There's something magical about the number 3... it forms the basis for great drama (3-act plays), it's the common structure for presentations (beginning, middle, end), and it's a common rule-of-thumb in design, gardening, and so many more endeavors.

Today I'm going to let you in on three (3) common mistakes that will absolutely KILL the effectiveness of your copywriting.

1. Don't Be Boring. We've spoken about this in the past. There's NOTHING so deadly as a marketing message that fails to arouse the senses in any way whatsoever. You need to write copy in a way that stimulates, annoys, amazes, depresses, scares or whatever is necessary to shock the senses into awareness that a compelling offer is on its way. So NEVER be BORING!

2. No Call To Action. Here's the rule of thumb to remember: a confused prospect doesn't buy. If you don't give your reader a very clear and specific command to do SOMETHING, they will take the easy path to doing NOTHING. So figure out exactly what you want your copy to accomplish and then very clearly tell your prospect to do exactly that.

3. Don't be ME focused. This happens all the time... the marketing team thinks that the sheer glory of the program/product/service being offered - combined with the stellar history and track record of the company providing same - will be more than enough to close the deal. Wrong. Dead wrong. The reality is you need to express over and over and over again specific details as to what everything in your sales copy means to the prospect. ME-focused marketing will get you zero.

There's plenty of other mistakes you can make with your copywriting, but by simply avoiding these three huge pitfalls, you have a much better chance for success.