Good for you if you have engaged the services of a great marketing team which counts excellent copywriters among its members. If you don’t have writers working for you, you can actually still do the copywriting yourself.

Your problem, however, is that you’re probably a newbie at this online marketing writing thing. So if you think your skills in this area need more work, here are some tips:

Online marketing writing

1. Write marketing copy in a conversational tone

If your writing experience is more on formal papers and technical articles, you need to change that mindset if you’re doing online marketing writing. When writing online marketing posts, you need to communicate very well, and there’s no better way to communicate and engage your audience than writing as if you’re talking to them. The ability to write marketing copy in a conversational tone is a plus in online marketing writing, and a major asset in any online marketer’s arsenal.

2. Keep things simple

One of the most annoying things about reading stuff from some supposedly good writers is that they tend to use big words that do nothing but give out the impression that they’re just trying make themselves sound so smart. That, however, won’t work when it comes to online marketing writing. Your goal is to make people understand what you’re trying to communicate, not giving them a headache trying to figure whatever it is you’re trying to say. You wouldn’t want your audience to think you are talking down to them. If anything, you should always use simple words, active verbs and meaningful modifiers when writing web marketing content.

3. Get your point across in 10 seconds or less

Studies have revealed that the first 10 seconds of a person’s visit to any given page is crucial to his decision to stick around or just leave. That’s why you need to grab that visitor’s attention with a killer headline, or at least with an excellent first paragraph that basically gives readers an overview of what they can expect if they read on.

4. Mind your grammar

People say that grammar isn’t important anymore. I completely disagree. Grammar, syntax, correct punctuation use—these will always be essential to any kind of writing, online marketing writing included. Besides, how are you supposed to impress readers and prospective customers if you use, say, “their” and “they’re” interchangeably?

Developing a strong marketing team for the future

5. End your writing on a strong point

If you’re writing marketing copy that isn’t a short Tweet or a personal note, always end it on a strong point, and by strong point I mean it should have a clear conclusion, a call to action, or both. Ask them to visit a site by clicking a link, join a contest by clicking on an icon, or just simply encourage them to hit the comments section. You are more likely to get a response if you actually ask for one.

6. Be ready to support or defend your strongest statements

Let’s say that you have written marketing copy that you truly believe in, and that you have made strong or passionate statements within it. Are you ready to defend your strongest statements, particularly when they are teetering precariously on the boundaries of accepted wisdom and common sense? When making such claims in whatever marketing copy your write, always make sure you have the facts to back them up. Studies will do, and so will certain statistical figures. Anecdotes and testimonials from customers will also do you well in this regard.

7. Read your draft out loud

It goes without saying that you will need to edit what you write, not once, but twice so that typos and all sorts of errors can be caught before they actually get published. There are a number of ways to edit anything you’ve written, and reading your copy out loud is one of the best ways. Trust me, typos, grammatical errors, and structural problems are easier to pinpoint when you actually hear the words out loud. Just remember to take your time reading out loud. Don’t read out loud like someone’s offering you a prize if you read the whole thing in 30 seconds flat.

8. Make sure your copy is not something you’ll have to retract

Remember that in today’s world, even a simple social media comment can cause a lot of trouble. That’s why before you decide to send anything that you wrote to your contacts or publish anything online, you need to be absolutely sure that you really want to express what you’ve written, and that it’s not something you have to take back later on because of any reaction it might elicit from those who read it.

While you can actually write, you have to understand that online marketing writing is somehow a different kind of animal. Hopefully, the tips enumerated above can help you make your online marketing writing better.