How to Choose the Right Words to Connect, Engage, and Sell

You’re writing, and writing, and writing.

But something is amiss.

Sure, your brain is full of words. But they all seem wrong.

Your text sounds either naff or bland. You can’t find the right words to express your ideas.

Ever wondered whether there’s a secret to engaging your readers with the right words? And sell your products with seductive phrases?

4 simple rules exist that help you choose words for a persuasive sentence.

Rule 1: Pick words your readers use

Often we want to embellish things.

We try to make our products or services more special, more beautiful than the simple truth. But fancy and complicated words can muddle the meaning of our content. They may slow our reader down, or worse: our reader might just ignore our words.

Want to persuade your reader to do something?

Your first job is to make him feel you’re talking with him. In his language.

Web visitors are in a hurry; and they know what they’re looking for. Use the same phrases they use and they know immediately they’re in the right place.

Are your clients aliens who love to chat with a world-class IT solutions provider?

Great!

But if you deal with mere mortal beings, you might simply state: IT support for small businesses.

When you next receive an email from a potential client, pay attention to the words they use to ask for a quote. What is it they’re looking for? When you next discuss a project on the phone, notice how your client formulates his questions or comments.

Join the conversation that’s already going on in your reader’s head. Use the phrases he’s using. You can use jargon – but only if your reader actively uses the same jargon.

Remember who you’re writing for.

Rule 2: Choose precise words

Use a thesaurus to inspire your writing, but beware: so-called synonyms often have a slightly different meaning.

Let’s look at an example …

She struggled to write her next blog post is a rather bland sentence.

A thesaurus suggests these alternatives for struggling: slaving over, fighting hard, or working like a dog. Each of these phrases is stronger and more precise than struggling, but each has a different connotation:

1. She slaved over her blog post, reviewing her sentences one by one.
2. She fought hard with her demons to write her most inspirational post ever.
3. All day she worked like a dog on her blog post; at 2am she finally finished editing.

To convey your message, you need to pick exactly the right word with exactly the right connotation.

Rule 3: Choose sensory words

The most powerful words are sensory words, because they make your reader see, hear, smell, taste, or feel something.

When you’re reading non-sensory words, your brain processes text. But when you read sensory words – like bland or sickly sweet, dazzling or silky smooth – different areas of your brain light up.

Your brain processes sensory words as if you taste a bland or sickly sweet cake, as if you see a dazzling display of colors, as if you feel a rough texture. Sensory words make your copy more memorable and persuasive, because they require more brain processing power than ordinary words.

In his book How to Write a Damn Good Novel James N. Frey mentions motion as another sense. By using active words or describing movement, you help your readers experience your copy, too.

Let’s have a look at the 3 sentences again, and see how we can make them more sensory:

• She slaved over her blog post, polishing each sentence and fine-tuning each word.
• She fought her demons and silenced them to write her most inspirational post ever.
• The curtains were drawn. The house was quiet. At 1am she heaved a deep sigh and sat down to edit her blog post.

Research has proven that touching a product increases your desire to own it (pdf). To seduce your web visitor to buy from you, appeal to their senses. Use sensory words to let them imagine holding your product or working with you.

Your service doesn’t need to be a sensory experience – you can blow away your audience with your vibrant presentation; you can coach your clients to feel calm during hectic days; you can provide an app that seamlessly integrates with other apps.

Rule 4: Make each word relevant

Is less always more?

Hell no!

When you add a word to make your sentence more specific or to paint a more vivid picture, then more words can boost your persuasiveness.

Compare the following product descriptions:

Too many ideas in a sentence are tiring for your readers:

Shorter, but rather bland:

More specific and more sensory:

When each word adds meaning, your readers stop skimming and start reading. That’s when your content become seductive – no matter whether it’s sales copy, a blog post, or a business email.

Spend your editing time wisely

A poet has an ocean of time to rewrite a few lines. To find a more dazzling metaphor. To replace a weak word with a more energetic word. To let the words flow with the perfect rhythm.

As a business owner, you need to focus on the content that’s most important: your home page, your about page, and your sales pages.

Or when writing a blog post, spend your time fine-tuning your headline and polishing your first and last paragraphs – because that’s where you need to engage and inspire your reader.

The art of choosing the right words

I’d love to tell you word choice is easy, but applying the 4 rules takes practice.

When you next visit a website or read a book, pay attention to the words that appeal to you. And notice the sentences you *bleergh* don’t like, because they’re complicated or chaotic, or booooring. Use Evernote or a simple text file to collect words, phrases, and sentences that enchant you.

See how words sketch a scene. Understand how words make you feel. Appreciate the beauty of language.

Let your inner poet play with words. Have fun.