30 Days of Copywriting: What I Learned + Tips on Copywriting
We’ll go through everything I did this month—and how I did it—from projects to lessons learned to my favorite things about copywriting.
📝 Overview
This month I dove into the world of copywriting.
My eyes were opened. I got a glimpse of a world that shapes many of our daily decisions, but it is largely unnoticed.
How?
Well, by studying, handwriting some out, and doing detailed breakdowns of great copy. Then, I created some of my own. The last thing I did was to create a swipe file so I could keep all of my ideas, inspiration, and examples neatly in one place.
Check out how I did it! ↓
🚀 The Projects
✍️ Handwriting Copy
Why it matters:
Handwriting copy is a great technique for learning to effectively write copy. Writing helps you to pay close attention, especially when handwriting. When you take the time to write out something by hand, you can see the details and you learn the ins and outs of it. The practice of writing copy out by hand is not new. I was even encouraged by Gary Halbert:
"You see, what happens when you actually write out a good ad in your own handwriting is that the words and the flow and the sentence structure and the sequence of information and everything else about the writing of that ad becomes a part of you."
He wrote this to his son as part of the Boron Letters when he was advising his son to begin writing out good copy by hand.
🚗 I handwrote a Rolls-Royce Ad
The ad that I wrote out by hand was an old Roll-Royce ad. If I had just skimmed or read this ad, instead of writing it out by hand, I would not have been able to spot the techniques (and psychology) used in this ad. By writing it out by hand I learned techniques that I could apply in my copy.
Here are a few things I learned when hand-copying this ad:
He uses social proof.
He quotes an expert’s opinion (also social proof).
The whole ad is basically one long monolog of the benefits of this car.
He gives a concession (a concession stimulates a return concession - rule of influence)
📢 Creating an Ad
I created an ad for my company Areté Tallow using the 10 laws of copywriting:
❤️ People Buy with Emotions—Not Logic
In a world of information overload, people do not logically analyze every purchase. They often fall back on their intuition.
🎯 You must uncover the selfish benefit.
It is a basic law of nature that people don’t really care about your product unless it benefits them. They want to know how it will improve their lives.
📖 You must learn to tell a great story.
Stories are what captivate people’s attention. There is something about stories that is engaging and memorable.
🗣️ You have to write like you talk.
People want to connect with people. They don’t want to feel like they are learning from a robot.
💬 Use their words, not yours.
Your audience will have a unique voice. If you talk to them the way they talk, they will respond better.
✂️ Write short, choppy, copy.
People have words thrown at them all day long. Don’t ad to their misery. Be succinct.
🔍 You must be specific.
When you are specific, it helps paint a picture in the customer’s mind and in turn you will be more memorable.
📰 You must nail the headline.
People often skim work. The headlines must entice them to read more of your work.
✅ You must back everything with social proof.
This is one of the strongest rules of influence. People base many of their actions on what others are doing.
⚡ Address objections upfront.
Don’t run from objections. Turn them into your strengths. Like how Avis advertised that they were the no. 2 in rental cars—so they worked harder.
Well, that was a long-winded way of showing you my ad! Now you know where I am coming from. 😁
Here it is:
A few of the laws that I incorporated were:
Uncover the selfish benefit (by listing the benefits of the product)
Tell a story (having a picture of me paired with the “small business” gives the reader a sense of me at a glance)
Emotional appeal “small business” can often have an emotional appeal.
Short, choppy copy
Nail the headline (I hope I did this well!)
📧 Writing A Welcome Email
Another project I did was to write a welcome email for my Arete Tallow blog.
Here’s how I did it:
Before writing the welcome email, I studied a few welcome emails from other blogs. I took notes and did my best to incorporate what I liked into mine.
In this email, I addressed objections upfront. I discussed how people might be concerned about spamming, addressed their concerns, and explained why they didn’t have to worry.
I made the email as personal as possible.
I used the rule of reciprocity. By telling them how I took the time to write the blog posts, I then had the influence to ask them to check out my Instagram.
💻 Website Copy Breakdown
I did a web breakdown of Sun & Moo, a tallow company.
A few of the things I admired about their website were:
The homepage heading emphasizes how the product helps you. The subheading says what the product is. (uncover the selfish benefit).
Short headings (short, choppy copy).
Skimable website.
They emphasize a sense of connection; “join our community” and “The Glow Club”
They give social proof through reviews, badges/awards, and by having their blog written by someone with a biology degree (authority).
Good job for all this reading!
📂 Building A Swipe File
One other exercise I did this month was to build a swipe file.
A swipe file is necessary to help you keep your thoughts organized.
A few of the things I put in my swipe file were:
Examples of great copy
My best copy (for referencing my tone, etc)
Examples of great copy that could be handwritten
Websites with great copy
By having these all organized in one place, when I am uninspired or need to up my copy game, I have a quick and easy go-to.
🎯 Biggest Takeaways
So how has my writing evolved in the last 30 days?
The main ways I have adjusted my writing are:
✂️ Shorter Copy
For some reason, I used to believe that long = good. Now I realize that if your copy is too long, it can hurt you. It is a friction point for someone to open an email and be hit with a boatload of text.
🗣️ Casual Copy
Another paradigm shift I had was that it doesn’t have to be formal. Especially when I was writing business copy, I thought it had to be very professional. I understand there is a time and place for this, but I have also realized that people enjoy the casualness. Email them like a friend.
🔥 Nail the Headline
I was not giving the headline the credit it deserved. I now realize that if your headline is not great, people don’t want to read the rest of your copy. Each line draws them to the next. Don’t mess up the first one.
❤️ Why I love Copywriting
I never realized how important copywriting was before!
After learning about it for 30 days, now, I see it everywhere.
It is like a secret force, shaping many of our daily decisions, but often unnoticed. It can shape even the most important decisions we make, like where to go to school, or what job to take.
It is also a versatile skill.
Copywriting is important in all stages of life. If you are applying for a job, or trying to land a gig, copywriting can help you stand out. If you working in marketing, or social media (or social media marketing 😁) copy can help you grab your audience’s attention.
Those are a few of my thoughts on copywriting. I hope you enjoyed it!
Best,
Serena
P.S. Want to get started on copywriting? Try reading an article or two on it, or handwriting some great copy. Good luck!