Creating powerful copy can mean the difference between nailing a deal and having potential clients shrug and move on. If you don’t provide a compelling reason for people to keep reading, then why should they take an interest in whatever you’re selling? Here’s how to create highly persuasive copy that will captivate potential clients and help you get the leads you’re looking for:

1. Spend time creating your headline

It all starts here. Many copywriters make the mistake of focusing exclusively on their text, and pay little attention to creating a fantastic title. Yet these few short words punch well above their weight when done well. If people don’t see a great headline, where is their incentive to read on? All the work you’ve done on your text could be wasted if you don’t persuade them early on that they want to read further. Spend some time on crafting your title, and you’ll find that it pays dividends.

Oddly enough, writing such a short headline can be the biggest headache for copywriters. Many of us have lost the art of précis – distilling what you want to say down to the minimum words, without losing anything important. Practicing this skill will help you in creating great headlines. You can also use headline analysers to find out how your headline will work. These are the titles I tried for this post:

Essential tools for creating perfect copy every time

It didn’t care much for this one. Zero emotional impact and dismissed as generic. So I tweaked it to:

Powerful, persuasive and perfect: Essential tools for creating perfect copy every time

No, this doesn’t work either. Still too generic, and what’s going to grab the reader’s attention about that? So I tried:

How to score a perfect 10: Essential tools for creating persuasive copy

Much better! It liked the ‘How to’. But still too wordy, and no uncommon words. Next attempt:

How to create bewitching copy that will captivate your readers

This scored highly for emotional impact. I’m not sure I agreed with everything in the analysis, for example this version was categorised as ‘too neutral’. But you can see how you can refine your headline to make more of a impact.

2. Keep to the point

Copywriters also like to show off their creative talents. That’s understandable, but it’s also a dangerous distraction from the real purpose of what they’re writing. That can lead them to wander off the point and give in to the urge to be funny or clever. However, people are easily deterred from reading on if they can’t quickly discern the purpose of whatever they’re reading. End result: you lose them if they can’t see what you’re offering at a glance.

The lesson is to always bear your point in mind. You want to sell them something, therefore you need to make that very clear. Show them how they will benefit from using your product or service. Advertising is all about persuasion – and you won’t persuade them of anything if you can’t keep them around long enough to read your text.

3. Sell it to them

In this sense, this doesn’t mean literally. Of course you want them to buy. But to sell it to them in the actual sense, you’ve got to sell it to them emotionally. You need to persuade them that they need what you’ve got. Lay out the reasons why they need your product. Show them what it can do for them. What it can bring to their life. And more importantly, why should they buy it from YOU, and not one of your competitors?

4. What works for others?

If something works for other people, then it ain’t broke and you probably shouldn’t try to fix it. Copywriting is no exception. You can improve on what other people are doing, but if a particular approach is working for them then it’s working for a reason. Go to a tool like Buzzsumo to see which topics and keyword are being shared the most; you’ll see that lists often score highly, for example.

5. Take this very seriously

Your copy absolutely needs to be excellent. You can’t afford to make mistakes, as this could mean the difference between a successful campaign and a failure. And writing great copy is not a skill that everyone has, or indeed has the time for. If your time and talents are better spent elsewhere, delegate the task to one of your staff, or hire a writer just for this task.

Fortunately, many first-rate writers can be found online; try a writing company like AssignmentMasters. If you only need occasional copy writing, or don’t have the budget to hire a full-time member of staff, this can be the ideal solution.