Series Post #11: Practice Writing Copy

Welcome back to another post in the Series: How to Earn Passive Income with Affiliate Links as a Writer!

Last week, we looked at examples of good copywriting from around the web. Today, we’re going to practice writing copy in preparation for learning the basics of SEO copywriting next week.

Ready to dive in? Let’s get started!

If you’ve been keeping up with this serious then you’re familiar with our book blogger friend who has a blog for reviewing YA mermaid books. We’ll use our friend’s site to practice writing copy. Specifically, we’re writing Homepage copy, About copy, and Product copy.

Need a refresher? Here are the three components of good copywriting we defined last week:

1. Advertise with words, including a CTA
2. Speak your niche audience’s language
3. Reflects your brand platform

These are very specific examples in a very narrow niche, but your copy doesn’t have to be exactly like the examples below.

Your copy can be located wherever you like on whichever page you want. It can be long or short; simplistic or complex. Copywriting technique should change a little bit every time you create a new site. Heck, even when you create a new page.

The key take away here is that using the 3 components of good copy and a little bit of practice, you can write copy for any niche on any site.

1. Homepage Copy

First, our book blogger friend wants to create a niche-specific name for their site. What better than a reference to the most famous teen mermaid of all?

Whozits and Whatsits Book Reviews

This site name is on brand, referencing both mermaids and book reviews. It also speaks the niche audience’s language since “whozits and whatsits galore” is a famous line from The Little Mermaid.

Next, our book blogger wants to write copy for the main body of the page. Specfically, they want to speak to the site’s brand platform.

Honest reviews to help you save money on YA mermaid books.

In smaller font beneath the brand statement, our friend expands on this platform a little and speaks a bit to the site’s mission.

Are you tired of shelling out too much cash for hyped YA books, only to be disappointed after reading? Swim over to the Whozits and Whatsits blog for always honest reviews to help you save money on books.

Beneath this, our book blogger friend adds a bright blue button with bolded font declaring:

Read the Blog!

Our book blogger friend also wants a message to pop up on the homepage, prompting visitors to sign up for the newsletter. The pop-up comes into view as soon as a visitor clicks on our friend’s site.

First, it declares our friend’s vision statement:

I’m writing a YA mermaid book!

If the visitor is interested, they can scroll down a little further, where they are prompted to take an action:

If you want more information about my book, extra content and reviews, and discounts on YA books about mermaids, sign up for the newsletter!

Finally, a clickable blue button blinks at the bottom of the pop-up, encouraging the visitor to respond to the CTA.

Join our undersea community!

Once the visitor clicks the “Join” button, they will be redirected to the newsletter signup form located on the About page.

2. About Copy

Our book blogger friend decides to style their About page like the pages of an open book, with a left and right side.

On the Left Side

Our friend wants to explain the purpose of this site (the brand statement) and a little about the author (About Me).

A few weeks ago, we helped our book blogger friend write their brand statement: This blog is devoted to posting only the most objective and honest reviews of YA Fantasy books about mermaids so you’re in the know before you buy.

Beneath the brand statement, our friend includes some information about them that is relevant to the site, such as:

• what prompted them to start the site
• how long they’ve been reading books about mermaids
• a few favorite books about mermaids

A note regarding “About Me” statements: these statements should be written in your voice. Voice is something I can’t necessarily teach you. So you should About Me statements until you get down the right tone and voice that fits you.

On the Right Side

Our book blogger friend wants to tell their audience about the book they’re writing.

The right side of the About page contains a synopsis of the book. This is also a great page for adding images of characters, aesthetic boards, or cover art. As you’ll learn next week, search engines love pages with media content and tend to rank them higher in search results.

Below the synopsis is a CTA prompting visitors to:

1. sign up for the newsletter for more information about the book before it’s published or
2. buy the book once it’s already published.

This leads us to our third exercise: writing Product copy.

3. Product Copy

A note regarding product copy: A CTA to buy the book once it’s published could be separated onto a Products page. For our purposes, the product information will be included on the left side of the About page.

Pro tip on writing product copy: you want to advertise your product both before and after release.

Advertising before a product release builds up anticipation and, especially in the case of book publishing, increases those vital pre-order sales. Advertising after release keeps you relevant and allows you to convert sales

Product Copy Before Release

Before their book is released, our friend uses the following copy.

Want to know more about my book?
Sign up for the Newsletter!

The copy is followed by a newsletter sign-up form for visitors to input their name and email address. Not only does this give people extra special content (and who doesn’t like feeling extra special?), our friend is also gathering a proven audience to market to once the book is released.

The newsletter sign-up form is also where the CTA “Join our undersea community!” redirects.

Product Copy After Release

After the book is released, our friend changes the copy to reflect that fact. They use a different CTA that prompts the audience to buy the book rather than learn more about it.

The eBook is on sale now for $.99 in the Kindle store!
Buy me!

Our book blogger friend also decides to include a link to a third-party review of their book to show how high quality the book is. That way, their thrifty, mermaid-loving audience will know the book has value.

So there you have it guys! Stay tuned next week because we’re talking SEO basics and how to use them in copywriting. Leave a comment and let me know how your copywriting practice is going. Happy writing!

---

Want More?

Freelance Writing: A Guide to Getting Started for Beginners (Part 1)

Series Post #10: What is Copywriting? With Examples