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Visibility Generating
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Writing and Marketing Information
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| Febuary 04, 2015 / Newsletter 020415
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Freelance Writing - Don't Overspice Your Copy
Guest post by Will Newman
I wouldn’t be a copywriter if it weren’t for the computer.
You might be in the same boat. The computer has allowed me to get around
my terrible typing skills. I’m a hunt-and-peck typist. So, sometimes –
no, make that frequently – my fingers hit the wrong keys.
Thank goodness Word flags those typos.
The computer has also made editing orders of magnitude easier than it
ever was on my clunky manual typewriter. Copy. Paste. Cut. Move. So much
easier.
And, if I want to add a little visual spice to my copy, all I have to do
is press a couple of keys, and my copy shows up italicized, boldfaced, or underlined.
I can see immediately the visual impact these formatting options give
my writing. If I feel I’ve emphasized the wrong phrase, I can change it
with little effort. That’s a huge advantage over the “old way.”
A valuable tool or a crutch?
This last benefit is also its biggest disadvantage for you as a
copywriter. It’s so easy to add emphasis, it’s tempting – oh, so
tempting – to let formatting be the force adding excitement to your
copy.
You want your reader to feel excited about a certain benefit, so you put
it in boldface type. You want him or her to know your promise is
important, so you bold that, too. Or maybe, for variety, you use
italics.
This is like much of the copy I see from beginning copywriters. They use typographical emphasis to excite their reader.
This is backwards. Before adding any formatting to your copy, your words
must be strong enough by themselves to grab your prospect’s attention
and convince him or her to act. Your words should be enough.
This doesn’t mean you should avoid using boldface, italics, capital
letters, and other formatting options. These formatting options add
visual spice to your copy. Plus, if you use them correctly, your
prospect can hear the emphasis in his or her head while reading the
emphasized words. (An unvoiced auditory emphasis.)
Are there any rules for formatting your copy? No hard and fast ones, but here are some guidelines I follow …
Italics: Italics are a great way to add that unvoiced auditory emphasis I
just mentioned. Use italics to cause your prospect’s mental voice to
rise slightly like this: “Mario should not be allowed to speak when he
comes into the coffee shop.”
When you read the sentence, additional visual and unvoiced auditory emphasis were added to the word “not.”
I don’t use italics for this purpose for more than two or three words in
a row. I also avoid using it more than three or four times on one page.
(However, you still should use italics for the traditional purposes of
specifying book titles, setting off extended quotes, or for headings and
subheads.)
Boldface: Boldfaced text can add some unvoiced auditory emphasis, but it’s not as effective as italics for this purpose.
However, it does make your copy visually more forceful.
Boldfaced words jump off the page, so I use them to catch my reader’s attention before he or she’s even begun reading.
I don’t like using bold type for more than five words in a row. Any more than that is hard to read.
ALL CAPS: Using a long string of type set in all caps is considered
yelling in the online world. This has now become the standard in most
types of writing. Do you like to be yelled at? Of course not. If you use
all caps, I recommend using them for no more than two or three words at
a time.
To read the rest of this article, go to:
http://www.karencioffiwritingandmarketing.com/2014/05/freelance-writing-dont-overspice-your.html
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Karen Cioffi, Freelance Writer
For Individuals (Academic Papers, Essays, Editing, and More)
The Article Writing Doctor
Your Content Marketing Prescription
(For Small and Home Businesses)
karencioffi [at] ymail [dot] com
I'm an affiliate for some of the products I recommend. I only tell you about products I've checked out.
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