5 ways to create effective website copy

Filed under: Advice Copywriting

When it comes to producing content for the web you may have come across the saying “content is king”. This phrase was originally coined by none other than Bill Gates almost two decades ago. This saying has become a mantra evangelised by SEO professionals and internet marketers alike.

Content drives the internet as we know it.  So what can we do ensure we create well-written and thought-provoking content that will delight your audience and ultimately convince them into buying your product or service?

Here are five simple things you can do today to improve the quality of your webpage and marketing copy. The goal is to engage with your audience better and ultimately increase your conversion rate whether it’s getting newsletter sign ups or selling widgets.

1. Talk to your audience

Right from the very beginning want to try and create a relationship with each of your potential customers. Write your page copy as if you are having a conversation with the person reading it. Try and keep your tone informal as if you were talking to a close friend and trying to convince them that your product or service is what they’ve been looking for. Your messaging has to be focused on their needs and goals.

2. Outline the benefits rather than the features

Rather of talking about the countless features of your product or services, talk about the benefits it will provide your potential customer. They’ve come to you with a problem that they need solving. It’s your job to tell them how your product or service will solve that problem and make their lives better.

If you try and engage with your customers by reeling off dozens of different features you may well hear them reply “So what?” Remember that no one size fits all. Each and every person that comes to your website will want to be treated as an individual and not simply palmed off with an off-the-shelf solution. Think about all the different challenges and problems that your product or service solves and construct your content with that in mind. Think about how what you’re offering will be used in the real world. How is it going to make people’s lives better?

3. Appeal to your audience’s emotions

Appealing to your customers’ emotions can be a very effective selling strategy. Quite often customers don’t make logical decisions when it comes to making a purchase. Instead they make an emotional decision and then find a way to rationalise the purchase afterwards to make themselves feel better. Truly effective marketers take advantage of our emotional reasoning for their own benefit.

Try and visual aids such as images or videos that depict scenes that are meant to invoke a strong emotional response from your audience. You could try storytelling and convey a ‘utopian’ vision of how life could be dramatically improved like should they purchase your product compared to how it actually is without it.

4. Be conversational

Write as though you’re having a conversation with your reader. Consider injecting a little humour in your copy to keep it informal. The last thing your audience want is a hard sell. Keep your copy light and fun and your audience will soon let their guard down and begin to connect with your.

A conversational writing style is one that your readers will find easier to read and digest. Keep your sentences short and don’t be shy to ask questions. You don’t want to be preached at do you? More often than not, text that readers find most enjoyable to read is that of a conversational style. They should be able to read your copy and almost imagine you being present in the room actually speaking to them.

Think about the last time you read something that was formal and dull. It will no doubt having taken that little bit of extra effort and concentration to wade through it. How about the last time you read something you really enjoyed? You more than likely breezed through it, all the while hoping it wouldn’t end.

5. Be convincing

It’s absolutely essential that you yourself are 100% convinced that your product or service is the best thing since sliced bread. If you’re not convinced then how can you persuade your audience of that fact? If you think of the sales process as a game of poker you need to be prepared to go ‘all in’ when it comes to convincing your audience that you’re holding the winning hand. There’s no bluffing here I’m afraid. If they can sense the slightest reservation no matter how small then you’re going to find it impossible to convince them to come on board.

At Pixel Air we’ve always offered ‘unlimited revisions’ when it comes to our design process. We’re that confident that our clients are going to love the work we produce and to this day we haven’t had one person that has taken us up on our offer. At the end of the day we want our clients to be 100% happy with their online presence that we’re prepared to do whatever it takes to accomplish that. You should be too.