My Take on Alexander Green’s 10 Tips to A+ Copywriter

It is sometimes hard to think of blog posts, where they should lead to, how they should look like, what you should write about, etc. It can be a daunting task. Here is my take on what copywriter can do to strive for, and therein, become an A+ Copywriter. Making progress in the writing journey for any writer is an accomplishment. Just “keep plugging” as my accountability partner tells me in every e-mail. Take heart and truly, just keep writing.

10 tips to A+ Copywriter

1. Write 1500 Words Every Day. So that means I need to start writing more. Even more! I’m up to about a thousand now, so this should be easy, right… Well, some days just getting to the 750 is hard. But it can be done. Look and read, I’m already at 57 at this point. Just write as you would talk. Talking and writing to yourself. No, you’re not crazy. Not only are you now writing, but also building writing stamina! And greatly improving typing speed and accuracy. Yes!

 

2. Check Your Ego. This means your writing needs to be invisible. Your prospect wants to know WIIFM- What’s in it for me? Don’t write about “I” all the time. Think of others, how they feel, what they want, what they need. Not you. You need to portray desire, the feeling, in the copy and make your prospect feel at least one of the 37 copywriting emotions.

 

3. Get Sold Before You Start Writing. Well, there you go. If you’re writing about a supplement, you need to want to take it yourself. If you don’t believe in the product you’re selling, you won’t be able to. Simple as that. Now, this means that you only have to love the product while you’re writing about it. But you do have to love it. If you don’t it will shine through your copy like the midday sun from a clear blue sky. And your prospect will see it as he’s reading. You’re not committed. He won’t be either.

 

4. Perfect Pitch i.e. Credibility and Excitement. Your first two pages of your copy need have the perfect pitch and therefore must be littered with credibility and excitement. Credibility gives the writing just that- credibility. But if you only laden your writing with facts, your reader will be bored. So, you must also make the reading exciting, brilliant, read-worthy, idea-rich, and positively amazing! Your prospect needs to be nodding his head “Yes!” throughout the lead.

 

5. Art of Rewriting. Don’t get pulled into a notion that your first draft is the best draft. It’s not. Maybe not even your fifth one is publish-worthy. You must edit, revise, rewrite, re-read, redo. Again, simple. However, many, many writers do not heed this advice. And it shows in their writing. It’s atrocious. Riddles with silly mistakes, awful grammar, incomprehensible sentences. Don’t be that person. You know, sometimes it takes ten revisions before your writing is up to par. You will know when you get to that point. And at one point or another, you’ll also figure when the writing is good enough. Notice I didn’t say perfect. Good enough. (side note: if you’re not reading your writing out loud, you’re cheating yourself. or having someone else read it.)

6. Don’t Reinvent the Wheel. See- I couldn’t think of what to write this morning when I first started. I scanned through a couple of articles on my desk, even printed out some notes in hopes of sparking an idea. I sighed. I looked around again. Didn’t want to rehash an article I was writing. Didn’t want to write about the fact that I have a termite inspection tomorrow. I scanned my desk and my eyes fell upon the title; “10 Tips to A+ Copywriter” – I had written these tips at the AWAI (American Writers and Artists, Inc.) writing Bootcamp last October, stapled them onto a file folder so I would take heed to them as I was writing. And there was my idea! I began to write down how and what I did with the 10 tips. You are now reading them. 🙂

 

7. Elements Of Style By Strunk And White. A classic. This small book is packed with every imaginable rule for the English language you will ever need. I finally procured my copy at a library sale. The cost: 33 cents. The books there were 3/$1.00. I couldn’t believe my luck. William Strunk was E.B. White’s professor at Cornell. Yep, THE E.B. White who wrote Charlotte’s Web. The rules you read in Elements of Style are timeless, the sentences used ring true today, and although some grammar and spellings have – and are changing – in English, this book bides you well to read.

 

8. Prioritize Your Day. This could be the most important aspect of this list. At least it is for me. If I did not make lists, create templates for schedules, and take care of myself, my day would not happen. You have to figure out what is important to you and then do it. I finally figured out that I truly needed to write every day. Ok, disclaimer- I did write every day, but it wasn’t the correct type of writing. I was telling myself that writing emails and responding on a groupsite was writing. And that if I was writing my gratitude journal that also counted. But I decided it really doesn’t. Not in the big picture of writing every day. You should be writing like this- what I’m doing right now (by the way- 790 words!) – writing about your experiences, a draft of the article you need to start, your thoughts, figuring out what you want out of life, etc. That type of writing. Doing actual work, not just writing for fun. Well, ok, another disclaimer here! Writing is fun. It doesn’t feel like work. By work, I mean something you can potentially publish and get paid for. Will this kind of writing come to you every day? Not necessarily, because sometimes you just need to let off some steam and rant and rave as you write.

 

9. Uni-Task- FOCUS. In this crazy world of social media, smartphones, tablets, laptops, media bombardment, we need to go back to basics. We need to uni-task instead of multi-task. Multi-tasking is starting to be something of a passe, I hope. It has given our brain a free reign to not think thoroughly. We are so involved in so many things at once that we don’t “get it” and we think it’s “they/them” who are not delivering it to us in the correct format. But it’s really us. We are doing a disservice to ourselves by multi-tasking. Try doing one thing at a time. And doing it well. It’s going to be hard at first! Think it through. Be mindful about what you’re doing. I can knit and watch TV at the same time. However, if I drop a stitch (when you’ve knitted long enough, you “feel” it even if you aren’t looking at the knitting), I will have to stop watching TV and tend to the stitches. And I will miss part of the program.

 

10. Don’t Tell, Show. Remember when we were in Kindergarten and you were able to show and tell about your favorite stuffed animal, a photo you brought along, or a knick-knack from home? This is what your need to do in your writing as well. Show how the vitamin is going to help your prospect, what he will gain, etc. Show in words, in pictures, in details, —facts, figures, charts, testimonials.

When will you start? Simply start with number 1 and keep going until number 10 is crossed off your list.

©Taru Nieminen 2017