58 Online Copywriting Power Words & Phrases
Today’s multiplatform publishing requires online copywriting skills that borrow from the print world, but also address larger issues.
If you are an experienced direct response copywriter, you know that “you” is generally considered to be the most powerful single word, ranking right up there with free, new and save.
As direct marketing legend Herschell Gordon Lewis says in The Art of Writing Copy, “Unless the reader regards himself as the target of your message, benefit can’t exist. Benefit demands a ‘We/You’ relationship.”
Among Mr. Lewis’s other favorite power words:
- free
- free gift
- limited time
- right now
- surprise
- hot
- first time offered
- not sold in stores
- good only until [DATE]
- Don’t miss out
- I’ll look for your order
- Try it at our risk
Online copywriting borrows from magazine covers
Today’s online copywriters are a hybrid of journalist and marketer, employing the best skills of both crafts. We—and I include myself in this group of online copywriting hybrids—have broader concerns that inform and influence the words we choose.
They boil down to two fundamental questions:
- What are the keywords that web surfers use to arrive at your website?
- What words in email subject lines trigger the highest open rates?
We asked an expert how his online publishing company addresses these concerns.
Bob Kaslik is vice president of consumer marketing at Interweave Press, one of the nation’s leading multiplatform craft media companies with businesses in magazine and book publishing, interactive media, broadcast programming, and events for craft enthusiasts. He oversees subscription and newsstand consumer marketing efforts for Interweave’s 14 titles.
Bob shared with us this list of power words that he says Interweave uses interchangeably for newsstand magazine cover lines, promotional copy, and email subject lives:
- Improve
- Trust
- Immediately
- Discover
- Profit
- Learn
- Know
- Understand
- Powerful
- Best
- Win
- Hot Special
- More
- Bonus
- Exclusive
- Extra
- You
- Free
- Health
- Guarantee
- New
- Proven
- Safety
- Money
- Now
- Today
- Results
- Protect
- Help
- Easy
- Amazing
- Latest
- Extraordinary
- How to
- Worst
- Ultimate
- Hot
- First
- Big
- Anniversary
- Premiere
- Basic
- Complete
- Save
- Plus!
- Create
The list was compiled by Curtis Circulation Company, a leading national newsstand distributor of magazines, and Linda Ruth of Publishers Single Copy Sales Services, by studying best-selling magazine covers.
Bob says Interweave has discovered that these power words also work well in email subject lines, although not in every market.
“Everybody at Interweave who works on email or circulation has the power words posted on their wall” as a reminder, he said. “They’re active words that are benefit-oriented.”
Used judiciously in online copywriting, power words can grab a reader’s attention and help communicate and persuade. But they are not a substitute for formal structure. Good online copywriting requires an orderly format that moves the reader along to a purchase decision.
Power words can be, well, powerful, but they do not work without context. Power words in online copywriting need to be used in cooperation with all of the other tools in the copywriter’s bag of tricks.
Bob also recommends using the Email Subject Line Tester to help develop effective, compelling subject lines that withstand sophisticated SPAM filters.
Additionally, Bob says the Google Keyword Tool is a favorite among Interweave’s copywriters and editors.
“It’s just an amazing tool,” he says. “We use it to expand our perceptions.”
Frequently the Google Keyword Tool will indicate a popular phrase that people are using to find the KnittingDaily.com website “that we would have never thought of,” says Bob.
“And Google Analytics informs us that people are arriving at our sites using search terms that we never would have discovered otherwise,” he says. “It’s a great resource.”
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September 11th, 2009 at 8:33 am
I think anything with a strong call to action is a word that will help generate some good conversions, whether online or offline.
September 13th, 2009 at 7:08 pm
The essential purpose of any sales copy is to…
Make a connection with the reader.
Emotional words that connect with the reader therefore, are a prerequisite if you want to connect with your audience very well and sell more product.
As you mention, the word ‘You’ is a very powerful and strong word to use in any sales copy for any copywriter.
In essence, good sales copy is the bridge between the seller and the buyer.
The more powerful, emotional words you can use in your sales copy, the more you will strengthen the bond (credibility, trust) between both parties….enabling a sale to take place easily.
December 2nd, 2009 at 12:48 pm
Great article.
Also, don’t forget the power of words like Powerful, Realistic, Amazing, Unbelievable etc.
Then there are the negative words like Also-ran, disgusting experience etc…