Writing: 5 Tips for Digital Copywriting
Copywriting for digital advertising is often a key part of online advertising features. While I’m not going to delve into specifics of different types of online features and advertisements, I thought I would share some of the different tips I’ve accumulated for copywriting.
Awareness of Space
When you’re writing for a digital feature, one of the things you need to be acutely aware of is how much space you’re working with. This can limit how much space in which of you have to write, and thus the boundaries of your writing. Knowing these limitations early on will save you time by cutting out unnecessary revisions later on if the copy doesn’t fit. While there’s nothing wrong with revising, and it’s certainly better to do it than to leave copy in that doesn’t work, it’s always better to get something right the first time than having to go back to fix it later.
Consideration of Audience
One common mistake people make when writing is assuming that their audience have a similar background and breadth of experience to themselves – whether its as broad and complex as cultural or whether as its specific as knowing how to access their email. While in general, this won’t get you into trouble, it is important you consider the potential differences between you and your audience before you put pen to paper. For instance, if your intended audience is a considerably older demographic, explanation of instructions relating to computer use may have to be more detailed. Similarly, while writing for children, more complex sentences needed to be written more simply so they can be understood.
Concision
No matter who you write for, users don’t like to wade through miles of text. Whatever you write should be quick and to the point, not flowery and grandiose. This will help you with keeping in line with the first principle by creating copy that likely fits within the constraints of whatever feature it is going to be placed in. It also will help avoid confusion among end-users.
Simple Sentence Structure
This goes along the lines of concision, but you should try to keep the actual structure of your copy very simple. Try to avoid the passive voice when you can. Address users directly and use strong, active structures to get your points across. Strong copy comes from strong structure.
Review Out Loud
Here’s an old tip that I told my students when I used to tutor: Read it aloud after you’ve written it. If it doesn’t sound right to you, then you have to give it another shot. This will help you catch simple typographical errors and similar grammar issues, but it will also help you see whether there are more subtle problems of awkward phrasing in your copy. Sometimes your ears can catch things that your eyes can’t.
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