Copywriting Hazards, And What to Do about Them
By: Vlad Ehrsam

Copywriting is a very important part of marketing and advertising. It is especially important when you have Web site. Good content is very important, and it is vital that your copy is relevant and useful.

But copywriting is also full of hazards, areas where it is easy to go wrong. Areas that take away from your content instead of adding to it. These hazards make your Web pages dull, uninteresting to read, immaterial or meaningless to your readers. Here are some to watch out for:

Tangents

Avoid the urge to give unnecessary and irrelevant information. Good copywriting should consist of one main point broken down into several, shorter related points. Concentrate on each point at a time. The pace of your writing should be brisk and fast flowing. Going off at a tangent is a sure way of losing your reader.

The Say it Again and Again Hazard

Refrain from repeating and harping on one point over and over. You may feel that you are stressing home a point by doing so but in actual fact, you could be irritating your reader and he or she may lost interest in your article. Give some thought to the words you want to use and then get your point across; but do it only once.

Keep it simple

Its tempting to come across a smart and use complicated, long words, it's a hazard many fall into. But it doesn't work, it comes through as very pseudo and perplexes your targets no end. They'll be off in a whiff, something you really wouldn't want. So keep your words short and simple, you'll come across as savvy. Especially when you use compelling and powerful text.

The Use Clever Language Hazard

This is a device that is often used to showcase cleverness or a deft use of the language. The phrases or words sound nice, and they may even be creative, but they do nothing to advance the point or contribute to the pace and flow of the piece. Avoid ornamentation and your writing will be much more to the point and, therefore, effective.

The "I Love Adjectives" Hazard

Too many adjectives are hazardous to copy! They're descriptive words that you use with nouns or verbs, like attractive, powerful, or blue. Words with 'ly' at the end like quickly are also adjectives. Used well, they are effective, but an overdose can divert readers from issues at hand. Saying 'It quickly scans' is better than 'It scans very quickly', for instance. Because the 'very' drags the text. AYou can be effective using one adjective, try 'It gives you amazing prints' or 'It gives you fantastic prints', and not 'It gives you amazingly fantastic prints'. As you can see, the last sentence really doesn't work.

Avoid forms of the verb "To Be"

Employ active language as far as possible, to get your message across. Use of forms of the verb "to be" such as was, is, are, etc tends to slow down the flow of the prose. Solid verbs generate a certain vibrancy in language and this holds the interest of the reader. To say "Our business is a leader in innovation" seems to lack the forward motion there is in saying "Our business leads the field of innovation". Of course sometimes you can't get away from using "be" verbs but endeavor where possible, to use as many active words as possible.

Article Source: http://www.ArticleJoe.com

Vlad Ehrsam runs a very interesting website at Full Info on Business, it's one of the webs most up to date Business sites, their free newsletter is well worth signing up for too.
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