Copywriting In The Internet Age

I subscribe to several copywriting blogs and newsletters, and the thing I notice the most about them is that as a consumer I wouldn’t read any of the lengthy copy examples they give.

I don’t think that I’m alone when I say that I don’t have the attention span to sit and read through a lentghty sales pitch online. I want to see the most cogent information as quickly as possible. I want to see exactly why I should buy your product or service with a minimum of time and effort.

We live in the age of pop-up blockers, TiVO, and search. People are
becoming less and less likely to listen to people telling them what to
think about a product or service, and more likely to already have a
pretty good idea of what they want.

This isn’t to say that you shouldn’t provide valuable, in-depth information about your product or service. However, rather than distracting the customer with a hard sell, it makes a lot more sense to put it on additional pages that interested customers can get to if they want to know more.

So rather than writing a long, boring sales letter to post on your website, create a compelling, useful product that fills a need (a product that creates need is a different story. More on that another time). Briefly explain the benefit of your product USA Today style (lots of pictures and short, concise sentences – sound bites, if you will). Oh yeah, and keep it brief.

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