11/3/ · Website copywriting is the process of writing “copy” – words designed to prompt action – for a website. Even for talented writers, copywriting is an intentional form of writing that has to be learned and practiced. It’s a skillset that rarely comes easy 5/15/ · Writing copy for websites requires establishing a bond with your reader. It requires connecting on a deep, emotional level that leaves the reader enthusiastic to 5/15/ · Writing copy for websites requires establishing a bond with your reader. It requires connecting on a deep, emotional level that leaves the reader enthusiastic to take action. There is an art form and psychology to doing this successfully. You have to
7 Ways to Write More Engaging, Compelling Website Copy | WordStream
This is a complete process for turning a blank page into the type of website copywriting people will pay thousands of dollars to acquire for their business. With these templates, you can skip that blank page paralyzation stage and get rolling with your copywriting. This can be especially daunting on a website, where there are numerous factors and objectives to consider. This process works for any website and any niche.
If you already have an ironclad plan for your website, feel free to skip to the next section. A website is a tool, and in order for it to be effective, it needs to be built and used for a specific purpose. To answer this, consider your business type and where the website fits within your broader customer journey. Our goal is to get people from arrival to action as quickly as possible and in the most linear way possible.
In order to do this, we want to minimize the number of pages included in the customer journey. Option 1 : If you only offer a single product or service, that makes this really easy. You will use your homepage as a landing page for that product or service. This gives us the possibility of a one-click customer journey. They can arrive on your homepage and convert without needing to visit another page. If you have multiple products or services, things get a bit trickier. I always recommend having an about page and contact pageprimarily because people expect them, and navigating to these pages are a standard part of engaging with a website for a large segment of consumers.
For example, you might want to add a testimonial page. Ask yourself if requiring the visitor to click away from your service page in order to view testimonials will increase the likelihood that they meet the writing copy for websites objective? It might, writing copy for websites, or it might be better to incorporate testimonials directly into your service page.
But as a general rule, we want to reduce pages and make the customer journey as a streamlined as possible. By now, you should have a clear plan for the pages that will be included on your website. Now comes the fun part. Even for talented writers, copywriting is an intentional form of writing that has to be learned and practiced.
Before you write a word of copy, you need to identify the singular goal of the page or asset you are writing. In addition to a goal, every page on your website will have a main point.
For the about page, it might be to establish credibility or resonate with readers around your mission, writing copy for websites. Always lead with the main point. When your visitors land on any page on your site, they should be able to tell you the point of that page within a few seconds, without needing to scroll.
Every line… every word… writing copy for websites to be intentional. The 1 purpose of a line of copy is to get the reader to continue to the next line.
The points you want to make are irrelevant. And you can forget about the action you want them to take. Being intentional is not a particularly high bar. The main mistake that most non-copywriters make is focusing on their business, brand, or subject rather than the target audience aka potential customers. When you think about your business, what you care about most probably makes no difference at all to your customers.
Like all people, they care about themselves and their own needs and desires, and your business is only of interest within the specific context of meeting those needs and desires. And your website copywriting should reflect that. If you read the work of a new copywriter, it usually sounds like a kid pretending to be a business person, writing copy for websites.
Good website copy reads like a well-spoken person talking to a friend. It has a casual, straightforward tone and gets to the point without rushing itself.
After you write a segment of copy, read it out loud and see if you cringe. Or better yet, wait a day and have someone else read it back to you out loud. Most copywriters and marketers like to make a big deal about persuasion and how magical persuasive copy is, but the truth is that the most important element writing copy for websites good copywriting is clarity.
Getting people in front of something they want or need is what sells things. The main job of a copywriter is simply to make it very clear to those people that the product is a great match writing copy for websites what they already want or need. In most cases, copywriters are really only needed because the average person sucks at written communication.
When left to their own devices, business owners and even marketers will create confusing, disjointed messaging in a misguided attempt to be persuasive. Unless your goal is to manipulate people via their fears or greed, ignore the side of the copywriting world that is always hyping persuasion.
You need a clear, succinct message that shows the customer why the product fits their needs or desires. Proof is the true magic in website copywriting. It also gives me some really good phrases for my copy:. Incorporate the proof into your writing whenever possible, and take your writing directly from the proof whenever you can. In interpersonal sales, whoever brings up the objection first, wins. This concept translates to copywriting, but we have the advantage of a one-way conversation, which means all we have to do is address the objection, cover why we are better than the alternative, or downplay the sticking point at some point in our pitch.
We only want to cover the common ones unless the solution is just such an over-the-top, no-brainer, smash-hit win that we can swat away all other options like flies.
You should be looking to close at every available opportunity, and on a website this usually means having regular calls to action CTAs at every point in your message where new info is presented and hammered home. We never want to be in a situation where the reader is ready to act but then has to go searching for the button or action writing copy for websites. What do businesses do with their homepage when they offer multiple products or services, each with a difference pitch and target audience?
When people arrive on your brand-building homepage, we want them to immediately understand the point of the business, writing copy for websites. For the basics of writing a value proposition, click here. This is not a product or service value proposition. This is a really simple, compelling statement that immediately tells you what this business is all about. That said, it still needed more. Stick around and see what we have to say.
Not the long version that might fit on an about page or service writing copy for websites. We just want to tell them a condensed, quick-hit story of what the brand is all about. The simplest way to write a brand story is to describe the challenge or problem your brand was created to solve and then talk about how you solve it. Continuing with the sr4 Partners example, we expanded on what was started in the value proposition — connecting organizational health to productivity and performance.
The more social proof you have — and the more types of social proof — the better, writing copy for websites. Testimonials that speak directly to the hopes and concerns of your writing copy for websites clients can be particularly powerful. I like to take the hardest hitting line from a testimonial and use it as a headline. If you field reviews for your business, you can also display your review scores, either by displaying a sample of real, positive review or showing an accumulated review score, like in this example from Proof:.
And speaking of Proof, live social proof in the form of a little pop up telling visitors that someone purchased, signed up, or otherwise converted recently is all the rage these days. Ideally, you want to place available social proof wherever it is going to best enhance your message and contribute to the desired action.
I like to include at least one piece of social proof as early as the hero shot in order to immediately provide some proof that the business is legit. Next, I like to match testimonial content to copywriting content if possible. Just try to think through where your available social proof would writing copy for websites the most benefit and place it writing copy for websites. Yur homepage is serving as a writing copy for websites page.
Anyone who arrives for any purpose is immediately getting the elevator pitch for your brand, and then you want to whisk them off to the appropriate service, product, writing copy for websites, or other action page. The only real question here is how many different places do you try to whisk people writing copy for websites to from the homepage?
If you have a lot of products or services, and your revenue is fairly evenly distributed among most of them, you might decide to provide redirects to all of them on your homepage, like this example from Susan Greene :.
Just try to think through what makes the most sense for incoming visitors and then do that. In my experience, a lot of companies wait far too long before eliminating underperforming products or services from their offering. For your homepage, I like to include a CTA within the hero shot, then another one at the end. Finally, ALWAYS have a CTA at the end of the page. Most service businesses want to get the visitor to fill out a contact form, writing copy for websites, so for the homepage, I recommend pointing the non-redirect CTAs directly at your contact page.
This allows people who are returning to your site or simply anxious to get writing copy for websites the chance to skip straight to the desired action and get in touch with you.
Do you want to get people into your email nurturing funnel or go for the immediate sale? The answer will determine where you send them, writing copy for websites. If you offer a small selection of products, you might want to have a brief feature of each product on the homepage, each with a product-specific CTA.
Click here to access the template. The simplest answer is that the About page is there because people expect it to be.
When people click over to the About page, they are usually seeking to answer one of the following questions:, writing copy for websites. Obviously, 3 means you screwed up on the previous page. Accordingly, we want to writing copy for websites and identify whether 1 or 2 is going to be the main draw bringing people to our About page. Ideally, we want to try writing copy for websites accomplish both objectives. We want to demonstrate our credibility AND touch on our brand ethos.
While I personally think leading with credibility is a great strategy, you can also hit it a bit later on your About page, like this example from Bill Widmer:. Bill starts his page off with his mission and ethos before divinging into a brand story that also serves to establish his credibility. I recently updated my own About page to try and do a better job of establishing my credibility upfront:.
How to Write Copy That Converts - 5 Things You Need to Know About Writing GREAT Marketing Copy
, time: 3:14The Complete Guide To Website Copywriting ( Edition)
2/7/ · 7 Ways to Write More Engaging, Compelling Website Copy 1. Emphasize Benefits Over Features. One of the most common mistakes companies make with their web copy is spending too 2. Use The Voice of the Customer. Tone and style are crucial when it comes to website copy, as they define the voice of 5/15/ · Writing copy for websites requires establishing a bond with your reader. It requires connecting on a deep, emotional level that leaves the reader enthusiastic to take action. There is an art form and psychology to doing this successfully. You have to 5/15/ · Writing copy for websites requires establishing a bond with your reader. It requires connecting on a deep, emotional level that leaves the reader enthusiastic to
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