Whether you think you’re a natural writer or not you can always improve. And it’s quite easy.
Did you think writing is a skill only a few are born with? That you either have it –or you don’t?
Well, the truth is, some people do have more inborn ability than others. But it’s equally true that no matter how much or little of that ability you have, you can improve by studying technique – tricks, if you like.
(Oh, and before I forget, you'll probably like this page too.)
For example, the headline at the top uses no less than seven tricks that are likely to get it read. Don’t believe me? Here they are:
1. Putting quotation marks round a statement increases readership
2. The word “How” makes people think (rightly) that they will get some advice.
3. The word “these” makes the advice sound specific.
4. “Simple” makes it sound easy – and the word “easy” in the subhead also increases readership – because people hate hard work.
5. “Tricks” makes it seem easy as well.
6. The phrase “that get your writing read” increases readership because it makes the sentence active – that those simple tricks will do all the work for you
7. The word “your” helps, too, because people are interested in themselves.
In fact the words “you” or “your” appear 7 times in the first 44 words of this piece. That is certain to increase readership.
But that’s not all.
The subhead encourages people to start reading your full story; it’s a bit like the hors d’oeuvre in a restaurant.
The use of questions keeps people reading – because they suggest answers to come. So does a list of specific examples – because when someone suggests something to you, you often say to yourself, “What do you mean?”
And did you notice that the paragraphs in this piece vary in length? One is only four words long. The eye and the mind enjoy variety.
Winston Churchill – and what causes much bad writing
There are quite a few other things worth remembering, starting with Winston Churchill’s advice: “Use simple words everyone knows. Then everyone will understand.”
One cause of bad writing is mental stiffness. It’s like the discomfort you may feel in strange surroundings. You may start to behave rather stiffly, not as you normally would.
In the same way many who do not feel entirely comfortable writing start using words they never normally would; words they think are literary - like “purchase” instead of “buy”. A little voice inside them says, “I am writing. This is different. I must use different words.”
It is true that writing is not the same as casual chat. It is more formal – but it is really nothing more than well-organised speech. You have time, as you write, to think things out and arrange them well in a way you cannot in the rush of speech.
One thing that helps is the crosshead, which has three functions. It marks a sensible break in your story; it gives the reader a breather; and it should tell that reader something about what comes next. It should never be incomprehensible or too clever.
Two things are essential if you wish to write well.
One is to read a lot. If you don’t, you have no chance – any more than a composer who never listened to music would write well. If you are writing for ordinary people, read popular newspapers and books. Copy them.
The other is to work hard. Never be satisfied with your first draft. Even a very good professional writer can rarely do something perfect in one go.
Of course, there are many other things you can do for better results. That's why I created this site - and you can join here.
Best
Drayton
I love the self-descriptive nature of this post! Well executed!
What is a crosshead when it is at home in the above post ???!!!
Believe it or not, this is something worth knowing about, Eamon.
That’s because the chief thing to remember in writing is you must make it easy for readers.
A crosshead is a short bold line you use to break up the copy which with the other crossheads tells enough of the story to lure people in.
This will a) make long copy easier to digest and less like a long trek through the desert b) tell people some details of the story, so they can scan it and decide whether to read more.
Let us imagine a newspaper article about a man bitten by a dog.
The opening of the piece should be a paragraph that sums up the story for the same reason: so people can decide whether they want to read on or not.
Now let’s think of some possible headings.
Rushed to hospital
He was warned
“May die” – Doctor
An idiot says wife
Normally friendly dog
Did he bite dog first?
You get the idea, Eamon?
Your definition of “cross-head” sounds like what we over here in the states call “subhead”.
Except we usually put them in bold type, centered, to grab attention from skimmers to
suck ’em into the copy.
They are also called subheads here; I think the two terms are interchangeable and of course they serve the same function, Clarke.
It is one of the few things that I don’t recall being covered in Colin Wheildon’s excellent research into readership and comprehension – reissued in an edition I regret praising as the cover, which I had not seen, contravenes all Wheildon’s rules.
The other function I think very important is to summarise the story.
I am not sure whether ranging them left works better or worse than ranging them centre. I do both indiscriminately – and I am often guilty of not using them enough. Laziness.
Dan Kennedy has an interesting use for subheads/cross-heads. Instead of seeing them as individual markers breaking up the copy, he uses subheads, captions, titles, pullquotes and other eye-catching elements to craft a second way through the ad.
That way he can present almost the whole story even to skimmers (to tie this into Clarke’s comment) who are too lazy or disinterested to read the body copy, and won’t get pulled in.
This fits well with Ogilvy’s insistance that we use titles and captions well, because they are read by so many more people. Kennedy’s approach is the natural next step: Stitch them all together into a whole.
Hi Drayton
I hope you are well. Thanks for this advice, I have just written four headlines based on it. How much will you charge me to critique them and maybe tweak the best one please?
Many thanks
Neil Davies
Oh hell. I think we have a mentoring service that does this stuff, but £100
Hi Drayton,
I was writing a short flyer when your mail came in. After reading the “Simple tricks” I deleted everything and started again. 5 mins later, “Result” .
Thank you.
Robert.
You often write (and talk) about copy.
So what do you think of the 40/40/20 “rule”? (and the implication that the
copy fits into the 20%, “everything else”)
Matthew
“Rules are for the obedience of fools and the guidance of wise men” – D.Ogilvy.
To apply fixed ratios to something as complex and subject to context as communication seems to me absurd.
However, for many years I have suggested that the order of importance is:
1. Product or service and positioning, which to my mind cannot be divorced from each other just as your personality is part of you. The right product with the the right positioning can often survive bad marketing.This is particularly true in fields such as computers, mobile phones etc – which are driven by innovation.
2. Research and testing, which tell you whether you are doing the right thing or not.
3. Targeting. A poor message to the right people beats a good one to the wrong people.
4. Incentives. What I give you will tend to matter more than what I say to you.
5. Creative.
Having said all that, I don’t see how you can out figures to all that. Good creative can make a tremendous difference.
Hello Drayton,
Thank you for your detailed response. Based on what you wrote, it seems
40/40/20 is a pretty useful rule-of-thumb, even if it just reminds us how to
allocate our resources.
An example would be spending 40% of available resources on list-selection/
targeting, 40% on crafting an offer to match the target, and 20% on
everything else(creative/copy etc.)
I understand that when you are doing creative work for others you often
have little say in list-selection and the offer is usually set in stone so better
creative is your only point of leverage. But if someone is doing their own
marketing it does seem wise to spend 80% of their time, effort and money
on points 1-4 of the list you wrote. Gary Halbert frequently said:
“If you want to improve the response of your copy, send it to a more
responsive list.”
By the way, you’ve often said how much you admired Bill Jayme’s copy, he
had this to say about rules:
“If it all worked on rules, there would never have been Shakespeare. I have
spoken.”
Cheers,
Matthew
ps. How can I get hold of Bill Jayme’s stuff to study it?
I think a friend has copies of all Jayme’s stuff, but suspect he might charge a small sum..
Hi Drayton
You’ve explained it very well.
One thing I couldn’t get is positioning. I’ve already heard about it and did a research to get it. All I got is theory.
How it’s used practically? How it looks like in copy?
Drayton
You are right. Knowledge and hard work are keys to self improvement.
I’ve seen this guidance a couple of times before. But I still can’t remember the 7 tips in the headline.
Please keep sending your knowledge and I’ll work even harder to remember it.
Best
Edwin.
P.S. I watched a John Hegarty lecture on You Tube. He used his famous food hygene add ‘Flies’. He said David Ogilvy was wrong and setting the type in black out on white would not improve it. Any thoughts?
Wrong about what?
Reversing out a lot of type kills readership, as revealed in the research by Colin Wheildon referred to in my reply to Clarke.
Reversing out a relatively small amount of type often works very well.
I wonder when John Hegarty last wrote an ad.
Drayton, on Friday I wrote the following headline:
Six vital elements that will always make a big difference to your house sale.
This morning I tweaked it to this:
“How these six simple things will lead to the successful sale of your house.”
Did I do right Mr Bird?
Hi there, Bill.
I have just finished making a video about your headings which will be in month 4.
It includes some suggestions.
If you write to me Drayton@Draytonbird.com I’ll let you have a look.
These tricks are simple and very useful!
Thank you, Drayton!
thanks for the information Drayton, very helpful, I am publicising my autobiography “I Need an Exorcism” that I self published with amazon
Re John Hegarty. I also saw the talk in question that Hegarty gave. He’s certainly has a lot of creative talent, but I wonder if he doesn’t lose sight of the objective ie selling. Maybe he prefers “building brand awareness”. I wonder whether he’s read Drayton’s book Commonsense Direct and Digital Marketing.
Along with the “Flies” poster he also was responsible for the Levi’s Laundrette tv commercial of the 80s and the Volkswagen Vorsprung Durch Technik.
Though the latter had people wondering what “Vorsprung Durch Technik” meant – I was learning German at the time and continually had people asking me.
I was curious about Hegarty and took a look at his website. It was full of unusual effects and a bright dazzling orange colour, I almost had to put my sunglasses on. But very difficult to navigate the thing and I just gave up after half a minute. Not fit for purpose. That’s what happens when someone gets creative-itis!
It is amazing how all you have to do is write a few commercials and everyone thinks you’re a genius. To be honest, I think his really impressive talent has been for building up a very good agency. Damn hard, I can tell you from experience.
Very honestly, your tricks will help me establish a Business in the near future.
Thank you. The truth is, they’re not really tricks … but the two words “simple” and “tricks” always increase readership.
Just too inspiring to be on your list. Thanks
Great post. I always enjoy reading your copy Drayton. You continue to teach me a lot.