Writing compelling copy that engages readers and entices them to take action is a powerful skill, particularly when writing for the web. All writing, from landing pages, sales copy, press releases, and marketing documentation, to something as simple as a blog post or email requires an element of persuasive writing.

Recently, a new client hired me to write landing pages for affiliate products. It is a fantastic job, giving me everything I love about this business; in particular, a new challenge that pushes my boundaries and forces me to expand my writing repertoire. To do the job well I’ve had to spend time researching how to write copy that compels visitors to buy.

Lindsay Camp‘s book, “Can I Change Your Mind?” had been on my ‘to-be-read’ writing shelf for several months but with this new challenge it leaped out of the waiting pile. 240 pages later I came away with a deep sense of how writing can be used to transform people, to compel them to act, or change their opinions and beliefs.

First, we discover how persuasive writing is useful for everyone, not just professional writers. These days, we all use written language for all sorts of reasons from a simple note or email to blogs and fiction.

Persuasive writing plays a part in all writing because the key aspect of persuasive writing is to ‘change’ your reader. That change might just be to convince them that they want to keep reading (as in a novel) or it might be to have them part with their money or support a cause.

You need to know how to write persuasively. Not just so that you can write for clients, like the one who hires me to write affiliate landing pages, but so that every word you write connects with your readers.

Ultimately, the craft and art of persuasive writing comes down to a single rule. Lindsay covers this with “The three Rs of good persuasive writing”.

“Remember the Reader and the Result” ~ Linsday Camp

There are two things you must know about any writing project. You must know these things down to the elemental facts. You should have a these two elements honed to a fine tip pen before you begin writing.

Remember the Reader

Who are you trying to persuade? In freelancing we know this better as our reader, our target audience.

For example, YOU are my target reader, or you wouldn’t be reading this right now. My sharpened image of you is, “An adult who is interested in making a career from freelance writing, particularly in an online environment.” Now, there may be a few who read WRA who don’t fall into this ‘target’ but when I write, these people, ‘those interested in making a career from freelance writing, particularly in an online environment’ are the people I’m talking to. (If you’re not one of these people, PLEASE, leave a comment and let me know what brings you to WRA.)

Remember the Result

What do you want them to do? Simply keep reading? Leave a comment? Buy a product? Subscribe to your blog? Learn something new?

There are millions of results you might be aiming for when you sit down to write. One of the biggest mistakes we can make as a writers, is to begin writing with no concept of our intended result. Every form of writing evokes a result of some kind and not having a firm grasp of the result we want, the very reason we are writing, can often lead to unfocused, jumbled, and meandering writing.

For example, the result I want from this review is: ‘to give you enough information about “Can I Change Your Mind?” to decide for yourself if it will interest you’. Notice, that in this case, my result isn’t, ‘convince you to buy’. I don’t want you to buy the book if you don’t think you need it. I could set my result as, ‘convince reader they need this book’. But, I’m not brave enough to be so pushy and opinionated in a review.

Lindsay discusses this “Big Theory” far better than I have done in this blog post. Obviously, there is so much more to writing persuasively then I can cover in less than 800 words. In fact, “Can I Change Your Mind?” has a whole A to Z and several post scripts that go into more detail.

Readers Want Results Too

Ultimately, I have to ask myself if Lindsay Camp‘s book had the result its target reader wanted. Did this book help me produce the persuasive copy I was hired to write? It sure did! And now I can turn these new skills and techniques toward all my future writing projects.

Now you need to ask yourself: Would your writing benefit from learning how to convince your reader to take action? If it would, find yourself a copy of Can I Change Your Mind?

What do you already know about persuasive writing? I’d love to know more so if you have any resources you recommend or information you’ve learned, please, share your thoughts!