The Immutable Laws of Copywriting

First, we start with the emotion.

Do we want the reader to laugh? Perhaps we make them say, “Aww, that’s so cute!”

Sometimes, you may want to inspire, leave them with a sense of wonder, or have them just say, “Finally... someone said what I was thinking!”

Of course, not every piece aims to delight—sometimes we want to provoke.

Then comes readability. Varied sentences. The layout of the page.

It changes how your writing is read.

Notice that as you read this, there’s a sense of flow. A rhythm.

When I italicize points, your brain emphasizes it.

Bolding to draw the skimmer’s eye.

🧪 Emojis. They break up the black & white.

When I write, I read it out loud. I feel the flow.

Lead your readers down a path. A slippery slope.

The more they read, the more they want to keep reading

The goal of this sentence is to make you read the next.

We keep our words simple. Fifth grade reading or lower.

Our language is succinct and intentional.

Unless we’re projecting authority & intelligence.

We use distinguished vernacular and industry-specific nomenclature.

Suddenly, you think - “Boy he knows what he’s talking about!”

We want our copy to be long enough to make people take action.

But not long enough to lose their attention.

Remember: your words are a pathway. Make it irresistible to keep walking—right toward the action you want.

Until next time,

Ajay

P.S: This original piece has been inspired by Gary Provost’s piece called “This sentence has five words” and the teachings of Shaan Puri & Sam Parr.

I spent a lot of time really picking out each word and sentence so I hope you like it. I wrote every word myself even though you may have expected an AI generated article with Gary Provost as the training data.

Big thank you to Rowan, Loong, Ayush & GPT-o1 for the feedback!