1 – Exclamation Overload – Whilst the overriding principle of copywriting is to sell and be persuasive, the commonly held belief that exclamation marks achieve this aim is often erroneous. It is foolhardy to go over the top with exclamation marks and an over-reliance upon them may even alienate a reader.
Bad Example –
Our TVs Have Never Been Cheaper!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Good Example –
Massive Savings On HD TVs!
2 – To Lose But Not Too Loose –This may seem like a fairly obvious spelling difference but the number of times that the two are confused is astounding. ‘Lose' is a verb as in ‘to lose' whereas ‘loose' is an adjective as in ‘loose fitting trousers'.
Bad Example –
The football team always loose their heads in the last minute
Good Example –
The tap came loose and spilt water everywhere which caused the landlord to lose their rag
3 – Capital Punishment – The caps lock key is the bane of a good copywriter's existence as the use of capital letters to make copy look more important is, in fact, an affront on the sensibilities of those who cherish the English language. Capital letters are all well and good when used in moderation (or in grammatical correctness) but there is no excuse for the capitalisation of whole sentences or, god forbid, paragraphs.
Bad Example –
IF YOU WANT TO MAKE MASSIVE SAVINGS ON YOUR HOLIDAYS THERE IS NO BETTER PLACE TO BOOK THAN WITH US!!! WE WILL SAVE YOU BUNDLES OF CASH AND GIVE YOU A HOLIDAY TO REMEMBER!!!
Good Example –
Great Holiday Deals To All Destinations From Europe To South America
4 – Too Much of a Bad Thing – It really shouldn't be difficult to distinguish between the correct usage of ‘to', ‘too' and ‘two', yet you would be surprised at how often they are misapplied. In the simplest terms, ‘to' is a preposition used in destinations, directions etc. Whereas ‘too' is more of a quantifier as it is used when describing amounts ‘too much' but can also mean in addition to something. The easiest of the three is, of course, ‘two' which is merely a number and is very difficult to use incorrectly.
Bad Example –
I didn't want two go too the zoo but my brother went to
Good Example –
There were two planes on the runway to go to Paris and this was too many for take-off