Don'ts of Copywriting

Copywriting is a very important part of marketing and advertising. It is especially important when you have Web site. Good content is very important, and it is vital that your copy is relevant and useful.

But copywriting is also full of hazards, areas where it is easy to go wrong. Areas that take away from your content instead of adding to it. These hazards make your Web pages dull, uninteresting to read, immaterial or meaningless to your readers. Here are some to watch out for:

Going off track

More is not better in the case. Its best to keep at the issue at hand, avoiding irrelevant content or extra detail works well. To get the results you want, you need to write focused copy. Good copywriting involves focusing on a primary issue, backed by smaller, but relevant supportive points. And if you keep to the point in each paragraph, making it racy, you'll keep your targets. Or they'll be gone with a click, to a more interesting site.

Repeating Yourself

Refrain from repeating and harping on one point over and over. You may feel that you are stressing home a point by doing so but in actual fact, you could be irritating your reader and he or she may lost interest in your article. Give some thought to the words you want to use and then get your point across; but do it only once.

Keep it simple

Using words that require your reader to constantly whip out a dictionary will not score you points with your reader. Use simple, but effective words to put your message across. Long winded sentences and complex vocabulary will only perplex your reader and he or she may decide to move on.

Don't get flowery

Try and stay away from an ornate style of writing. Using unusual words and complex language construction may sound impressive, even creative; but in actual fact, they do little to get your message across more effectively or to add any zing to the flow of your article. Write simply but effectively.

The "I Love Adjectives" Hazard

Too many adjectives are hazardous to copy! They're descriptive words that you use with nouns or verbs, like attractive, powerful, or blue. Words with 'ly' at the end like quickly are also adjectives. Used well, they are effective, but an overdose can divert readers from issues at hand. Saying 'It quickly scans' is better than 'It scans very quickly', for instance. Because the 'very' drags the text. AYou can be effective using one adjective, try 'It gives you amazing prints' or 'It gives you fantastic prints', and not 'It gives you amazingly fantastic prints'. As you can see, the last sentence really doesn't work.

Forms of the Verb "To Be"

Employ active language as far as possible, to get your message across. Use of forms of the verb "to be" such as was, is, are, etc tends to slow down the flow of the prose. Solid verbs generate a certain vibrancy in language and this holds the interest of the reader. To say "Our business is a leader in innovation" seems to lack the forward motion there is in saying "Our business leads the field of innovation". Of course sometimes you can't get away from using "be" verbs but endeavor where possible, to use as many active words as possible.

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