Recipe for Stunning Web Copy

Savvy business owners know just what they want their copy to be like, sometimes down to the last detail.  If you were to imagine web copy as a meal that you serve in order to win a spot as a regular copywriter for a particular business, what are the ingredients that would make it perfectly delicious? 

·        Start with the presentation.  The dish needs to be visually stunning.  So you need to make sure your copy will grab the interest of the target audience while giving them an appetite for more.

·        Next you want to have the right balance so that it leaves just the right taste in the mouth.  For a copywriter, this means to make the copy easy to read and follow but with a distinctive zing.

·        The really healthy vegetables need to be included.  The way to serve up the parts of the meal that may not be fun for everyone takes finesse.  For a copywriter, this represents the tone of the article; this is very important.  While your underlying purpose is to help your employer sell a product or service, your copy shouldn’t sound like a subtle advertisement or a hyped sales pitch.  Instead, provide information in a way that presents an argument in support of the product from the standpoint of what is in the best interest of the consumer. 

·        Spices for the copy include proper punctuation, capitalization, and number usage.

·        Tricky parts of the meal can be correctly handling gender terms and including keywords that are sometimes awkward. 

When you’ve hit all points of the copy just right, it will be like serving the target audience an unforgettable meal.  The tip for good service might be that the person will come back for more.  But the icing on the cake is if they purchase the product, which is the ultimate goal from the business owner's point of view.

 

Get the recipe right and, of course, you get the job.

Deep Thoughts About Punctuation

You know writing may be your ideal profession when a book about punctuation is among your favorites.  The book Eats Shoots and Leaves is a popular classic on commas and such, and I highly recommend it.  But for many people, I realize, punctuation is nothing short of a necessary evil. 

Don't make the mistake of thinking the proper use of commas isn't a big deal on the Internet.  There are readers who can spot misplaced or just plain missing punctuation with ease, and it can take away from a website's credibility.

There have probably been countless analogies to illustrate how important punctuation is.  Stephen King compared it to tools in the writing toolbox in his volume On Writing. 

"Some grammarians have the analogy of stitching:  punctuation as the basting that holds the fabric of language in shape."  -- from Eats Shoots and Leaves by Lynne Truss

When I think about punctuation, I invariably think of my English court reporting instructor, Mrs. Reed.  She was like an Army  sergeant, drilling sentence structure, comma usage, and all things punctuation into our brains.  It really stuck, mostly because my fellow students and I came to understand the rules of punctuation and their various reasons via fear of the teacher's wrath.

But the punctuation I learned to use as a court reporter isn't the same "style guide" used for printed publications.

Newspaper and magazine editors usually ask writers to use the Associated Press Stylebook, and many publishers prefer the Chicago Manual of Style.  People in business often use the Gregg Reference Manual.

All web writers need to know some version of proper punctuation, not only to turn out professional work but also to make copy easier to read and understand.  If you doubt it, well, did you ever hear about the panda bear that eats, shoots, and leaves?