Blog Tip #1 - Be a Copywriter

Earlier this week I posted some SEO tips which went down really well, so I thought I'd share a few more snippets of advice for anyone looking to start a blog or improve their own. I'm not an expert, nor am I a professional blogger, but I do write for a living and most importantly - I write for brands. And writing for or about brands is an important part of fashion and beauty blogging. Which leads me nicely to my first tip...

Copywriting is one of the most useful skills a blogger can have. A copywriter's job is to write copy (duh) for promotional materials. So we're not talking magazine articles (that's a journalist) or books (author), but TV ads, billboards, websites, flyers, brochures... the list is endless. A good copywriter will make a product sound so genuinely amazing you want to rush out and buy it immediately. They give brands personality, they make customers feel special, they capture attention and encourage action.

So how does all that relate to blogging? Well, one thing many copywriters can do really well is the 'soft sell'. The days of 'MASSIVE SAVINGS BUY IT NOW!' are over - people don't want to be bombarded with offers and forced into purchases. They do, however, want to read fun, engaging things about nice products they might quite like for themselves. And being able to write about a product in an honest way without being too 'salesy' is an invaluable skill for bloggers who do reviews.

There are also more practical benefits that come from getting to grips with copywriting. There's zero room for spelling and grammar errors, so you'll become obsessed with checking and rechecking your work. No one likes a waffly advert, so you'll learn to edit your words until they're sharp and concise. And you'll absorb so much information when researching projects - everything from how interest rates are calculated to the lifespan of penguins - that you'll absolutely KILL IT at pub quizzes.

I'm not saying you should retrain as a copywriter (especially if you're actually, like, a doctor). But if you find yourself with an hour to kill, have a search online for articles on the basics of copywriting, or try writing a print ad for your favourite skincare product. There are loads of simple, easy-to-learn techniques that you can use to hone your writing and boost your blog. And with a bit of time and effort, you'll never need to copy and paste a press release again.