Top 12 Copywriter Mistakes
If you are running a business and want to increase sales and build brand credibility, sooner or later you will have to turn to a copywriter. This specialist will prepare a content strategy and write texts that will show your product in the best light and attract your potential buyers. But not all specialists produce really high-quality material, especially if you want to save money and turn to novice copywriters. In this article, we will look at common copywriter mistakes, as well as give advice to novice specialists on how to improve the quality of the text.
Common mistakes newbie copywriters make
It often takes the author more than one year to understand what exactly he is doing wrong. We've rounded up the 12 most common mistakes newbie copywriters make. This information will help customers recognize an irresponsible specialist.
- Illiteracy
- Be too formal
- Do not proofread text
- Use too many adjectives
- Do not include them unless the meaning of the sentence changes.
- Choose specific adjectives, such as "step by step program" instead of "good program". Such phrases add new meaning and do not go unnoticed.
- Add feelings. For example, instead of "quality fabric," write "gentle, soft, durable fabric." The main thing is to evoke emotions in the reader and be remembered.
- Abundance of water
- No sense of rhythm
- Issuance of rewriting for the author's text
- Mixing styles
- Repetitions and tautology
- Use overly complex sentences
- Abuse of superlatives
- Lack of structure and design
The default copywriter should not make spelling and punctuation errors. It is not enough just to coherently express your thoughts in a language understandable to the target audience, the text must be literate. A responsible copywriter, even if spelling and literacy are not his strengths, must carefully check the text, clarify controversial points in dictionaries or special Internet resources. Often a copywriter works in tandem with a proofreader, in which case the probability of errors is almost zero.
If a copywriter delivers a text in which he confuses -tsya and -tsya, then it is better to refuse the services of such a specialist. If you are worried about the literacy of the material, you can contact the proofreader. Of course, this is an additional expense, but at the same time - a guarantee of quality.
The text should not resemble a loan agreement. Forget about clericalism, simplify the story. Otherwise, it will not be read beyond the first line. For some reason, novice copywriters believe that phrases like “a young dynamically developing company” make the text smarter and more serious. Actually it is not. Difficult texts only scare away.
Even a copywriter with twenty years of experience needs an editor. Looking from the side helps to improve the text, make it more readable. If it is not possible to send the article to the editor, you can re-read it yourself.
Ideally, let the text lie down for a day or at least a couple of hours. This will allow you to look at the text from a different angle. You will find typos, grammatical and lexical errors. Even if you know the rules of the Russian language well, this does not mean that you will not make a single mistake.
Presences and adjectives can reduce the quality of any text. They do not provide specific or useful information. Moreover, words like “innovative”, “unique” and the like have not worked for a long time. Of course, this is not a call to remove all adjectives from the text. Here are some recommendations:
"Water" in the text immediately betrays an inexperienced author. If the payment depends on the number of characters, then most beginner copywriters add more nonsense phrases and words, just to write more. The text should contain a minimum of water. The required number of characters is achieved at the expense of useful information. It is better to let the text be shorter, but without "water".
Often the text is written without water, correctly formatted and seems to correspond to the terms of reference, but reading it causes difficulties. Some sentences have to be re-read twice, the article is not perceived. This is a sign that the copywriter hasn't set the pace. In order for the text to be read in one breath, it is necessary to alternate long, medium and short sentences in the right way. The same goes for paragraphs.
Most beginners don't want to spend time searching for sources and talking to experts. They go to the trick - they find the first article on the topic that comes across and rewrite it. At the same time, they are handed over to the customer as an author's text.
First of all, this harms the customer, since the fraud can be revealed and you will be convicted of stealing the material. And the quality of such texts leaves much to be desired. The copywriter, at the same time, strikes at his reputation with his actions. Who wants to work with a specialist who works dishonestly.
Often beginner copywriters have this problem. The text begins in the third person, and closer to the middle, the appeal changes to "I" or "We". Such negligence is unacceptable.
In order not to focus on style and not be constantly distracted, you can write the text as you like. The main thing is not to forget about proofreading, preferably twice, and during editing to maintain a single style.
This is one of the most common beginner mistakes. The main reason lies in the lack of vocabulary. The use of words with the same root or close in meaning is not recommended. Sometimes, in order to avoid repetitions in the texts, one can come across wordings like “passage hole”, implying a door. It is worth approaching work wisely, sometimes rare repetitions are better than phrases that are funny in meaning.
It is not recommended to use complex sentences on several lines. As mentioned above, you need to follow the rhythm. It is better to break a long sentence into a medium one and two short ones. Always make sure the reader understands what you are talking about. In a sentence that is too long, you can lose the line of the story and confuse the reader, and at the same time confuse yourself.
Often in the texts you can see "We are the best company", "We offer the most profitable solution" and the like. Don't use superlatives. Such offers do not carry information.
Instead, prove why the company is the best. For example, “10 years on the market” or “implemented 100 projects”. But this information should not be taken from the ceiling. Don't try to fool potential customers. Any data is easy to check in a couple of clicks.
Even high-quality text can be spoiled by incorrect design. To make the text better perceived, it should be divided into paragraphs, contain subheadings and lists. For clarity, you can add an image, but not random, but those that complement the text.
If a phrase or a whole paragraph can be replaced with a high-quality illustration, then it is worth doing so. It is also recommended to include tables or graphs in the content. This is agreed with the customer before the start of work.
How to improve text quality
We have analyzed the common mistakes of copywriters. Now we offer to get acquainted with the recommendations for improving the quality of texts.
Learn the basics. Before you start writing a text, you need to know the basic rules for creating them. The common mistakes of beginners discussed above will help you in part. To make articles really interesting, you need to follow a lot of rules. It should be understood that copywriting is not creativity, it is writing texts for the target audience according to certain rules.
Write for one. Treat the text as if you were writing it for one person. Imagine you are telling information to your best friend. Write in simple words, do not try to show superiority to the reader.
Work on the title. As David Ogilvy, the father of advertising and one of the first copywriters in the modern sense, wrote, “the headline is read five times more often than the text itself.” If the title is uninteresting, then no one will continue reading your text. There are many formulas for creating headlines, analyze other people's texts, look at the text from the reader's point of view and analyze. Ideally, come up with several heading options and choose the best one together with the customer or, if possible, test several.
Keep your thoughts short and to the point. Few people read pages of solid text or long paragraphs, even if the information is interesting. Write short, so the text looks simpler and shorter. The first paragraph should be short but contain key engaging information. This will help generate interest in the entire text and ultimately increase conversions .
Imitate your favorite writer. Don't confuse imitation with plagiarism. This does not mean stealing someone else's text and passing it off as your own. However, you can try to copy the style of your favorite author. Look at the length of sentences and paragraphs, and try alternating sentences in the same way. Experiment until you create your own style.
Edit without regret. If your goal is to become a good copywriter, learn how to edit texts. This is a difficult job that is often overlooked by beginners. In fact, this is the best option to add value to your text. In the course of editing, you will throw out unnecessary words, add facts and get rid of errors.
Understand your topic. To write a quality text, you need to be an expert in some field or be able to search for the source. A significant part of the texts is a banal rewriting. Your task as a specialist is to find primary sources of information, communicate with experts in order to create high-quality content.
Services for working with text
Not only the editor, but also online services will help improve the level of texts. Here are the best ones.
Orfogrammka.ru
Paid tool where you can check the text for errors. For one check, the service will find typos, missing punctuation marks, semantic inaccuracies. You can also separately check the text for “beauty”, remove repetitions and align SEO parameters and frequency. A monthly subscription costs 300 rubles. After registration, you can check up to 6 thousand characters for free. It should be understood that the web service will not find all errors. It is not able to replace the work of a proofreader, but still you will receive useful tips to improve the quality and see the main problems in spelling, punctuation, grammar, style, etc.
Glavred
A service that analyzes the purity and readability of the text. A score of 8 or more is considered normal. Tips from Glavred help to get rid of verbal garbage, clericalism and worn out phrases. The service is free. This is the best option to improve the quality of the text without contacting the editor. Do not chase the highest score, just listen to the prompts.
Text.ru
This is a free tool that determines the percentage of uniqueness, water level, spamming and character replacement. The service also counts the number of characters with and without problems, spell checks, errors are highlighted in red.
Advego
You can check the spelling, uniqueness, wateriness, spamming, classical, and academic nausea of the text on the site. There is an application on a computer where you can only check the uniqueness. A check of 5 thousand characters is available per day for free.
speller
The service was developed in the studio of Artemy Lebedev and was created to find errors in texts. Words that are not in the vocabulary of the service will be highlighted in color. The service is great at finding typos.
Orfo
A handy program for finding and correcting typos and errors. It is available for download on the website of the service. The offline version has wider functionality, here you can set the automatic correction of letters and create hyphens. An online version of the service with more modest functionality is also offered. Errors are highlighted in red and green, depending on the type.
Language Tool
You can install a browser extension on the site or check the texts directly on the site. After parsing the text, all misspelled words will be highlighted. If you click on an error, a window will pop up with suggestions for replacing it with the correct word. A premium version is also available, providing additional features that editors and proofreaders enjoy.
Do not forget that the use of special programs does not guarantee one hundred percent literacy. It happens that services underline a word by mistake because it is not added to the dictionary. Also, validation services don't always see delimiter errors. In controversial places, it is better to rewrite the sentence in such a way as to accurately avoid mistakes or use a Russian language guide.
Conclusion
To err is normal. Don't give up if you're making most of these mistakes. The main thing is that now you know what to work on next. No need to postpone. Start right now. Forget about rewriting forever. Only a responsible approach to work can give impetus to development. Check the texts for errors, correct them, and the next text will be written much better.
As for customers, it is worth giving the text of the new copywriter to the editor or proofreader for verification. This will help you find out how responsible the author is. And do not forget, trying to save money will not lead to anything good. Quality work is not cheap - just put up with it if you want a copywriter to not only write texts, but bring clients.