Nine Basic Guidelines For Copywriting

I find these basic guidelines very effective in developing ad copy.

Keep sentences and paragraphs short and vary the length. Research has shown that eight words per sentence will get the highest readership.

Use simple, everyday language. Don’t use technical jargon. You will lose way too many readers.

Make sure your ad is easy to look at and easy to read. Poor use of capitalization, bolding, or italics will decrease reading comprehension by 50%. Bad sentence structure will also reduce comprehension.

Use subheadings under your headline and throughout your ad or letter to increase comprehension and readership. Just like a headline, a subhead will stop the the quick glance, and start the reading.

While reversed copy gets attention, it is hard to read. If you use it, keep the copy very short, and the font very big.

Word your offer carefully and clearly. Your offer is a promise about the level of service you will deliver to your customers. Your offer will set your customer's expectations, so you want to be very clear.

Always use the grammar and spellchecker on your computer. Proofread your copy by reading one word at a time, from right-to-left, out loud. Don't forget that your spellchecker is not perfect. You really want a friend, or a professional editor, to carefully read the copy. In addition have several people review your copy, and LISTEN to their comments. Have someone read your copy out loud to you, and watch to see if they clearly understand what you are saying, or if they have to reread the copy.

Eliminate references to yourself as much as possible. State everything in terms of benefits for your clients.

Normally a longer headline will get you better results than a shorter headline. Using six to twelve words is better than using two to five words.