The recipe for spicy copy always includes salt – lots of it – fresh hot pepper such as a jalapeno or Serrano, and earthy-flavored herbs. Without spice, your copy is tasteless. It reads like every other piece of website content or advertisement or brochure.

At best, readers forget spice-less copy. At worst, they don’t read it at all.

Next time you sit down to write, bring the salt, hot pepper, and herbs with you to the keyboard. I’m about to show you how to add the spice your copy desperately needs.

Salt for Headlines and Imagery

We’re visual creatures. Readers need pictures for engagement. The good news is that it’s simple to find free stock photography or use your own photos in marketing materials. It’s also possible to suggest an image without any pictures at all.

The best headlines evoke an image.

The importance of headlines cannot be stressed enough. There are even books written on the topic. Headlines matter that much.

But for the purposes of this article, let’s make it simple and say that your headline should address a problem your reader has and that you’re able to solve. It should also reference a concept that’s easy to grasp and one that will cause the brain to automatically conjure images.

What if the article to this headline read: “How to Make Your Copy More Interesting”? What kind of pictures would you have automatically thought of? Nothing interesting comes to my mind.

“Wake Up Your Readers with Copywriting Spice” produces countless images for me…alarm clocks, people sitting in front of computer screens with wide eyes, salt, peppers, etc. (more…)