THE Copywriting Resource You'll Want if You're Ever Stranded on a Desert Island

When people ask me if there's a book that will help them write great copy, I always recommend the classic guide to copywriting, The Copywriter's Handbook by Robert Bly (Get your own on amazon).

This book is fantastic because it gives you tons of practical information and examples to help you write effective copy in every format. Below are 10 of my favorite tips but this book is chocked full of useful information, so I recommend you get your very own copy and read it.

1. Keep your copy clean and omit needless words. Use contractions and sentence fragments.
   
2. Understand what keeps your customers up at night and address that. Don't confuse what you care about with what your customers care about.
   
3. Five times as many people will read your headline as read the body copy so make sure your headline has sales appeal, connects to your readers' self interest or gives news.
4. In an email, the subject line is your headline. Don't let it be an afterthought.
   
5. Sentences should range between 6 and 16 words long.
6. Tell the truth.
7. Advertisement: Buy this product and you will receive this benefit.
8. Answer what makes your product unique or advertise a feature that isn't unique but that your competition hasn't advertised.
9. Be specific.
10. Don't use visual techniques that look cool but that make the copy hard to read (reverse type, slanted type, type set in wide margins, type smaller than 8-point).