Did someone say "Salsa?"
If you’re paying top dollar to a copywriter to write up your sales message, yes they should format their sales copy for you.
Formatting is an extremely important part of copy presentation. In fact, you could have a good message, but completely kill sales with flat, cluttered formatting. Take a look at this example:
Sales Copy With No Formatting:
Teach your cat how to dance like a pro in 24 hours! Does she simply take up space, food, and water? Tired of watching your cat lay around the house like a useless fur lump? With Kitty Salsa Pro, your cat will never bore you again! It keeps your kitty healthy, builds up her energy, and it keeps you entertained for hours!
Wow. That was just a lump of text there. I barely read the first sentence.
Same Sales Copy With Formatting:
Teach Your Cat How To Dance Like A Pro In Just 24 Hours!
Tired of watching your cat lay around the house like a useless fur lump?
Does she simply take up space, food, and water?
Well, with Kitty Salsa Pro, your cat will never bore you again!
- It Keeps Your Kitty Healthy
- Builds Up Her Energy
- And It Keeps You Entertained For Hours!
Now there we go! I can practically skim over the sales copy and have a good idea of what Kitty Salsa Pro can offer me. Do you see the difference?
Does that mean my copywriter should also design my page and put graphics in?
Well… that depends on the writer. When it comes to my copy, first and foremost, I am a copywriter. I’m here to make your writing appealing and easy for your readers to read. I believe design and graphics is the job of a graphic artist.
However, a copywriter can give you a creative layout idea of the best way to structure the page or ad, which you can then give to your graphic designer/artist to execute.
Just remember, it’s important to ask your copywriter what services they provide along with writing your copy!
Talk to you soon,
Danielle
P.S. Starting this Thursday, I have a new weekly feature coming up… I think you’re going to like it 
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I can’t wait to see the new feature!!
And I can’t wait to show you
Wow. I am so guilty of not using formatting in my writing. I thought I was doing well just bolding my headings.
I think I am going to start adding more images and liven up my fonts a little.
It does make a difference.
How, though, can you tell when you have over-formatted???
Maybe a future post, Danielle???
Great post, as always…:)
@ Mark – well if your text becomes hard to read, then you’ve over-formatted
The whole point of formatting is for readability. Too little: it’s hard to read, too much: it’s hard to read.
@ Maria I know! I’m a sucker for cats.
I’d never hire a copywriter that sends me a sales copy like that, is part of the job to format the sales copy in the best way possible.
The cat from the picture.. she is so cute
Maria
thanks for sharing this feature the most beautiful thing about this post is the nice cat
Danielle, as you know, it’s pretty intensive work to format copy properly. I don’t see why a copywriter should be responsible for more than a properly formatted Word Doc or basic HTML. I actually offer professional sales copy formatting services so I can speak from the “other side”. It’s an odd area that doesn’t quite fall into the copywriter’s hands or the minisite designer’s.
Hi Jesus,
It fully depends on what the copywriter is offering – and of course what the fees are.
Some copywriters will pair up with a designer and provide full solutions for clients (at higher costs of course) – but definitely I always recommend focusing on the copy itself first. That’s what we’re the best at, after all!
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