subsequent scenes

– In addition to Abu the monkey, Aladdin had three other friends who help him with his antics of stealing food to get by

– Jafar’s character was initially the loud, panicky one, while Iago the parrot was cool and collected

If you’ve seen the movie, you know that the end product hardly resembles the initial vision. This means characters were cut, songs were reworked or omitted, roles were switched and it probably felt like they were starting over from scratch every time the creators made these tough calls.

Moving back to move forward

In any type of writing, whether it’s a novel or a company’s web copy, you don’t always get it right the first time. Actually, you’ll rarely get it right the first time.

For example, when I’m writing copy for a client, I don’t just write and send it to them. I’ll write something, step away from it, then write it again with an entirely new approach to see what works best. Sure, the client thinks they’re seeing my first draft when I turn something in, but what they’re really seeing is my first working draft. It’s the one that works because it’s been revised and polished and fine-tuned.

It’s the same with fiction. When I realized the major revisions I’d have to make to my novel’s rough draft, it felt like I might end up pulling the one piece from the Jenga puzzle that would make everything come falling down.

I rewrote it from a new perspective, then completely changed the setting, and then realized that it was actually another character’s story. These edits have only made the story stronger.

The Fluidity of a Story

The commentary for Aladdin isn’t the first to demonstrate the fluidity of a story. Nearly every single one I’ve watched (and I’ve watched tons) prove this point: You rarely start out with the end result.

That doesn’t just go for writing. It goes for business plans, and marketing plans, and product launches that end up evolving into something no one ever imagined (um…Twitter, anyone?). It goes for brands that realize that they need to change their messaging, and businesses that notice untapped markets. The real progress lies in revision.

What part of your life, your business, or your writing could use some revision?

photo credit: Loren Javier

Last week, it took me two hours to find the right facial sunblock online. A year ago, it would’ve taken me ten minutes—just a quick drive to my neighborhood pharmacy, picking up the same brand I’d used for years.

Why the big change?

About a year ago, I started copywriting for a new skin care line as they prepared to launch. I’ve written their web copy, bottle labels, product descriptions, brochures. Their goal was to make people rethink how they shop for beauty products and take a closer look at the ingredients. There are all sorts of potentially harmful chemicals in skin care products we see on shelves every day, in brands that many people trust (this video sums it up beautifully). Recently I also started writing for another beauty line that has a similar mission and because of this, sticks to natural ingredients.

There’s a point to all this, I swear.

Just yesterday, as I was explaining to my sister that many popular fragrances contain potentially harmful chemicals that are not listed on the label, I realized that I was the perfect example of a marketer’s dream consumer. I heard their message. I believed in it and made it part of my life. What’s more, I even passed the message on to others.

Clients often come to me with the concern that they don’t want to sound too pushy in their marketing copy (or sales-y, which has become a common term). When I initially sat down with the first skin care client, listening to how her products were different and how she was trying to improve her customers’ lives, it was enlightening. She didn’t need to be pushy because she knew exactly what problem she was solving for people. She had a genuine concern for their well-being and wanted to help.

The word “sales-y” has gotten a bad rap. We assume that to sell someone, we have to convince them, possibly even trick them, into thinking that they need what we’re offering. There’s a connotation of deception there, of sleaziness, of having to keep a person’s attention because they’d rather be doing something else. Those are clear signs of two things:

1) you’re targeting the wrong audience

2) you’re focusing on how they can help you instead of how you can help them

When people are truly loyal to a brand, it’s because they consider them a friend. That brand looks out for them, that brand helps them out every time. Instead of being pushy, the best thing we can do is listen to our audience’s needs and be that friend. Only then will they listen to your message and look for more of it. And, when they realize it’s not just talk, that your product can really follow through on the promise you’ve made, they’ll take it in and pass it on to their friends.

As I got my new sunblock in the mail today, I was actually grateful that there are companies out there looking out for their customers’ well-being. I changed my shopping habits and switched brands because I wanted a healthier alternative. Nobody had to convince me to make that decision. It was a matter of me wanting something, and of someone else having exactly what I was looking for.

How about you? What brands are you most loyal to, and why?

You can’t take the journalist out of the copywriter—at least not this one, anyways. You could say my journalism background extends as far back as that time I was eight and checked out a “So You Want to Be a Journalist?” book. But for the purposes of this blog, I guess I’ll stick mainly to college and beyond.

In Journalism 101, we all learn the importance of the 5 Ws and one H: Who, What, When, Where, Why and How. These are the key components of a story, the main elements that will give us the overall picture. Recently, I was writing web copy for a client when I realized that these factors apply equally well in copywriting.

As I was looking through their original drafts of copy, the one thing that kept tipping me off was that there was no H. There was lots of talk about what the product did, but not how it would do it. There was a good emphasis on benefits rather than features, but not a whole lot of context as to how those benefits would come about. Without the “How”, the copy lacked a complete picture. It wasn’t doing a good job of conveying the user experience. And if it wasn’t selling an experience, how would people be sold?

I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised that the “How” gets left out so often. When you’ve got 5 Ws that fit so nicely together, the lonely H might wander off occasionally. So maybe the 5 Ws and One H should be rewritten and adapted to copywriting. Rather than applying them to a particular incident, as in journalism, these would apply to a product or service:

Who is this product helping?

What problem is it solving for them?

Where will they be using it?

When will they need or want it?

Why should they choose this one over another one?

and of course, don’t forget:

How will it do this?

What about you? In what ways do parts of your background inform what you’re doing now?

Great copy can be a lot like air: it’s everywhere, but not everyone notices it unless it’s missing. Think of all the billboard ads you see on your daily commute, the brochure you take with you as you leave the bank, or the product descriptions you read as you browse through your favorite online store. These are all examples of a copywriter’s work, and if they did their job right, you’d never even know it.

Similar to the mark of a great editor, a good copywriter is often invisible. She’s more concerned with her writing doing its job than she is with getting recognition for it. When the copy’s written effectively, the first thing that pops into a reader’s mind shouldn’t be “Wow, what great writing.”

The first thing that pops into the reader’s head should be the message.

Whatever point the writing is supposed to make should take center stage. Writing that’s effectively communicating the benefits of a product will make a person think of all the ways the product will make their life easier. Writing that’s aligned with a company’s brand will leave the reader feeling like they understand what that company’s about and what makes them unique. Writing that’s witty and clever will make someone laugh and remember you. And writing that succinctly explains complex topics—whether in an instruction manual or on a website’s FAQ page—will inform readers by simplifying.

So why hire a copywriter, if people might not notice you hired one in the first place?

read more…

Ah, word play. For many copywriters it’s one of the funnest parts of the job. Combining words, making puns or innuendos, misspelling words on purpose–it takes creativity to do it right. But there’s also something really dangerous about word play:

It’s easy to fall into the trap of “it’s so creative, it must be good writing.”

Now, I’m not trying to say that it doesn’t take creativity to be a good writer. Quite the contrary. It takes creativity to take very technical instructions and rewrite them in a way that a specific audience will understand them. It takes creativity to capture a company’s purpose, persona, and/or benefits into a six-word slogan. It takes creativity to simplify a long, drawn-out product description into a few sentences that are not only informative but will spark interest.

But to write these things well it doesn’t always take word play. Not every bit of copy needs to have poetry in it, or a joke, or a double meaning. It can, and it’s always fun when it does. But a good copywriter knows that the message comes first, and that sometimes, the best way to say something is also the simplest way to say it. (Notice I said simplest, not easiest. Two very different things.)

Wordplay works when it’s helping clarify a message, not when it’s hiding it.

Wordplay works when it’s helping show a company’s voice and personality, not when it’s being cute just for the sake of it.

Wordplay works when it’s catchy at the same time that it’s informative, not when it’s only trying to draw someone in.

The writing needs to deliver a message first; wordplay should serve as a mode of delivering it.

You know the Wingdings font, the one that turns your letters into tiny symbols like diamonds, squares, ampersands and mailboxes? Can you imagine if websites, government forms, and instruction manuals were written in Wingdings? No one would ever understand them. The text would simply take up space but tell us nothing in return.

The good news is that no one really uses Wingdings. The bad news is that there’s writing all around us that might as well be written in Zodiac signs instead of letters. A couple of examples that come to mind include a web page written in “corporatese” and a bank letter written in “legalese.” We’ve all seen the kind of writing I’m talking about. It’s packed full of jargon and loses us with needlessly long, confusing sentence structure. Instead of getting to the point, it tries to impress readers with buzz words. At its worst, it obscures the truth.

I like to call this kind of writing text. Sure, there are letters there, and most times complete sentences, but as a whole the words fail to say something for one of two reasons. 1)No one will actually read it. They may start to, but upon realizing the message is hidden somewhere under all those letters they’ll put their attention and efforts elsewhere. 2) The few people who do read it won’t absorb the message (this is not in any way an insult to the reader’s intelligence, by the way).

If you’re worried that your writing is turning into text, it may be time to hire a copywriter. Nathaniel Hawthorne once said, “Easy reading is damn hard writing,” and he was right.

Our world is full of complexities–a doctor’s world and realm of knowledge is completely different from that of a botanist or an engineer. The biggest challenge we face when trying to communicate is that everyone is coming from a different place.

There needs to be a common language, a point of reference that everyone can understand. With the right words and a good amount of research, a writer can build a bridge between a complex message and the audience it needs to reach.

The things my dog trainer says sometimes is just genius in its simplicity. A couple of months ago (yeah, it’s just hitting me now) he told me that I shouldn’t repeat a cue word to my dog if it’s not resulting in the desired behavior. So basically, if I’m telling my Boston terrier, Maggie, “down” because I want her to lie down, and all she’s doing is licking my hand because she smells treats, I shouldn’t keep saying “down.” Why? Well, that’s where the genius comes in.

The more you say a word without the desired result, the more it loses its meaning. What’s worse, the repetition can cause it to take on new meaning.

Like maybe Maggie will associate “down” with licking my hand. Or maybe a poorly written slogan will turn off customers instead of impressing them. Maybe a call to action that doesn’t compel someone to sign up for a newsletter will just get glazed over.

Why, then, for the love of paws, should we keep repeating these words if they’re not getting us results we want? Saying that they sound nice, or that they’re clever and funny, is never an excuse. Neither is the fact that they’re already on every pen, notepad, t-shirt and baseball cap in your company.

The beauty of language is that there are a million ways to say one thing, and each way you say it can yield different results. So don’t fear a rewrite of your website or sales copy, especially if the current copy isn’t working. Words are useless if they’re not doing what you need them to do. But if they’re the right words, they can be extremely powerful.

One of the most common mistakes I see on website copy is when the main headline says, “Welcome to our site!” I can definitely see the logic behind why someone would write this. After all, when someone visits your home in cyberspace it’s common to want to make them feel welcome there.

But here’s the thing. Welcome doesn’t cut it. Welcome is a lot like those mats that everyone has on their front door. Sure, visitors will read it, but then they’ll step right over it and wipe their feet on the word. So how do you really show someone they’re “welcome” when the word has lost its meaning?

Look beyond the word. Are you really trying to make someone feel welcome, or are you trying to make them feel like they’d want to stick around a bit? These are two very different things. You can tell guests staying at your home that they’re welcome to stay as long as they want and that you’re happy to have them any time. But if there’s no hot water, the beds are uncomfortable and they don’t have pillows, they probably won’t want to stay very long anyways.

So really, in your web copy, just as in a hotel or guesthouse, the best way to make visitors stick around is to show them what you have to offer. Switch that welcome mat out for a headline that tells them, right away, how your product or service can make their lives better. Show them the benefits of taking a look around. If visitors can’t quickly see the value of staying on your website, then that “welcome” might as well say “go away.”

For example, what would be more effective?

A veterinary website that says: Welcome to Our Clinic! or one that says: The city’s only 24-hour emergency clinic for small animal companions.

A restaurant site that says: Welcome to Tom’s! or one that says: Local organic food with an international flavor.

Of course, there’s always room for some creativity, too, but the message of what you’re offering should always come first. Show someone that you can make their lives a bit easier and the “welcome” will be implicit.