Many small businesses today are seeking ways to capitalise on social media networking and viral marketing, before ensuring their basic website copy is right. Copywriting is sometimes called “the silent salesman”; it can do much of the warming up for you, from a cold lead.
So what are the basics of copywriting? Headlines aimed at piqueing curiousity and answering a common problem have proven the most effective. I have created a headline above which does both. Blurbs that start with their most important point first (similar to journalistic writing) are more likely to get read. Calls to Action that prompt the user to do what you want them to do right away, is a key feature of copywriting.
What else do we do in copywriting? I guess you could call it finding your niche. If it’s an online document, copywriters research and identify keywords (i.e. search strings people type into search engines), so that content can be optimised for a search engine. This enables the page to be more easily found by searchers of that particular information.
We also should find out much about your customer profiles. The first step towards this is ask yourself: “What motivates Jane Bloggs to read my content?”
The answer could be… personality. Personality is the conversation that you have with your users. To maintain a consistent, authentic voice, you should employ one person to write all of your copy. That person should work with your website developer/designer. Before you try to impress your audience with all your knowledge, remember, to engage everyday people it is best to use a conversational tone and don't assume any prior knowledge.
Pay attention to the details. I prefer to write all the page titles and metatag descriptions myself, as this writing is going to be seen by the end user in a search. I have seen too many errors or omissions by website designers to believe that is their area! Another reason is those major search engines use these metatags, plus the actual page URL, to help with relevancy.
Remember, to engage customers and ensure you are being understood, use direct conversational voice.
Tags: Copywriting Marketing
