Author Archives: Leif Kendall
Great copy looks outward, addressing the needs, cares and desires of the reader (the customer). There are two stages to achieving outward-looking copy. Stage one The first stage is to accept that people don’t care about companies, or products*. People care about themselves. People love to hear about how your company can help them, [...]
Interested in becoming a copywriter? Here is my take on the skills required to make a living as a freelance copywriter. This is purely the result of my experience, and it’s worth remembering that other copywriters succeed by other means, and rely on skills that I don’t have. Copywriting skills Naturally! If you’re going to [...]
Good copy is communicative, and good communication happens when there’s a rapport between the communicators. You can build rapport with your readers by creating a cordial atmosphere. Here’s how you can write copy and make friends: – Have respect. Friends respect each other. Don’t patronise your reader, or try to hoodwink them. Give it to [...]
Drivvel.com, the website that gathers the best copy from around the world, needs your help. Are you… – a copywriter, a designer or someone who works with words? – interested in creating a community? – able to give a little time to the Drivvel project? Drivvel needs: – a few regular posters to add great [...]
Easy is an important word for copywriters. It’s a word we can use and it’s a word we can heed. Be easy Your readers are more likely to follow your instructions, or be tempted to buy or vote, if you make it easy for people to respond. Your copy must be easy to read, easy [...]
People are busy. So get to the point. This advice is so obvious and so commonplace that I hesitated to include it in this series of blog posts. BUT… I realised that people often lose sight of what is really meant by this advice, so here’s my view: Great copy gets to the point [...]
I felt a need. A need to share copy and find inspiration. And my blog post on that subject generated enough positive comments to spur me to action. An lo, Drivvel was born. Visit drivvel.com to see what I’m talking about. How / what / why ? Drivvel exists for a few reasons: 1: [...]
Copywriters easily get wrapped up in rules, and lose sight of a fundamental part of good writing: being interesting. It’s no good offering benefits, writing actively and compellingly, addressing the reader directly and appealing to their deep-seated desires if your words are boring. ‘Being interesting’ is a vague challenge. What is ‘interesting’ anyway? There’s no [...]
This is a quick follow-up on my blog post, “Where do copywriters go for inspiration?“… The website I had in mind when I wrote that post is up and running, and a few keen copywriters have been adding examples of copy.In a few weeks, once the big wrinkles have been ironed out, we’ll go public! [...]
In this blog post series I consider some of the finer points of copywriting – the little things that make a big difference; the tricks and touches that lift copy and make it more persuasive, better at selling and more likely to create a good impression. How to write active copy Great copy is active, [...]
