See, you can have something really gorgeous, but if the words you put in it aren't good, your design won't be able to do its job. Which will make your design sad, not happy ;-).
It seems like writing content should be easy. After all, we all learn to write in school. "Reading, writing and 'rithmetic," as the rhyme goes. But, alas, it's not so simple.
In the first place, the way they teach kids to write and the way one goes about writing really killer content are totally different. It gets even more complicated when you're writing a sales page because then your words really start to matter.
So, how do you go about learning how to write a sales letter? Start with these three tips.
- Consider your audience. One of the biggest mistakes you could make is to just dive into your writing. Even if you write great content, it might be all wrong for your audience. It all starts with who'll be reading what you write so never, ever skip this step.
So, who are you writing to? Are they old or young? What matters to them? Why are they interested (or not interested) in what you're writing? What are their priorities? What might distract them from reading your content? How can you keep their attention? The more you can really know your audience, the better you'll be able to make sure your sales letter or content speaks to them. - Consider your goal. What's the one thing you want a reader to do? Contact you? Buy something? Sign up for something? Whether you're writing a sales letter, or you're writing an About page (or something else entirely), every page you write should have one singular goal and you want to choose it before you start writing.
Remember, you only want to have one goal per page. It's tempting to have lots of goals, but the fact is, people are too easily distracted for that. So, focus on just one goal per page, even if that goal is to "get them to click to the next page." - Revise like crazy. Sure, there are some writers who brag about getting it right the first time. (Some of them do, most of them are delusional.) But, unless you're a professional with a team of editors trailing behind you, you're going to need to revise. There's a reason Joyce Carol Oates said, "The pleasure is the rewriting" after all.
Revising your letter or content is the only way to truly improve it, so don't skimp on this step. And remember, revising isn't the same thing as proofreading. Proofreading should be the last step, and it helps make sure your copy is error-free. Revising is all about making sure your words are in the right order.
Sure, writing really great content is about a lot more than just these three things, but you'll be surprised how far these tips will get you--they give you great bang for your buck.
