When was the last time you went to a website and thought to yourself, “Wow, this copywriting is really fantastic! Look at all the bullet points!” Yeah, me neither. That’s because good copywriting is like the lighting guy at a concert: invisible, but essential for showcasing the main attraction (your information). Bad copywriting crashes the party by jumping in front of the information and hollering “Look at me! I’m making it harder for you to find what you want!” Writing effective online copy is all about identifying the party-crashers and escorting them from the premises so you can showcase the main attraction.

Party Crasher #1: Complicating the Message

In any given industry, you have jargon, technical terms, and insider idioms that you use when communicating with others in the business. If you bombard you website audience with these things, however, you’re making it harder for them to understand what you mean. So don’t make them get a realtor’s license in order to understand your real estate website. Simplify, simplify, simplify.

Party Crasher #2:  Grammar By the Book

I’m a firm believer in good grammar and spelling. However, with online writing you get to break a few rules—discreetly. It’s okay, and even desirable, to use sentence fragments, begin sentences with “And” or “But,” use slang, and write in first person. The goal is to be conversational, talking with your readers rather than at them.

Party Crasher #3: Disguising Your Main Points

You’ve got fabulous information that your target audience needs to know. But if you disguise it as a long, boring paragraph, they’ll never get around to reading it. Show off your main points with bullets, numbered lists, and bolding.

Party Crasher #4: Becoming a Slave to Keywords

Keywords are an essential SEO tool, and every website needs them. But when your copywriting becomes a slave to your keywords, it can sound stilted and disjointed. Effective keyword density generally hovers between 1% and 5%. Keywords should appear in titles and headings and should sound natural when used in your copy.

Party Crasher #5: Robotic Style

Remember the computer from the original Star Trek series? For any non-trekkie people out there, it spoke in monotone, sounded robotic, and communicated only the essentials. In Star Trek: The Next Generation, however, the computer had acquired a personality. Now she was feminine, warm, and personable. That’s the difference you want to achieve in your writing style: the difference between “it” and “she.” Let your personality shine through in your writing.

When you simplify your message, write conversationally, highlight your main points, use keywords effectively, and develop personality in your writing, you effectively escort the party-crashers off-stage and allow your fabulous information to enjoy the limelight. It is, after all, what the audience came to see.

The scissors are on the table. The  hand is in his pocket. The weather was nice.

I’m bored already.

If you’re prepping an email campaign, then you already know that if you don’t have an interesting subject line, you’re dead in the water. There’s more to email campaigns than “Laptops Are On Sale.”

Strong active verbs help make your subject lines taut and exciting. If you’re cold emailing a sales lead, or following up with an existing customer hoping for follow-through sales, strong action verbs are absolutely essential.

What is an action verb?

An action verb is simply that: a verb that denotes an action. The opposite of an action verb is a passive verb, a verb that doesn’t denote an action. Jump is an active verb. Punch. Explode. Grab. Run. Scream. Smile. Active verbs do something.

Am, is, are, was, were, be, being, been. Those are passive verbs. They don’t do anything. They just sit there. You have a five to ten word subject line to get your readers’ interest, and passive verbs won’t get the job done.

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Your click-through rates depend heavily on how well your copywriting engages subscribers. If they find your content boring or otherwise not worth their time, they may even decide to stop opening your emails or unsubscribe from your list. The good news is that you can polish your copywriting by making sure each email demonstrates these characteristics.

Be Personal

Email is inherently more personal than social media or blogging. People tend to guard their email addresses jealously, so when they sign up for your email list they’re displaying a certain level of trust and interest in what you have to say. Take that trust seriously and treat them as the valued customers they are. Send birthday emails, thank you emails, special offers, and whatever else you can think of to let your subscribers know you view them as individuals.

Remember, Your Subject Line is Copy Too

It’s easy to tack the subject line on at the last minute without giving it much thought. But doing so could be detrimental to your email campaign by sabotaging your open rates. Pay attention to things like simple, concise action wording, being straightforward, and not looking like spam.

Be Conversational

Don’t sound overly formal or salesy when you’re writing email copy. Let your subscribers know that you’re a person too, and include details that highlight a personality rather than merely a corporation. Talk about your latest blog post, your daughter’s birthday, or a special person who inspired you—anything to create a connection between you and the reader.

Provide Content That Benefits the Reader

Benefit doesn’t always have to be monetary. Give the reader something to make him laugh, pique his interest, tell him something he didn’t know, or tell him a story that means something to you. These types of emails capture interest and as an added bonus, they often inspire the subscriber to forward your email to friends and family who might become subscribers themselves. Of course, you can also provide benefit by offering discounts, freebies, or sneak previews of sale events.

Always Include a Call to Action

No matter how great your email is, the subscriber is unlikely to click through to your website if you don’t give him a reason for doing so. Ask the reader to take action in every email you send using compelling wording and a great incentive.

eConnect Email can help with you with every stage of the email creation process. Upload and manage images, implement customizable templates, preview how content will look in the inbox, personalize your messages, and insert content snippets into emails all from one centralized location.