Professional Business Copywriter, Social Media Strategist and Manager
One mistake many business owners or entrepreneurs make when starting out is to have your content stand out above the competition. This can range from capturing the emotions your clients will feel when reading copy or written sales information on your website, landing pages, or social media. Anyone can just write general information and facts, but it takes an experienced copywriter/content creator to write in a fashion that draws customers and sells.
Creating written content or copy that is intriguing, interesting, capturing, and compelling is key to turning website or landing page copy into a piece of content that sells and brings in revenue. Not every social media poster is a copywriter or a content creator.
Before you hire someone, it is important to discover your goal and objective you want to see in the results. It is equally important to understand what a content creator/copywriter is. Here are 5 reasons why you need to hire a good copywriter/content creator to write your business copy for all online, offline, and print business assets.
In this blog, I am going to share some of the most common writing mistakes I see as I read copy from thousands of websites all over the Internet. I will also share some parallel contrasting word identification that can quickly show a lack of professionalism and reflect negatively on your business. It is extremely important that all your print assets and digital assets are free from crucial writing errors.
(1) Using parallels in writing
I love the use of parallelism in writing. It is very powerful to the reader. A sentence with parallel components makes your copy more effective. A sentence with parallel components gives your copy a sense of style. A sentence with parallel components will bring life to your copy and impress your readers.
The downside to using parallel components in copywriting is the misuse or incorrect sentence structures when using parallels as a writing strategy for business, or for a personal blog or website.
When using parallel sentences be sure to use grammatically equal sentence components to clearly depict two or more matching ideas. Parallels used correctly in a sentence is the placement of equal ideas in words or phrases of similar ideas and types.
Make sure all individual items being contrasted listed in a sentence are in the same category. They all must represent the same type of idea.
(2) The use and misuse of homonyms in writing
I remember the first time I heard of a Thesaurus. I knew I had to enhance my writing so that it did not sound like a kid in grammar school was writing it.
Did you just see what I did? It was totally spontaneous without even thinking. I just used a homonym. I used the homonym “grammar” as related to a grammar school aged child as opposed to referring to English Grammar. This word that sounds the same, and in this case has the exact same spelling has two completely different meanings. With only one spelling it is unlikely one would make a mistake having a sentence clear using the word. Either you are talking about “grammar school” or “English Grammar” both of which will use the homonym with the same spelling. Just make sure you write your sentence correctly.
However, be careful with the homonyms that are not spelled exactly the same. Homonym is a word that sounds like another but has a different meaning. There are homonyms that can confuse you. These homonyms sound alike and have different meanings and have different spellings. Using the word in a sentence pertaining to the wrong meaning of usage can look foolish in your business copywriting.
Here are a few examples:
Login vs. Log in
Site vs. Cite
Complement vs. Compliment
Capitol vs. Capital
Advise vs. Advice
Principal vs. Principle
Affect vs. Effect
Except vs. Accept
Counsel vs. Council
These are just a few of the many misused terms.
(3) Fact Checking
When writing for a business website, blog or print materials careful fact checking is essential if you are using references to information or facts. It is also a good idea when using facts or references to cite the source of information and include a link. When there is not citation you leave readers wondering if the information or reference you are using is accurate. All well-seasoned copywriters will always refer to sources of information when business copywriting.
(4) Plagiarism
Many businesses purchase cheap articles and blog writings from mass producing websites or content providing websites. Many claim to be free of plagiarism. Many claim to be original work. The truth is if you order or purchase an article or copy, place the entire text into a plagiarism checker and you will see the various location that his text appears on the Internet. I am not going to name websites, but any business that is ordering articles from freelancers and paying just $5.00 for copywriting is taking a huge risk.
(5) Use Storytelling for business copywriting
Business copy does not have to be stuffy and boring. Storytelling can be used in a variety of ways when included in business copy. Introducing a story or experience from your business in your blog or copy on a page in your website can be interesting and entertaining. There are many things from within a company that can be shared. Some examples are authentic stories and milestones.
Authentic UGC or user generated content is the most powerful form of content for website traffic, SEO, YouTube and more. Social media sites encourage UGC and gives higher ranking and organic reach to articles, blogs, videos, etc. that are authentic and created by the user, not in any way including 3rd party content or content used by other people across the web.
This is one reason why paying for copywriting services is a bad idea. If you test the copy as I explained above, you will find that an article you paid for could, and most likely will appear on other sites. These mass-produced cheap copywriters may reword articles, but use them and resell to other customers who are paying for content.
In closing, your business website, landing page, social media, and print copy should all be custom written and prepared by an experienced business copywriter. If you choose to order from a website that produces copy instead of hiring a professional copywriter, ask for samples of the writing and some type of guarantee that this writing is not resold or overused. Using mass produced or reused copy will hurt your Google ranking and negatively impact your SEO efforts.
Contact us for more information on professional copywriting services.