Monday 18th of May 2009
When asked for copy for your website it can be difficult to get started. Here are my 5 quick and easy ways to get started.
Mind Map
I am a massive fan of mind mapping, it is on the face of it drawing spider daigrams ;-) But I find it really helps me get all my ideas out of my head into a workable format.- There is no pressure to finish ideas or thoughts, you log them as you go. So it is easy to return back to them and allow creativity and ideas to flow as they come.
- Helps you to break down a large subject into workable pieces
- You can oversee all areas of your mind map helping you check everything has been covered.
- Read similar copy
By looking at what your competitors have already spent hours writing you can breakdown their copy. Extracting points that you should be making and also looking at things they haven't covered. It is a great idea to highlight in your own copy things that aren't mentioned in your competitions copy it might just tip the balance. - Breakdown, paragraph and bullet point
Break down either through a Mind Map or in list format what you are covering. Gradually expand on each point turning them into individual paragraphs. Remember short paragraphs and bullet point lists work best on the web. - List keywords
Get in the mind set of your visitor, what keywords will they be using to find your web page? List the keywords, you might find these uncover the key points you should be writing about. Additionally it will dramatically boost your search engine optimisation efforts. - Dump
Just write, in the past I would find myself staring at the blank screen trying to workout how to start. Now I just begin typing, whatever comes out is a start, it could be the beggining, middle or end.
I really recommend looking at Mind Mapping, especially for copywriting there is great software the leader of which is Mindjet.
Tags: copywriting(2)