Do you enjoy writing?
Are you fed up of working 9 to 5 for someone else’s
profit?
Would you love to work from home writing and make money
doing it? But have no idea how to go about it or what to do?
Well the first thing to know is that you must write
material that people will be interested in. This sounds obvious until you look
at some of the material that is available on the world wide web.
So what is that magic ingredient to effective writing that makes people
want to stop and read your advert or article or dwell on your website? What is it that
makes someone decide to take precious time out of their day to stop and settle
for a few minutes to read what you have written?
As an author this has to be the single most crucial
aspect of your writing, unless of course you are someone who is only interested
to see their name in lights and not bothered whether anyone actually reads what
you have written.
For most there is a purpose to writing, usually to convey
some fact or facts or to make money in some form either directly or indirectly.
For both it will only work if the content is of interest to people.
As the title of this article is Earn a Living Writing from Home we will primarily focus on that aspect. To that end we will be focusing on how to write effective adverts/copy. For to make money doing anything you need to advertise what it is that you do. However, what I am about to
say here applies equally to the pure conveyance of facts or news type of
writing. All writing must be interesting and enjoyable to read for someone to
want to take the time to sit and read it.
To earn a living from writing the writing must lead the
reader towards the end point – a subscription or payment for a product of some
description. Usually such writing is in the form of adverts or copy and more
often than not there is limited space. In such circumstances it is imperative
to be able to convey your message in a just a couple of short sentences; a
paragraph at most.
So lets have a look in more detail at what is required to write an effective advert.
Attention Grabbing Headline: The first thing that most
people spot about any writing is the headline or title. So make it catchy, you
want to peak someone’s curiosity enough that they will want to read further to
see what it is all about. Humour plays well here though be careful not to over
do it. Be aware also of language differences in different Countries where the
meaning of words can vary quite dramatically.
For example: In the Uk an ad with the headline “Sack your
Boss” will grab the attention of any beleaguered workforce who believe their
boss has outreached the level of their competency and would dearly love to see
them removed from their job.
However, in the US the meaning of the word “sack” has
very different connotations and implies a desire for bedroom pleasantries - to
put it diplomatically. Probably not feelings that a worker who would dearly
love to see their boss removed from their job would encompass.
So make the headline catch your audiences attention
without offending them.
2. Interesting Body: The main body of your advert has to convey
several things at once. It must seek to inform us what your product or service
is and what it will do for us.
This is no mean feat when dealing with some online
adverts where you only have about 40
words to convey your message. So the guide here is to make it short, punchy but
real.
For example: an ad that said the following for a Dog
Grooming business conveys little of use and will result in poor conversions.
King Charles Cavaliars are friendly dogs
We love our dog, she has a beautiful glossy coat and a
friendly temperament.
"dogs.com"
The ad may be accurate however it conveys nothing of use
to a potential buyer of dog grooming services. It is unclear even what the
service actually is.
Compare the above then to this:
Make your Dog Shine
Grooming service that brings an extra gloss to your dogs
coat.
"doggrooming.com"
Here the headline grabs your attention, any dog owner
wants their dog to shine, stand out. If you have a dog you will appreciate
this, if not, no amount of explanation will help so please just take it as
read.
So to sum up make your writing interesting, stay on point
and where space allows make it as if you are having a conversation with your
audience. This will draw your reader along with you and give you a much higher
chance of achieving the objective you set out for your writing. Enjoy your
writing and let your enthusiasm for the topic shine through your words.
Happy writing.
