Yesterday one of my copywriting contacts blogged about how writing for clients and adopting their tone of voice meant that she had lost her own personality. Although Rachel can write compelling text for her clients, she noticed that her own blog posts lacked a certain zing.
Lost your copywriting mojo? Here’s 3 tips to reignite that spark
Has she lost her soul in the process of channelling her clients wishes?
Unless Rachel is working for Lucifer himself (it is possible – I’ve never seen her client list), the answer is no. Here’s my tips for getting her mojo back.
1. Stay diverse
An extremely successful copywriter once told me it is far better to specialise in a niche, than to be a jobbing writer for all trades. And he was probably completely right.
But for the professional researcher/writer, diversity is the spice of life. Learning about new subjects fires the imagination and sparks creativity. Working for a wide range of businesses across different industry verticals will help broaden your knowledge base and add depth to your writing.
If all your writing and research is focused on one topic, reclaiming your copywriting mojo and personality will become even harder.
2. Blog less often
This is advice you probably won’t get from anywhere else. In SEO circles, this might even be considered heresy. But there’s a reason I think Rachel and others should consider blogging less often.
Most “regular” blog posts are junk.
If you think you’ve lost your writing mojo, it will show. Producing a new post every day won’t force your creativity to spontaneously regenerate. Allow yourself some time between posts to toy with new ideas until something genuinely blog-worthy appears. Even if it means you only blog three or four times a month.
And feel free to ignore the “experts” who tell you that failing to blog every day will kill your search engine rankings. Sure Googlebot will visit less often, but you are also much less likely to be punished for churning out junk like so many blogs out there.
Take the time to find a great idea and write it up well. Even if you get less website visitors initially, by providing brilliant content which is genuinely useful, word will eventually spread organically. Only an idiot writes for robots anyway.
But most important of all, Google is constantly trying to tune their search algorithms to promote high quality content. Churning out junk every day just because “they” say it is the right thing to do, will eventually come back to bite you.
3. Remember who you’re writing for
Of course it’s nice to derive great pleasure from your writing, to create something of value that you can show your grandchildren in the future. But is that really who you should be targeting with your text? Are they going to be buying your services at any point in the future? Really?
It could be that you’re writing for the wrong audience, or you’ve forgotten the original purpose of your blog. If you’re writing for an audience of one, don’t sweat it – you will always be your own toughest crowd.
On the other hand, if you’re not liking what you write on your business blog, you’ve got your priorities wrong. What do your clients think of your blog? And most importantly, are they buying? You don’t always have to like what you write, but you do always have to pay your bills.
So there you go Rachel. Hopefully these tips will help you regain your personal voice and restore some enjoyment in the process. Let me know how you get on!
Hey Ben,
Thanks for this post – most thoughtful of you! I definitely agree with you about staying diverse; I think it would get boring to specialise too much. I hear what you’re saying about blogging less often, as well. I figured out that part of the problem is that I write my personal blog posts in the same physical space as client work – perhaps the answer is to gain some separation between client and personal space, and that might help keep my personal writing fresh. I’ll keep you posted!
Best wishes,
Rachel
Good luck Rachel, I’ll watch your progress with interest 😉