Editing has always been important to writing good sales copy, but the ease of publishing on the web has taken writing out of the hands of professionals and into the hands of anyone who wants to put up a website, blog or even to (excuse the expression) tweet.
In an effort to appeal to the search engines, self-styled web copywriters and SEO gurus have adapted gimmicks to fill their copy with keywords by restating the same ideas over (and over) again.
Web content needs to be focused and meaningful. Marketing writer Diana Huff wrote about “Pruning Dead Wood” from copy by eliminating all the words that aren’t necessary, and making sure not to fall in love with your work, so you will be willing to edit it down to it’s core message.
Hubspot & David Meerman Scott came out with a “Gobbledygook Grader”, which scores web content, sales copy or press releases and tells you how many “useless, cliched, jargon and hype-filled words” your copy contains, stating that you “should instead write using words and phrases your buyers use and understand.”
With so much information available, people have become scanners rather than readers. It’s critical to put the most important part of your message up front and make every sentence count. If you don’t capture their attention immediately and keep it, they may not even get down to the 2nd or 3rd paragraph.
Susan Martin, Marketing Coaching
