Avoid these 5 Copywriting Mistakes

It can be fairly challenging to write compelling content. The copy you produce will increase your conversion rates, sales, and more – but there are so many ways of doing it that you feel stuck. Should you tap into emotions? Or keep it straightforward with rational arguments? Should you include more details? Or keep it concise and snappy? 

Knowing the answer to these questions becomes a lot easier when you know which mistakes to avoid.

Here are 5 basic copywriting mistakes to avoid. 

Not Following a Process

Writing is believed to be a wholly creative process. The proverbial image of a passionate writer comes to mind, locked away in a room, surrounded by coffee cups and crumpled paper balls, and completely consumed by the writing process. It’s spontaneous and random – it can be beautiful, but it can also be a recipe for disaster. 

Copywriting is a lot different. It’s less random, more process-oriented. It’s a process that starts by asking the questions, ‘why’, ‘what’, and ‘how’ – preferably in that order. The goal of your copy is to convince the reader why they need your product, what problem your product solves, and how it solves the problem. Answering the ‘how’ too soon will miss crucial steps and mislead prospects.

The best way to go around this problem is to create a systematic, repeatable process that involves research (including keyword research) and A/B testing. This way, you have tangible proof that your work is actually converting rather than throwing random ideas at the wall to see what sticks. 

You’re Using Too Much Jargon and Buzzwords

The secret to creating the ideal copy is to keep things simple. It’s easy to assume that stringingtogether bold words and marketing buzzwords will help you sell, but it mostly pushes people away. We’ve heard so many buzzwords over the years that our mind has learnt to filter right through them. If your copy is loaded with buzzwords devoid of actual meaning, it’s just not going to work as effectively. 

Instead, the best course of action is to keep it short and sweet rather than loading it with corporate jargon that means a whole lot of nothing. 

Pro tip: It doesn’t hurt to use one or two buzzwords. They’re very effective as hooks and can capture attention, but you’ll have to switch back to ‘normal’ writing to convey actual meaning.  

The Copy is Too Dry and Lacks Personality 

Skilled web copywriters know how to avoid dull and boring writing. Remember, your goal is to engage users. Not bore them with giant walls of text and technical writing. An important part of the copywriting process is to consider your brand personality. If you want to sell products, you’ll want to win your prospects over. This is usually done by putting yourself in their shoes and understanding their pain points. 

What food would you order at the fast-food joint? What is your favorite show? What movies do you watch? Think about your brand’s personality traits it’s the best way of creating an engaging copy.

In short, keep things casual and exciting. Even business executives and leaders prefer a friendly article every now and then.

Pro tip: if it’s too boring, make it a little bit spicy. If it’s too ‘out there’, tone it down a little. You need your copy to be grounded in reality for it to actually work. 

You’re Too Obsessed with SEO

SEO is very important. 

But user-friendliness is even more so. 

Your priority should be to keep the copy reader-friendly and then optimize it for SEO. Most companies stuff their copy with so many keywords that it makes the content unbearable to read. This may have worked in the past but search engines have learnt to identify natural language and penalize keyword stuffing. 

The trick to SEO success in 2021 is to write things as naturally as possible. If you’re following the proper process of copywriting, your selected keywords will find a natural place to stay. 

Not Proofreading

The most common mistake beginners make is to not proofread the copy. You might be struggling to meet tight deadlines, but rushing is never a good thing. The thing is, if you’re sloppy about punctuation and grammar in your copy, you could be sloppy in other areas of your work too. And that’s not the message you want to send to your prospects.

Read your work multiple times, and if possible, read it aloud in your voice. Reading aloud helps you get a sense of whether the tone, flow of writing, and grammar is right or not. These errors can be hard to spot when you’re reading them in your head, buterror-prone sentences are very likely to sound wrong if read out loud. 

For obvious reasons, reading aloud can take a long time – but the results are well worth the effort.

Guest article written by: Dave Brown is a copywriter at Content Development Pros and has been writing content for over 10 years now. During this time, Dave has offered his copywriting services tobusinesses of all sizes and industries, ranging from technology to insurance and everything in between. In his free time, Dave loves watching movies and streaming YouTube.