Advertorial Copy Written to Survive the First Screen

Instrument scroll depth before you rewrite a word. A page losing more than half its arrivals before the twenty-five percent mark has a promise problem, not a prose problem: the ad said one thing, the first screen said another, and nothing written further down recovers a reader who has already left. Most advertorial rewrites begin in the wrong place for exactly this reason. What is written: The page and the ad headlines that feed it, together, because they are one artefact. The first line of the page carries the ad headline's promise in the same words — obvious, and skipped in nearly every account I inherit. Below that: the section naming the objection the reader actually arrived with, the evidence that answers it, and one call to action placed after that section rather than in the first screen, where it interrupts somebody who has not yet decided to care. Dutch-language work: Advertorials translated from American English fail here in a particular way. The register reads as being sold to, and Dutch readers withdraw from that faster than most markets. Copy is written natively in Dutch rather than translated, and the je or u decision is made once per audience and held; a page that switches mid-scroll reads as machine-made. Where a page runs in two languages they are two pieces of writing carrying the same argument, not a source and a target. Disclosure written in, not bolted on: The advertising label sits above the fold in the publisher's wording, per the Nederlandse Reclame Code, and the same standard applies on non-Dutch buys because it costs nothing and removes an argument later. Travel pages carry the ANVR and SGR position where it applies. Claims that need a source carry it in the line, not in a footnote nobody expands. What arrives: One page in final copy with section-level notes explaining why each block sits where it does, six ad headlines written against it, and one variant of the first screen for testing. One variant, tested to a decision — not nine tested to exhaustion. The test plan states the sample needed before the result may be read, which is usually larger than the buyer expects and is the reason most advertorial tests get called wrong. Not included: Design and build. I write the page and specify its structure; your developer or template implements it, and I review the build once against the notes. Also not included: consent banner configuration, form back-end work, and the invention of testimonials. Quotes come from named customers who have agreed in writing, or there is no proof section. Where a client has nothing usable, I say so and we write the page without one. Who this is not for: Anyone selling something that only converts under pressure — the countdown that resets, the seat counter counting nothing. That page can be written; it will not be written here. Anyone wanting a funnel of nine pages: the second page in a native funnel rarely earns its existence, and I would rather write one page properly and tell you to put the rest into inventory. And anyone whose page is losing on load time rather than on copy. A page taking six seconds on a Dutch mobile connection does not need a writer yet, and I will send the analytics back rather than take the work.