write powerfully. don’t use powerful words.

most writers (and most hacks, for that matter), are taught to use powerful words. words that wow the reader. words that are beautiful, and replace other, less desirable (and presumably) less effective words. one example: love replaces like. simple enough, and used enough, especially when you read poetry (or novels, for that matter).

but here’s the rub. in copy, we aren’t shooting for beauty; we’re shooting for effectiveness (they’re not the same thing, though they’re often synonymous). we aren’t trying to wow the reader; we’re trying to be honest. many times, in this case, the “less powerful” word (though that distinction is obviously pretty fucked), is more effective. take an intro paragraph for example, and the love v. like comparison. “we’d love for you to look around the site” sounds disingenuous to me. it sounds whimsical, idealistic, and fake. “We’d like you to look around” sounds better. it sounds real… like the real people behind the site actually mean it. the word like may be less powerful, but when honesty outflanks beauty, like outflanks love.

make sense? if not, here it is simply: for effective copy, dial down your vocabularly. write like you’d talk. to a friend.