Successful website copywriting is very different than traditional copywriting.
Based on what actually works best –and does not work– from writing dozens of websites for our clients, here are our Top 10 website copywriting secrets. If you apply them, your website will be a major marketing success for your business and its bottom line.
1 What’s in it for me? Why should I believe you? What do you want me to do and why should I? Answer these questions immediately. The reader will leave your website unless these three questions are clearly answered in the beginning seconds
2. You must have a strong, reader-benefit headline. The headline is by far the most important part of your website as far as its effectiveness. The words used (ie the copywriting) must give a reader benefits of your product or service, a big promise, a reward that the reader wants badly and as specific and concise as possible.
3. Focus your copywriting to accomplish one main goal, which should be to get the interested reader to call you or place their order. By laser-focusing on one action you’d like to reader to do most, your copywriting will be targeted, specific and powerful.
Of course there will be other information and details on your website and you can have a secondary goal for the reader to email you or sign up for your newsletter or download a report … but focus mainly on the one specific action you ant the prospect to take.
4. Be exciting, informative, to the point, interesting. People will not read something that is boring if they don’t have to. Make sure you avoid “corporate talk” that is loaded with “we” and general information the reader already knows.
5. Write mainly to get sales or leads; and not for the search engines. Your website may be listed high by search engine, but what good is that if it does not bring you leads and sales.
6. Encourage interested readers to telephone you. A good salesperson can sell much more effectively by talking to a prospect than by just emailing. Talking builds rapport, trust, and questions asked so it is customized to the prospects specific needs and wants.
7. Words Sell and graphics are secondary, so be sure to invest properly in the copywriting on your website.
8. Answer the concerns and objections the reader has. Make a list of frequently asked questions. Answer them for the reader on your website. Overcoming objections and concerns is what often clinches the sale.
9. Use proven winners for successful copywriting. These include reader benefit copywriting, be specific, tell the full story of why you are the best choice for the reader, use customer testimonials, make an offer, use a guarantee, get action now.
10. Hire the best copywriter you can afford because the copywriting on your website has the greatest effect on its success or failure. This is not the time to be cheap.
(Mike Pavlish of Profit Boosters Copywriting has done the copywriting for dozens of successful websites. See rates and fees here.)
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