Copywriting is a peculiar thing.
Online copy and business-directed content don’t follow the same rules as other literary and journalistic works. Copywriting is looser in many ways, and it offers more flexibility in tone and style.
However, this doesn’t mean that you can cram your writing with whatever you want and expect it to work for your clients. The goal of most online copy is to educate and engage a readership about a topic, and just slapping words on a screen won’t do the trick.
Here are the biggest copywriting offenders that make us lose sleep at night.
1. Making up words and industry jargon.
Don’t be shy. We’ve all done it. Why bother brainstorming the perfect phrase when you can just invent the words that meet your needs? The “Father of Advertising” David Ogilvy said it best:
“Never use jargon words like reconceptualize, demassification, attitudinally, judgmentally. They are hallmarks of a pretentious ass.”
Now, to be fair, these phrases can resonate with the world and catch on. It wasn’t that long ago that words like “email,” “internet,” and “blog” fell under the umbrella of fake industry jargon that you’d never seen in professional writing; now, all three can be found in any recent copy of a Merriam-Webster dictionary.
However, the success of the few doesn’t give us carte blanche to throw whatever jargon we want into our copy. Well, to be fair, you can throw whatever you want into your copy, but that doesn’t mean your readers will understand or appreciate it. This holds true for both made-up words and industry jargon.
Going on about “301 redirects,” “software APIs,” and “RSS feeds” to an audience without a technical bone in their bodies won’t create much of an impact. On top of that, jargon is tough to translate and makes your copy virtually inaccessible to anybody but those rare industry experts. Keep it accessible by keeping it simple. Nobody wants to read a textbook masquerading as a blog.
2. Uncontrolled multisyllabic tendencies.
It doesn’t take a literary expert to internalize that increasing the complexity of your content significantly advances its quality, right? Why not break out a thesaurus to give those short, easy-to-understand sentences some additional fluff? Extra points for extra syllables.
After all, if you don’t sound smart, how will your readers know that you are smart?
Full stop. Let’s give our readers a break.
We love the air of legitimacy that those long words can provide, but they have no place in our copy. When simplicity is the name of the game, incomprehensibility is not a welcome contender. Your goal is to make an impact, not show off your vocabulary.
Purge your content of its wordiness.
3. Aiming for mediocrity.
What’s the only thing better than content that’s good? That’s right—content that’s good enough.
This is the shared mindset of many copywriters working out there, anyway. What’s the harm in cutting corners with copy that’s just okay? There’s no point in white-knuckling articles that would probably be fine as-is. Why aim for excellence when a passing grade will do the trick?
When publishing copy, don’t fall into the trap of thinking that passable is the same thing as quality. Content that performs will always stand out over content that doesn’t deliver, and your readers can tell the difference.
4. Being tone deaf.
C’mon. All that marketing data about buyer personas and audience segmentation doesn’t really mean anything, right? Your business can create copy that meets everybody’s needs at once, without worrying about the tone of your writing. Surely a letter to Grandma can read the same as a technical whitepaper for a software client.
As it turns out, maybe not. The tone of an article can make all the difference between a truly engaged reader and a reader who skims for the highlights. Are your readers looking for a laugh? Do they need something educational? Write with these questions in mind. If you’re way off base with an inappropriate or unhelpful tone, you won’t make many fans.
Bottom line: exceptionally poor content is tone deaf to the needs of its audience.
5. Getting parenthetical. (It helps, trust me.)
Adding parenthetical asides can only be a positive aspect of your copy. (“Positive” here meaning “distracting and unnecessary.”)
Think of parenthetical phrases as that annoying guy at the party who showed up without being invited. He definitely brings something to the table; whether or not your guests want to see this something is another story.
While parenthetical clauses can be used to provide helpful information, don’t underestimate how effective they can be at making your copy stink. (Parenthetical asides aren’t all they’re cracked up to be.) Adding parenthetical thoughts after each sentence might seem like you’re adding clarity to your copy, but they also add clutter, and can be off-putting to otherwise interested readers. (People find them annoying.) What’s more, it can seem like an amateur move. Find a way to explain yourself without resorting to these obnoxious hanger-ons.
Checking It Twice
Online content may be flexible, but don’t get carried away.
Copy bogged down by unnecessary clutter, industry shop-talk, or tonal faux pas will never engage an audience.
Peruse your content library for these and other issues that may be present in your copy. A few minor tweaks can breathe new life into an article and make your writing stronger than ever.
