(No matter who you are!)
Raise your hand if you love writing!
{I’ll wait.}
Raise your hand if writing feels like a punishment.
Woah, settle down! I hear you. Even for someone like me, who loves writing, it can get tedious at times. There's a lot of research, planning, writing, and editing that goes into every...single...piece...of...writing.
It can be a lot.
It can be so much that you’ll be tempted to find ways to make it easier and faster for you. Maybe there’s a hack that can help—a way to cheat the system, if you will. {ChatGPT anyone?}
Don’t be tempted. Most of those tips, tricks, and hacks will take you down a sinful path that could turn away your audience or get you into legal trouble. Just say no and walk away.
So, what misdeeds lay on that path of sin? I'm glad you asked.
The 7 Deadly Copywriter Sins
1. PLAGIARISM
2. SHADY TECHNIQUES
3. BAD GRAMMAR
4. TOO LONG/BORING
5. FORGETTING THE AUDIENCE
6. FORGETTING THE BENEFITS
7. FORGETTING THE CTA
After reading that list, I hope your first thought was, "Of course, we shouldn’t steal; everyone knows that!" {If it wasn't, we need to have a different conversation later.}
But if your second thought was, "I'm not sure how the rest of that list applies to me because I'm not a copywriter or business owner," let me assure you—it does.
Here’s the thing: whether you're a student, a grandparent, a CEO, a solopreneur, or a standard-issue employee (no shame in that!), you’re going to have to do some type of writing to communicate with others.
An email to a friend or colleague. An essay for school or the neighborhood magazine. Perhaps a social media post or product description.
Whatever it is, it needs to be clear, engaging, and legal. Otherwise, it could go into the void of nothingness, push away your audience, or get you into trouble.
How you write matters.
So, I’d like to take a weekly deep dive into each one of those sins to show you how to avoid them and why doing so will make you a better writer—no matter who you are.
Are you in?
{I’m going to assume you said yes.}
Yay! I’ll see you next week for our first deep dive into PLAGIARISM! Did you know there is more than one type of plagiarism? Find out all about them next week!
In the meantime, promise me you’ll try hard NOT to steal anyone else's work and pass it off as your own. M’kay?
P.S. If you need any help writing for your business, let me know. I woud love to help your business grow BIGGER with words!
Welcome to my blog. I share tips for small businesses, copywriting tips, thoughts on marketing strategies, and fun ideas for growing your business.
I offer copywriting services for websites, digital marketing, print media, content marketing, and editing.
I'd love to hear how I can help build your
business better with words!
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