subject: Key Steps To Effective Website Copywriting [print this page] Your website is designed to sell your productYour website is designed to sell your product. No dispute there. But even with the most visually exciting website, its the words that do the selling and have customers reaching for their wallets.
The key objectives of these words are to:content
Grab Attention
Engage Interest
Ignite Desire
Lead to Action
So how do you do that?
1. RESEARCH
No copy can be written without knowing what your clients want. Quality regardless of cost? A great bargain? Efficient after-sales support? Until you know this and show you can deliver, no amount of fancy words will lead to a sale.
Make sure you are clear about the Unique Selling Point of your product and that it comes through conspicuously in your copy. With persuasive copy, your customers will find it hard to believe that they have survived for so long without your product.
2. PLAN
Plan the copy layout of the web pages.
The homepage should be welcoming and to the point. People have a short attention span so grab it with a concise headline which immediately makes them want to learn more.
The product pages must describe your product clearly using easy to understand words. Cover all the details: product name, description of what it does, how it will benefit the customer and technical information. Whilst complete information is the best sales copy, avoid overwhelming the reader with never-ending chunks of text. Use a generous sized font and break up copy with headers. Separate sections can be moved to separate pages giving customers the option to click through to read more if they wish to.
Dont be coy about the price of your product. Reveal it! Without a price, the customer cant make a quick decision, needs to wait for a quote and may well go elsewhere. For cheap products, you will be delighted to sing the price from the rooftops, but for more expensive products, explain the value of the product.
3. WRITE
Write the copy using a style to attract your clients. What works for one product might not give the right message for another. Remember, every word is a weapon!
Donts:
No fancy words a big turn off if people dont understand what you are saying
No meaningless phrases or overused buzzwords We like to think outside the box or We keep you in the loop during the development process. Come on! Surely you can do better than that.
No hype - Were the worlds best or We always exceed clients expectations. Oh yeah? Prove it!
Dos:
Be specific, clear and believable
Explain the benefits of your product to the customer
Make the Call-to-Action step easy to follow. Just the simplest of little clicks to Buy Now, Register Now or Contact Us.
And use your powers of persuasion:
Be likeable people prefer to say yes to someone they like. Make your About Us page friendly and informative. Its just as important as all the other pages on your website.
Be endorsed people are like sheep: they tend to follow where others lead. Include third party endorsements which are even more powerful when they come from a celebrity. If it works for Justin Bieber / Conan OBrien / Kim Kardashian, then Im gonna get me some!
Be special try advertising a special offer for a limited time only. People dont want to miss out on a great offer so this trick may tip the balance in your favor and secure a sale.
4. TEST AND IMPROVE
Now is the time to put all your hard work to the test - make your website live - and sit back and watch the sales rocket.
Oh dear, just a trickle of orders? Time to analyze your website reports. How long are people staying on the website? How many click through from the home page? Google Analytics reports will provide you with a mine of information, and should steer you towards pages that are having the desired effect, and those which are not.
Then tweak the copy, tweak the design and tweak the Call-to-Action step. And try, try again. A clever company will make the continuous review an integral part of their website maintenance keeping the website current, fresh and ahead of the competition.
