It has been said time and (time) again that the Sales Copy is a major decider in the outcome of a business’ marketing campaign. The same goes for your website. At a time where millions and billions of websites popup on a daily basis, the terms website, sales copy, marketing and business have never been more synonymous.

Incase you don’t know what a sales copy is and you own a business (which I seriously doubt)- it is  that piece of text you find in advertisements, promotional brochures or other public relations outlets. Copywriting, which is the art of writing a sales copy has never been more crucial to a business. Tom Chandler writes;

“Good copywriting and marketing have never been
more important. Or more confusing.“

Probably the reason why most businesses hire professional Copywriters to draft these sales copies for them. So;

Who and What is a Copywriter?

Whenever you hear a radio commercial, or read words in the advertising section of a magazine, a copywriter is responsible. A copywriter creates the text for advertisements, promotional brochures or other public relations outlets. Advertising agencies routinely refer to a written script as copy, thus the name copywriter applies to those who create the scripts.

But what makes a Good Sales copy?

Several answers to this question may exist, but the most important (arguably) of them all would be Readability!! Readability here not just in the sense of the word, but also in terms of attractiveness. The sales copy must, as a matter of necessity, be able to capture and captivate the readers.

A few things you may want to note when writing your sales copy ;

• Keep it Attractive- can’t help but reiterate, your sales copy should, as a matter of importance, be engaging. It must possess qualities that captivate, if not thrill the reader. This holds true for the opening paragraph through to the last.

• Keep It Short- despite what most people may think, length matters. Not everyone enjoys reading (as a matter of fact most people don’t), as such it would be wise to make your sales copy as “straight-to-the-point” as possible.
  
  
• Formatting and Placement- also very important. It is worth noting that 6 out of 10 average readers would only read the first one or two paragraphs and scan through the rest of your sales copy. It is therefore extremely important to pay attention to placement- endeavor to have the most important aspects of your draft as close to the beginning of the copy as possible. It is also a good idea to use bold fonts, and quotation marks where necessary, so as to emphasize an important word, sentence or paragraph. Coloured text are “pleasing” to the eyes, and are encouraged.  Be careful however, that your copy doesn’t end up looking like the face of a clown.

• Keep It Original- try to be as original as possible. Think twice before deciding to “borrow” content from someone else’s copy without their permission. Copy writing requires an enormous amount of talent and creativity, needless to say are intellectual property. Apart from just losing credibility in the eyes of your reader, you can quickly find yourself in an unwanted legal tussle. If you must borrow, you should endeavor to give the author some acknowledgment.

• Mind your language- last, but by no means least, it is advisable to watch your language. In the beginning, it may seem like a good idea to use your copy to show your grammatical proficiency, but you may end up having achieved nothing in the end, if your sales copy is more confusing than it is explanatory. It is thus advisable to use “common”, everyday terms which would have “real” meaning to the reader.

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Finally, as a parting gift, bear in mind that;

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“Marketing is not just about advertising – it’s also about
education and building customer relationships.”

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In a completely bizarre incident- not to mention a huge blow to social networking- a man in the UK has been sentenced to life in prison for the murder of his wife over her “status change” on social networking platform Face Book.

Wayne Forrester murdered his wife Emma on 18 february 2008. The couple had been together for for 15 years, in a marriage which has been described as “volatile and unstable, characterized by periods of seperation and reconcilation”.

Forrester 34, said he killed his wife because she had changed her face book profile status to “single” just 4 days after he moved out of their Croydon, South London home.

Ms. Alex Lewis, the prosecuting lawyer on the case said “He was angry about an entry on Facebook he said made him look like a fool as she had advertised her marital status as single. He accused her of having an affair.”

Forrester said;

“Emma and I had just split up. She forced me out.”

“She then posted messages on an internet website telling everyone she had left me and was looking to meet other men.”

According to BBC news’ report;

“Forrester, an HGV driver, was drunk and high on cocaine when he attacked the mother of two in the early hours as she slept. He beat her, tore out clumps of her hair, and repeatedly stabbed her in the head and neck. Neighbours were woken up by her screams. They found him sitting outside the house covered in blood and called the police.”

Social Networking websites have been hailed as being amongst the best things to happen to the Internet, but this is just about the saddest event yet in their history.