Good Copywriting Is Key To Converting Prospects Into Customers
Good copyrighting is essential to having a successful Internet website. Just for those of you who don’t know, the “copy” is any sort of text-based content that’s included in an advertisement. No, a website is not an advertisement, but nonetheless, you are still trying to sell yourself, your company, ideas, and products or services. Not only does good copy pull the reader in and entice him or her to conduct business with your company, but proper writing skills are applauded by the major search engines. If your website has spelling mistakes or contains run on or fragmented sentences, the search engines will not see your website as being credible and will bury it in the search results. The 80/20 principle comes into play here; 20% of the Internet’s websites produce 80% of the sales. The difference between a website that sells and one that doesn’t sell is good copywriting. Below are a number of tips to help you improve your website’s copy.
Know Your Target Audience
Don’t assume that every member of your target market is the same. People in different demographics think and feel differently and it is important that you communicate with them on their level. Therefore, it is important to do a little research to get a better understanding of your target market. You can then start to think like the prospect rather than the marketer.
* Focus your efforts on attaining just one goal. For most websites, the goal should be to get the prospect to call your office so that you can close the sale over the phone. A good sales person is a much more effective selling tool than a one dimensional website. By just focusing on one goal, you can easily tailor your website to meet that specific goal.
* Most people don’t actually read websites – they just scan. Therefore, it is critical to break up large blocks of copy and employ appropriate headlines, sub-headings, boxes, sections and colours.
* The headline is probably the most important aspect of your copy. Think what kind of benefit your product or service provides and make a big promise in regards to that benefit. The goal is to draw the reader in to read the long copy below the headline.
* It is important to build excitement, enthusiasm and create a sense of urgency to get the reader to take the desired action as soon as possible.
* Put yourself in the prospect's shoes and think of the most common objections or concerns that prospect will have in regards to your offer. It is important that these concerns are addressed and countered in your copy in order to alleviate any doubts the reader may have.
* Compare your products and services to those of your competitors. Don’t be shy – you have to tout your own horn. Give multiple reasons why the prospect should do business with your company. Don’t bad mouth your competitors; just tout the reasons why your company is superior to the competition.
* Let the reader know that he or she will be missing out if they do not take the recommended action. Feat of lose is a terrific motivator.
Conclusion
You can’t be expected to write winning copy on your first attempt. Copywriting should always be a work in progress, and you should continually tweak it until you are satisfied with the results. Play around with different headlines, make different offers or promises, or create a sense of urgency by offering a premium if the prospect contacts you within a certain amount of time. Testing different versions of your copy is the only way to discover what works best. Happy copywriting.
