I have said it before and I will repeat it, copywriting is now one of the most profitable skills you can acquire. In any industry in this digital age, those who have writing skills will have the advantage. We are living in a world where content rules – virtually everything that keeps you glued on the internet and social media is content. The most dominant component of that content is in written form. Even when it is images or videos, things like titles, descriptions and even the scripts are all written words. In this article I am sharing with you principles you must use to come up with engaging and monetizable writing.
Do Not Write Like You Think Or Talk
This sounds a bit hard to do but it is foundational in coming up with engaging writing. This is important because your audience normally reads linearly or logically. This means you should not jump to and fro different talking points, something common when you are speaking. Avoid being repetitive and digressing from the core subject matter; you would not want to confuse your audience. When talking or thinking, you usually conceive many different angles in your mind at once. However, you must break them down into separate talking points (paragraphs or parts essentially). Use short sentences; the moment you have to use more commas in a sentence that is a tell-tale sign. Avoid using passive language and adverbs.
Write As If You Are Writing To One Person
The aim here is to make your writing sound as if it is addressed to one person. This will make the reader feel as if you are talking to just them. This is a smart way to capture your audience. You might be familiar with SMSes sent by mobile network operators (MNOs). They will be bulk SMSes but you will feel as if it was sent only to you. That is how effective this principle can be for you. This will enhance the power and impact of your writing.
Simplicity Is The Ultimate Sophistication
The key to engaging in writing is not in using complex words or sentences. It lies in being as simple as possible so much that even a child can read and understand. I am reminded of the famous statement by Albert Einstein, ‘If you cannot explain it simply, you do not understand it well enough. Like Charles Bukowski rightly put it, ‘Simplicity is always the secret, to a profound truth, to doing things, to writing, to painting. Life is profound in its simplicity. You must always ensure that your writing is as simple as possible.
Use A Minimalistic Approach – Quality Over Quantity
The idea here is that you must use a few words to drive your point home. When you are done writing any draft, take time to chisel away at it by removing unnecessary words. That is why it is usually recommended to shrink your initial draft by an average of 50 per cent. For example, after writing 2000 words, work your way down to just 1000 words. If you are diligent in this principle you will come up with concise and precise content. This will be the kind of writing that many can read because it is easier to skim or read in full. Bear in mind that people generally do not have enough to read through long-form content. This is all linked to the next principle:
Make It Possible For Readers To Visualize What You Are Saying
Your writing will be weak if your readers have to try to figure out the whole picture. You need to detail your writing in such a way that they can visualize it all. I do appreciate that this will somewhat increase your word count but it is usually necessary. Enabling your readers to do so will hook them in more than just when you are writing vaguely or generically.
Rigorously Edit Your Writing
One element of that is to remove unnecessary words – which will feed into your minimalism goal. Editing goes beyond just culling words, it also spans to checking grammar, spelling, sentence construction, punctuation, structure, spacing, and so on. As a rule of thumb, you should not write your first draft and immediately post that. It is even advised that after your first draft, you should put it aside and come back to it later. This will make your mind fresh enough to spot areas needing attention. Then you make several trips through your writing making the necessary edits. Cultivate enjoying this stage because that is what brings out the best of your work.
These are the 6 principles you need to cultivate in your writing journey. This does not only apply to writing articles or blog posts. They are universal principles that apply to anything from posts, tweets, SMSes, emails, newsletters, press releases, and so on. If you want to impact or influence the world, come up with engaging writing. Not only that, but you get to make money from that.
