5 Tips To Improve Your Copywriting Skills

August 29, 2017



Content WritingWriting brilliant copy will enable you to build a better rapport with your audience, and since this is an essential part of encouraging a flow through the funnel to conversion, you’ll want to make sure you’re getting it just right.

1. Write for your reader(s)

As simple as it may seem, it cannot be stressed enough how important it is to really get to know your audience and involve them in your copy. Who are the people that use your website, products, and services? What matters (or not) to them? Why do these people use your brand? What are their desires? What are their wants? Think how they would think, and write how they would write.

2. Break up long chunks of copy

Most of your readers aren’t actually reading – according to a study from the Nielsen Norman group, 79% are simply skimming the content on a page, and as few as 16% will actually read every word (you’re the best, guys).

Today, attention spans are shorter than ever, and creating engaging copy requires you to make that copy bite-sized and scannable so your audience can instantly get the gist of what’s being said.

Here’s how to grab the attention of those skimmers:

  • Use bulleted or numbered lists
  • Indent quotes and key action points
  • Include headings and subheadings
  • Vary the styling where necessary with bold, italic, underline
  • Keep paragraphs and sentences short ‘n’ sweet
  • It’s no easy feat to write truly compelling copy, but there are huge rewards in getting it right. So make it controversial, throw in some visuals, and really seek to push the buttons of your audience.

3. Give your content a purpose

Don’t go creating content for the sake of content. Those days are well and truly over. Yes – it’s helpful to have a huge library of content for your audience to browse through, but each and every piece of that content should be written with a purpose, and slot into the wider content marketing plan.

Before hitting publish on any copy, double and triple check that it functions to fit this bill:

  • Engages your audience
  • Builds some trust
  • Encourages movement toward conversion
  • Failure to meet these three basic requirements puts you at risk of creating a shed load of mediocre content. And that will do nothing to help achieve your long term goals.

4. Make the headlines POP

Recent studies have revealed that around 60% of links are shared on social media without ever being clicked (hands up – who’s guilty?!). Of course, we do want people to click our content, and read it, and share it, but stats like these really highlight the significant role played by the headline alone – it’s got to sell your story.
Over the top, clickbait-y style headlines have their time and place, but this tactic will do very little to help achieve long term goals. If you’re stuck for a good headline, then work backwards – write all of your content first, and then use this to develop the final title. 

5. Point all of this toward a call to action

There’s little point in spending hours writing and sharing all of this amazing content, if it just leaves your readers in the lurch.

Rounding up with a nice call to action (CTA) is integral to the success of your copywriting, but that’s not a cue to start slamming a big ‘buy now’ button at the end of everything you publish, so take a look at our ultimate CTA guide if you’d like some handy tips.


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Dave Forde


Dave “The Connector” Forde has been involved in the marketing, public relations and technology industry across Canada for over 15 years in various sales and marketing roles, he launched The Connected One network of business sites which connects buyers to the right sellers. Profectio and PR In Canada covers news about the marketing and public relations industry each day helping professionals advance their career and businesses.
He also serves as an advisor to a number of businesses across the country. Find Dave on LinkedIn and Twitter.

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