A roundup of tips, tricks and tools you may find useful as a copywriter.
Learning is a non-stop process, says The Copywriter Underground. “Some jobs you take because they pay the bills. Others offer you something far more important than cash: a chance to learn something new.”
Text formatting is sexy, so says copyblogger. “OK, so maybe it’s not that sexy. But it’s more important than you might think, and it can definitely make your content more appealing.” The post goes on to explain that it’s all about usability, and making your content more appealing to the reader (and more usable, of course).
The rules of writing are important, if only to know when to follow them and when to break them. (Another copyblogger tip.) “Outside of specific professional or academic contexts, writing with a personal style that makes it easier on the reader is more important than pleasing Strunk and White.
That said, I also believe you have to know the rules in order to break them. Plus, there are some errors that you’ll never convince anyone that you did intentionally in the name of style (outside of a joke), and even then some people will still assume you’re dumb.”
Common mistakes (read more for ways to avoid them):
- Loose vs. Lose
- Me, Myself, and I
- Different than vs. Different from
- Improper Use of the Apostrophe
- Parallelism
- i.e. vs. e.g.
- Could of, Would of, Should of
Resources:
- What Have You Learned this Week? (Are You an Educated Copywriter?), at The Copywriter Underground
- The Sexy Side of Online Content: Text Formatting, at copyblogger
- Do You Make These Mistakes When You Write?, at copyblogger
