New Age Copy

I touched on this topic a month or so ago, but here is the thing. It is as important as it was then as it is now.

Writing strong, powerful web copy is essential . It the selling point of your website and where surfers go to gain an overview of your product/service.

So what do you do to keep them hooked and begging for more? Use the following top ten tips, that’s what!

1. Know your product If you think the product you are writing about is rubbish, then surfers reading your copy will be able to gain the same impression. The key to good copy is to write about products/services that you believe in. Products you have tried and that you genuinely believe will make a difference to consumers.
2. Know your customerThink outside the box, put your own opinions aside and instead think about who you are writing for: age, sex, income… are they in a hurry?Write a character profile of your potential audience. Get to know all their in’s and out’s,then begin writing.
3. Stress your product/services benefitsWhen it comes down to it, surfers don’t care about all the frills, spills and history of your product. They want to know exactly what benefits they are going to receieve when they purchase.Only after they have learnt all the positives of your product, will they then want to check out the credibility and backing.Remember… the average surfer spends only 7 seconds on a site before making the decision to either stay or go. So make their decision easier – tell them what they want to know straight away.
4. Create trust Okay you have won them over with the benefits – what’s next? Putting the icing on the cake.No matter the product/service it is important for you to establish trust with consumers. They need to believe you are the real deal and that everything you are offering is genuine. This is where the use of case studies, clinical trials and customer profiles make the difference. They are the proof surfers need to feel satisfied towards moving onto the next step – investing.
5. Use short headers Keep them short, punchy and to the point. In this one header, you need to surmise everything a surfer needs to know about the benefits of reading the following paragraph.
6. Language The rule is simple: use the good words and avoid the bad.Here’s a quick overview -  Good Words: free; proven; discover; breakthrough; learn; you/your; benefit; first; complete; exclusive…Bad Words: If; but; should; could…The occasional ‘bad’ word is okay, but try not to incorporate them too much into your web copy.
7. Cater to your Consumer The majority of consumers hate reading long streams of content – especially if your paragraphs our 10 sentences long. So forget what you learned at school and try to break up your paragraphs to make digesting your copy easier.Also don’t get carried away with explaining every minute detail. Keep your pages short – no more than 2 A4 sheets.
8. Create urgencyIf your goal is to sell a product or service offering, you need to create a sense of urgency within your content that makes your surfer want to take action now. Special or limited time offers are a great way to hook surfers, and get them to make the decision vital.
9. Necessitate a responseYou’ve done the sell and your surfer has reached the end of the page – what’s next? Ultimately you would like them to buy then and there, but sometimes even though you have hooked them, they still want to think it over.The problem here though, is if they haven’t already bookmarked your website, they are unlikely to find you again. To prevent losing a lead, try to give them something to remember you by. A newsletter subscription or a downloadable eBook is an effective way to get them to remember you positively and most importantly tempt them to come back.
10. Grammar, grammar, grammar… You’ll remember me mentioning this before, but if your website is poorly spell-checked, punctuated or grammatically correct then the only impression you’ll be leaving on consumers is unprofessionalism.They will read your copy, see these mistakes and will instantly think : ‘If they can’t even take care of their website, how on earth can they take care of me.’Simply set aside the time to properly check all your webpages, copy and spelling, and only then add them to your website. It will make a difference.