Web Copywriting Voodoo: The 8-Step Secret Copywriters Might Not Want You to Know

Posted by: Date: November 20, 2009

by Karri Flatla

I might get in ca-ca for sharing this with the entire readership of
Search Engine Guide, but it’s time to reveal what I think a lot of web
copywriters probably don’t want you to know. Why? Because keeping you
in the dark about how we crunch out great copy day after day keeps us
in business.

Or so one would think.

Personally, I’d
rather spill the beans. It’s too much pressure to have everyone
believing that we web copywriters and SEO copywriters are practitioners
of witchcraft! While I readily admit that I cannot always explain how I
craft each and every line of compelling copy, there are a few “tricks”
that I use–and I’m pretty sure other copywriters use–when … uh …
words fail them.

And The Biggest Trick of All That Will Help ANYONE Write Better Web Copy? Even SEO Copy?

I call it writing freestyle. Freestyle voo-doo copywriting. That’s what it is. And here’s how it works:

Step 1: Do
the requisite pre-work. Research your target market. Research potential
keywords. Get your head around the main message of the page you want to
write some great copy for. Write it all down somewhere. Slam the book
shut. Walk away. Yes, walk away.

Step 2: Get a good night’s sleep. The brain works in mysterious ways. (Told you this was voodoo.)

Step 3:
Crack open the notebook and review your pre-work. Chances are you
suddenly have some additional insights you’d like to add to your notes.
Write it all down. Squeeze it in the margins. Use arrows and squiggly
lines to connect related ideas and words. Try to keep this nice little
brain dump all on one page if you can. This creative dance is the
foundation for the witchcraft that follows.

Step 4: Open
up a blank Word document. A new post or page in your WordPress or
Typepad dashboard screen will do just fine as well. Take a sip of
coffee and crack your knuckles a few times. Stretch your arms up above
your head. This helps you feel like a real writer and puts you in the
zone to work your magic. (No pressure.)

Step 5: Think
about your key message or even just an overall theme and start typing
like a mad scientist. Worried about the headline? I don’t care. Start
typing anyway. Not sure where to begin? Then don’t start at the
beginning; start in the middle or even at the end and work backwards.
Just TYPE. Let the voodoo flow through you. Don’t get up to go to the
bathroom. Just type until you got nothing more to say about the subject
matter at hand.

Step 6: When the mad typing starts to
feel redundant (and it probably won’t for at least a page or two),
STOP. Stretch out. Crack your knuckles. Take a sip of (now cold)
coffee. Click save and walk away.

Step 7: Get a good night’s sleep.

Step 8:
Review the voodoo copy you wrote the day before. Not bad, is it? It
surely needs a lot of editing, rearranging, and a ton of ruthless
deletion. But overall, I bet there are some real nuggets of gold in
them there pages, huh? This is where copywriting can actually be fun,
because now you’re taking something raw and sculpting it into something
concise, compelling, and able to incentivize action.

The
point of all this? You’ve now got something much meatier than a blank
page. You’ve got ideas, emotion, passion and hopefully lots of
interesting facts and tidbits about what you’re trying to pitch. Even
if you have to look up some copywriting formula to know where to begin
editing this mess, you’ve got an incredible starting point.

And
that, my web friend, is how you win the battle.. Find a starting point
and jump off. It’s what every web copywriter and SEO copywriter does
when the words just won’t come. Use this bit of copywritingn voodoo
next time you’re stuck for words and I promise, you’ll end up with
something raw and delicious to work with.

PS: I wrote this blog post in about 15 minutes. I will edit it later