Writing Plan -3 Simple Things To Do for Your New Year’s

Writing plan for your business and now that the major holiday season is behind us, what new and exciting writing projects will you engage in as the new year unfolds? Serious writers, like serious business owners, athletes, performers, and innovators must have a plan of action in place. If you are a novice at writing, it is critical to have a plan of action that will function as a deed of accountability, and then it behooves you to remain committed to it.

There are three common things to gauge your writing plan by:

Set achievable goals

Setting specific goals sounds like a broken record, but it is amazing how so many people often skip this common step. All too often writers can become enamored with aggressive goals that could catapult their writing endeavors in a drastic and traumatic way. Start with small writing assignments, then work your way up to more advanced projects.

Calendarize your content

A calendar that is placed in a physically visible location is a cost-effective, easy tool that reminds you to stay focused and on point with your writing. Grab a calendar that is only designated for your daily/monthly writing goals. This gives you bite-sized content targets to reasonably and easily digest each day. Unlike a digitized calendar, a hard copy calendar can be mounted in a highly visible spot where you can easily see it daily. Whether you are writing a specific word count or submitting your writing to a particular market, this calendar serves as an accountability tool.

Intensify your writing skills

Are you attending classes, and conferences or taking advantage of a writing tutor? How are you leveraging your writing skills, networking, and training? Sometimes you may need honest feedback in order to understand how to take your writing to the next level. All too often many think if we write it, they will buy. This is not a realistic assessment for writing profitability. It is always a good idea to keep up with industry trends so that your writing can remain fresh and relevant.

If you don’t have a marketing vision and plan for your writing business, then your work merely becomes a hobby. Just ask your tax preparer! Your plan, however, doesn’t have to be lengthy like a thesis, but it must hold those important elements that will help to deliver overall success for your writing. Yet, that success is not possible without your persistence and commitment.

developing a writing plan requires organization and what you want to achieve.

5 Writing plan and Copywriting Ideas to Grow Your Business

There are many, many experts when it comes to copywriting and I have studied many of their offerings. The message is the same, you need to hone your skills to catch the attention of the reader. You are reading this article right now, so what enticed you to read further?

Copywriting is how you draw your audience into your message. People read the headline first before taking a look at your first sentence.

 

 

Here are 5 guidelines to help you move through the copywriting process. These ideas are taken from the experts and are not the only thing you need to do to hone your skills.

 

1. Write a headline that draws in the reader. The headline should contain one or two keywords or phrases for your topic. These keywords should be the ones where there is a heavy search for the term. My headline for this article contains keyword copywriting. This is because I want people with an interest in copywriting to read my article and apply what I have to say. The bigger question is how do you know the type of headline to use? You have likely seen Headline Hacks floating around the internet, if not, do a search and I am sure you will find a copy. Basically, your headline iterates what your audience wants to know. Here we are presenting 

2. Write the first sentence to further draw in your audience. The goal of the first sentence is to get the reader to the next sentence. The idea here is to get the reader to agree with what you have to say. I stated a fact to get you to agree with me. I also established why you would want to read this article. The point of the first sentence is to offer a fact for agreement and push the reader to the next sentence.

3. Write the second sentence and possible third sentence should confirm what the reader already knows and perhaps ask a question. The goal? To move the reader to continue reading the rest of the article. What types of questions could you ask of your audience?

4. The body of the article should deliver what you stated in the headline. Here I am presenting 5 ideas and I have numbered them because I want you to know that there are 5 items to read or scan. The body should also contain ideas that can be put to use immediately. After all, you want your reader to take action and use what you have to say. Unfortunately, many articles describe what to do and miss the how to do it part of their writing plan.

Sometimes this is on purpose so that you buy products or services, so be aware of what you are reading. How to do it can be tricky if you are describing something very complicated. Think about your article as an introduction to a topic and you are showing your audience how it works and how it is easy to do for themselves. All copywriting does not have to be about sales, it needs to be about keeping the attention of the audience.

5. Write a summary of what you just told your readers. The general rule is to tell them what you are going to tell them (the headline), tell them (the body), and tell them what you told them (the summary). All summaries are not created equal. By using some good copywriting techniques, you can have your readers take something with them including a call to action.

What I mean here is that you can further fuel what they want to know, how to do it, and perhaps offer some resources to take the information to the next level. This means you will have an opportunity to extend the reader’s knowledge. This is not meant to be a sales pitch, this is meant to offer more materials to help them solve a particular problem and a good writing plan can be great for that.

So where do you sit with your copywriting skills? Did I give you enough information to help make your next article more widely read?

Can you write headlines that draw in your reader through the use of keywords? Does your first sentence draw your reader in even further by getting them to agree with you?

Will your second and third sentences confirm the reader’s knowledge and offer a great question that needs to be pondered? Is the body of your message what is expected from your headline? Does your summary contain a short set of ideas to confirm what you have written?

Put these ideas to work and you may see a difference in the number of people who read your work.

At first, it will seem awkward but with practice, the writing becomes easier.

In Conclusion

One last idea, if you are able, use an editor to go through your work. I do not always do this as I write at the moment, but if you are into planning your writing plan ahead of the curve, this will help you fine-tune what you are offering.