86 brilliant copywriting
or sentence fragment, and each explanation not more than a
couple of paragraphs. If I can order them that’s great, but it’s not
what’s important. What matters is that by doing a bit of work
upfront I create a copy resource I can dip into when time is tight
to create production-ready text in minutes rather than hours or
days. The crucial point is that the text I come up with is signed
off and ready to deploy. Sure, I’ll probably need to tweak stuff to
make it fit a particular job, but it’s a great starting place and a
real, practical time saver.
brilliant
tip
Messaging toolkit
I recently used this technique on a project for an upmarket estate
agent. During the research phase it became clear they had –
conveniently – ten key messages, each with a short explanation. By
writing these up to a finished standard and getting them signed off
I had my toolkit. Then, several weeks later, when I was asked to
produce a series of print ads to publicise their business, it was
simply a question of dipping into the toolkit to select the phrases
and ideas needed. The result was final copy in record time. It’s a
very slick, very efficient technique I recommend you try.
In a nutshell:
G If in doubt, chop it out.
G It’s not how long you make it, it’s how you make it long.
G If it moves you, chances are it’ll move others.
G Consider creating a messaging toolkit.
Writing for the web
I’m not convinced that writing for the web is that different from
writing for print – I’m still in the persuasion business and I still
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have the same 26 letters at my disposal, and so most of the
techniques I’ve just introduced still apply. Having said that,
there are some differences, and that’s what this section is about.
I’ve included writing for the web in my ‘After’ chapter because I
like to write my first draft in a media-neutral way, and then hone
it to suit its final format during the editing stage.
Incidentally, I won’t be discussing search engine optimisation
(SEO) here, for the simple reason that all through this book I’ve
advised you to write in a way that appeals to your reader. And this
reader is – one would hope –areal, live, human being.Writing for
a search algorithm is an entirely different ball of wax. Out goes all
that stuff about ‘don’t be dull’, ‘make it interesting’ and so on; in
comes ‘white hat’ SEO techniques, such as repeating key words
as often as possible, and ‘black hat’ methods, using hidden text
and links farms. The first is very dull, the second is very naughty.
Plus, the exact nature of the crawler algorithms used by the
major search engines changes over time – if I gave you advice
today it might be irrelevant in 18 months. SEO isn’t even appro-
priate for many websites – in these situations other web
marketing strategies can be much more effective. In short, you’re
far better off looking online for really specific, really up-to-date
information on this darkest of arts.
Back to writing for the web. I think people use the web in three
broad ways: as viewers who want a fast blast of entertainment
(YouTube, etc.), as seekers looking for specific information (train
times,TV schedules and so on), and as stayers who might – poss-
ibly – hang around long enough to read my copy. It’s this last lot
I’m interested in, so to win on the web I need to:
G Cut stuff up
G Write for skimming
G Use lots of links.
Let’s go over these in more depth.
After 87
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Cut stuff up
One of the big differences between paper and pixels is that
people read significantly slower on screen. You’ve probably
noticed this yourself – it just doesn’t
feel right. At this point I could say
something about cutting the word
count mercilessly, but what if I’ve
already done that? A more useful
piece of advice is to limit each page
to a maximum of around 200 words.
Half that amount would be twice as
good. Cutting my word count in this way doesn’t mean ditching
important information; instead it means dividing my piece into
separate pages – perhaps quite a few. I also need to make sure I
end each page with some sort of tiny teaser that helps encourage
the reader to carry on reading.
Write for skimming
I don’t really read web pages, I skim them looking for something
interesting. I’m not alone – most readers want to make as little
effort as possible to find what they’re looking for, so I try to give
them a hand.
The web is a supremely active medium – if readers aren’t
clicking they feel they’re not getting anywhere, so I need to write
in a way that helps overcome this temptation. The way I do this
is to turn up the volume on some of the ideas I’ve just described.
In particular I try to interest them into staying with very high-
impact headlines, I use lots of subheadings (far more than I
would for print) and I pick out key words in bold. If possible I
make those key words tell the main story on their own. Many
sources on web writing suggest cutting verbiage ruthlessly and
getting to the point as fast as possible, but that’s what all good
writing does.
88 brilliant copywriting
limit each page to a
maximum of around
200 words. Half that
amount would be twice
as good
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Use lots of links
This builds on the two previous suggestions. One of the great
things about the web is that I can use links to introduce brevity
without sacrificing depth.Ido that by cutting it into chunks and
presenting those on separate pages, which means my readers only
have to look at the things they’re
interested in. To get this right I need
to work on the structure of my text.
It’s not enough to just break a long
piece (by which I mean anything over
say 200 words) up into sections and say ‘Continued on page 2’ –
I need to modularise it so that it works well in this new format.
To do that I use headlines and/or intros that work in any context
so readers get the gist of where they are in the overall flow.
In a nutshell:
G Cut stuff up.
G Write for skimming.
G Use lots of links.
Last but not least
Once I’ve crafted my copy and I’m broadly happy, it’s time to
stop and check that I’ve included all my key messages and that
my reader can easily understand what I’ve written. As I’ve said,
the best way to do this is to read it aloud, backwards, upside
down, inside out. Better still, I try to get someone else to read
it and comment. It goes without saying that I should subject my
piece to a stiff proofread and spellcheck.
As I’m reading I ask myself does it answer the question posed by
the brief? Is it relevant to its reader? Does the main text fulfil the
promise of the headline? Is it readable, believable, specific and
After 89
use links to introduce
brevity without
sacrificing depth
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90 brilliant copywriting
persuasive? Does it flow? Does it include a call to action? And
above all, is it somehow interesting?
If the answer to all these is ‘yes’ then I might be on to something.
brilliant
tips
Ten steps to copywriting heaven
1 Know your stuff, or at least have it to hand. Without sufficient
raw material you’ll soon be reduced to waffle, so do some
digging.
2 Find the big idea. Be ruthless. What is it you really want to
say? This should be the one thing your audience remembers if
they forget everything else. If you’ve genuinely got several big
ideas then consider writing several separate pieces.
3 Write your big idea as a headline. Don’t try to show off – just
tell it straight, you can always fix it later. Everything builds
around this.
4 Briefly develop each point. Use the minimum amount of text
possible – any more and it’ll just confuse you.
5 Write a conclusion. Don’t try to be clever.
6 Write an introduction. Do try to be interesting.
7 Now write your piece, which basically means putting flesh on
the bones you’ve just created using the research you did before
you started the planning process. If you’ve planned properly
you’ll be done before you know it.
8 Using either a straightforward list or a mind map, write down
the main topics you want to cover. Be generous – you can
always drop a few later.
9 Shuffle your topics into a coherent argument. Don’t just settle
on the first structure that emerges – try a few alternatives to
check you’re right.
10 Write sub-points under each main topic. If you find yourself
with more than a few sub-points per topic, consider breaking it
in two.
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