Copywriting Tips

Headlines.

There are five types of headlines you should know. Choose one of them for your article.

 

1. Threatening headline, which keeps a reader awake at night.
2. Headlines that make life easier. The promise of a better tomorrow.
3. False headline. Mistakes that your audience makes.
4. «How-To» headline. Audience does not have a solution to their problem and this article will solve it.
5. List headlines. These headlines promise a numbered list of instructions or information.

 

Different templates for each category:

 

1. Threatening headlines.

How well protected your [important person or thing] is from [danger]?

7 Warning signs that [empty]

Danger: [empty]

Can we really trust [Person / Company / Product]?

Shocking news about [empty]

The Greatest Lie: [empty]

How [empty] threaten your [empty]: 7 Ways to Protect Yourself

9 Lies [group of people] love to talk about

13 things your [trusted person] won't tell you

5 little-known facts that will affect your [empty]

 

1. Headlines that make life easier.

Being late? 11 ways to make your [empty] easier

How to deal with your [faulty problem]

10 easy ways to [complete a difficult job] in record time

Get rid of [problem] once and for all

How to get rid of [problem]

How to [empty] in 5 minutes

 

1. False headlines.

Have you made these 9 [empty] mistakes?

7 [empty] mistakes that make you look stupid

5 [empty] mistakes that make you [look / sound] like [empty]

11 [empty] mistakes you have never knew you have made

Don't do these 12 things when you're [empty]

 

1. How-To headlines.

How [empty]

How to become [desired quality]

How to [empty] (Even if [typical problem])

How to [empty] without [unwanted action]

How to [do something] when you [do something else]

How to [empty] and [empty]

How to [do something] that [your audience] will love

How to use [empty] to [empty]

How to [empty] in [year]

How to [empty] - complete guide

How to be smart in the stupid world [empty]

 

1. List headlines.

7 Ways [to do something]

101 [empty] for [Process / event / reason]

72 Killing Resources for [Audience / Process]

TOP 10 [empty]

7 [empty] secrets [the audience] should know

7 amazing reasons [empty]

5 rules for [empty]

7 steps towards [empty]

Get [empty]! 10 REAL ideas how to [empty]

7 things [audience] wants to hear

 

Introduction - approximate length: 300-500 symbols excluding gaps.

Important! Remember that introduction that fits best will is written at the end. Begin writing starting from the main part.

Keep your introduction short but clear. The reader should not have to guess what the author means.

Here are some tips for writing a good introduction:

 

Start with a short sentence or a question. If you have written two hundred words, reduce to one hundred. Less words - more power. Find the rhythm. A rhythm needs to be fast. You can slow it down while writing the main part. To do this, you need:

• write in short sentences (even in fragments);
• use only one to three sentences in each paragraph;
• write each sentence to allure a reader to read a next one;
• read written sentences out loud and get rid of irrelevant ones.

 

At the end of your introduction part, provide an answer to the question. However, do not give a full answer yet. One sentence will be enough, otherwise readers might not read till the end. This really is the most important part of any article, and is the bedrock of the paper.

 

Main body.

Tips for writing the main body of the article:

• write short paragraphs using from two to five sentences;
• use subheadings;
• add subheadings every 2-5 paragraphs. This will make it easier to read.
• avoid spelling mistakes;
• it is important to leave readers guessing, therefore, do not provide a whole answer in your subheading, otherwise, readers will simply leave;
• think outside the box; 
• subheading is a mini-title, so try to make it interesting. It is important that everything is clear for a reader and make sure that subheadings are relevant to headings. There is no need to drastically change the topic of an article. 

 

Example:

Let’s say you are writing an article on sleep deprivation effects and anxiety levels and you have following subheadings: 

1. The importance of sleep;
2. Sleeping reduces anxiety;
3. Skip a lunch break and catch more Zzz.

 

The first one is very boring, the second one gives too much information and the third one cannot be understood right away. 

Instead, try writing like this:

1. Easy way to reduce your daily anxiety;
2. How to get rid of anxiety without pills;
3. Avoid this and you will sleep better.

Also, add list headlines where possible.

 

Ending - approximate length: 100-400 symbols excluding gaps.

After you have finished up writing the main body of your articles, you can go to the ending. There are three ways to write it:

1. Brief summary of the article;
2. Ask reader a question;
3. Answer a question from the article.

 

If you are writing a brief summary, then be short and clear, three sentences will be enough. By this time you should have already answered all of the questions in your article, however, you can finish it by raising a new question that follows up from those that have been discussed. This encourages readers to comment. If you have raised a question in a main body but was left unanswered, answer it now.

It is not allowed to:

• add new information;
• write a lot for no purpose.

 

Keywords.

Create an article structure by keywords. Important! Don’t try to simply insert keywords, use them as clues or directions for what to write about. You may even never use them directly.

For example, here are the following keywords: how to change a car tyre, how to change a car tyre yourself, is it safe to change a car tyre yourself, instruction on how to change a car tyre. You should combine several of these keywords into three to five paragraphs and explain how to safely change a car tyre - a complete intrusion. Try to write about each keyword.

Important! The structure that you make using article keywords should be a minimum that you write about. You are free to add new information if you find it helpful to a reader.

 

Text formatting.

Highlighting text in an article for attention blocks.

Some particularly interesting or important parts of the text containing crucial information are being highlighted for attention-grabbing purposes. It could be information requiring special attention, reflections, conclusions or other information of interest to the reader. 

 

Requirements:

• attention blocks are highlighted in italics;
• one block should contain from one to three sentences;
• the text of an attention-grabbing block should contain logically finished thought;
• one article should contain from three to five highlights in different places of the text.

 

Highlighting important moments in bold.

This must be present in your article. With their help, you will need to highlight the most important points of the article that were not included in the attention blocks. Article should contain from two to three sentences being highlighted in bold located in the different places of the article.

 

Requirements:

• text is highlighted in bold;
• one highlighted block should contain around one or two sentences; 
• highlighted text should contain logically finished thought;
• one article should contain from two to four bold highlights in different places of the text.

 

And a couple more requirements:

• Calibri (Main body) 12 (main body) 
• Calibri Light (Heading) 18 in bold
• Calibri Light (Heading 2) 16 
• Calibri Light (Heading 3) 14

 

Category - technologies

Writing style - journalistic, conducted from a third person. 

The target audience is both professionals and housewives in need of advice. 

The article should be written in simple language.

It is allowed to experiment with both text and its design, however, each article should contain:

• original title;
• introduction containing aprox.300-500 symbols excluding gaps;
• main body;
• ending containing aprox.100-400 symbols excluding gaps;
• subheadings;
• Citation blocks with important information, bullet points or numbered lists and important points highlighted in bold. 

 

When revising a text, follow these criterias.

A good article should be interesting to read. 

Sometimes copywriters approach their work irresponsibly and do a mediocre job of writing or rewriting an article using one or two sources. Final result turns out to be uninteresting and even less informative, or on the contrary containing too much information and unnecessary terms. We write articles for people and not for search engine robots. Therefore, they should be engaging, informative and easy to understand.

 

Objectivity.

Very often copywriters write an article containing only one sided evidence, opinions or arguments, unconsciously carrying out some sorts of marketing plan. However, professional articles must be free from bias, prejudice and discrimination and reflect on a process or an objects as neutral as possible.

For example, very often we come across articles writing about medicinal herbs that can magically hear and cure all diseases and can do that even faster and more efficiently than pills. This kind of statements must be avoided.    

 

Reliable information and fact checking.

Copywriters often forget to verify the accuracy of their sources or information that they have written down in an article. You should be especially careful with statistical data and details, because as we all know the devil is in the details, isn't it?

For example, one copyrights once wrote that two billion people have been infected with hepatitis B virus (HBV) and the fact that this figure represents 25% of the world population, apparently, did not bother him. 

 

Stick to the plan.

Sometimes copywriters try to make things easier for themselves and skip the planning phase, or do it in the worst possible manner. In the vast majority of cases, this leads to decreased quality of an article and missing information for both readers and search engines. In extremely rare cases a copywriter is capable of changing the structure of an article and making it more interesting. If you are able to do that then let’s go!

 

Avoid tautology.

Tautology is considered to be not only the saying of the same thing twice in one sentence, but also if it is located in the sentences next to each other.

 

Avoid repetition.

Some copywriters go round and round repeating the same questions (aspects or topics) throughout an article. In most cases, this is not justified and indicates their inability to structure material currently. Looped texts are a subject to mandatory revision.

 

Foreword and conclusion.

Foreword is an important part of an article, if of course it was planned to include it. Foreword can serve as a sort of endorsement for an article and should lead a reader to the topic and not sound too general. So, for example, foreword to an article on the topic of «Affordable treatment for HBV therapy» should not mention hepatitis B nor its danger. 

The conclusion must contain a finale and succinctly tell the reader how and why it is that what's been presented is significant to their knowledge. It may consist of three to five sentences with most important points and they should not be united by a single narrative.