Great copywriters understand writing AND sales.

In a previous post, we introduced the concept that business writing is a specialist trade. Copywriting is nothing like the writing you did in high school or university. Unless you are a copywriter, it's not easy to make audiences enjoy reading your words. That's a fatal problem when you are hoping to make a sale from your website.

Education vs Business: What’s Different About Writing Online (Part 2)

Formal Education teaches you to write:

1. Big words.
2. Long, complex sentences.
3. Abstract theory (e.g. drawing interpretation from simple dialogue in literature).

Talking to Customers: What You Have to Think about In Business Writing...

1. People prefer short, simple words because a) we hate using the dictionary, and b) it embarrasses us when we don’t know a word.
2. Typically, people skim-read online. So it’s hard to quickly digest long sentences. Keeping points short and simple means even skimmers get the gist.
3. Plain talk. Outside of the world of academia and study, we have informal conversations. When you’re shopping for a service online (like 79% of Australia) jargon and complex theory are off-putting.

And we haven’t even begun to talk about learning styles… (Click back for a next week's post on Why It Pays To Understand Learning Styles.)

Related Articles:

1. Danger: Did You Write Your Website Content?

2. Is Your Website Worth More Than 3 Seconds?

3. Are You Proud Of Your Business Website?