Exclamation Marks and Capital Letters
Hello, my friend and future millionaire.
Welcome to this episode of The Money Wheel.
My name is Andrea Koput.
I’m going to talk to you today about something I’ve already talked to so many people about.
This is one of my kids within 10 seconds, a veteran copywriter to a newbie copywriter.
Why am I the one to tell you about that?: Well, I’m the copy girl.
And so are you!
Each one of you has put pen to paper sometime in their life.
For someone else to read what it is they wrote and the way you use two things will distinguish you from a beginner to a seasoned pro.
I can tell in less than 10 seconds.
What are those two things? Those are your punctuation and your capitalization.
Why does it matter how you use your capital letters and how you use your punctuation?
Well, the better you are at using those two things and the better you are at refraining, that’s the big one.
Refraining from using these things will convert into the sales, the leads, the clients, the dollars and the profit in your pocket.
The better you are at putting words to paper, the better the results will be for you, the higher your profits, the better your open rate and your return rate.
All of these really important numbers, all come down to how you use a couple, really little things.
After reading this, you’re going to know how to use and not use those two things.
One of the biggest things that we all use, especially when we’re starting and in the world of text messaging, is the exclamation mark.
This is so easy to add everywhere, so people add it everywhere.
You need to use your exclamation marks like sprinkles on a cupcake or pepper on an omelet.
A little bit goes a long way.
The more you use exclamation marks, the more you are exclaiming something’s important, when maybe it’s not.
It can come across as if you’re yelling at people, it just takes your copy down in maturity level.
If you are using an opening line, a heading with the next exclamation part, great, awesome, get their attention.
However, if the next line also has a good exclamation and throughout your whole copy, there is more than three (again, the rule of three) it is too much. Use them sparingly, and the same goes for capitalization.
I am a big fan when it comes to your call to action, attention, getting headlines, using capitalization, all caps.
It is important, because it’s a very distinguishable identifier, especially in times when you don’t maybe have formatting options, using all caps will get your attention.
Your call to action can be in all caps.
Remember though, if you have all caps too much in your piece, it loses its effectiveness.
People see through it, people don’t act, people don’t click through and people will bounce.
If you overdo those two elements, your content loses its maturity and the emphasis you’re trying to make loses all effectiveness.
Use those exclamations sparingly.
If necessary, use your capitalization intentionally for a purpose.
I will capitalize the first letter of everything for headlines.
All caps should be reserved for actionable headlines, actionable call to actions.
That’s when you should use those things, your Click Here buttons, your Email buttons, your Buy Now; that’s when you should use them.
Remember, people are reading everything.
The act of the subliminal brain is on if you are telling them, asking them or yelling at them, it is very apparent in how you use your words.
So when you write a piece, reread it before you publish it, take a break, come back to it, read it again.
If you have used those elements tastefully, publish it.
If it needs a little bit of work, fine.
Even my pieces, after rereading them, a lot of them need editing.
And that’s okay.
That’s the sign of a maturity level, that you are confident in what you’ve done, because you’re okay reading it, changing it, morphing it, and reusing it.
Use your punctuation with a purpose, and it will lead to success.
This has been your episode of The Money Wheel.
You have a good one.