You heard it here first – most SEOs focus on rankings and traffic.
Website copywriting is something that usually gets squeezed into the budget, only after “more important” services are priced in.
But what good do rankings and traffic do your company if none of your visitors turn into paying customers?
You can have 100s of visitors, but if only 5 of them turn into customers, you just spend 1000s of dollars for no good reason. But, if you get 100 visitors and convert 10 of them into paying customers, then you’ve got something going on.
There are many factors for increasing conversions on your website, such as your website’s design, overall market demand, and the keywords you’re targeting.
But hey, we’re a content marketing and creation firm, so it only makes sense that we discuss how website copywriting helps you generate massive conversions.
How Effective Copywriting Makes a Difference
So, you know there’s always some better ways to do things than others, right? If you’re going to put together a new desk you bought, you read the directions first because you’re not sure how the manufacturer intends for it to be assembled, right?
The same concept applies to website copywriting.
Here are just a small sampling of techniques professional SEO copywriters use to make sure your copy helps your visitors take your desired actions:
- Create headlines that scream “CLICK ME”!
The headline is the first thing anyone notices when browsing through content. When I say they have to scream “CLICK ME!”, I don’t mean that you use caps and multiple exclamation points – that’s obnoxious.
Headlines are critically important in 2 places – the META title, which people will see in Google’s search engine results pages, and at the top of every page on your website, but particularly the services pages.
You make them interesting by clearly stating a compelling benefit that interests your target market. So, instead of writing “Webite Copywriting Services” at the top of the page, you write something like “Skyrocket Your Phone Calls, Contact Form Requests, and Purchases with our Website Copywriting Services.” Now that’s something that interests online business owners.
The crazy part?
Just a small minority of online businesses follow this principle.
Pro SEO copywriters keep a “swipe file,” which is a cheat sheet of headlines that have worked effectively for them in the past.
- Use Engaging Lead-Ins to Maintain Interest
So, after you have caught your visitor’s attention, you need to keep it. That first sentence on the page, and the subsequent 2-3, are a large determining factor in how long that visitor stays on your website.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve visited business websites that say something like, “Since 1983, John’s Auto has faithfully served the city of Denver” or “Welcome to John’s Auto – thanks for taking the time to visit!”
Unfortunately, I have to admit that in the first days of website copywriting, I made these exact mistakes myself. Live and learn, I guess.
What I did learn is that those lead-ins bore your visitors to death. They only want to know more about the company after having browsed the website a little while. Thanking them for visiting is nice, but it doesn’t keep their attention.
When it comes to lead-ins, you can do a ton of different things to keep people’s interest, such as:
Telling a story you know they can relate to Quoting startling statistics from authoritative sources Asking a question you know many of your ideal customers have Discussing how a certain product/service you’re selling works Capitalizing on recent, startling industry news
You can really exercise a ton of creativity with lead-ins, but you get the basic idea.
- Website Copywriting Targets a Persona
In terms of order, I should have mentioned this one first. But you know what? It’s not as interesting as talking about headlines, so I decided to bury it a little.
Capturing interest has much to do with developing relevant ideas.
If you’re a pro basketball fan, you’re probably enjoying the Spurs taking the Heat apart right now. But, if you’re an NFL fan, you’re probably not watching too much TV.
With copywriting, you always write towards an identified audience. Bigger companies have “customer persona documents,” which provide detailed information about the ideal customer, such as their sex, age, income, interests, type of work, types of vehicles they own, where they live, and so on.
If you don’t have a customer persona document laid out in official form, then you probably can provide an eyeball estimate of the profile of your typical customer.
Any way you can narrow down who you’re writing down helps increase relevancy and interest a ton.
Your message will change a ton if you’re writing to a largely teenage demographic as opposed to those looking to find a great retirement home to live in, for example.
- Use Relevant Language
So, coming right off the customer persona idea, make sure you use wording relevant to your target audience.
The idea with website copywriting is to develop a connection instantly, making those you’re writing to think, “Hey, this is me!”
If you want a great example of dreadful website copywriting, visit Amazon.com, and look to purchase just about any product. Titles are long and talk about features, which don’t sell (we’ll discuss that next). The copy is dry, and you really have to dig in order to find what you want.
If you’re trying to buy an electronic product, the copy reads more like a user guide than a piece telling you why you should buy that particular product.
The most common issue I have encountered with website copywriting, at least so far, is distinguishing a luxury product/service from a mid-level one.
For the mid-level product, I’ll use phrases like “increases, speedy, fast, reduces” and so on. For a luxury product or service, words like “majestic, royal, magnificent, splendor” and so on, are appropriate.
Of all the aspects of website copywriting, I’ve found this one the most challenging – identifying and using those terms that really resonate with the target audience.
- Discuss the Benefits
Amazon.com is dreadful with this too, and so are the vast majority of websites. They talk endlessly about features.
What are features? They’re a fact about your product or service. They are helpful in the purchasing process for your customer, but only after you’ve clearly demonstrated the benefits.
Benefits are what the product or service does for the customer.
Recently, I did a project for a wedding venue in the downtown of a large city. It had an incredibly main dining hall that seated 300 guests.
Seating for 300 would be a feature – useful in your decision to use this venue or not, but not exactly motivating you to make a decision.
The benefit would be “spacious seating for even the largest of weddings” – now that’s something customers want. Oh, and by the way, then you can talk about the feature so they know exactly how many people it will seat.
Learn more about benefits in How to Increase Sales Using SEO Copywriting to Explain Benefits.
Do You See Why Website Copywriting Can Make such a Huge Difference in Your Website’s Ability to Convert Visitors into Customers?
When most SEO companies talk about copywriting, they want words on the page. But, when you see the process from a more in-depth point of view, it should become pretty clear why a more thoughtful process helps your website perform better.
Wise Swans Internet Marketing
