Words of Copywriting Wisdom …
An Easy Way to Make Your Copy More Inviting
I’m sure I drive all the English teachers out there crazy.
I don’t exactly follow the traditional rules of punctuation.
That’s because I’ve found that my “creative use” of punctuation gives my letters two advantages.
First, it makes them more visually diverse and interesting by creating some white space within paragraphs. The result? Copy that’s less intimidating to read.
Second, it lets me inject the kind of natural inflections and pauses people use when they talk … making my letters read in a much more conversational way.
My favorites: dashes (–), ellipses (…), quotation marks (“ ”), and italics.
Dashes allow you to effectively separate similar ideas that might be awkward in the same sentence, while, at the same time, peppering your copy with much-needed white space.
Ellipses allow you to “trail off” a sentence, which allows your readers to make some of their own assumptions … or leads them instantly to another connected idea.
I use quotation marks and italics when I want to stress a word, as in:
Remember, these are gains that came in two months. When was the last time you “earned” $20,000 without lifting a finger?
Just remember that huge blocks of text can be overwhelming for a reader. One look at a single page with only two paragraphs and the reader thinks, oh my, do I want to commit to reading all THIS?! And in the garbage it goes … along with the sale.
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I agree completely, Paul!
This is exactly what I do in letters and forum posts -- even if we're having a seriously cerebral discussion.
(I'm into metaphysics, and the "rabbit hole" often goes deep ... )
Fiction editors hate it -- they say I overdo it -- but that's my style. So I'm sure I'll end up self-publishing my novel if I'm ever gonna get it out.
Meanwhile, it's about autoresponders to start with ... looks like a lot of fun!
Pat – December 20, 2009 at 3:58 am