Welcome back to The Killer-Poet, for the writer who knows their worth.
This issue is brought to you by AWAI's Copywriting Training. This is the all-new version of the program where countless copy pros got their start (including our own Brian Clark). Get all the details here.
I'm Stefanie, Copyblogger's Editor-in-Chief, and I appreciate spending the next couple of minutes with you in your inbox. Below you'll find skill-strengthening resources, plus the writing tip of the week. Let's get to it!
Do You Make These 11 Common Grammar Mistakes When You Write?
It's time to review some common grammar mistakes that damage our credibility. Not normally a fun task, but absolutely necessary.
Don't worry ... the examples in this article will keep you amused to diminish the pain. It's also worth mentioning that copywriting and blogging should be conversational and engaging, and breaking formal grammatical and spelling conventions can often be a good thing.
Outside of specific professional or academic contexts, colorful writing that makes it easier on the reader is more important than pleasing Strunk and White.
That said, you have to know the rules in order to break them. Plus, there are some errors that you'll never convince anyone you did intentionally in the name of style (outside of a joke), and even then some people will still assume you're dumb.
So, let's take a look at some of those types of glaring errors you never want to make -- common writing mistakes that can diminish the shine and credibility of your message.
How to Double Down on Your MVA with SEO
This week's discussion on 7-Figure Small is about SEO. But it's a bit of a different SEO conversation than you may be used to.
Because often when we talk about SEO within the context of building an audience, we focus on it from the beginning. What better way to get to your minimum viable audience than with organic search traffic, right?
Well, maybe not ... you aren't really ready to execute a smart SEO strategy until you have your minimum viable audience already built. At that point, you actually know something about your audience beyond the hypothesis that you start out with.
Once you're there, then you can take what you know, craft an astute SEO plan, and drive the kind of targeted organic traffic that you can actually convert into subscribers -- the kinds of subscribers who may even be on the fast track to becoming customers.
And Jonny Nastor knows plenty about how to do this, because he's been doing it successfully for clients for years. And he shares his expertise in this episode.
Listen here, or find the episode on Apple Podcasts.
Hit a Copywriting Home Run with Perceptual Contrast
Have you ever watched a baseball player on deck to bat next? You'll notice that batters often place a weighted ring around the bat while doing warm-up swings.
Why? When the player steps up to the plate, the bat feels relatively lighter. This helps the batter swing faster when a hot fastball comes blazing down the middle.
It doesn't matter that the bat isn't really lighter. From a psychological standpoint (which is where world-class athletes leave average players behind), the batter feels like he has a stronger, faster swing. That mental edge makes a difference.
This phenomenon is known as perceptual contrast.
Human beings naturally perceive things in comparison to other things, which means everything we mentally process is a relative assessment.
Perceptual contrast is an effective persuasion technique because a skillful copywriter can alter the way a prospective buyer perceives a product or service, even though there's been no actual change to the offer.
So, how can you use it to boost your own sales? Discover how to hit a copywriting home run with perceptual contrast.
Creativity Grab Bag
- 3 Simple Questions that Help You Craft Better Headlines
- The 'Pulp Fiction' Technique for Engaging and Persuasive Content
- Suzanne Vega - Tom's Diner | The Story Behind The Song
- 5 Ways to Tap into an Endless Wellspring of Creative Content Ideas
- How to Use a Semicolon (Once and For All)
Befriend Typos
You read the subhead above correctly. I am indeed proposing that you befriend, rather than fear, typos.
I can explain this outlook, which rests on the concept that typos are different from careless errors.
Typos happen to everyone. You can't avoid all mistakes all of the time. A careless error, on the other hand, is something else.
Careless errors are more disappointing than typos because they could have been avoided with more attention to detail.
So, if you know you do everything you can to avoid careless errors in your writing, you don't need to bat an eyelash if an occasional typo shows up to your content party.
At that point, a typo can be laughable. It doesn't need to shake your confidence, and you don't need to be concerned that it will erode the trust you've built with your audience.
A commitment to quality creates a healthy attitude toward infrequent, inevitable mistakes. The same attitude can also radically combat perfectionism. Are you committed?
Talk with you again soon,
Stefanie Flaxman
Editor-in-Chief, Copyblogger Media
Check out more Copyblogger articles here
No comments:
Post a Comment