You’re happy about how your Product or Service turned out, but not so happy about the sales?
You’re not sure how to make your marketing message shine?
You don’t know how to connect with your audience?
In this post, you’ll find out how to prepare and write good copy for your website.
Your copywriting is your spokesperson, your promoter, and your best salesperson.
Copywriting is the process of writing convincing marketing and promotional materials that motivate people to take some form of action, such as make a purchase, click on a link, donate to a cause, or schedule a consultation.
These materials can include written promotions that are published in print or online. They can also include materials that are spoken, such as scripts used for videos or commercials.
The text in these materials is known as “copy,” hence the name “copywriting.”
Maybe you’re not aware of it yet, but copywriting is everywhere.
In fact, if you just start by looking in your mailbox, you’ll find some obvious examples of copywriting. Promotions for local restaurants, catalogs, fundraising letters from charitable organizations, or sales letters for various products and services are all forms of copywriting.
You may read or hear some sources that suggest copywriting and content writing are different things. There’s some truth to this, but we’ll explain where this distinction starts to fall apart.
As a general rule of thumb, copywriting refers to writing marketing and promotional materials. Content writing, on the other hand, refers to writing informational or editorial pages on websites, such as blog posts, article pages, or product pages.
This is an accurate description of what each term means.
But some definitions suggest that content writing is purely informational and has no element of persuasion, which means it is not copywriting.
Essentially all webpages will include some form of persuasion or call to action.
This is particularly evident on a product page with a clear “Buy Now!” button at the bottom.
But even an article page uses subtle calls to action, usually in the form of links to additional resources, or suggestions for other pages you can visit on the site.
These are all elements of persuasion.
So, it’s inaccurate to suggest that content writing is distinct from copywriting.
You could say that content writing is simply another type of copywriting. And like any good copywriting, content writing aims to engage the reader and make them take some form of action, even if it’s just staying on a website to read another page.
Your readers will visit your website with all sorts of intentions. When they like what they see, they will proceed to read your copy. And if your copy is able to give the quality and value they’re looking for, they will stay and probably visit again. Visits lead to traffic, and the more traffic the more opportunities for customers and sales. Good copy will never stop bringing value to you. Unlike other paid marketing campaigns which are often expensive and only good for the short term, good copy lasts.
But before jumping into writing the actual copy for your website, there are few things you need to prepare first.
👉🏻 Buyer Persona – is an in-depth description of someone who represents your target audience. This is not an actual customer, but a fictional person who has the characteristics of your best potential customers.
To find out more about discovering your best buyer persona read How to Create a Buyer Persona that Takes Your Marketing to the Next Level here.
You want to get to the people most likely to become long-term customers and advocates. Knowing who these people are, and their similar characteristics enables you to tailor targeted marketing to them. It gives a clear direction to your marketing strategy and your copywriting.
👉🏻 Product Features – A Product Feature represents a product’s trait or attribute that delivers value to users – and sometimes even differentiates a product in the market.
To find out more about discovering your best product features read How to Identify, Describe, and Choose Product Features that Attract the Most Customers here.
Product Features are a crucial part of your Marketing Foundation. They serve as the basis for your strategy, promotional content, and even customer service. Your copywriting may be greatly influenced by your features, depending on what part of your website you’re writing.
👉🏻 Product Benefits – When products and services offer something to the customers that helps them reach a goal or alleviate a pain, that something is known as benefits of the respective products and services.
If you’re interested to learn more about how you can build your product benefits, read How to Create Product Benefits that Entice People to Buy? here.
You can use product benefits in your hero section of your website, when describing your products or services, when writing an email, or even a social media post. They are an incremental part of your copywriting.
To make the preparation for your website copywriting easier, try GETitOUT Marketing Analyzer to build a strong foundation for all your future marketing materials.
A single or one page website is simply a website that only contains one HTML page. There are no additional pages, such as an About, Features or Contact Us page.
👉🏻 Determine exactly what is the purpose of your one-page website.
You must determine exactly what you want your website to do, and that job assignment must be something vital to the process of helping visitors find and buy your solution to their problem(s) – assuming your goods or services are the right solution.
You must be absolutely clear about the job your website will carry out.
👉🏻 Shed light on the pains your website is designed to solve.
Once you’re absolutely clear about the purpose of the website you’re writing for, the next step is to amplify and gain a deeper understanding of the problem.
Note: We’re still in the planning phase of writing. The notes you’re taking in these first few steps are preparatory. Actually writing the page will be the final step..
The prospect seeks a solution to a problem or set of problems. Your job is to understand those difficulties and help people solve them.
Your next job is to write an in-depth description of that problem and make it shine.
You’ve heard that people who buy drills aren’t really looking for a drill – they’re seeking a way to make a hole. That’s the sort of thinking you must do here.
👉🏻 Describe exactly how you’re going to solve that pain.
Once you’ve identified the purpose of the website and shed light on the problem that page is designed to solve for visitors, the next step is to describe exactly how that magic will happen. What is it that your product or service will do for the customer?
Draw up a features/benefit list directly related to the problem. Here’s how the keyboard cleaning product might begin.
For the home page, your list will be delivering intangible benefits, perhaps, but benefits nonetheless.
Visitors have many needs, but each page should primarily address only one. One need is the ability to quickly find out why your company is capable and trustworthy. You do that by speaking to the problems and solutions, not by bragging about yourself.
👉🏻 Create a wireframe based on all previous three steps.
Step four is where layout and design meet the written word – a wireframe. It’s the place where copywriters and designers accuse one another of being inept. And it’s the place most often mismanaged by in-house teams.
Not only should a word not be written, but neither should a design or wireframe be created before the first three steps are complete. Whether the creative director writes out those three steps or hands the job over to the writer, page content strategy is almost always a team effort.
Step four is the surest way to prevent the project from disintegrating into a writer vs. designer battle, and it will give even the most adept management decision-maker better insight for making those crucial calls that can make or break a page’s effectiveness.
👉🏻 Write the website copy based on the info you gathered.
Many pages begin with Step Five. That’s a mistake. Without the insight gained from the first four steps, even the best writer would be shooting in the dark.
Step Five is to write the website copy, based on the information gleaned in the preceding steps.
We promised to show you how to write a website copy that converts, though – “Where does the ‘conversion’ part come in”, you might ask.
Look back at the steps we’ve covered, and you’ll see that the first three steps are the essence of conversion. Step one defines what the conversion would look like. Step two defines the problem. Step three proposes the solution.
Now, let’s go deeper. Let’s take a look at the most common parts a website includes, when it comes to copywriting.
As the first thing people encounter when they visit your website, a hero section is the area that immediately shows up on the screen under your logo and menu. This part of the page should ideally include information about four things:
For examples of successful Hero Sections click here: What is the Hero Section on a Website? (Ideas & Examples)
The About Us page should tell the origin story for your company and why you started it. Describe the customers or target market you serve or the needs you fill. Introduce yourself and your management team, using pictures so potential customers feel like they know you.
Even though it should talk about you, try to relate it as much as possible to your customers.
For examples of well-done about us sections click here: 25 Awesome About Us Page Examples
Describe what you are offering to your customers. What exactly are they getting if they decide to buy from you?
If you want to see examples of product and services pages click here: 11 best B2B website service page examples to inspire you
A call to action or a CTA is a written form of desirable action used in marketing campaigns. It helps convince website visitors to take a certain action. A call to action usually consists of Headline, Body of Text, and Button.
To see some great examples of calls to action, follow this link: 17 Call To Action Examples (+ How to Write the Perfect Social CTA)
Product features are areas of new and upgraded functionality that deliver value to your customers. Broadly, features can refer to capabilities, components, user interface (UI) design, and performance upgrades. When writing this section, make sure you categorize them, and prioritize them, so the best features will stand out.
To see more about product features and how they can look in a website, click here: What are product features?
Product benefits are what a product offers to satisfy the needs, desires and wants of a consumer. They are what they hope to get, feel or achieve when they use a product.
To see some nice examples of product benefits, click here: 27 Examples of Product Benefits
Social Proof comes in the form of reviews, testimonials, and success stories. They can take the form of written text, or you can mix text with videos to create the perfect social proof section for your one-page website.
Follow this link to see some great examples of social proof: 20 Examples of Social Proof in Action in 2021
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Test it. Show it to your buyer persona, ask questions, opinions, what they felt, and be ready to change it and adapt it based on the feedback. The market changes, the trends change, the SEO rules change. Keep up with everything. Then, obviously, proudly, publish it and see those sales coming in.
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