So, you want to improve your copywriting skills, huh?
Well, my friend, you are in luck.
Because I’m about to reveal 8 ways to quickly improve your copywriting skills.
After you read this guide, and APPLY the 8 tips to your writing, you will notice instant results.
But, before we get into the sexy stuff, it’s important to know which skills are most important to your success.
What are the Core Copywriting Skills You Must Pick Up?
A few months ago, I wrote a blog post titled – 5 Copywriting Skills Every Copywriter Must Have in 2024 (How to Build Them FAST).
I STRONGLY recommend reading this entire post.
However, here is a quick recap of the 5 core skills every copywriter must have to experience even an inkling of success in this field.
“How to get better at copywriting?” becomes much clearer after you pick up these core skills.
1. Storytelling
Telling stories is one of the easiest and most efficient ways to write persuasive copy that sells.
Stories cover all the bases of persuasive copy - solves problems, paints vision, informs, entertains, taps into emotions and all that jazz.
2. Clarity
Good copywriting is simple, clear and easy to understand (at a glance).
Use short sentences, short words and short paragraphs… everyday, conversational language… and write at a 5th grade level.
3. Grab Attention
If you don’t grab your reader’s attention, they will never read a word you write.
This is the job of your headline (subject line for emails).
Every headline you write MUST call out your target audience and pull them into your body copy.
4. Turning Features to Benefits
One of the main copywriting skills is to turn dull features into desirable benefits.
Benefits are what the features of your product will DO for the reader.
Your readers only care about themselves.
And, they will only read your copy (and buy from you) if they WANT to.
So, to get them to want to buy from you, make sure you lace your copy with loads of juicy benefits.
5. Persuasive Call to Actions
You can have the best writing on the planet, but if you don’t tell your readers EXACTLY what to do next (buy), they won’t buy from you.
To get readers to buy from you, give them clear, step-by-step instructions on what to do.
To learn how to write persuasive CTAs go here:
The Ultimate CTA Copywriting Guide for Copywriters Who Want to Boost Sales
Alrighty, now that we’ve covered the 5 core skills every copywriter must master, let’s get to the good stuff…
8 Tips to Quickly Improve Your Copywriting Skills
These tips are quick and straight to the point.
They are designed to be plugged into your writing TODAY and experience quick wins.
Let’s get to it…
1. Your First Sentence
Your headline is the most important mechanical aspect of your copy.
The 2nd most important?
Your first sentence.
Believe it or not, it shares the same goal as your headline…
To get readers to read your next sentence.
One of the best ways to achieve this is to make your first sentence SUPER SHORT.
Often, I’ll start emails, ads, landing pages with just a few words.
Why?
Because this makes it almost easier to keep reading than to stop.
Here are a few real examples:
“I lied”
“Woah”
“You won’t believe what happened to me”
“This is crazy”
Not only is this one of the best ways to get readers into your body copy, but it’s probably the easiest.
And let’s face it, your first sentence can be daunting.
However, if you apply this tip, you’ll be cranking out first sentences like a wizard.
Another tip:
Use power words that stir up emotion and create vision.
Try this out the next time you write.
2. Start With a Problem
In Sean D’Souza’s book – Brain Audit – he explained how problems grab our attention with much more force than solutions.
In fact, he recommends starting your copy with the main problem your audience is experiencing.
The ONE HUMONGOUS PROBLEM they are experiencing related to what your offer solves.
You can achieve this by applying the PAS copywriting formula.
This formula stands for:
Pain
Agitate
Solution
Here’s how to effortlessly start with a BIG problem your readers are facing and push them through your copy to your CTA.
Pain:
What’s the BIGGEST problem your target audience is currently facing?
Only write about ONE specific problem.
Agitate:
How does this problem make them FEEL?
What emotions do they experience related to this problem?
Write down the emotional experience they’re going through when they are experiencing this nasty problem.
Tap into their pain, guilt, stress, greed, fear… every negative emotion they’re experiencing.
The goal is to make their problem larger than life, worse than death.
Get them stomping around with fists in the air, shouting - “This has got to stop! I’ve got to do something about this RIGHT NOW!”
Then, tie in your...
Solution
Make it clear WHY your product is the best solution for their specific problem.
But the key is to start with a big problem.
If you do, you will grab attention with hulk force and make it almost impossible to ignore your message.
3. Create a Copywriting Ritual
Whenever I write, I’ve always got the same mug (Boston Celtics) right by my side.
This is not random.
It helps me write with zero resistance.
I learned this nifty productivity trick from the legendary Eugene Schwartz.
During a speech at Rodale Press (billion dollar publishing company), Eugene laid out his writing process.
One of the things he’d do before writing is drink coffee from the same mug at his desk.
Also, he had a few other lil habits he’d do before writing.
Believe it or not, this helped him write faster and get into a flow state.
Why?
It’s a productivity hack used by Buddhist monks.
Essentially, you create a “ritual” before you work (like a nighttime routine before getting into bed).
This alerts your mind that it’s time to get down to bidniz.
After you form this ritual, you will be effortlessly writing money-oozing copy, much faster, because you’ll be in a flow state.
Form this copywriting ritual by doing a few things before you write.
Create a habit out of it.
Once you do, you will find it much easier to get into “game mode” and bang out irresistible copy.
4. Tell More = Sell More
Have you heard this old sales adage?
“The more you tell, the more you sell”
There’s a lot of truth behind this.
After all, the most successful ads are all VERY long - stuffed to the brim with pages of juicy sales copy.
Why?
The more specific details you give about your features, benefits, stories, offers… the more believable and persuasive they are.
Specificity also works like gangbusters for headlines.
One of my favorite ways to grab attention is to use numbers.
When you rattle off a specific number of tips, mistakes to avoid or steps to take, you’ll boost readership to the moon.
Bottom line:
If you want to sell more products & services, add specific details to everything you write.
5. The 2 Words that Made McDonald’s McRib Sandwich a Huge Success
The McRib, a truly disgusting "sandwich."
I tried it once when I was a kid and almost vomited.
Despite how bad the fake ribs taste, it’s one of McDonald's most famous items.
But it wasn’t always…
Back when it came out, it flopped like a seal.
Nobody bought it.
But then, McDonald’s marketing team did something genius.
They took it off the menu.
And…
Brought it back later for a limited time.
The result?
Millions upon millions of McRib’s purchased around the globe.
Other fast-food restaurants picked up on this marketing strategy and profited like pigs from it too.
(I’m still pissed Taco Bell took volcano tacos off their menu. I always swarm my local Bell whenever they bring it back… for a limited time)
Why does this work so well?
Two words…
Exclusivity & urgency.
Exclusivity - we want what we can’t have.
Urgency – when there is a limited number of something we want, we will get off our lazy beehives and whip out our wallets.
Exclusivity and urgency are 2 powerful selling tools you should use often when writing for clients.
6. The Dog Treat Method for Exploding Sales
Want to instantly boost sales through your writing?
I’m going to reveal one of the simplest ways.
I discovered this secret weapon while listening to an interview between Ben Settle and Doug D’anna.
Doug told Ben how copywriters make selling WAAAY too complicated.
Proof:
Imagine…
You’re at your friend’s house.
He has a Golden Retriever named Bubbles.
Your friend will give you $100 if you can get Bubbles to run over to you, instead of him.
How would you achieve this?
Easy!
Hold up a yummy treat.
Believe it or not, this simple concept applies to selling to hoomans too.
The treat?
Find out what your target audience wants most.
Then, simply mention it throughout your copy.
Emphasize all the benefits, how easy it is to obtain, how they must act fast before it’s gone, and all that good stuff (copywriting 101).
7. What to do When You Don’t Know What to Write About
Let me clear the air…
You should NEVER walk into your first draft blind.
You want to spend a lot of time on research.
Research your client’s brand, competition, products, target audience (most important) and all that rock n roll BEFORE writing.
But let’s say you did all that and you’re still staring at an empty screen.
Here’s what I do…
I write.
I keep writing.
And I don’t stop until I’m done with my first draft.
I don’t care how bad it is.
Usually, it’s unreadable gibberish filled with spelling errors, run-on sentences and long-winded words.
But that’s okay.
Your first draft is supposed to look like this.
I made my life 10x harder by breaking this cardinal rule.
I used to edit my first draft, line-by-line, while writing.
This made it soooo hard to even write a 200-word email.
But after I discovered the truth about first drafts (by studying the top copywriters), I learned that the first draft is all about letting everything out of your system.
Just get it onto paper.
Then, you can edit it into a masterpiece.
But no one will read your masterpiece if you don’t have clients to write for.
8. How to Bond with Your Readers
Did you know that people like reading from people…. NOT faceless corporations??
Seems obvious.
However, MOOOST ads, websites, blogs and social media content read like a boring robot who is trying to prove they are hooman.
Look:
Your copy should read like a friend is talking to you.
There’s a gang of benefits to picking up this writing “style.”
Perhaps the biggest being…
It helps you bond with your readers.
And the more you bond with readers, the more likely they’ll read every word you write and take you up on your offers.
While we're on the subject...
One of my favorite ways to bond with readers is to add personal comments throughout my copy.
I learned this magic trick from Gary Halbert.
He wrote about it in The Boron Letters (one of my favorite copywriting books. MUST-READ for beginners).
It’s really easy to do….
In the middle of your text, add parenthesis - (like this).
Inside these parentheses, add a personal comment.
This can be insight, something on your mind, further explanation, tips, whatever.
Why does this strengthen the bond?
It lets your readers know that there is a warm body behind the words.
Plus, it breaks up your copy and adds eye relief.
Try it out the next time you write.
Conclusion
There ya go, my salty amigo.
Use these 8 tips to quickly improve your copywriting skills.
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