10 Common Copywriting Mistakes That Hurt Your Content Marketing

Every brand requires engaging, well-written content, whether for its website, blog, social media channels, press releases, or other content marketing endeavors. Unfortunately, not every business is good at this; even the most engaging and thrilling topic will fall flat if it’s filled with mistakes or written in a boring manner.

You can ensure that your brand’s story stands out by paying close attention to the quality of your content. This includes not only writing clean content but also being aware of common copywriting mistakes.

Here’s a fact that isn’t a typo: The average typist has an error rate of 8%. In other words, only 92 of every 100 words you input will be correctly typed. That’s a shocking 40 errors in a 500-word blog post. Consider what a website visitor will think if every 12th or so word is incorrect. More than likely, the reader will think that you don’t know what you’re talking about, or, worse, that you don’t care enough about your website’s users to bother with quality content, and will click away from your site, most likely never to return…

Of course, most people detect and correct many of the errors they make, and spell-check functions in document software catch the rest. However, the figure shows how easily diligent writers can make copywriting mistakes. Furthermore, every word in a blog post, product description, or article may be correctly typed or used yet have no impact on the reader, who may be inclined to leave your website unimpressed.

Here are the most common copywriting mistakes marketers make and how to avoid them

1- Forgetting About SEO

Today’s content must be interesting, on-brand, and easily discoverable. Many copywriters grasp the first two, but whether it’s on-site search, external search engines, or product pages on an e-commerce affiliate site, it’s vital to use a content strategy that includes SEO-focused keywords that incorporate their target audience’s language. You can get an SEO content writing service to avoid this mistake that’s hurt your content marketing.

2- Prioritizing Product Descriptions Over Value Proposition

The hook is marketing copy, although it is often confused with product description, which is at a later point in the customer journey. First, address the difficulties or tasks that must be completed. Ignore product features and specifications. Focus on the value proposition. How does your product make your life easier or more pleasurable? What unanticipated problem does it address? What makes it superior to other choices?

3- Insufficient Proofreading and Failure To Test Your Content

To be honest, the most common error, the encounter is spelling. Use the tools you have on hand — spellcheck is your best friend. When in doubt, ask someone else to look it over or use online dictionaries or get help from an SEO writing company, they will provide you with their best and high-quality content.

You simply cannot know if a piece of content works until it is published. To succeed, you need skilled content copywriters who understand what works and what doesn’t.

That, and your content testing.

Copywriting requires creativity, but there’s no reason to leave your marketing results to chance.

A/B testing, readability testing, and even researching analytics are all important for enhancing content copywriting and reducing errors.

Want to compare two different headlines, opening sections, taglines, or other elements? Check out Google Optimize, a free tool!

The low-hanging fruits of common copywriting blunders include leaving content to stagnate, failing to analyze it, and failing to test it.

4- An Overly Promotional Tone

Sales can be driven by effective and well-written copy. Marketers must make a clear call to action without sounding overly promotional or reading like an advertisement. Customers are able and willing to see right through this. Instead of trying to sell a customer something, a good copy should highlight the benefits of the product .

5- Writing From an Internal Brand Perspective Rather Than from The Customer’s

Too often, content marketers write from their internal brand perspective rather than concentrating on the wants, needs, desires, and direction of their customers and community. Copywriting that uses phrase structure, word choice, and even witty banter that connects with the end user is important, regardless of how a program or product is designed in-house.

6- Bad or No Formatting

Customers want the copy that engages, entertains, and informs them. They don’t want to slog through paragraphs that are monotonously formatted and harm their eyes.

Format content to reflect the medium’s nature. Did you know that the average person reads a blog post for 37 seconds? That is disheartening for content marketers! Don’t turn readers off with walls of text.

Here’s how to make content scannable, digestible, and enjoyable to read:

• Topics should be organized into headings and subheadings.
• Embed relevant images or video content to visually engage readers (as an added benefit, multimedia content lends authority to your piece by showing that you’ve done research to back up your points).

Also, remember to format the paragraphs  properly. The visual and hierarchical structure are both influenced by the flow of your writing.

Rhythm, grammar, vocabulary, and other elements all contribute to the flow that defines copy formatting. A major copywriting mistake to avoid is a lack of diversity in these elements.

7- Using the Passive Voice

People are energized, engaged, and stirred into action by good copywriting. It should be simple and to the point. Most importantly, good writing is clear and never misleads readers.

Writing in the passive voice is the quickest way to destroy smart copywriting.

The verb acts on the subject in the passive voice. It makes a phrase sound strange and unconnected, and it stutters your copy.

The active voice flips the situation such that the subject does the verb’s action. It’s more alive, energetic, and clear, and it transforms a clunky passive statement into a spunky one.

A fast way to find the passive voice is to look for the to-be and its variants (am, are, been, being, is, was, and were).  These verbs are unsure of themselves and detract from more engaging verbs.

Remember the line at the start, “Why then do readers pay such little attention to your content marketing?”

“So why then do consumers seem to spend so little attention to your content marketing?” read the first version of this piece.

“Seem to…” weakens the stronger verb “spend” (later replaced by “pay”) and makes you appear reluctant. It also adds to your word count!

Correcting the passive voice quickly boosts content marketing.

8- Too Serious or Too Silly

A little levity in your content never hurts, and it’s ideal for introducing or shaking up an otherwise dull topic. However, trying to be too amusing reduces the potentially serious points your copy is trying to express. However, boring content—all numbers and jargon with no narrative, transition, or opinion—can be equally ineffective. Make an effort to write content that is both engaging and informative and avoid writing to the extreme.

9- Not Having a Clearly Defined Goal

Just because there isn’t an A/B test, or an active campaign doesn’t mean your copy can get away with not having a goal. Goal planning is an essential element of the copywriting process. If you skip it, you’re essentially setting yourself up for failure.

Can copywriting be considered an artistic process? Absolutely. However, it is important not to lose sight of the end goal: to sell. If you have a brilliant title but it does not convert, it is a waste of time.

10- Forgetting The CTA

Every piece of writing should have at least one call to action to provide the reader with the quickest path to the desired next step.

It’s not always about closing the deal. You could be trying to persuade them to download a lead generator, join an email list, or read another more targeted piece of content. It also does not have to be all “Buy now” and “Click here.” Make your CTAs stand out.

Some pages have many CTAs. Give your viewers the option wherever you find a logical next step.

Wrapping Up

In general, writing is deceptively simple. Anyone can put words together to make sentences, and sentences to make paragraphs, and so on. But writing words that connect, engage, and sell is another story.

People are not paying less attention to business content than they used to. Instead, competing is more difficult, but never more important.

Content marketing is essential for increasing marketing KPIs, expanding your brand, and providing more qualified leads. However, great copywriting that is on-message, well-tested, and written confidently, conversationally, jargon-free, concisely, and more is required to succeed.

That is the essence of content copywriting!

Even if you know the rules of successful copywriting, scaling your output and devoting time you don’t have are altogether fresh challenges.

High-quality SEO article writing services or freelance copywriter services hit all of these notes while avoiding the mistakes that can bring your content down and hurt your marketing.

With managed services, you can supercharge your content strategy and become the envy of other marketers!