expertSEM

An English profession in college once told me that the best way to improve my writing was to read. Read everything and anything. It didn’t matter that I wanted to be a novelist—he told me to read nonfiction. Read mystery, science fiction, smutty romance, biographies, philosophy. Read the cannon and contemporary lit. Read work by British authors and Irish authors. Read translations of old and new work from foreign authors. Read until my eyes blurred and I lost all contact with society (okay, maybe he didn’t say that last point, but it is a real consequence of being a bookworm and you get the idea).

The purpose of all this reading is not to imitate, although that is an acceptable practice in literature (Virgil’s The Aeneid is just an expansion of one chapter in Homer’s The Iliad). The purpose is to learn what other successful writers are doing so that you can incorporate bits and pieces into your style, and discover what unsuccessful writers are doing so that you can avoid it. It helps you learn what you like and don’t like and helps to hone your craft. You absorb their knowledge of writing and even subconsciously learn proper grammar and punctuation.

This practice of learning by absorption and inspiration doesn’t just relate to writing. It’s the same for musicians—they should listen to as many different genres and bands as possible. It works for artists—they should view and deconstruct everything from Pollock to Michelangelo to Bob Ross to that kooky hippie on the street corner with his palette of crushed fruit and flower petals. And it can even apply to (finally, we get to the point!) search copywriters.

Every single time you do a search, whether it’s for professional or personal reasons, you should read all sponsored ads. Note the use of keywords, calls to action and messaging. Even pay attention to punctuation, capitalization and abbreviations. This helps you understand what others are doing , what punctuation/grammar is acceptable and what calls to action are working. You can think of this as market research, regardless of whether the ads are from competitors in your industry or just other businesses advertising online. Understanding what is out there in every vertical helps you further refine your efforts. Take bits and pieces from ad copy that you like and think would work for your business. Note elements that you do not like and be sure to avoid these. You may discover an approach that you have not yet tried or find something that everyone else is doing that you had missed. The more ad copy you read, the more knowledge you’ll naturally absorb by mental osmosis.