Three Copywriting Mistakes I Spotted Last Week and How to Avoid Them
Not everyone who’s asked to write copy is a full-time copywriter. Sometimes you’re faced with a writing task and no editor – the chance of a mistake sneaking through is high. That’s okay, but there are also some simple tricks copywriters use to avoid obvious errors.
Here are three mistakes I spotted last week and how you can avoid them in your writing.
1. Repetition
Repetition is probably the most common copywriting error, especially if you don’t have an editor to call you out. It sounds clunky and makes the sentence light on information. It’s a sure-fire way to lose readers.
How to fix it?
Always read your work aloud. It’s an easy way to spot repetition because you’ll hear it, and it’ll sound odd.
Take a break between writing and publishing. If you can, take several hours between your first writing session and your final read-through. You’re much more likely to spot little errors.
Use a word-counting software. Word-counters tell you how many reps you have of each word and it’s particularly good for catching, not only this type of repetition, but when you’ve used the same adjective 3/4/5 times over a paragraph or two.
2. Redundancy
Two things are wrong here. Firstly, for the ‘X yet Y’ construction, you need two opposing adjectives (or almost opposing). For example: ‘compact yet stylish’, ‘short yet action-packed’, ‘spacious yet rundown’. Also, the two adjectives used here are synonyms, making the whole sentence redundant. ‘Small’ and ‘compact’ mean (effectively) the same thing. This can happen when you’ve thought of how you want your work to sound (“I like this sentence structure”) but not what you want to say (you haven’t planned out your content).
How to fix it?
Plan out your content ideas before you start writing. You don’t always have time or feel like it, but if you do, it’ll help you creative a narrative with sense and without redundant phrases.
Don’t over-complicate your sentence structure. Usually, simpler is better.
When you’re proofing your work, always check “do my adjectives actually relate to the noun?”.
Try not to ‘stack’ multiple adjectives. One good one will usually do and stacking usually results in nonsense.
Ask someone else to sense-check your work for you.
3. Adjective stacking…
...often leads to nonsense. It’s easy to lose track of where your sentence was heading. In this case, the writer was (probably) thinking of an ‘intimate, oak-panelled bistro/dining room/restaurant’ and then got carried away thinking ‘Oh, and I need to mention the types of food you can order’. Et voila, you have an ‘intimate, oak-panelled menu’ – which we know is a bit silly.
How to fix it?
Always check “do my adjectives actually relate to the noun?”. You can use a tactic I originally came up with when I was learning to translate. To make sense of what on earth the German phrase meant, I’d highlight the text in different colours: blue for adjectives, yellow for subject nouns or noun phrases, green for objects etc. It doesn’t have to be that complicated for you. Just highlight the noun – in this case ‘bistro menu’ – and then the adjectives. Then ask yourself, is my ‘menu’ really ‘oak-panelled’?
This all came about because of ‘stacking’ multiple adjectives. One good adjective will usually do the trick. If you pump the sentence too full of information, it becomes over-blown and the sense pops.
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Did you spot or make any mistakes this week? My best tool for avoiding these kinds of errors (and for slashing my ‘filler’ words) is an editor or proof-reader. But failing that, what are your best tools for weeding out sillies from your work?
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