1) Write with your eraser
You get 100 bucks for every word you rub out from your title:
2) Don’t exaggerate
An honest line always feels warmer:
3) No one cares what you can do
Everyone cares what you can do for them.
4) Avoid the passive voice
It’s indirect and awkward:
5) Don’t kill your personality
The best brands feel “real”:
6) Avoid “landing page words”
Unlock, unleash, enhance, exceed, empower, supercharge, etc.
Real people don’t use them.
7) Find the tension
“Pleasant” gets forgotten. Conflict creates interest:
8) Write how you talk
Casual. Colloquial. Full of pronouns:
9) Avoid “contained” titles
Write something that pulls your reader down your page:
10) Write scannable copy
Formatting matters:
11) Stories make you memorable
I couldn’t list The Ten Commandments. I could tell you what happened to Adam and Eve:
12) More periods, fewer commas.
Periods mean short sentences. We like short sentences.
Commas mean long, painful sentences, like this one, which New Yorker writers think are clever, but real people find torturous, because they wind on and on without actually saying anything.
13) Kill adverbs. Kill adjectives.
They’re flowery. They’re vague. They try too hard:
14) Think slippery slide
Every line of copy should lead to the next.
Watch this ad. You won’t be able to stop:
15) Fence-sitters don’t buy
Go to the edge:
16) Your first line is crucial
If people don’t read it, they’re not going to read your second line either.
Keep it short:
17) Copywriting is selling
Don’t romanticize it. The goal isn’t to be clever or cute.
The goal is to inspire action:
Conclusion
Be brief. But also tell everything you need to tell. Simply. Avoid commas. Highlight the important stuff but don’t exaggerate.
Profit.
17 tips for great copywriting
PS. The first sentence is the most important but the last one (like this PS) too. Many people read only the beginning and the end. Capitalize on it.