Sales copy can never be ‘too long’… only too boring.
Having said that, we certainly want to tighten up our writing to say more with less.
We usually define ‘long copy’ as a long written sales page or in-depth blog post. And while long copy still impacts our readers, it’s a good idea to tighten up your copy so there’s no unnecessary fluff or filler.
Here’s a few editing tips I’ve learned over the years which will come in handy any time you communicate with your audience.
1: Writing short copy is harder than writing long copy, so get ready to work. Mark Twain said “I didn’t have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead”.
2: Write first, edit later. Do NOT stop writing at different times to go back and change stuff. Not even typos. Pour out your heart for as long as it takes, THEN go back and edit.
3: Edit with a fresh set of eyes – if time permits. If you’re not up against a deadline, let your copy sit for a day, or at least a few hours. Come back later and your soul will offer up some beautiful fresh perspectives you hadn’t considered before. It happens all the time!
4: Read your copy aloud, every chance you get. This is how you pick up something that doesn’t quite flow, and you’ll be able to look for points 5 & 6 as listed below:
5: Auditory Rhythm is how a piece of copy sounds in your brain as you read it. It’s crucial to readability but almost nobody teaches it. Yes, you break up long sentences and paragraphs for easy reading… but you then do things like vary sentence length and complexity so they don’t all sound the same in your mind.
6: Visual Flow is the way you lay out your copy, like the way I’m formatting this post and highlighting certain things. Highlight the most important parts of your copy with bolding, new paragraphs, etc. The only exception is underlining – this tends to make text look like a link.
7: Transition phrases. Avoid sudden changes between paragraphs/sections with transition phrases like:
So you see…
The fact is…
Here’s what I mean…
The artist Michaelangelo was asked how he carved a masterpiece like the Statue of David.
He replied “It is easy. You just chip away the stone that doesn’t look like David”
This applies to copy templates as well – not only are there sometimes parts you want to omit…
Often we’re tempted to add in extra information and copy that we think is necessary.
Usually… it’s not.
What’s there is there for a reason.
Sure, empower yourself to expand on a template – then chip away at everything that is not your ‘David’.
But sales copy templates are the perfect place to start, especially if you don’t want to invest years (and thousands) in learning how to write copy…
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