Even if you are well-versed in internet marketing techniques, it does not necessarily make you a good writer. For some of us, writing comes naturally. For others, it is akin to a trip to the dentist’s office. Even if you enjoy writing, it does not mean that you know the specifics of crafting professional copy.
One of those specifics is writing tight. Let’s examine what this means and how to use this concept to make your web copy writing better.
Deadlines Can Be Tight – But What About Writing
A tight deadline means you have a shortage of time to accomplish a particular task. In terms of writing tight, this means you need to use fewer words to get a concept across.
Consider these two sentences:
1. The bloated, brown-spotted dog bared its teeth while drool dripped from his chin before he eagerly accepted the crunchy treat willingly offered by his happy owner.
2. The dog ate the treat his owner offered.
Now the first sentence might be okay (if a bit unwieldy) in a piece of fiction. It’s descriptive and gives the reader some idea of emotion as well as a visual image of the occurrence. But that’s not what web copy is all about. You’re not writing a book. You’re trying to get a point across. For an online sales letter, the second sentence would be much more effective.
When you use too many words, you lengthen the copy and you risk losing the reader’s attention before your point is made.
Tighten It Up
Take a critical look at the copy you’ve written for your e-commerce website. Answer these questions to determine if the text could be tightened up:
• How many words have you written? Copy and paste it into a Word document to easily have them counted. Any more than 500 words or so and it’s considered a long piece of text – unlikely to be read from start to finish.
• What’s the reading score? While you’re at it, have Word give you a ‘reading ease’ rating of the content. A low score may mean that you are using too much industry-specific jargon or not putting together sentences together that don’t flow well.
• Does it have unnecessary words or descriptors? Do a scan for words such as ‘that’. Read the sentence with the omitted word. Does it still make sense? Then delete it.
• Are there filler sentences? Copywriting techniques include a bit of repetition but if you’ve said the same thing twice or more, it could be you are adding filler sentences to make the piece longer. Yes, it’s a good idea to reiterate a call to action but if your piece just goes on and on about nothing, you need to trim it down.
• It is easy to understand? Have someone not intimately acquainted with your business read the text printed on a sheet of paper. Have them give you their feedback. You may want to ask them a set of key questions that will help you determine if they retained the key concepts in the text.
It’s a good idea to go over your web copy every few months and look at it with a critical eye. Too often we write once, post it to the internet, and then never again review the words.
If you want your copy to get noticed and read, you need to learn how to start writing tight. This is particularly true when it comes to online text. You have a small window of opportunity to be convincing to someone so be sure you don’t lose their interest with waffling or waxing lyrical with unnecessary words.
See you at the top of Google!
Sean Rasmussen
SEO Australia Pacific
AussieSEO.com © 2007 - 2010
Tight copywriting is the way to go! The majority of online reading is for factual information. You’ve got to get to the point asap or you risk the reader clicking away and moving on.
And it’s not difficult for a reader to simply click the ‘back’ button as they have invested little in viewing your website – unlike a book where the reader has invested money and therefore pushes on to unlock value.
.-= David Moloney´s last blog ..What’s a Unique Selling Point/Proposition? =-.
This is something that I sometimes struggle with.
On the one hand I want to provide useful information to readers without skipping to much of the important details, on the other hand I don’t want them to be bored and leave.
I sometimes re-read over my copy and find a few sentences to remove here and there, but it always leaves me thinking whether I’ve taken out useful information.
.-= Cemil´s last blog ..How To Move The Navigation Bar In The Thesis Theme Below The Header =-.
Hi Sean,
I think there should be a balance between writing tight and using storytelling to engage the reader in your post. I have been writing pretty much just factual stuff and I think it’s pretty boring. And, given the numbers of visitors to my blog, I’m not the only one who thinks so.
So, I’ve been thinking about changing my writing and trying to tell a story around the facts. But, after reading your post I’m not sure. Still, I have to try something different with my posts to get more readers.
.-= Jazz Salinger´s last blog ..Learn and Earn – It’s a Marathon Not a Sprint =-.
Hi Jazz,
I definately prefer to read a story but sometimes its hard to get your point across. I know where you are coming from though with the boring posts, I often read mine and feel they are not engaging.
.-= Jackie Stenhouse´s last blog ..Anxiety Separation in Children =-.
Writing tight is the opposite to what we are taught at school. We were always told to be descriptive and use lots of adjectives but writing web copy is a whole new ball game. keeping readers attention is such an art form. I recently looked back at posts I wrote when I started and I can see the improvements in todays posts but I definately can use a lot more.
.-= Jackie Stenhouse´s last blog ..Anxiety Separation in Children =-.
I agree with you Jackie writing tight is definately a whole new ball game and the opposite of what we are taught at school. I find myself at times needing to split my articles into two and three using the 500 word limit and then I think maybe there is too much in the middle that doesn’t need to be there. Trying to shorten something like that is very difficult so I need to use a different approach just haven’t found it as yet.
Sometimes, with articles for Ezine, I just start writing and usually end up with too many – e.g. 700-800. What I then do is find a logical place to split the article into two.
This way I can write something that flows, and if it too long, I get the benefit of having two articles.
Copywriting though needs to be tight from the ‘get go’ and it does help one write short tight articles even for Ezine.
Hi Sean
I have just finished writing an eBook and was very blessed to have David Moloney edit for me. He told me that I need to cut my book down to about half of what I have and that often I will repeat myself but just in different words so that I am continually over writing (just like am doing now as an example lol).
That was an eye opener. I can be very verbose and am now learning to say less with more impact.
David is an excellent writer and an eagle eye editor. He has saved me thousands of hours toil I would have spent on over writng everything.
The clue is to choose words carefully and speak succintly. Beware, there will be an expansion in your bank of knowledge.
Writing tight is best. Your readers will be grateful.
E-books definitely have to tightly written and also scannable. Normal rules of grammar etc do not need to be adhered to, for example with paragraphs – two to four lines is long enough.
Sean’s copywriting rules can be applied both for sales letters, emails and e-books.
I have received extra long e-books (100+ pages) and they rarely grab me. Books that lenght I prefer to have in hand so to speak. I like e-books to be succinct and deliver the info in clear, brief messages
I knew about the word count in Word, but I didn’t know about the readability index. Something new to try
Writing tight in my eyes is a good trait on the internet. People are mainly looking for information, not for fiction, so you need to come to the point. I belong to the group that clicks away when a sales page is dragging on forever.
.-= Renee´s last blog ..Sean Rasmussen – Australian Internet Marketer =-.
Gee, initially I thought the phrase “writing tight” meant having a few wee drams beforehand – most disappointed to discover I was way off beam (Jim that is!)
Readability index – is that the grammar bit in the ABC?