Complete Copywriting Tutorial - Examples, Tips and Formulas
Summary
TLDRIn this comprehensive copywriting tutorial, Brian Dean of Backlinko shares actionable strategies for boosting traffic, leads, sales, and social shares. He dispels the myth that years of experience are needed for copywriting success, emphasizing the importance of understanding key principles. Techniques such as using Reddit for insights, crafting short sentences, creating a 'slippery slide' to maintain reader engagement, and leveraging FOMO are highlighted. Dean also covers the significance of strong leads, the A-I-D-A formula, focusing on benefits over features, addressing customer objections, and utilizing social proof. Additional tips include talking to customers for research, creating urgency and scarcity, and using 'crooked numbers' for authenticity. The tutorial aims to simplify copywriting and empower viewers to craft compelling content.
Takeaways
- 🚀 Use Reddit threads to find customer language for compelling copy.
- ✂️ Short sentences are easier to read and make better copy.
- 🛝 Keep readers engaged with a slippery slide technique.
- 🔍 Use super-specific headlines to clearly state what readers will get.
- ⚡ Utilize FOMO (fear of missing out) to create urgency and interest.
- 📜 Write strong leads to grab attention right after the headline.
- 📝 Avoid big words to ensure your copy is easy to understand.
- 📈 Follow the AIDA (Attention, Interest, Desire, Action) formula for effective copy.
- 💡 Highlight benefits over features to make your copy more persuasive.
- 🛑 Address customer objections directly to move them from interest to purchase.
- 👥 Talk to customers directly to gather insights and improve your copy.
- ⏰ Create urgency and scarcity to prompt immediate action from potential customers.
- 🧩 Use social proof strategically to build credibility, even with limited data.
- 💬 Follow a three-step testimonial formula: Before, After, Recommendation.
- 🔢 Use crooked numbers (exact numbers) for greater credibility and believability.
Q & A
Who is the founder of Backlinko?
-Brian Dean is the founder of Backlinko.
What is the main benefit of using short sentences in copywriting?
-Short sentences are easier to read and understand, making the copy more effective.
What is a 'slippery slide' in copywriting?
-A 'slippery slide' is a technique used to keep people reading by adding elements to the page designed to maintain their interest, such as stories or referring to upcoming content.
Why are super-specific headlines important in copywriting?
-Super-specific headlines clearly convey what the reader will get, making them more compelling and effective.
How can FOMO (fear of missing out) enhance copy effectiveness?
-FOMO triggers a strong emotional reaction, encouraging prospects to pay close attention and act quickly.
What is the A-I-D-A formula in copywriting?
-The A-I-D-A formula stands for Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action, and it helps structure copy to boost conversions.
Why should benefits be emphasized over features in copywriting?
-Benefits sell more effectively because they highlight the value and impact of the product or service on the customer's life, whereas features are just descriptions of the product.
What does it mean to 'get out of the friend zone' with potential customers?
-Getting out of the friend zone means addressing and overcoming potential objections that prevent prospects from buying.
How can you use customer research to improve your copywriting?
-You can use customer research, such as talking to customers or using platforms like Reddit, to understand their language and needs, which helps create more targeted and effective copy.
What is the 'social proof paradox' and how can it be solved?
-The social proof paradox is needing social proof to sell but needing sales to get social proof. It can be solved by featuring the strongest form of social proof available, such as success stories or the number of free trial sign-ups.
What is the benefit of using 'crooked numbers' in copywriting?
-Crooked numbers, which are not rounded, are more believable and credible to readers compared to round numbers.
Why is it important to write strong leads in your copy?
-Strong leads are crucial because they grab the reader's attention right after the headline and determine whether the reader will continue engaging with the content.
Outlines
📝 Introduction and Copywriting Basics
Brian Dean introduces himself and sets the stage for a comprehensive copywriting tutorial. He emphasizes the importance of copywriting for traffic, leads, sales, and social shares. He shares his own journey from freelance writing to creating successful sales letters, highlighting the simplicity of effective copywriting when key principles are followed. Dean provides actionable strategies, starting with using Reddit threads to mine customer language, writing short sentences, and employing the 'slippery slide' technique to maintain reader engagement.
✒️ Writing Strong Leads
Dean discusses the importance of the lead section, immediately following the headline, in grabbing and maintaining reader attention. He offers three strategies for writing effective leads: using a compelling hook, keeping the lead concise (six to eight sentences), and incorporating mini-stories. He emphasizes that a strong lead is crucial for transitioning into the main content and ensuring readers stay engaged.
📊 Advanced Copywriting Techniques
Dean delves into advanced techniques for enhancing copy. He advises against using big words, advocating for simplicity. He introduces the AIDA formula (Attention, Interest, Desire, Action) for structured copy, and stresses the importance of highlighting benefits over features. He discusses addressing potential customer objections and emphasizes the value of direct customer interactions. Additional tips include creating urgency and scarcity, leveraging social proof effectively, and using specific, non-rounded numbers to enhance credibility. He concludes with a bonus strategy on crafting powerful testimonials using a three-step formula.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Copywriting
💡Backlinko
💡Reddit threads
💡Short sentences
💡Slippery slide
💡Super-specific headlines
💡FOMO
💡Strong leads
💡A-I-D-A formula
💡Benefits over features
💡Social proof
Highlights
Brian Dean shares his copywriting tutorial, emphasizing actionable strategies for increasing traffic, leads, sales, and social shares.
Contrary to popular belief, years of experience or training are not required to master copywriting.
Dean's first sales letter outperformed the client's existing one by a 2:1 margin, showcasing the effectiveness of his copywriting principles.
Reddit threads can be a gold mine for copywriting, providing insights into customer preferences and language.
Short sentences are proven to be 711% easier to read and understand, as per a study by the American Press Institute.
The 'slippery slide' technique is designed to keep readers engaged and continually reading the content.
Super-specific headlines are more compelling and effective in conveying exactly what the reader will get.
FOMO (fear of missing out) can significantly enhance the effectiveness of copywriting when applied correctly.
Strong leads are crucial after headlines, and should be concise, engaging, and transition smoothly into the main content.
Avoid using big words; instead, opt for language that is easy to read and understand.
The A-I-D-A formula (Attention, Interest, Desire, Action) is a classic copywriting tool for boosting conversions.
Benefits sell better than features; focus on how the product or service will improve the customer's life.
Addressing potential customer objections head-on can help move them from the 'friend zone' to becoming buyers.
Talking to customers directly can provide deep insights that enhance copywriting strategies.
Urgency and scarcity in copywriting can drive immediate conversions by creating a sense of limited time or availability.
Solving the social proof paradox involves showcasing any form of social validation, even if it's not directly related to sales.
A three-step testimonial formula involving 'before', 'after', and 'what they'd tell someone' can significantly boost sales.
Crooked numbers, or numbers that haven't been rounded, are perceived as more believable and should be used when possible.
Transcripts
- In this video, I'm gonna show you
my complete copywriting tutorial.
In fact, I've used the tips from this video
to create blog posts that have been shared
thousands of time.
I've also written several high converting,
seven-figure sales letters.
I'm Brian Dean, the founder of Backlinko.
So if you want more traffic, leads,
sales, and social shares,
you'll love the actionable strategies in this video.
Let's get started.
Here's the truth about copywriting.
Despite what you might have heard,
you don't need years of experience or training
to learn copywriting.
In fact, before I launched Backlinko,
I used to be a freelance writer.
Then one day, out of the blue, one of my clients asked me,
"Do you, by any chance write sales letters?"
Now, at this point,
I'd never written a sales letter in my life.
But I wanted to give it a try,
so I told him, "Sales letters?
"Heck, yeah, I write sales letters."
And now that I was hired,
I had to write a sales letter fast.
In fact I had about a week
to write this sales letter from scratch.
So I researched as much as I could about copywriting.
And because I was in a rush,
I ignored the minutiae and focused on the key principles
that I saw again and again.
And it worked.
My client told me that my sales letter
outperformed their current one by a 2:1 margin.
Since that day, I've written dozens of sales letters,
newsletters and articles.
And over that time, I discovered what most copywriters
don't want you to know.
Copywriting is really easy.
That is when you know what to do and how to do it.
And that's exactly what I'm gonna show you
in this tutorial.
So, without further ado,
let's dive into copywriting tip number one,
use Reddit threads.
Reddit is a copywriting gold mine.
To use it, head over to a subreddit,
where your customer hangs out.
Then, take at look at threads that have lots of comments.
For example, let's say that you just launched
a new keto diet bar.
Well, you'd head over to keto and paleo subreddits
and search for bars.
Then, pay attention to the exact words and phrases
that people use to describe what they like and don't like
about the bars they've tried so far.
For example, I found tons of awesome copy
in this one thread, copy that would work great
for a landing page or Facebook ad.
Moving right along to our second copywriting tip,
use short sentences.
Here's a good rule of thumb
that applies to pretty much everything that you write.
Short sentences equals better copy.
And there's data to back this up.
A study conducted by the American Press Institute
found that short sentences
were 711% easier to read and understand,
which is why always atomize sentences
to be as short as possible.
Bottom line, use short sentences.
They're easier to read and understand.
Which leads us to technique number three,
the slippery slide.
Here's the deal.
You can have the best copy in the world,
but if people stop reading the page after the first sentence
your copy didn't work.
That's why one of the main goals of your copy
is to keep people reading.
Or as copywriting legend Joe Sugarman puts it,
the sole purpose of the first sentence
is to get you to read the second sentence.
The question is, how do you get someone
to keep reading your blog post, email or sales letter?
The slippery slide.
A slippery slide is where you add something to your page
that's specifically designed to keep people reading.
For example, you can tell a little story
in the beginning of your sales letter,
but leave the ending for the end.
Or you can refer to something that's coming up later
in your blog post.
You can even just say things like
here's the deal and the question is,
to push people to keep reading.
And now it's time for copywriting tip number four,
super-specific headlines.
You've probably already seen this old statistic before,
80% of people read the headline
and only 20% read the copy.
Is that statistic accurate?
I have no idea.
But I do know that your headline is super important.
And one of the best ways
to make your headlines more effective
use super-specific headlines.
Super-specific headlines are exactly like they sound.
They are headlines that tell your reader
exactly what they're gonna get.
For example, check out this blog post headline.
Not bad, but not that specific.
Now check out this super-specific headline.
It's much more compelling, right?
In fact, this works so well
that I tend to use super-specific headlines
on every blog post, landing page or sales letter
that I write.
And now it's time for technique number five,
use FOMO.
FOMO can make your copy 10 times more effective.
That said, FOMO also known as fear of missing out,
doesn't work for every situation.
But if you can use FOMO, you should use FOMO.
That's because FOMO triggers a strong reaction
with your prospects,
and emotion that makes them wanna listen closely
to what you have to say.
For example, we've recently launched a product
that closed on a certain day in time.
So, we emphasize that on our sales page.
Which brings us to copywriting tip six,
write strong leads.
Everyone and their mom knows the headlines are important,
but no one talks about something that in my experience,
is just as important if not more
than a headline.
Your lead.
Your lead is the section of your page
that comes right after your headline,
and at least in my experience
if you lose people here, you've lost them for good.
With that, here are three strategies that you can use
to write awesome leads.
First, use a hook in your first or second sentence.
The first sentence of your lead is huge.
So make sure that first line
really grabs your reader's attention.
For example, this landing page from Marie Forleo
has a killer first line.
Next, you wanna make your lead
about six to eight sentences max.
Whether you're writing a blog post, video script,
sales page or email newsletter,
you want your lead to be super short.
Remember, the goal of your lead
is just to grab your reader's attention.
And once you've done that,
you wanna transition into the main section of your content.
For example, I keep my blog post introductions
to around six lines.
Finally, use mini-stories in your leads.
Stories are a great way to hook your readers
right off the bat.
But like I just mentioned, the problem with that
is that your lead needs to be short and sweet.
So, you don't have a lot of room to tell an epic story.
Enter mini-stories.
Mini-stories condense a story into 45 lines.
For example, here's mini-story that I used
in one of my most successful sales letters.
And, now it's time for me to tell you
about copywriting technique number seven,
don't use big words.
Let's face it, big words don't impress anybody.
Um, yes, in this video I plan on demonstrating
the effectiveness of online vocabulary
and augmenting online transactions.
In fact, they make your content harder to read.
So instead of big fancy words like these,
use words that are easy to read and understand.
And now it's time for our eighth technique,
the A-I-D-A formula.
AIDA is a classic copywriting formula
that can help boost conversions on sales pages,
landing pages, articles, newsletters,
video scripts and more.
Here's what this formula looks like.
As you can see, A-I-D-A stand for Attention, Interest,
Desire and Action.
Let's take a look at a real-life example
of this formula in action.
I actually used the AIDA formula on this guide
from my blog.
First I grab people's attention with the first line,
then I create an interest with a bold promise,
and I fold it up buy tapping into a desire
that anyone reading this page wants.
Higher Google rankings,
and finally I cap things off with a called action
to keep reading.
Moving right along to technique number nine,
benefits over features.
There's no doubt about it.
When it comes to copy, benefits crush features.
In other words, features are nice, but benefits sell.
For example, let's say that you run a SAS company
that sells productivity software.
Here's how you can turn boring features
into powerful benefits.
Coschedule.com does a great job
of highlighting benefits over features.
Yeah, like any software product,
they outline key features.
But unlike most SAS companies,
the vast majority of their copy is benefit-driven.
Nice.
Moving right along to technique number 10,
get out of the friend zone.
We've all been in the friend zone before.
Or at least I have.
The friend zone is when you like someone
and they like you back, as a friend.
Well, as it turns out, the same thing happens
with potential customers and clients.
They like what you're selling, but not enough to buy.
What's the solution?
Address their objections.
I'm talking about objections like,
"It's just too expensive."
"It's not a good time for me."
"Yeah it sounds good, but will this work for me?"
or "I'm not ready to switch from another product.".
Most people pretend that these objections don't exist.
Instead, you wanna bring up these objections
and squash every one of them.
For example, here's an objection that we raise and squash
on a product FAQ page.
Let's get right into tip number 11,
talk to customers.
Remember earlier when I talked about
using Reddit for customer research?
Well, if you want to take this sort of thing
to the next level,
I recommend actually talking to your customers.
For example, I've recently hopped on Skype
with three people that graduated from one of my programs.
Fun fact, I was visiting my family in Rhode Island
when I did this interview,
that's why you can see my mom's amazing flower curtains
in the background.
And because we were chatting on Skype,
I could dig deep with follow-up questions.
Next up, we have urgency and scarcity.
Have you ever had someone tell you
that they're interested in what you're selling,
they just need some time to think it over?
In my experience, 99% of the time
that person doesn't end up buying.
Maybe they got busy and forgot,
maybe they found another product.
The exact reason doesn't really matter.
The important thing is that you do something
to get that person to convert right away.
The question is, how do you do it?
Add these words and phrases to your copy.
Needless to say,
these statements should be backed up with real limitations,
otherwise you're gonna loose people's trust.
But if you can use them, you should use them.
For example, this email
from one of our recent product launches
uses a clear to-the-minute deadline,
that creates a super high sense of urgency.
And now, it's time for our last copywriting tip,
solve the social proof paradox.
You need social proof to sell,
but you need sales to get social proof.
I call this the social proof paradox.
And it's a real problem for lots of business owners.
Fortunately, I found a simple way
to get around this problem.
Feature your strongest form of social proof.
It doesn't have to be sales.
For example, let's say that you just launched
a new nutrition coaching program.
And to get leads,
you offer people a free seven-day meal plan.
And if they wanna upgrade to a paid coaching plan,
they get a full 90-day meal plan
and personalized support from you.
But so far, only a few people
have upgraded to your paid plan.
Well, in that case you can showcase
how many people signed up for your free meal plan,
or maybe only have 20 total customers.
But three of those customers got amazing results.
Well, you can feature those three amazing results
on your homepage.
For example, when I launched my YouTube SEO course,
at that point we only had about 10 total beta users.
10 people isn't a lot of social proof.
But four of those 10 people got great results.
So we decided to feature those four people
on the sales page, and it worked.
And now it's time for a quick bonus tip,
use this proven, three-step testimonial formula.
It's no secret that testimonials can skyrocket sales.
In fact, BigCommerce reports that testimonials,
can increase sales by up to 62%.
That's the good news.
The bad news is that most people use testimonials
that simply don't work.
I'm talking about testimonials like this.
Now, to be fair,
there's nothing wrong with that testimonial.
But it's not gonna get anyone to whip out their credit card
and buy what you sell.
Instead, I recommend using this proven formula.
As you can see, this formula is broken down
into three main parts.
The three parts build on one another
to create one super-powerful testimonial.
First up, you have the before.
Here's where your customer talks about
where they were before they used your product or service.
That way, people can relate
to the person in your testimonial.
Here's an example.
Next, it's time for the after.
The after highlights specific results
that your customer got from your product.
Finally, it's time for the
"what they'd tell someone" section.
As the name suggests, here's what your customer
would tell someone that's on the fence.
And because this recommendation comes
directly from someone that used your product,
it's very believable.
Let's close out this video
with one more bonus strategy,
use crooked numbers.
Crooked numbers are numbers that haven't been rounded.
Here are some examples.
According to research,
crooked numbers are more believable than round numbers,
which means, whenever you can,
you wanna use them instead of round numbers.
For example, check out this intro from one of my blog posts.
I could have made this a nice round number
like over 200.000,
but I went with the exact crooked number instead.
So, that's it from my copywriting tutorial.
If you like this video,
make sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel right now.
Just click in the Subscribe button below this video.
And if you want exclusive SEO techniques
that I only share with subscribers,
head over to backlinko.com and hop on the newsletter.
It's free.
Now I wanna turn it over to you.
Which technique from today's video
are you gonna try first?
Are you gonna use crooked numbers
or try using more benefits instead of features?
Let me know, by leaving a comment below right now.
Oh man.
With that, here's...
You good?
Aren't rounded, aren't rounded...
You wanna do lunch?
How the hell am I gonna say that?
But no one's...
Okay, that wasn't bad.
Weitere ähnliche Videos ansehen
Easy Email Copywriting Tutorial (Step By Step)
SEO for Beginners: Rank #1 In Google (FAST)
I Survived the Google Updates Using Authority Stacking
How To Write Good Copywriting Product Descriptions That SELL
7 Melhores Livros de Copywriting
How to Write a Clear & Concise Abstract with Perplexity AI and Humanize It | not #chatgpt
5.0 / 5 (0 votes)