by Steve Kellas

For a copywriter, Google search is a wonderful way to conduct initial research while you are getting to know a topic. You can explore top-ranking sites to find out more about the subject, and you can quickly research how your client’s competitors are writing about the industry sector.

But did you also know that there are some really useful commands you can add to the search box on Google that will give you super quick answers to common copywriting tasks?

1) Find the right words

A copywriter might be gifted with the ability to turn a catchy phrase, but we don’t always know the full meaning or usage of a particular word. That’s why we have specialist tools to hand like dictionaries, thesaurus, dictionary of quotations, and style guides.

Helpfully, we can also tap into the power of Google through a special command in the Google search box that will quickly check the definition of a word and link to several online sources to confirm the usage.

Define [yourwordhere] will query Google’s sources for word definitions and return the best fit. Perfect for a quick lookup or when your Oxford tomes are out of reach.

2) Check spelling

This one is so transparent within the user-functions of Google search that you may not have even considered (or noticed) it at work.

Google’s software automatically checks the spelling of a search query and returns what it determines is the correct spelling of the search term with the results.

So, if you’re unsure of the spelling of a word, just searching for what you think is the correct spelling will reveal the answer.

For example, searching for ‘rhithm’ returns results for ‘rhythm’; and this handy note just under the search box points out the spelling difference to you: Did you mean rhythm?

This can get tricky with UK/US spelling differences, but you’re a pro writer so you should already know some of the differences. If you’re not sure, try adding ‘US spelling’ to your search and you should get some guidance from the sites listed.

3) Quick conversions

I’m a self-confessed maths-lazy copywriter. So, I love tools that helps me crunch numbers.

Once I had to ‘translate’ an American copywriting document into UK English. This task included converting square yards into square metres and changing dollar values into Sterling.

Thankfully, I could use the Google conversion command. Just type the quantity you want to convert ‘in’ the quantity you want to convert to.

150 USD in GBP
100 square yards in square metres

This works for money, volume, distance…the possibilities are endless! The results are returned at the top of the listings and are part of Google’s interface, rather than a search result. Excellent!

What are some other features that you use to help with your copywriting?

by Steve Kellas

Recently, I have taken short afternoon breaks from my duties as a copywriter to go around to the local school and teach 6 year-old children to play chess in an after-school club. It’s wonderful to see how learning the game has improved their skills in other areas, especially in concentration and strategic thinking.

While watching two players go through an entire game for the first time, without my input, it occurred to me that chess is valuable for anyone to learn, especially copywriters.

Chess?

Yes. Chess. Here’s why.

(Re)learn concentration skills

I don’t know about you, but when I’m on a computer my concentration skills disappear faster than a Viagra email goes to the spam box.

There are so many distractions and so much multi-tasking, that it has become quite difficult for me to concentrate on many things I enjoy doing off the computer, such as reading novels or learning to play a new song on guitar.

Playing chess requires you to fully concentrate and keep your mind on the game. If young children who naturally lack concentration skills can sit down for 30 minutes and play a full game of chess, then it will benefit any copywriter who wants to recapture their ability to focus deeply on an assignment.

Think strategically

I think chess is a lot like copywriting. Before you begin, you know all the facts (the pieces and how they move), you outline the basics of what you need to accomplish (strategy and opening gambit), and you work through the plan to get the conversion your client needs (taking your opponent’s king).

The thing is, in chess, your opponent often sees your strategy and effectively blocks you. This requires you to constantly let go of your previous strategy and to continually create new ones.

The act of facing an opponent and having to develop new strategies ‘on the go’ is a practical skill to have as a copywriter. You constantly face client updates, feedback, changes to the brief and the whimsy of your own creativity. In other words, you must strategically adapt your copywriting as the project unfolds.

Simultaneous activity

Copywriters are sometimes solitary animals. I know several writers who simply cannot write when others are around. Still others must listen to music to drown out the sounds from outside their mind.

It’s easy for copywriters to get stuck in one-track thinking.

Chess is a fabulous remedy for this kind of single-mindedness. It forces you to think about both attack and defence, and you must do so simultaneously.

By forcing your brain to look at ‘the big picture’ you are actively training you brain to do the same with all problems you face, even the copywriting ones.

Chess is a wonderful pastime and a great tool for training the mind. If you’re a copywriter, it will expand your mental abilities to concentrate and multitask. Better still, teach chess to someone who has never played before and watch their minds develop.

by Steve Kellas

The art of selling is the art of conversation. You don’t have to be a student copywriter or an expert in psychology to know the secret of successful selling. In fact, you probably already know that when it comes to conversation, some people punch instead of dance.

“I am a…” opinion is that…”
“I have done that too. In fact, this one time I…”

Yes, that person. They are boring. They only talk about themselves.

When you talk to this person, you feel cheated. Bored. You might even feel a little put out; they didn’t ask you questions, and they turned everything around to be about them.

You already know this is not the way to behave socially.

So why in the ‘age of social’ is your website copy all about you? Why aren’t you wooing your customers and talking about what they need and want?

Stop talking about yourself

Many companies use the “At CompanyName, we…” kind of ad speak that people generally detest. That’s because they are speaking AT their customers instead of speaking WITH them.

They speak like fighters, practically shouting out their out-dated sales message:

“We won’t be undersold!”
“At CompanyName, we…”
“We are best in class…”

The easiest way to overcome the fighter is to stop self-referencing in your copywriting. Instead, you need to behave like the lover: talk about the customer’s problems and ask questions. Show your insights into their lives and then show them that your product or service helps them. Demonstrate that you share their values and their pain, and relate to them as people.

How to fix poor conversational writing skills

Conversational writing skills don’t come easy. You have to work at it. And that means that the copywriter who wants to get better at conversation in his or her writing will need to do more than avoid self-reference. He’ll need to use other techniques to make the sales copy believable and trustworthy.

Roy H. Williams gives great examples of how to do this in one of his Monday Morning Memos from 2008. He says that we should let the customer say what we want them to, rather than saying it ourselves. He also outlines a technique that I use frequently:

“Admit the downside. It makes the upside easier to believe. Imagine the impact of a jeweler saying, ‘A diamond is just a symbol. The important thing is not to forget what it symbolizes.’”

The power of this honesty in admitting the downside helps build a bond with the customer. The jeweller is demonstrating honesty and is confirming for the customer that they share the same values. The jeweller is confirming what the customer already believes in his mind: the reason to buy the diamond is to symbolize your love.

It’s unspoken, but powerful.

That is real insight. That is true consideration for another. The copywriter who writes in this way is building the basis of an intimate relationship.

Prospects today expect to be wooed, not shouted at. Now take a look at your current copywriting and decide for yourself how well it is doing at the art of conversation.