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How To Pimp Your Copywriting Skills For Print Ads

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If your copywriting skills are as dull as dishwater, don't despair! You can do something about it. Its good old fashioned practice. Practice makes perfect and all that. Honing your skills and learning new (or old) copywriting techniques will make you a better copywriter. If your print ads are lacking, follow these steps to pump up your copywriting mojo.

Things You Will Need

Basic knowledge in copywriting.

Step 1

Pick up (and read! cover to cover) some invaluable copywriting books. The Copywriter's Handbook, 3E: A Step-by-Step Guide to Writing Copy That Sells by Robert Bly is considered one of the must-reads in the industry. Its a bit outdated, Bob Bly (as he is usually known) discusses having a good typewriter and there's no mention of the Internet, but all copywriters should have a copy for the nuts and bolts of copywriting, especially for print ads.

Ogilvy on Advertising by ad legend David Ogilvy is another must-read for anyone in the ad, marketing or copywriting industry. Pay particular attention to chapter 12, on direct mail

Step 2

Jot down key points from the books that you either don't understand or need some practice on. Look up further resources on the Internet or in other copywriting books to grasp the knowledge.

Step 3

Do some copywriting exercises. Over and over. This is the practice part. Exercises can be found in copywriting books and online. Check out About.com's copywriting exercise in which you write a full page print ad for a fictional toothpaste company and Copywriting Tips and Ideas for a creative writing exercise.

Step 4

Take a copywriting course. For those that are serious enough to plunk down some mega bucks, sign up for a copywriting course at your local college or online. Mediabistro.com is considered one of the more professional job listing sites for those in publishing. Mediabistro offers online courses that last 8 to 12 weeks and cost between $400 and $500. The classes start every few months, so you can plan in advance to take the next copywriting course. The classes Copywriting: Mastering Ad Writing and Introduction to Copywriting are available among others.

Step 5

Retake the copywriting exercises you did before you took the course. Practice, practice, practice some more. Compare your before and after exercises. I'll bet your ads after are much more compelling than your ads before!

Step 6

For a quick pimping of your copywriting, take out or replace the following words in your copy: free, guarantee, lowest price, risk-free or no risk. This might have wiped out your entire print ad, so you're probably wondering "What the?" See the Entrepreneur.com article by Susan Gunelius for details.