Yes: You can write a copy that would command attention in less than ten seconds. 100% GUARANTEED

Do you know that the reading decision span of everyone is less than ten seconds?

Have you ever written great content yet got just a few or no engagements?

For a copywriter, you know the engagements mean a lot.
Hence, the call to action is the goal.

In this blog post, you will discover the powerful tool that will make viewers read your content. You would also learn how to use it.

You should take this seriously because whether you learnt copywriting for your business or as a source of income (passive or active) you wouldn't get the most out of your copy if you neglect this powerful information.

To become an expert in copywriting, you don't have to reinvent the wheel. In fact, you become better by shortening your learning curve.

That's why I have put this piece together for startups that want to build a strong online presence for their business as well as copywriters who want to get better results with every single copy.

I'll talk to business startups first
Every business owner, salesperson or marketer needs to know how to write compelling articles, especially for the online space. Copywriting is the new sales letter.

What every copywriter should know
Because of the digital age, your readers are online.

They're either reading your copy on their smartphones or PCs.

This is to your advantage as you can reach more people without the constraints of time and location.

But here's the downside as you're reading this, you probably had notifications you would go check later, messages that you'd reply to later and so on.

While I was writing this, it took discipline not to go check my email inbox or social media until I concluded this piece.

You get the gist. So many things call for one's attention in this digital world.

So here's the solution
While writing keep your reader in mind, that's empathy.

You know you're presenting important information and you don't want your prospect to miss it. So do something to get his attention so he will decide to read the copy you sent him and thereby not miss the solution you're presenting to him.

How do you get your prospects' attention in less than ten seconds?
It's in the power of your headline.

The headline is the first thing the reader sees, and that's where the reading decision is made, and it takes just five to eight seconds. 

Be true to yourself, most of the reading decisions you made were because you had judged the content based on the headline.

You believed that if it's relevant to your situation, then you should know from the headline. The viewer of your next copy has the same thought.

Keep this in mind whenever you're writing your copy, so that you'd present it in a way that would make them read your copy.

Ingredients of a powerful headline
Now that you know the tool, what do you need to put together to achieve this

1. Keep your headline short (more than twenty words is already too long)

2. Use legible fonts: Never write your headline using italic fonts

3. Remember to make it bold

4. Avoid all caps: You don't want your headline shouting at the reader nor do you want each word to stand out separately.

I make use of a reading app to make reading soft copy books easier and the way it reads words in all caps is funny. It just spells out each word separately.

You don't want that to happen in the minds of the readers of your copy.

Most preferably use sentence case.

P.S.: I first wrote this article about three years ago. Coming back to it now, I gave it a fresh edit, tightened the flow, cleaned up the structure, and proofread it with new eyes and better skills. It's still relevant today and I hope it helps you as much as the original helped me when I wrote it.