Guest blog from Rachel Williams, professional copywriter.
1. Check your spelling
Always my number one. Poor spelling can have such a negative impact on a business. It suggests a lack of care and poor attention to detail – what more effective way to cast doubts about a business when it matters most than spelling errors on a website or in a sales letter.
2. Check your punctuation
Not everyone is a genius when it comes to punctuation, but a good rule of thumb is to use a comma where you would take a breath or pause if you were speaking the words aloud.
3. Don’t use jargon
Not unless you want to alienate your audience that is. The more accessible you can make your business, the more attractive it will become to your audience.
4. Vary the length of your sentences
Lengthy sentences can become really tenuous to read, and it can become easy to lose meaning if the same sentence goes on and on. Which can also mean your audience will lose interest. Short sentences can work really well, particularly if you want to emphasize a point or draw attention to something specific. Try it!
5. Read it out loud
It can really help to read your copy aloud – it’s a great opportunity to check the flow and whether it feels natural. Put another way, you wrote it so you should be able to make sense of it when you read it. If you can’t, you need to make some changes.
Orchard Marketing Associates is 5! And to celebrate, I’m publishing a series of blog posts on the theme of ‘five’ throughout January 2012. Designed to help make your marketing more fruitful in growing your small business quicker!