The Real Secret To Writing Great Copy

1.

If you were to visit the woods sometime this week, or maybe even today,
Chances are you'll be surprised by something very unusual.
And it would be advisable you don a costume, so you're not recognised.
You see, sometimes all the these bears decide they want to have a picnic.

2.

If you go down to the woods today,
You're sure of a big surprise.
If you go down to the woods today,
You'd better go in disguise.
For every bear that ever there was
Will gather there for certain because
Today's the day the teddy bears have their picnic.

Which sounds better? The second one, right?

Of course it does. There's a reason for that.

Let's go on and I'll explain.

If you want to write great copy, don't do what I did yesterday.

I got taken to task for it by Drayton Bird - not a pleasant experience to be told off by someone who really knows what he does.

Here's what happened...

I wrote a so-called sales letter.  And because I was posting it on my blog, I assumed I could stick any old rubbish on there.

Wrong.

The fact is, my blog may not be a sales letter in the strictest sense, but it's still selling me.

Long story short, I've taken it down and will put it back up once it merits space on my blog.

Onto the title of today's post.

The fact is, a lot of writing is poor because people do what I did yesterday:  I slapped something together haphazardly, and stuck it up... without editing it.

Too much writing is just plain ridiculous because people like me can't be bothered to go back and edit.

(I don't do that with clients' copy, though.)

If you want to write great copy, the secret is simple: After you've finished writing, go back and edit it.

Even re-write the whole thing if you have to.

Do it as many times as is necessary, but just do it.

You might even pick up mistakes you don't see at first - see the last line on example 1. (And mistakes your spellchecker missed).

I've written copy in the past where the first copy and last copy were completely different, simply because of the amount of times I re-wrote it.  A little like the difference in the two examples above.

When I get an assignment (after the initial research) I'll sit down with some pen and paper and just write. There's no sense in editing while you write - there has to be something there to edit first.

Once it's done, I'll read it and re-read it. If anything needs changing, I'll change it.

Then I'll put it aside for a while. Maybe a couple of days.

When I read it again, I'll make whatever other changes it needs... or I'll completely re-write it... depends what I think then.

Usually I don't need to re-write the whole thing if I've done my research.

That's another thing - do the research and the work comes together easier.

Anyway, I won't go on for too long today. What I will say is this: If the work is done right, the final copy should be compact, tight, and much easier to read.

Not the long-winded sentences I used in yesterday's post.

Best,

Rezbi