After years in the business of writing words, our copywriting team has learned some hard lessons about writing.
We’ve collectively built, and crushed, our worst writing habits. And now we have strong opinions about what makes great copy.
Instead of just screenshotting hilariously bad writing examples and sending them to our team Slack, we compiled our best secrets and habits for better writing.

First: what is copywriting?
Copy is just text. But the term usually refers to text in marketing contexts, like the words on billboards, the back of shampoo bottles, scripts for radio commercials, and anywhere else you can think of.
Oh, and on websites!
Writing really, really good copy is both an art and a science. You need a good sense of style, but you also need to understand the psychology of your audience. Your words need move people to action.
Thatâs what the best copywriters do: they create words that get their audience to do something, without the audience ever noticing theyâve been convinced.

Sound like what youâre looking to do?
Whether youâre writing âAbout the Teamâ pages, ad copy, calls to action, or text for landing pages, keep these industry-approved tips in mind.
STARTING FROM SCRATCH: TOOLS FOR WRITING AMAZING COPY
Benefits over everything
There are two types of content in product or service copywriting: features and benefits.
Letâs say youâre writing a piece of sales copy on your product. Your product is a 3D camera that makes virtual reality walkthroughs of homes, which you sell to Realtors.

You might write:
- High-def 4k resolution
- Generates 360 degree views of homes
- Automatically creates industry-standard floorplans
- Embeddable video walkthroughs
These are all features.
They convey what your product is and what it does, but it wonât sell it. Why?
Because youâre missing the real reason a Realtor is looking at the camera in the first place: To create video walkthroughs of their sellersâ homes.
They donât really care about your company or what you do. They want to know whether they can use your product to sell more homes.

Features donât explain whether your product will help them. Benefits do.
Use your copy to explain to your audience, âwhat does this do for me?â
You instead might write:
- Buyers can see every single detail of the space with 4k resolution. No open house required
- Generate fully-immersive 3D tours that help buyers feel like theyâre really there
- Save time and money with automatically created industry-standard floorplans
- Quickly embed easy-to-use video walkthroughs on your site or social media
See the difference?
Features are facts. Benefits are reasons why your product or service makes your readersâ lives easier. Give them the benefits, based on the features, and your copy is well on its way.
Write like you talkÂ
This piece of advice is from Shannon, our Content Team Lead. (Her exact words were: âDonât be a catfish!â)
She says, âBe consistent between how you write and how you interact with your clients. You donât want to meet a client and have them be, like, âUhhh, who is this? You seemed so cool on the Internet!ââ

If you write how you talk, your written voice will resonate with the same people that your real voice will resonate with.
You won’t put off the people that would really like you in person. And you won’t bring in people that aren’t your kind of people â you’ll be consistent online and off.
Since your potential clients are looking or a trustworthy agent, voice consistency is a subtle way to prove that you’re honest.
There are other bonuses, too:
Writing how you talk means you can avoid those stare-at-a-blank-screen-completely-uninspired moments that weâve all had. Throw it all on to a page like youâre talking to a client.
Just donât forget to edit!
Be bold
Copywriting isnât literature, and it’s not PR. Itâs short, purposeful, and impactful. Itâs meant to jar a reader into action.
How can you do that without being bold?
Don’t be afraid to do something “out there”. Negative sentiments are effective. Short statements are effective.
Don’t limit yourself to stuffy, boring professionalism. Let your freak flag fly!
For example:

Some people â lots of people â would balk at publishing an ad that winks at eating pets.
But this copy is perfect. Itâs memorable, it sends a strong message, and (bonus!) look at those clear benefits! Look at the stakes of not using Vodaphone! You need this product!
The best copy is bold.
So donât stifle yourself in the writing phase. Anything that doesnât work or pushes the envelope too much can be edited out later.
Focus on creating something memorable, and youâll end up with more powerful copy.
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Use twos
Once I started thinking about the power of twos, I started seeing it everywhere. Literally everywhere. Bus ads, billboards, headlines, magazine adsâŚ
(Have you seen two-some copy anywhere? Let us know in the comments!)
It only took one quick Google search to find these examples:
The power of twos: Put two opposing ideas next to each other, and you’ll have a punchy message.
Letâs go back to writing about Matterpâ uhhâ the 3D home camera that you sell to Realtors.
If you wanted to create two-able copy, start by brainstorming short, quippable features and benefits:
- High resolution
- Easy to use
- Itâs just really cool advanced tech
And then add a second phrase to reinforce the first:
- High resolution, higher home bids
- Easy to use, hard to ignore
- âItâs just really cool advanced tech.â
â Our competitors
Okay, so the last one isnât my best work. Thatâs okay, thatâs what brainstorming is for!
Either way, you can easily craft strong copy by using twos.
Donât write it yourself
This is a piece of advice from Max, one of our in-house copywriters, that I wholeheartedly agree with.
He says âKnow when a testimonial covers enough ground. Why not have someone else say how great you are, instead of yourself?â

There is so much power in social proof. Who is a potential client more likely to believe: you, or one of your previous clients?
We recently wrote a piece on the power of testimonials, so we wonât go into it again. But testimonials are an amazing way to sell your work and your product without having to write a thing.
FIX WHAT’S THERE: EDITING FOR STRONGER COPY
Kill your darlings
âKill your darlingsâ has been attributed to Oscar Wilde, William Faulkner, Anton Chekov, Allen GinsbergâŚ. and more. So Iâm hardly the first writer to repeat it.
But itâs a great strategy to streamline sticky parts of your writing:
Get rid of the words and phrases youâre too attached to.

Itâs hard. Believe me. Itâs hard to even recognize that your attachment to a sentence is greater than its purpose.
But your copy will be so, so much better for it.
Your writing isnât for you â itâs for your reader.
If you’ve written a phrase or word that you just love… take a good look at it. What is it doing?
Is it helpful? Does it add to what Iâm saying? Does it benefit the text by being there?
No? Kill it.
Less is more
This goes hand-in-hand with âKill your darlingsâ, but theyâre not totally the same.
After you’ve eliminated the phrases youâre too attached to, get rid of a little more.
Coco Chanel once said, âBefore leaving the house, a lady should look in the mirror and remove one accessory.â
Now, Iâm not really the sort of person to over-accessorize. I mean, one of my earrings fell out in August, and instead of putting another one in I’ve stuck with the lopsided look.
But this advice applies clearly to writing: once you think your writing is good to go, take one more thing out.

You might find you have too many fabulous, useful, delicious adjectives cluttering up an otherwise clear message. Maybe youâre repeating the same thing a few too many times. Maybe you just need one more go at it.
Clarity and brevity are paramount. Edit ruthlessly.
Rewrite all of your headlines and titles
Okay, youâre not going to like this one. Coming up with a great title is a rush-inducing copywriter win. I feel you.
But re-write them anyway.

When writing, if you started with the headings and titles, I guarantee you that they need a re-write.
Some of the worst headline sins:
- Too clever or witty
- Benefit-less
- Audience-less
- Pointless (not everything needs a heading!)
Look at the following:
âWhite Glove Service with a Smile
Our client service program helps with every step of your real estate journey. From legal documents to moving help to everything in between, weâre here to help you.â
While the title looks like it makes a bold statement, it really doesnât say anything at all.
It’s clever, but it’s not as effective as it could be.
Max, our self-professed “recovering clever copywriter”, says, âNot every part of your real estate process needs to be termedâ˘. Don’t trademark every part of your processÂŽ with what YOU think sells. Chances are you’re going to outsmart your client, which stops them from converting. Be clear.â

Instead, look at this benefits-focused, not-clever-at-all headline:
âCall us anytime, for any reason
Our client service program helps with every step of your real estate journey. From legal documents to moving help to everything in between, weâre here to help you.â
Simple. Useful. Effective. Benefits-focused. All about your client.
Thatâs what the best headlines should be. So take a good look at yours and see how you could make them better. If you can’t, get rid of them altogether.
Take out words, add in pictures
This is the saddest reality for copywriters everywhere: nobody wants to read.
Or, maybe more accurately, we can communicate more effectively with visuals than text alone.
When youâre editing, go through your text and ask yourself, could this be better communicated by a picture? Does this need to be said? Would a visual represent this better?

Many times, youâll find the answer is âyesâ.
Pairing your words with imagery is the most effective change you can make to your copywriting.
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