Ever visited a long copy sales page and noticed how LONG it was?
If so, there’s a good chance it was the poor quality of copy that tipped you off and not the length. Long copy can be a BREEZE to read when skillfully written.
And poorly written copy can feel like a waterless hike through the Sahara desert when read top to bottom.
Two methods for making long copy unbearable are…
1) Irrelevant, boring and/or misplaced content .
2) Clunky words, sentences and tempo.
Many posts at CopywritingDean.com cover mistake #1. So this post will cover mistake #2.
Keep Your Paragraphs SHORT
Big blocks of text are not reader-friendly. So remember to use the “enter” key often. I rarely use more than 3 sentences in a paragraph, despite my English teacher’s best efforts.
Keep Your Sentences SHORT
Avoid run-on sentences like the Black Death. There’s no easier way to confuse a reader than to lose him in a long, grammatically incorrect sentence.
That said, a long grammatically CORRECT sentence isn’t much better. A sentence that’s too long can force the reader to juggle too many ideas at once. Use frequent punctuation to give them a break.
You should also delete unnecessary words or phrases. Examples would be…
“Who Is,”
“Perhaps,”
“That,”
“Just,”
“Absolutely,”
“The Fact That,”
“Quite,”
“Actually,”
“Completely,”
“Totally,”
“Really,”
“Who Is,”
“Which Was,”
“Very,”
Keep Your Words Short
Using big words is an easy way to lose readership. Try sticking to words with 2-3 syllables at most. And if you do use a big word that’s uncommon, make sure it’s phonetic.
And yes, it is funny that phonetic isn’t spelled phonetically.
Vary Your Sentence Structure
If each sentence has the same structure your reader is going to get bored quick. An easy way to fix this is to switch between short, medium and long sentences often.
Got Any More? Leave A Reply
If you have any more simple tips for writing like a copywriter, please share by leaving a reply.
Thanks in advance!
Stephen Dean
