Your copywriting for blogs or newsletters should be designed to influence people’s opinions and actions.

1. Copywriting Tips for Better
Results
Gail Lockyer
Mobile 0439 756746

2. Copywriting Tips That Will Help Your
Content to Succeed
Your copywriting for blogs or newsletters should
be designed to influence people’s opinions
and actions.

3. Personalise Your Campaigns
• Subject lines are you main headline and will ultimately
determine whether your campaign is opened or not. There
is nothing more engaging for a reader than to see his or
her own name. Use personalization in the subject line and
inside the body of the email. Do not over use this
technique or it may have the reverse effect.
• Keep your subject lines short… generally, shorter email
subject lines produce higher open and click- through rates.
Use this free online “Email Subject Line Tester” tool to
help you to help develop effective, compelling subject lines
that withstand sophisticated SPAM filters
http://www.localnews.biz/subjectLine/ValidateSubjectLine.
asp

4. Write conversationally and be
authentic
• Use plain, easy to understand English.
Nobody cares if you can use xenophobia and
ostentatious in a sentence. Write as if you are
talking to a buddy over a beer without any
coarse language. Be friendly and personable in
your writing and above all be authentic and
transparent. Your readers will reward you for
following this basic rule. Educate and inform
but not just ‘sell sell sell’.

5. Add expression and passion
Since you will not have the luxury of seeing your
prospect eye-to-eye to gauge their reactions
you need to add extra passion into your
message. Even if you think you are overdoing
it when you write, your audiences will
understand it when they read it.
Be enthusiastic!

6. Make it personalised
Everyone is tunes into WIIFM (What’s In It For Me), so try
to think of the ideal prospect as you are writing and
personalise that message just for them.
Even if your email or website will be read by thousands of
people each day -- every person will read it one at a
time. Use “you” and “your” liberally.
Focus on them, not you.

7. K.I.S.A (Keep It Simple ALWAYS)
Keep your sentences and paragraphs short and simple.
It’s always a good rule of thumb to keep any solo
broadcasts to a maximum of 150 words. When writing
articles for Enewsletter, just include the first paragraph
and link through to your website or blog to read
more…
Convey your message in a clear and concise manner – Be
ruthless when editing your email campaign and include
lots of white space to make it inviting. Long blocks of
words are scary, so keep your writing simple and to the
point.

8. Follow the 3-link rule
When writing your “solo email”
campaign, include your CTA (call to action) link
at least 3 times within your 150 words.
Try one at the beginning, next in the main body
and one towards the end or even in the P.S (if
you use this). Experiment and alternate
between the full URL website address and a
hyperlinked call to action like: Go ahead and
take action now!

9. Use plenty of compelling sub-
headlines
Subheads should be like mini-headlines.
Use them to break up large bodies of text and to
bring people back into the body of the letter. This
is more applicable when writing your Enewsletter
rather than a solo broadcast or campaign
A lot of people will scan your email so you need to
make you subheads “stand-alone” and be a
unique selling message themselves. Also, be sure
to use different graphic embellishments.

10. Split-Test and SPAM Check
Segment your database and break them down into
specific audience groups. Split-test different subject
lines to various market segments and what your
open rates and responses sore!
Always check for Spam words to avoid ending up in
your recipients spam box.
There is plenty of free online spam checking devices –
just search “free email spam check”.

11. Use power words
Power words are action words that are benefit
orientated. They are used in promotional
campaigns and email subject lines.
Here are some examples below to help stimulate
your creative juices…
How to, Ultimate, Hot, First, Big, Discover, Save,
Create, Premiere, Easy, Amazing, Extraordinary,
Now, Help, Easy, Exclusive, Health, Powerful,
Immediately, Guarantee, You, Learn, Best, Win,
Know, Understand

12. Mobile device friendly
People are becoming more and more mobile
using smart phones, tablets and other devices.
Make sure that your template in your email
campaign is mobile device friendly by trying to
keep the total width of text copy to around
65-75 characters in width.

13. Your call to action (CTA)
Don't use the same old call to action and tell
them to "click here“.
Try using some fresh alternatives like "read the
full story", “learn more about it” "download
this special report now", "save 20%
immediately” and so on.

14. BONUS TIP
To Increase Response and Sales
• Follow this 3-Step Proven Formula for maximum
results
• 1. Here is what I have got – Be clear about your
offering and get to the point.
• 2. Here is what it will do for YOU – make sure you
highlight the benefits they receive immediately
• 3. Here is what to do next – A simple call to action
related to the benefits

15. Where Do You Find Authentic
Content?
So, that’s my guide to writing better copy but how do you source the information?
How can you come up with authentic content over and over again?
The answer is easy! You don’t. I hear you gasping at that thought! Yes, you do need
authentic content but if you can set up some Google alerts on the topics or
industry that you are seeking information on, that can be your starting point.
www.google.com.au/alerts
If your website has FAQ section, this is also a great starting point to discuss any of
these in greater depth.
There are numerous websites of credibility to follow, subscribe to other
newsletters and generally keep your eyes open to opportunities. My suggestion
is to collect and store the links to articles in a folder (on your computer) until
you require the information, that way it won’t be lost for the article you are
wanting to write.

16. Of course you must rewrite the content in your own words and
include/exclude facts that you can’t substantiate or don’t apply
to your business. If you don’t write content that you can
comfortably discuss with your customer, then it should not be
in your article.
To ensure your content is totally authentic,
check your content by pasting in the link to
www.copyscape.com before you publish
your article.
Also remember to check the spelling before you publish your
article. Read it through, get someone else to proofread the
article if possible. Once the article is published, it is impossible
to rescind and correct the wrongs.

17. Images
Images are also important in your copywriting and I recommend the
images are renamed with keywords or appropriate titles. Here is a list
of site with royalty free images:
•www.google.com (images)
•www.istock.com
•www.gettyimages.com
•www.shutterstock.com
•www.compfight.com - make sure that you’re using “Creative Commons”
•www.offset.com
•www.stockxchange.com
•www.pintrest.com
•Or your own authentic photos
If you use someone else’s photos then it is recommended that you
acknowledge that person for the contribution.

18. How Many Words Do You Write?
How long can you keep the reader’s interest? Some stories require
over 1,000 words to convey the message, whilst others may only
need 200-300 words. As a rule of thumb, my blogs are over 500
words each. It is also really good for SEO to write longer blogs and
that’s a good thing for any marketing campaign.
What’s the purpose of your content? Are your selling a product or
service? Are you trying to increase your email list? Do you want
inform your customers on your industry news? The purpose of your
post will determine its length.
If you’re looking to interact with readers and improve your ranking,
long posts are preferred. But there is no right and wrong way, it is
the way that achieves the results for you that is important.

19. Keywords in your content
Go to Google and search for the words that people are using to find your
content which has covered these words by using them within the title and
repeated in the content. This is great for maximising your content for
search engine optimisation.
Go to:
https://adwords.google.com/KeywordPlanner
It is fairly self-explanatory to search for the keywords to use and look at the
variations of the phase i.e.
Large gold coins
Gold coins prices
Gold large coins for sale
This is one area that you could assist in the SEO of your content, but if you are
unsure, then I recommend you seek a professional to search for you.

20. A sample of keyword search

21. How Often Should You Blog or Send
Out Newsletter?
It depends again on your business or purpose of communication but the less
you communicate, the more the readership will fade away and become
someone else’s customer. If you have news to share, then it is blog or
newsletter worthy. Don’t write for the sake of writing. I blog once a week
and send out a newsletter monthly. A newsletter more than once a month
is too frequently, some businesses will only send out quarterly
newsletters. The blog should form part of the newsletter with a short
introduction and then a link to the blog.
If you write too often, then you will only put the readers off as well.
Monitor the goals and results and find your comfort zone.
If you cant afford the time, then consider outsourcing this task.

22. If you need assistance with your copywriting,
blogging, newsletter or not sure how to
manage it, then give me a call or drop an
email and let’s get you started.
info@halfdaypa.com.au
http://www.halfdaypa.com.au/virtual-administration-services/e-newsletter-and-marketing-made-easy