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What is Copywriting? The Definitive Guide

This is the most complete guide to copywriting in 2024.

So if you’re looking for:

More traffic.

More leads.

More sales.

Then you’ll love the actionable techniques in this new guide.

Let’s get started.

Copywriting – The definitive guide

Chapter 1: Copywriting Fundamentals

Copywriting fundamentals

 

What Is Copywriting?

Copywriting is the art and science of writing persuasive text that compels people to take action. It can be used to sell products, generate leads, build brand awareness, and more. Effective copywriting is clear, concise, and persuasive, and it speaks directly to the target audience’s needs and desires.

Using words that the target audience actually wants to read can yield positive outcomes.

Why Is Copywriting Important?

In this age of video and podcasts, does copywriting still matter?

In a word: yes.

Before looking at the benefits of copywriting, let’s first comprehend the core duties of a copywriter.

What exactly does a copywriter do?

A copywriter is a professional writing occupation for advertising and marketing purposes. Brands that engage effective copywriters get better organic engagements and increased conversions. We shall cover more about this later.

Learning how to become a copywriter takes time and a little patience. Though it’s a core requirement for most businesses, copywriters with a deep understanding of how to carefully craft words that resonate with the target audience are hard to come by. This explains why this skill continues to be in high demand.

Here are some of the benefits that you can get from becoming good at copywriting:

  • Get higher conversion rates on key pages
  • Improve the structure and flow of articles
  • Get more engagement on social media posts
  • Have more people share your content
  • Understand your customer’s needs and wants

In other words: copywriting can improve nearly every element of your marketing.

Different Types of Copywriting

There are many different types of copywriting, each with its own unique goals and challenges. Some of the most common types of copywriting include:

  • Advertising copy: This type of copywriting is used to promote products or services to a wide audience. It can be found in a variety of media, such as YouTube, television, radio, print, and online.
  • Sales copy: This type of copywriting is used to persuade people to buy a product or service. It is often used in direct mail, email marketing, and website landing pages.
  • Public relations copy: This type of copywriting is used to promote a company or organization to the public. It can be found in press releases, media kits, and website biographies.
  • Technical copywriting: This type of copywriting is used to explain complex products or services to a technical audience. It is often found in user manuals, training materials, and white papers.

What Does a Copywriter Do?

Needless to say, a copywriter spends most of his or her day writing. However, there’s more to a copywriter’s job than putting words after words.

In fact, experienced copywriters spend significant amounts of time learning about their customers. They also invest time in understanding how the product they’re writing about can help their prospects.

If you’re writing copy for your own product or service then you probably already know what it is, how it works, and how it compares to the competition. So your job is to learn about your audience’s thoughts, fears and desires. And how they phrase these things in their mind. That way, you can write copy that speaks directly to them.

I cover more on how to do this in Chapter 2 of this guide.

How To Become a Copywriter

Fortunately, you don’t need any formal training or education to become a copywriter. Instead, you need to get good at the following skills:

Top Tips for Copywriting

To succeed in copywriting, possessing these skills helps you strategize, and give a narrative about your product/service to the target audience before giving a solution that infers the desired goal.

At a minimum, a good copywriter possesses these key skills:

  • Customer research
  • Sentence structure
  • Web copywriting
  • Grammar and spelling
  • Persuasion
  • Content structure
  • Online advertising
  • Storytelling

To be clear: becoming a good copywriter takes time. But it’s a marketing skill that you can use to get clients as a freelance copywriter or to improve your job prospects.

In fact, according to the National Association of Colleges and Employers, 80.3% of employers want to hire people with strong writing skills.

And if you’re a small business owner (like me), you can use copywriting to improve your marketing and grow your business.

Chapter 2: Customer-Focused Copy

Customer-focused copy

If you want to write copy that converts, you need to master one simple rule:

Write like your customers talk.

When you do, prospects will say: “This product is for me!”.

The question is:

How do you do it?

Use one of the 5 simple strategies from this chapter.

Reddit Threads

If you want to write as your customers talk, Reddit is one of the first places to look.

To use it, head over to a subreddit where your target customer hangs out.

Reddit – Entrepreneur subreddit

Then, take a look at some of the most popular recent threads:

Reddit – Entrepreneur – Top posts

For example, let’s say that you just launched a new Paleo Diet Bar.

Head over to the Paleo subreddit and search for “bars”.

Reddit – Search – Paleo bars

And look at the language people use to describe what they like and don’t like about the current bars on the market.

For example, I found tons of awesome copy in this one thread:

Reddit – Copy in comments

Copy that would work GREAT for a landing page, email or Facebook ad.

Use Language From Reddit Threads

Amazon Reviews

As you’ve probably seen firsthand, people on Amazon don’t hold back:

Amazon – Negative review

Ouch…

And you can mine these honest reviews for a killer copy.

For example, check this Amazon review for a standing desk:

Amazon review – Standing desk

Well, if you also sell a standing desk, you just found some killer copy.

Amazon review – Standing desk – Copy

And I should point something out:

You can mine Amazon reviews… even if you don’t sell a physical product.

For example, I looked at reviews for a popular book about SEO on Amazon:

Amazon – Learn SEO book

And found these golden nuggets:

Amazon – Learn SEO book – Copy in reviews

This is a copy that I can use to describe my next online course or guide.

Customer Surveys

Customer surveys are SUPER helpful.

Specifically, you want to ask customers these questions:

  • “Why did you decide to buy [Your Product]?”
  • “What was the #1 thing that made you say: Yes, this is for me?”
  • “What have you tried before?”
  • “What was your experience with those other products?”

Yes, these responses are priceless for customer research, positioning, and creating new products.

But they also help you write copy that speaks directly to your target audience.

For example, here are actual responses from one of my recent customer surveys:

STW customer feedback

And depending on your product, you can also ask questions about:

  • Age and demographic info
  • Biggest struggles
  • Spending habits
  • Business challenges

For example, Backlinko is in the B2B space.

So I ask customers to paint a picture of where they’re at with their business:

STW survey questions

Customer Interviews

Interviews are like customer surveys on steroids.

That’s because you can dig deeper with followup questions.

For example, a while ago I hopped on Skype with three people that recently graduated from one of my programs:

Brian Skype call

(Fun Fact: I was visiting family in Rhode Island when I did this interview. Hence the awesome flower curtains. 🙂 )

And I asked pretty much the same questions that I ask in customer surveys:

  • What’s your biggest challenge in SEO right now?
  • Where does getting more search engine traffic rank in terms of importance in your business?
  • Have you ever spent money on SEO training before? How did it go?

The big difference is that the interviews allowed me to ask follow-up questions.

These follow-ups helped me understand my customer’s challenges WAY better than a one-way survey response.

Here’s an example:

How do you go about choosing topics for blog content?

Well, if there’s a lot of shares on it on social media then you know people are interested in it.

We kind of try to add onto what a lot of people are already writing about and go from there.

Makes sense. Once you pick a topic, how do you know whether to go with an infographic, a guide or whatever?

It depends on the client’s business. Infographics worked really well for one client and they didn’t work so well for another. For example, one client sold pool supplies and infographics worked awesomely.

Can you give an example for an infographic you made for that client?

Social Media

Here’s how this works:

First, search for a competing product on Twitter:

Twitter – Search – Quickbooks

Then, keep an eye out for complaints that crop up again and again:

Twitter – Joe Casabona tweet

And if your product has any of these “missing” features, make sure to emphasize that in your copy:

Emphasize Features From Social Media Research

Product Hunt Discussions

You can use “Product Hunt Discussions” to learn how potential customers describe what you sell.

Why? 90% of the people that post a question on Product Hunt already Googled for a solution to their problem. And they came up empty.

So jot down the words people use to describe their problem…

Product Hunt discussions copy

…and create landing pages optimized around those terms:

Use Terms Taken From Customer Interviews

With that, it’s time for chapter 3…

Chapter 3: Pro Copywriting Strategies

Pro copywriting strategies

This chapter is a list of seven copywriting strategies that you can use to write better copy from scratch…

…or improve your existing copy.

So if you want actionable copywriting tips that you can implement the right way, this chapter is for you.

The Slippery Slide

The #1 goal of your copy is to keep people reading.

Or as legendary copywriter Joe Sugarman put it:

“The sole purpose of the first sentence in an ad is to get you to read the second sentence.”

– Joe Sugarman

In other words, to us something that copywriters call a “Slippery Slide”:

Slippery Slide

You can create a slippery slide copy with “Bucket Brigades”:

Bucket brigades in post

Little stories:

Story in Backlinko post

And Open Loops:

Open loop in post

The “AIDA” Formula

AIDA is a powerful copywriting formula that works for:

Here’s a visual of how it looks:

The "AIDA" Formula

As you can see, AIDA stands for:

Attention.

Interest.

Desire.

Action.

Here’s a real life example of how I used the AIDA formula in this guide to landing pages:

Landing page guide – Intro

First, I grab attention with the first line:

Landing page guide – First line

Then, I drum up interest with a bold promise:

Landing page guide intro – Promise

And I tap into the #1 desire anyone landing on this page has (higher Google rankings):

Landing page guide intro – Desire

I cap things off with a call to action that pushes the reader to scroll down:

Landing page guide intro – CTA

Benefits > Features

The features are nice.

But benefits sell.

For example, let’s say you just launched a new piece of software designed to help people become more productive.

Here’s how you can turn boring features into tangible benefits:

Features vs. Benefits

CoSchedule’s product page does a GREAT job at this.

CoSchedule – Marketing suite – Product page

Yes, they touch on features:

CoSchedule – Marketing suite – Product features

But look at how big part of their copy is focused on benefits:

CoSchedule – Marketing suite – Product benefits

Very cool.

Strong CTAs

A strong call-to-action is the difference between a page that converts… and one that falls flat.

Seriously.

Here’s why your CTA is so important:

Your prospect is busy. VERY busy.

Which means they don’t have time to figure out what they’re supposed to do next.

So tell them exactly what to do.

For example, check out this landing page from Social Triggers.

Social Triggers – CTA highlight

This page uses a strong and clear CTA.

Not: “Sign up”. Not: “Register”.

It’s literally:

“Enter your name and email, and click “Download Free Ebook”.”

The Bottom Line
The Bottom Line

Use strong and clear CTAs whenever you want your prospect to do something. As you just saw, your CTAs don’t have to be fancy. Just tell them what to do.

Social Proof

According to the Nielsen Norman Group, people rely on social proof when they’re not sure what to do next.

In other words: social proof is important when someone’s deciding whether or not to buy what you sell.

That’s why pro copywriters PACK their copy with results, case studies and testimonials.

For example, Hotjar lets people know that they have 900,000 users:

HotJar users

Instead of raw numbers, at Exploding Topics, we feature companies that have signed up to our newsletter:

Exploding Topics newsletter

How to Solve The “Social Proof Paradox”

You need social proof to sell. But you need sales to get social proof.

I call this “The Social Proof Paradox”. And it’s a real challenge.

Fortunately, there’s an easy way to sidestep this problem:

Feature your strongest form of social proof.

For example, let’s say you launched a software product that has a free and paid version. But only a handful of people upgraded to a paid plan so far.

Well, you can show off how many people signed up for your free trial:

Use Social Proof

Or maybe you only have 20 total customers. But 3 of them got AMAZING results. Feature these 3 results on your homepage:

Testimonials as Social Proof

For example, when I launched my YouTube SEO course First Page Videos, we only had around 10 beta users. Not a ton of social proof.

But 4 of our beta students absolutely crushed.

(Including one student that quickly racked up 200k+ views with his first video.)

So we decided to feature those 4 people on the sales page:

First Page Videos – Sales page testimonials

Crystal Clear USP

USP=Unique Selling Proposition.

In other words, here’s where you answer the question:

“Why should someone buy from YOU?”.

Maybe you’ve got the best prices.

Maybe you deliver faster than anyone else.

Or maybe you guarantee results.

Either way, your copy needs to scream your USP at the top of its lungs.

And if you don’t have a USP?

Well, you’ve got bigger problems than copywriting. But that’s another story…

For example, in a clever ecommerce marketing tactic, the eyewear site Warby Parker lets you try on frames at home… and return any pairs that you don’t like.

Warby Parker – Homepage

And they feature this super unique USP all over their site.

Warby Parker – Offer

Sense of Urgency

How do you get customers to buy NOW?

Urgency.

Here are some easy ways to create a sense of urgency in your copy:

  • “Limited time offer”
  • “Quantities limited”
  • “Only 47 left”
  • “Sale ends on August 31st”
  • “Doors close on Thursday”
  • “Don’t miss out”

(Needless to say, these statements should be backed up with real limitations. Otherwise, you’ll lose people’s trust.)

For example, this email from one of my product launches has a clear deadline (down to the minute!) that creates a super high sense of urgency:

Brian's course email

Chapter 4: How to Write Amazing Headlines

How to write amazing headlines

You’ve probably heard the old adage: “80% of people read the headline, and only 20% read the copy.”

Is that number accurate? Who knows!

But what I do know is that your headline is SUPER important.

Fortunately, writing awesome headlines isn’t as hard as you might think.

All you need to do is follow the simple techniques in this chapter.

Be Insanely Specific

Your headline needs to be insanely specific.

In other words:

Your headline should tell your prospect EXACTLY what they’re gonna get.

For example, check out this blog post headline:

Vague Headline

Not horrible. But not nearly specific enough.

Look at how much better this super-specific headline sounds:

Specific Headline

And this rule doesn’t just apply to blog content.

For example, Snap.hr cites a specific timeframe for getting a result:

Snap – Timeframe

Use a Number

Numbers FORCE you to write insanely specific headlines.

For example, look at what happens when you take this bland headline…

Headline With No Number

…and add a number to it:

Headline With Number

It’s MUCH more compelling… and specific.

Which is probably why an industry study from Moz found that number headlines got 327% more clicks than question headlines:

Overall Headline Preferences

In fact, that’s exactly why I use numbers in most of my blog post titles:

Backlinko – Numbers in headlines

Strong Emotions

The best headlines tend to be emotional headlines.

The question is:

How do you create emotional headlines?

First, add emotionally-charged words to your headline copy.

Here are a few examples:

  • Crazy
  • Now
  • Fast
  • Mistake
  • New
  • Breakthrough
  • Amazing

Obviously, you don’t want to go overboard.

No one’s going to believe a headline like “New Crazy Amazing Breakthrough That Works Fast!” 🙂

But adding one or two of these words to your headline can make it more compelling:

Emotion in post headline

Second, pop your headline into the American Marketing Institute Headline Analyzer.

Advanced Marketing Institute – Headline analyzer

And it will give you a score from 0-100%.

Advanced Marketing Institute – Headline analyzer results

I try to get my headlines to at least 30%… especially for sales pages and landing pages.

Aminstitute – Headline analyzer – Results over 30 percent

Use FOMO

FOMO can make your headlines 10x more powerful.

That said:

FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) doesn’t work for every situation.

But if you can use FOMO you should use FOMO.

That’s because FOMO triggers a strong emotion in your prospects…

…an emotion that makes them want to hear what you have to say.

For example, this Facebook ad headline from HubSpot includes the phrase “Limited Time Savings”:

HubSpot – Facebook offer

Answer: WIIFM?

Let me know if this sounds familiar:

You land on a site.

And the first thing you see is a headline that’s all about THEM.

Headline "All About Them"

Who. The heck. CARES.

Instead, you want to write headlines that are all about your customer.

In other words, your headline should answer the question in your customer’s mind:

“What’s in it for me?”

For example, this homepage headline is:

Dealwithgrowth – Homepage

Is the headline fancy?

Nope.

But if you’re looking to grow your Shopify store, this headline lets you know that you’re in the right place.

Chapter 5: Master The Lead

Master the lead

The lead is VERY underrated.

In my experience, your lead is JUST as important as your headline.

(And in some cases, MORE important.)

That’s because your prospect uses the first few lines of your copy to decide whether or not to keep reading. And if you lose them here, you’ve lost them for good.

With that, here are simple strategies that you can use to write compelling leads.

Start With a Hook

The first sentence of your lead is HUGE.

So make sure your first line grabs people by the eyeballs.

For example, this lead from one of our sales pages is designed to grab attention with a compelling stat:

Attention grabbing lead

And here are some “copy and paste” first lines that you can use in your leads:

  • “Does this sound familiar?”
  • “Now you can now [benefit] in [timeframe] without [common solution]”
  • “You know the feeling…”
  • “New study finds [surprising result]”
  • “Introducing: [product name]. A new way to [benefit] backed by [proof]”
  • “I struggled with [problem] for [X years]. Until one day…”

Use Mini-Stories

Stories are a great way to hook people… and keep them reading.

The problem is:

Your lead should be short and sweet. This means you don’t have a lot of room to tell an epic story.

Enter: Mini-stories.

As the name suggests, mini-stories condense a story into 4-5 lines.

For example, I kick off the sales page of my flagship course with a super short story:

SEO That Works – Sales page story

Note: This lead is based on a real exchange with a prospective customer. I knew that lots of people related to how John felt. So I literally copied and pasted his message into the sales letter.

Complement the Headline

Sometimes your lead can just complement your headline.

In other words, you use your headline to grab their attention:

Grab Attention With Your Headline

And drum up interest with your lead:

Create Interest With Your Lead

(Yup, that’s the “A” and “I” from the AIDA Formula.)

For example, the lead in the sales page for my YouTube SEO course builds on the promise in the headline:

First Page Videos – Sales page intro

8 Lines or Less

Whether it’s a blog post, video script, sales page or email newsletter, you want your lead to be SUPER short.

(8 lines max.)

Remember:

The goal of your lead is to grab someone’s attention so they keep reading.

And once you’ve done that, it’s time to transition into the meat of your page.

For example, I keep my blog post introductions to around 6 lines:

Backlinko – Optimize for voice search – Intro

That way, I hook the reader with a strong lead… then jump right into the content itself.

Chapter 6: How to Write Compelling Copy

How to write compelling copy

In this chapter, I’m going to show you EXACTLY how to write awesome copy.

So if you want to write better:

  • Blog posts
  • Emails
  • Social media posts
  • Ad copy
  • Sales letters

Then this chapter is a must-read.

Write Like You Talk

This is the ultimate copywriting superhack.

For example, check out this paragraph from one of my recent newsletter emails:

Backlinko – Newsletter paragraph

Sounds pretty natural, right?

That’s because I read all of my copy out loud.

(And I recommend that you do the same.)

If it sounds weird, I rewrite it.

But if my copy sounds good out loud, I know it’s good to go.

Short Sentences

Short sentences=better copy.

And there’s research to back this up…

The American Press Institute gave research subjects two different articles to read.

Article #1 had an average sentence length of 54 words.

Article #2 had an average sentence length of 12 words.

What happened?

People that read Article #2 had 711% better comprehension than Article #1.

Short Sentences Boost Reader Comprehension

Bottom line?

Use short sentences. They’re easy to read AND understand.

Write to ONE Person

In other words, AVOID copy like this:

Avoid Copy Like This

Instead, write to one person:

Write to One Person

This also applies to B2B.

B2B copywriters LOVE to write copy that speaks to absolutely no one.

Here’s an example:

Generic B2B Copy

And here’s an example of B2B copy that speaks directly to the reader:

Specific B2B Copy

Active Voice

Look at these two lines:

Active Voice

As you can see, the active voice sounds MUCH better.

How do you know if you’re using the passive or active voice? You can read this thorough guide from The University of Wisconsin.

Wisconsin University – Handbook – Active voice

You can also check the active vs. passive voice with a tool like Hemingway:

Hemingway app – Homepage

No Big Words

Big words don’t impress anyone.

In fact, they make your copy hard to read.

And as I like to say:

Hard to read = won’t read.

So avoid fancy words like these:

  • Utilize
  • Overwrought
  • Fascinating
  • Conscientious
  • Unparalleled
  • Demonstrates

You get the idea. 🙂

Instead, stick to terms that are easy to read and understand, like:

  • Use
  • Excited
  • Interesting
  • Notice
  • Unique
  • Show

Write For Skimmers

Here’s a good rule to follow for ALL of the content marketing that you do:

People online don’t read. They skim.

That’s why you want to format your copy for skimmers.

Here’s how:

First, use lots of subheadings.

These break up your content into little chunks.

For example, some time ago I published this post about how to do an SEO audit.

Backlinko – SEO site audit

This post is 3,759 words.

And to make those 3,759 words easy to digest, I split them up into distinct sections.

SEO site audit post – Sections

In fact, I used 43 total subheaders in that post.

Second, use “takeaway lines”.

These sum up the biggest takeaway of each section of your post.

For example, in this post I listed out my 15 favorite link building tools.

Backlinko – Link building tools

And for every tool on my list, I covered key features, pricing and more.

Tool features in post

So I added a little “Bottom Line” section after each tool:

"The bottom line" in post

That way, skimmers could get the gist… without reading every single word.

Chapter 7: Proven Copywriting Formulas

Proven copywriting formulas

Pro copywriters NEVER start from scratch.

Instead, they whip out a proven template… and fill in the blanks.

(Or as one copywriter once told me: “Great copy is assembled, not written”.)

And this chapter contains four proven copywriting formulas that you can use right away.

Check ‘em out:

Email Newsletters

Here’s a simple template that you can use to write newsletters that people will actually want to open.

Email Newsletter Template

Let’s break it down.


Subject Line = Short and Sweet

Your subject line should outline your newsletter content… without giving away the farm.

For example, I used the super simple subject line “Backlinks” for one of my newsletters. And that email got a 46.3% open rate (to 92,232 subscribers).

Email newsletter open rate

That subject line lets people know that the newsletter is about backlinks.

But there’s still an element of mystery that makes you want to open the message.


Attention-Grabbing Lead

A compelling first line that hooks your reader right away. This line also shows up as a preview in Gmail. So it needs to be good.

Here’s an example:

Marie Forleo newsletter

Lesson as a Story

Your newsletters should sound like they’re from a friend.

So share your lessons and tips in the form of a story.

(And yes, this applies to “corporate newsletters” too.)

For example, look at CoSchedule.

Even though they have dozens of people working for them, their newsletters don’t feel like it.

Their emails are personal, funny and sent from a single person (Jordan):

Jordan CoSchedule newsletter

Clear Call-To-Action

Let your reader know EXACTLY what to do next…

…whether it’s to sign up for a free trial, read a blog post or make a purchase.


Use a P.S.

Most people can’t resist reading a P.S.

This is why I recommend ending your newsletters with a P.S. that sums up your offer and CTA.

Here’s a PS that I used in one of my recent newsletters:

Backlinko newsletter – P.S.

With that, let’s check out our next template…

Landing Pages

Here’s how to create high-converting service pages, newsletter signup pages and more.

Landing Page Template

Let’s break each element down.


Headline = Clear Benefit

Your headline should let the reader know what they’ll get from your product, service, newsletter, or free trial.

For example:

Growth Mentor – Headline

Social Proof

Include social proof above the fold. This can be logos from places you’ve been featured, the number of customers or a handful of big-name clients.

Here’s an example:

Buzzsumo – Homepage – Clients

Body = PAS

The meat of your landing page should follow the “Problem, Agitate, Solve” formula. Start with your prospect’s #1 problem, highlight how annoying that problem is, then tease a solution.


Transition

The transition from your prospect’s problem to a specific offer.

Here’s a cool example of this transition action:

Truvani – Marine Collagen – Copy

CTA

Let your reader know exactly what to do next, whether it’s scheduling a demo, buying something, or signing up.

Blog Posts

Here’s a template you can use to create blog posts that drive traffic and email subscribers.

Blog Post Template

Let’s break it all down.


Headline = Insanely Specific

Let your reader know exactly what they’re going to learn. More specific=more clicks.

Here’s an example from one of my posts:

Skyscraper technique 2.0 headline

Short Intro

Keep your intro to less than 8 sentences.


Intro = Proof and Preview

Your intro should prove you can deliver on the headline’s promise. And preview what they’ll learn.

For example:

Actionable SEO tips – Intro

Actionable Content

Pack your post with actionable tips, techniques and strategies that people can use right away.

For example, my post about getting more traffic includes ZERO fluff or “high level” advice.

Instead, it’s all super actionable stuff that you can use right away:

Increase website traffic – Actionable tips

Lots of Examples

Examples make your content easier to understand and use.

That’s why I use tons of examples in every post:

Examples in Backlinko post

Conclusion = CTA

Ask your reader to leave a comment, subscribe to your newsletter, or both.

Sales Letters

Here’s how to structure long-form sales letters for online courses, supplements, paid newsletters, and more.

Sales Letter Template

Headline = Bold Promise

Grab your reader’s attention with a bold headline. Your headline should cite one insanely specific benefit that they’ll get from your product.

Here’s an example:

Renegade diet book – Headline promise

Powerful Lead

Start your sales letter off with a story, statistic or relatable situation.

This is a great example:

Nerdfitness Academy – Overview page

“D” and “A” From AIDA

Your headline and lead checked off the “Attention and “Interest” in the AIDA Formula. The middle of your sales letter should create the desire for your product… and push them to take action.


Bullets

Use bulleted lists of benefits throughout your sales page.

Here’s an example of super compelling bullets:

Mental Mastery page – Bullets

Testimonials

Use lots of testimonials from people that your prospect can easily relate to.

This is a great example of a non-spammy testimonial:

How to talk to anybody – Testimonial

Risk Reversal

“Cancel anytime”. “60-day guarantee”. “No questions asked”. “Try now. Decide later”. Pack your sales letter with risk reversals. They make signing up a no-brainer.


Lots of Call-To-Actions

Your sales letter should have CTAs up and down the page.

Chapter 8: Advanced Copywriting Strategies

Advanced copywriting strategies

We covered the basics.

And now it’s time to develop some advanced copywriting skills.

In this chapter, I’m going to transition into more advanced copywriting strategies and approaches.

So without further ado, let’s get started.

Use “Crooked Numbers”

“Crooked Numbers” are numbers that aren’t rounded.

For example:

  • 57
  • 8,913
  • 41.9%
  • 12.4

As it turns out, crooked numbers are more believable than round numbers.

New York Times article on odd numbers

That’s why you DON’T want to round numbers in your copy.

For example, check out the intro from one of my recent blog posts:

Find content ideas – Intro

I could have rounded up my monthly traffic to something like “over 500,000”.

But I went with the exact number:

Find content ideas – Intro – Exact number

Sellin’ Ain’t Tellin’

I once asked a successful salesman his #1 sales tip.

His answer:

Sellin’ ain’t tellin’

In other words:

Don’t talk about your product.

Instead, SHOW people what it can do.

For example, this landing page talks about why their digital currency is “Made For You”.

Eco – Landing page copy

But I still have no idea how it actually works.

On the other hand, the Coinbase homepage shows you exactly how it works:

Coinbase – Homepage

Use Clear Button Copy

Most people put zero thought into their button copy.

And it’s a big mistake.

Why?

Because clicking a button is usually the last step for any conversion on a website.

With that, here’s how to write high-converting button copy:

Make the outcome crystal clear.

For example:

I offer a guide at the bottom of the Backlinko homepage:

Backlinko – Homepage offer

I could have made the button say:

“Learn More”.

Instead, I made the outcome insanely specific:

Backlinko – Homepage offer button

And this is one of the main reasons that my homepage converts at 6.64%:

Backlinko – Landing page conversions

How to Get Out of “The Friend Zone”

We’ve all been in “The Friend Zone” before.

(Or at least I have… 😀 )

The Friend Zone is when you like someone. And they like you back… as a friend.

As it turns out, the same thing happens with potential customers and clients.

They like what you’re selling… but not enough to buy.

What’s the solution?

Squash objections.

Objections like:

  • “It’s too expensive”
  • “Not a good time”
  • “Will this work for me?”
  • “I’m not ready to switch from Product X”

You see, most people pretend that these objections don’t exist.

Instead, you want to bring these objections up… and squash each and every one of them.

Here’s a great example:

Mental Mastery – Questions

Create Mental Movies

The world’s best copywriters create “Mental Movies” in your head.

For example, look at this blog post intro from Marie Forleo:

Marie Forleo – Blog post intro

That copy could have been something like:

“Have you ever felt overwhelmed with your business?”

But that wouldn’t have launched a mental movie in your mind.

Instead, Marie paints a picture that makes her copy significantly more compelling:

Marie Forleo – Blog post intro parts

Reduce Price Objections

Here’s how this works:

A few years ago researchers at the University of Pittsburgh looked at how the wording of a mandatory fee affected conversions.

One group saw an overnight delivery fee described as:

“$5 fee”

And another saw the same fee described as:

“A small $5 fee”

Amazingly, the conversion rate of the “A small $5 fee” group was 20% higher than the group that read about the “$5 fee”.

In other words:

Adding the term “a small” made a HUGE dent in conversions.

How can you use this research in your own copy?

Well, let’s say you have a fee or charge that you want to minimize.

Use terms that make them seem small and insignificant.

And you might just notice conversions boost.

Make Your Testimonials 10x More Effective

According to Bigcommerce, customer testimonials and case studies can boost sales by 62%.

That is if you use them right.

Unfortunately, most testimonials look something like this:

Average Testimonial

There’s nothing WRONG with that testimonial.

But it’s not going to push anyone to buy.

Instead, you want your testimonials to follow this proven formula:

Proven Testimonial Formula

As you can see, this formula is broken down into 3 main parts:

First, you have the Before.

Here’s where your customer paints a picture of where they were BEFORE they tried your product.

That way, your testimonial is SUPER relatable.

Here’s an example:

Justin testimonial – Before

Next, you have After.

This is a set of specific results that your customer got from your product.

Emily testimonial – After

Finally, you have “What They’d Tell Someone”.

Here’s where you ask your customer: “What would you tell someone that’s considering this product”.

Here’s an example:

Darell testimonial – Tell someone

And because this recommendation comes from a customer, it’s VERY believable and credible.

Let’s summarize how to write a killer copy for your target audience: 

Copywriting Explained in 14 Steps

  1. Research and know the target audience
  2. Speak the language of your audience by using the right tone and language
  3. Create compelling titles and headings
  4. Connect with the readers by appealing to their desires
  5. Use action verbs, with specific CTAs
  6. Make comparisons to build authenticity and utility
  7. Incorporate customer surveys, studies and highlight findings in crooked numbers
  8. Anticipate objections (like everything else in life, don’t expect a smooth sail). Counter any objections with empathy, facts, and genuine concern to convert even the skeptics
  9. Try to be as convincing as possible. Effective copywriters convert by harnessing the power of words
  10. Tell relatable stories but remember to be direct by utilizing an active voice
  11. Probe the audience with questions likely to elicit positive responses
  12. Emphasize the key topic throughout the piece. Don’t cover different areas within one article
  13. Write as you speak, and always aim for a conversational tone with one person
  14. Benefits sell. In short, tell the target audience what they stand to gain by following the CTA.

Now It's Your Turn

Copywriting – The definitive guide – Conclusion

I hope you enjoyed my ultimate guide to copywriting.

Now I’d like to hear from you: which tip from today’s guide are you going to try first?

Are you going to use numbers in your headlines?

Or maybe you want to try shorter sentences.

Either way, let me know by leaving a quick comment below.

435 Comments

  1. I don’t know how you do it Brian 🙂 Yet another brilliant and informative guide.
    Great point regards the active voice in that something I make the mistake thing sometimes when writing.
    Thanks Brian.

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      You’re welcome, Valeria. I LOVE copywriting so this one was really easy and fun to write.

  2. Just got into work and was only able to scan it.

    Looking forwards to reading through it, looking back at my old blog posts, and making adjustments.

    Keep up the good work!

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      Nice!

  3. Sachin Patil Avatar Sachin Patilsays:

    Amazing guide. I have learned lots of new things about copywriting. Thanks Brian for sharing helpful content.

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      Happy to help, Sachin. Glad you learned some new stuff from today’s guide.

  4. Yes! Copywriting is so important!! I put allot of energy and attention in nice graphics. But you definitely need good copy to truely connect. I like the reddit advice of putting the research to come up with some key relatable issues that you can address. I will favourite this to read this a few times to truly soak up all the goodstuff.

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      Thanks Koen. Absolutely: design is super important. But copy + design = winning 🙂

  5. This is something new and helpful. Can not wait to read and learn more Brian. Thanks again for putting this together!

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      Happy to help. Hope you enjoy the guide after you have a chance to dive in.

  6. That person in the customer interview is me lol. Was crazy shocked to see myself in your article. I was so nervous when we spoke. Ive learned a ton since then thanks to you.

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      Hey Jamie, oh nice! I had a really nice time chatting with you back then. I learned A LOT from our talk. And I’m glad to hear that you’re doing well man!

      1. Thanks! I am currently going through SEO That Works 3.0 to freshen up on anything new you came out with. Anyone that reads this it is 100% worth buying this program. My career skyrocketed and tomorrow (3/6/19) I have an interview with a top e-commerce marketing agency to become their Senior Marketing Strategist. I am even starting to get into Youtube as well. I saw you have a course on it and I am excited when the registration reopens.

  7. Benjamin Bailey Avatar Benjamin Baileysays:

    Why does Backlinko want comments so badly? What does that do for Google?
    I’ve learned to watch what SEO experts DO, rather than what they SAY. What Brian DOES is ask for comments.

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      I do think comments indirectly help with SEO. But not everything I do is about SEO. To me, comments are all about engaging with the awesome Backlinko community!

  8. Really great another post Brian. I searched for it but nowhere I found about this topic. This is amazing Brian. I made big mistakes when I wrote headlines of the post. This is very much helpful article for me.
    Thanks for sharing valuable information.

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      You’re welcome, Harry

  9. Hey Brian,

    Thanks a lot for this amazing guide.

    Can’t read this all in one go so I’ve read a couple of chapters and bookmarked the post for later.

    Btw, what screenshot tool are you using?

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      Happy to help, Jawad. We use Greenshot (and edit the screenshots with photoshop).

  10. Svitlana Palamarchuk Avatar Svitlana Palamarchuksays:

    It’s for sure that this guide is the definitive one! Instead of paying tons of money for online courses, copywriters on the entry-level can just read this. And it works for marketers as well.
    Thank you!
    P.S. Big fan of yours 🙂

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      👍👍👍

  11. Wow, you really have knocked it out of the park again Brian.

    This is arguably the most comprehensive FREE piece of information I have seen about copywriting in history.

    Thanks so much for all that you do.

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      You’re welcome, Daniel. I put a ton of work into this one so I’m glad to hear that!

      1. Just out of question, how much of this would you say is off the top of the head from experience and how much is research done before or during time of writing?

        1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

          It depends on the topic and post. For something like this voice search guide (https://backlinko.com/optimize-for-voice-search), is was like 75% research and 25% first-hand knowledge. This guide was probably 20% research.

  12. Kaushal Soni Avatar Kaushal Sonisays:

    Awesome Guide, Brian:)

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      Thanks!

  13. You rock Brian. Superb design and article. Thank you for sharing your knowledge about copywriting.

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      No problem. Happy to help

  14. Fabulous guide. Thanks very much. Looking forward to being enlightened.

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      Hi Bryan, you’re welcome. I think you’ll enjoy the tips and strategies when you have a chance to dig in.

  15. Excellent job!

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      Thanks Peter

  16. Thanks Brian! What a helpful post! I will definitely share with my clients as they continue to build their own power pages and blog articles. Sometimes you get so focused on the content of the article or call-to-action rather than following a step-by-step formula. Thanks for sharing! Great work!!

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      You’re welcome, Kyle. For sure. One of the best pieces of copywriting advice I ever got was: “Great copy is assembled, not written”.

  17. Hi Brian,

    One word would be for this guide and that is AMAZING.

    Copywriting is still alive and works like charm if one knows how to use it right.

    Famous copywriters like Ramit Sethi and Neville Medhora are making millions of dollars using copywriting.

    Most people this copywriting has limited to only few areas but the truth is it can use almost any types of business whether it is online or offline.

    Thanks for sharing this beautiful guide.

    Thanks,
    Umesh

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      You’re welcome, Umesh. I agree: copywriting is a really underrated marketing skill. To me, it’s still #1.

  18. Great, timely article. I want to improve my blog post intros so that’s the first thing I will do. ok?

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      Sounds good, Paul. Let me know how it goes.

  19. Always look forward to receiving your emails! Such amazing content. Thanks for this one Brian! Can’t wait to use these strategies in my next email campaign.

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      Sounds good, Ashley. Hope it helps!

  20. Hi Brian,

    Thank so much for this Copywriting guide. It’s superb!

    It will definitely help in writing more engaging and high-quality content for my readers.

    Do you have PDF so that l can download it for my reference?

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      You’re welcome, Zayn. Still working on a PDF.

  21. As a “conversion-oriented” content strategist, this post is invaluable. Going back to some older posts and adding in some of your copywriting tips!

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      Hi Ginny, thank you. I appreciate that!

  22. Thank you, so much Brian! ~ You’re an amazing source! ~ I’ll come back to this to study more … I am an aspiring blog author, so far thinking of publishing some work soon, in lOVE and Blessings, Tat Jane
    if appropriate, check me out, down there

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      You’re welcome, Jane

  23. Lots of nuggets here, Brian! Thanks for taking the time to share your knowledge!

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      Hey Chris, you’re welcome. Glad you liked it!

  24. You nailed it Brain. I don’t know you do your research but you do lot better than others.
    BTW, if someone is selling productivity software and reading this article then there is already a diamond for them here.

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      Thank you. haha good point!

  25. This is very timely Brian as I’m about to launch my first major product.

    I have sticky notes right now with a checklist I drafted from this guide so I don’t make any mistakes.

    Thank you so much.

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      You’re welcome, Lily. Best of luck with the new product!

  26. Excellent guide! Also an excellent example of how to write a definitive guide to something. I’ll use it as inspiration for the definitive guides I plan to write.

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      Thanks Stefan.

  27. Hey Brian this guide is very timely. I was searching for a detailed guide like this. My question is that is okay to make my blog posts funny, like adding a sense of humor?

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      Definitely. Humor is an underrated part of copywriting.

  28. I LOVED this guide Brian. Knowing your content as soon as I read “Copywriting Guide” from you, I clicked that link faster than a knife fight in a phone booth.

    Thanks for sharing this, you covered so many great points here.

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      You’re welcome, Alex. Glad you liked it!

  29. Chechu Avatar Chechusays:

    just…Wooooooow!!

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      🙂

  30. What an amazing article. Before i was not sure how to write an awesome piece of content.

    I readed a lot of articles about copywriting but they are not so complete and actionable as your article is. Now i’m ready to write an amazing piece of content.

    I’m just wondering. How many hours does it take you too write an article like this?

    Thanks!

    P.S: i used a few of your strategies in this comment.

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      Hey Koen, thank you. This took about 20 hours to write (plus several more hours from my team to design and code the guide). No joke!

  31. I hope one day I can meet you on the street and shake your hand because you’re killing it. Thank so much this amazing piece.

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      Thanks Rad!

  32. OMG! This man is preparing many beast entrepreneur enemies for us. By the way, super duper fabulastic post!

    Thanks

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      👍👍👍

  33. Hey Brian,

    This should be a book man!
    I’ve been waiting on this post forever!

    AIDA and PAS formulas were so confusing (didn’t know where to apply them). Now I know.

    I’ve been using your awesome techniques like bucket brigades to increase stickiness.

    I only wish there was a checklist for this!

    Thanks for sharing.
    This post will be referenced regularly!

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      You’re welcome, Malik. Glad you learned so much new stuff from today’s post and are putting it into practice.

  34. Crushing it once again! Great work Brian!

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      Thank you David. I appreciate that.

  35. This is amazing Brian! Your content has helped my startup bootstrap to over 200 paying customers 😊

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      Nice!

  36. Thanks Brian! I will be using your landing page template first then referencing this guide for all my copywriting.

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      You’re welcome, David. Templates are HUGE

  37. My in-home whiteboard (yep old school) is filled with your strategies and advice – you da man! Thank you.

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      I try 🙂

  38. OMG Brian, that’s incredible! I thought you are only the master of SEO, but now I see you master everything. Thank you for this, many valuable points to take out and use in our sales team.

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      Thanks Jure! I do know SEO and copywriting really well. Other than those 2 things I’m pretty much useless 😂😂

  39. Dude.

    You got me to read this entire post on mobile (no small feat). And not simply because I had no other options.

    Looking forward to returning to it on a larger screen where I can better appreciate the images/examples.

    First thing I’m implementing is the blog post template. And then I have sales/landing pages that need help. And then… 😬

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      Thanks Teresa.

      Also, that’s quite a cliffhanger!

  40. Ahhh, 3 step testimonials. Brilliant!
    Thank you so much Brian.

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      You’re welcome, Roman. Glad you liked that one.

  41. John Avatar Johnsays:

    Before I had this copy writing guide, I was just winging it. After I read this guide, I got actionable techniques to use. I recommend this copy writing guide to everybody!

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      Hi John, thank you!

  42. Thanks, Brian! This was super informative and helpful, especially for someone like me who is just getting their start in copywriting. I particularly liked the proven formulas sections. I will definitely bookmark this and return back to it again in the future.

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      You’re welcome, Sean. Hope it helps you churn out some awesome copy.

  43. Cosmin Avatar Cosminsays:

    Wow Brian! The best article I’ve read so far. I can wait to read it again tomorrow. Amazing!

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      Thanks Cosmin. Glad you liked it.

  44. Sandra Avatar Sandrasays:

    Amazing copy! Probably more than 268,439 people have already shared it on their social media! 😊

    Writing is a beautiful skill and it’s really a form of art. However, sometimes I find myself bothered by the SEO practices to include a keyword here and don’t forget to place that keyword there. I feel like I need to pay more attention on keywords than on making a good copy. I can live with it, but it’s exhausting.

    (I love the designs in your guide, they made the reading more enjoyable).

    Okay, now I’ll go and take a closer look at the 37 screenshots I made. 😊

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      Thanks Sandra. That’s something that every copywriter struggles with (myself included). How do you write for humans but also include keywords that people search for. That’s the “art” side of SEO copywriting. It’s tricky.

  45. Well done, Brian! A couple things I’ve really been working hard on in my copy are 1. specificity, and 2. a more conversational tone. Most of the copy today is the exact opposite. It’s a lot of chest beating (We’re #1!) and grand, unspecific claims. Companies that can improve their copywriting can really gain a competitive advantage.

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      Hey Steve, thank you. The conversational tone is a big one that most people underestimate (especially in B2B).

  46. I normally don’t read many articles as they seems to be all same.However, I love this article. Very informative. I can see you really know what are you doing.:-) I should read more!:-)

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      Thanks Diana

  47. This was awesome! I’ll be sharing this with my team!

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      Thanks Lauren. Hopefully, this helps them take their copy to the next level.

  48. I am very happy to learn about how to write headline especially using numbers.

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      👍👍👍👍

  49. With so many variations of copywriting guides online, this one sure represents a fresh perspective!

    Another wonderful read, Brian. Loved the “Great copy is assembled” quote 🙂

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      Thank you, Mario!

  50. Wow Brian, thanks so much for the excellent content you provide. Once again this is gold…my takeaway is using Reddit to learn language our customers are using, and three step tesimonials. Looking forward to diving in deeper, thanks again

    1. Brian Dean Avatar Brian Deansays:

      Hi Liz, you’re welcome. Sounds good. Let me know how it goes.

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