Copywriting and content creation are important tools in the new era of digital marketing. From blog articles to social media posts and to email marketing, copywriting is everywhere. In fact, 90% of all businesses are now using content and copy as part of their marketing strategy.

Businesses write copy with the purpose to either inform or sell to an audience, convincing them to trust the brand. Writing engaging copy for your business that catches your audience’s attention can be essential for building brand awareness, generating quality leads and increasing sales. If done consistently, it is a cost-effective and simple way to attract your audience and bring in traffic to your website or social accounts.

Whether you are creating content for your own business or for different clients, here are some tips to keep in mind to write a winning copy!

Talk to Your Audience

The first important step and the key to writing an engaging copy is to understand who you are trying to sell to. In order to create content that is of any value to the intended readers, you need to be able to define your target market and audience.

Ask yourself,

What are the demographics of my target audience? 

What are their likes and dislikes?

What else are they reading?

If you can answer these questions and put yourself in the readers shoes, you will be able to tailor your content and directly reach the targeted audience. In turn, the business will receive an increased amount of prospective customers as they are interested in what you have to say or sell.

Attention-grabbing Headlines

When it comes to first impressions, the choice of headline can make or break your work. With around 80% of people reading the headline and only 20%continuing to read the rest of the content, it is vitally important to get the headline right to capture the intended audience.

People tend to skim read and initially only look at the headline, first sentence and subheadings. If this doesn’t interest them, they won’t continue to read what you have to say. The headline and subheadings should consist of short-and-snappy power statements that encourage the audience to read.

Research Before You Write

As much as researching the audience is important, it is equally as important to research the topic or brand that you are writing about. Before you start writing, research different online sources to find out what content is already out there. Look for competition and gaps in the market in which you can fill with content to give added value to readers.

Writing factual and informative copy for your target audience will help to create a bond with them and gain their trust in your business. Try including relevant statistics through hyper linking to add credibility to your copy and to appear authoritative in that field.

Get to Grips with SEO

Although SEO (search engine optimisation) can be complex, learning the basics will allow your copy to be reached by a much larger audience! Start by identifying keywords that are relevant to your content and will improve the copy’s ranking on a search engine.

Useful tools to target keywords are Google Trends and Keyword Planner.

When writing SEO, try not to overuse the keywords. This is known as ‘keyword stuffing’ and could result in the search engine removing your work altogether. Trying to cram too many keywords in will also make your copy seem forced and won’t read well. This is an easy way to lose potential customers. Try reading your work out loud to ensure it sounds as natural as possible.

Proofread, proofread and proofread some more!

Proofreading and editing are job titles in themselves, so it’s important to designate enough time for them. Once you have finished writing your first draft of a copy, you should read through it word for word to check for spelling and grammar. Poor spelling and grammar looks sloppy and unprofessional and will instantly drive readers away.

Before your copy is published, you need to make sure it makes sense and avoids any rambling or off-topic information.

Naturally, we tend not to spot mistakes in our own work too easily. Get a second pair of eyes to proofread your copy to pick up on errors that you may not have noticed.

The more copy you write, the better skilled you will be at it and you will start to notice what works and what doesn’t.

After all, it’s not what you sell, it’s how you sell it!