“You” is a vital 3-letter word in sculpting all types of copy, including informational web copy to high performance sales letters and conversion-generating landing pages. But the “you” is about your customers, not your business or product.
Despite the fact that it seems as though we’ve come a long way baby in architecting our online gleaming cities, weaknesses abound. One of the most glaring construction errors is in the web copy. Yes, visitors to your website are looking for very specific clues at first glance.They give whatever page they land on a quick once-over (there are many studies on eye-tracking and I’m not going to go into any more specifics here). If they detect something that “speaks” to them they’ll devote a few more seconds to a more deliberate scan. And so on until they’ve decided that you have what they need or you don’t. If you don’t, be assured they will blaze a fast trail away from the blah, blah, blah that isn’t doing it for them.
Within a few seconds on any page of your website–remember visitors may arrive via many pipelines (keywords, keyphrases, in-bound links, referrals, etc)–you have an opportunity window and the most weighted factor in that opportunity is your copy. Even IF you’re migrating to video chances are you still must provide some copy as introduction (hook) to get your visitor to click PLAY.
If you’re that nailed into a few seconds in which you get to snag your prospective customers, how do you do it?
A. Listing all the great things about you and/or your business and products?
B. Identifying the “pain” that’s drawn your prospective clients to your business and products in the first place, then offering a targeted solution (relief) for that pain/problem?
The “about us” copy is common. HOWEVER, laying out all the great accomplishments of yourself or your company typically does NOT make sales. No one really cares how long you’ve been in business–what they do care about is how you can help them with their biggest problem, which isn’t time management, it’s the financial cost of that management; it’s not how shiny that new car is or the shade of blue it’s been painted or the size of the engine block, but how they are going to feel about themselves while behind the wheel; in other words, the what behind your customer’s visit is usually not what they really are after….really…. it’s something much more emotional: money, sex, hunger, anger, desire, love. When your copy speaks to one of those needs you are much closer to making sales, conversions and winning return visitors.
Try a Google search for this keyword phrase:
content is king
Top results are some of the leading search marketing, SEO, and advertising sources on the contemporary internet. In fact, even Wikipedia bubbles up (of course) to the top of this result with its encyclopedic entry on “web content.” The phrase “content is king” has been so over-used it’s as distasteful as a moldy dishrag. It’s the kind of phrase that once had real punch when it was first uttered, but now is so world worn few even hear it any more–in one ear and out the other.
But think about it this way:
Each of the sources that rinses out into the top Google results for this “meme,” as Wikipedia terms it, does so based on massive amounts of consistently high-quality content, proving it in fact.
Much of the content on websites and blogs is copy. Other forms include video and images. But until the web changes drastically and humankind stops reading, wanting to read, and in some cases PREFERING to read vs watch, you can bet that top-shelf copy–Maker’s Mark quality– will always boost trust, rank, and more.
1. Sheering away the beauty of language– the utility of words is this: a great page of really well-written web copy can be crammed with numerous closely related organic keyphrases. (Bob Bly has a short and sweet example of this in his post, Why Copy is Still King)
2. Remember the beauty possible in the “written” word and language. A webpage, even if it’s describing something otherwise dry and boring, errs if it allows dry and boring to take the lead. No one wants to read a boring page about what they do for a living…The more you are able to provide insight and information that:
- appeals to a customer/client desire
- stands head and shoulders above that of your competitors
- is well-written and insightful
–you build trust AND a potentially high performing website.
A new report from Forrester Research underscores a number of ebusiness strategies proving most successful even during the recession:
1. Online business IS where it’s at–offers companies much more flexibility in marketing
2. Marketing online allows some businesses to blow competitors with a weak online model right out of the water
3. Paid search tactics remain most popular for driving customers/clients
4. Email (subscriber, client lists) campaigns, newletters are proving to online business owners the power of forging strong (loyal) customers and clients that become repeat visitors/buyers.
Forrester Research, The State of Retailing Online 2009
Before today, I have to admit that if I wrote an information product, copywriting report or strategic ebook, and I wanted to give some free samples away to build some buzz, I would have imagined my best strategy being contact with a major source in my copuwriting field. After reading this article in Marketing Profs, I’ve already shifted my thought process on that, and so should you. BIG vs small? The ZERO-vs-500 rule of buzz marketing, and why perceived weak links are really the stronger. It opened my eyes for sure.
Ever felt like a small fish swimming in a pond full of much bigger fish? Ever feel as though the barracudas control the food chain?
The question is this: Is it a better strategy to disseminate buzzworthy information to the few big “influencers” in the netosphere…be it Twitter, blogosphere, or elsewhere….or to many small “weak links”? Most people trying to get their product, service and information spread think the former: “let’s spread the word via this guy, he’s really big and has 50,000 Twitter followers….!”
small (but powerful) superhero
But what if the latter was REALLY much more effective–what if the better choice was to contact the so-called “weaker” sources?
Here’s the thing, zillions of people are vying for the attention of that one big influencer, let’s call him Mr. Big, but Mr. Big has an inbox so stuffed he deletes most of it, doesn’t have time to check out every Twitter follower, so only follows his own few dozen friends and close peers, doesn’t have time to respond ot every blog comment and has no interest in promoting every Tom, Dick and Harriet’s new ebook or free system for whatever….. Really Mr. Big is like one of those big fat colorful beta fish usually swimming in a very small bowl. His lens through which he looks for new information is relatively narrow in comparison to the smaller guy or gal, let’s call her Ms. Small. The scope through which she looks is much wider–she’s vibrating with information sucked in off the web and intrigued by peer insights, news and in a heightened state of alertness. Ms. Small responds to personal emails from new contacts, and takes delight in sharing with everyone a source she finds that’s more than buzzworthy.
There’s an old shampoo commercial that goes : “She tells 2 friends, and they tell 2 friends, and they tell 2 friends, and they tell 2 friends, and they tell 2 friends ….” you get the picture–exponential information generation, exponential selling and marketing among an exponentially expanding network of small, yet “excited” sources. It’s the “power of 1 (or 0) versus 500.”
The inspiration for the Marketing Profs article was a blog post on Horse, Pig, Cow, called Whuffie Math and it’s the kind of post that will really get you jazzed….read deeply.
I have always loved Thomas Wolfe, thought he was one of the most under-appreciated writers in the 20th century. I was introduced to his writing style by my 6th grade English teacher. I can’t recall her name, but I remember quite vividly the Xerox handouts she passed out one day– a lengthy essay excerpt from Wolfe’s massive novel, Of Time and the River –his exposition on Fall. ” October is the richest of the seasons, the fields are cut, the granaries are full, the bins are loaded to the brim with fatness, and from the cider press the rich brown oozings of the York Imperials runs….” Lush and dense.
power words
In the world of web copywriting VERBS are pitted against ADJECTIVES and when they duke it out, verbs usually smack down the bottom-heavy descriptive wall-flowers. Does that mean adjectives are without power and punch?
Verbs are action, that’s a fact. In fact according to master copywriters, the smartest strategy is to scrub your copy of weak and watered down verbs and replace with skyscraper verbs–dynamic non-bland action words that help your copy walk tall.
I could say the same tactic could be applied to whatever meager few adjectives you’ve allowed to remain in your copy. If they’re there, why not take a scrub brush to them as well? Haul out the thesaurus and dig in. Mine for the meatiest descriptor (adjective) and the big take-action words (verbs). Paper thesaurus is a no-brainer.
A drawing isn’t about the thing being represented–its’ about the space around it. A couple day’s ago SeoBook featured a titillating post, What About Your Non-Customers? Hmmmmm. What about them?
What if you could find out why people don’t buy… Surveys, polls, AdWords –you know the direct approach…ask. Ferociously drill down into the motivation that actually keeps people from buying your product or service…because there’s a good reason. When you can fish-hook that reason then you have the ability to refine your message in magical ways–to remove any objection those non-customers have to buying. You actually customize a message directed to that audience.
The kicker is when you do this you tap untold numbers of customers and clients…
In what ways could my non-customers, or any web copywriters’ non-customers, perceive my services:
too costly for what they need
Do they really know what they need?
we deal with writing everyday, and the value of good and actionable copy seems natural as falling off a log, BUT what if the average Joes sees my valuable webpage of 350 words, as just taht…a page of minimum number words peppered with the few words they’ve been told are “keywords” and any warm body can provide that, right? Grammar, style, persuasiveness, emotion, don’t matter…(that’s my perspective speaking). Maybe these components don’t matter because my prospective client knows nothing about them. He doesn’t know how powerful desire and emotion can be when laced into page copy, or that spelling and grammar can build trust and authority and ensure your customers arent’ secretly muttering to themselves, “Stupid idiot…”
Can I revise my message, or better yet, customize an entirely different marketing message just for this prospect? Just to appeal to his objections? This of course would have to include some specific value.
Check out SEOBook’s post for a few key ideas for making the message more palatable for current non-customers.
I’m going outside the Copyblogger, or looks like Copyblogger, scope of unique blogs by copywriters and online writers. Here are two I’ve recently added to my Google Reader feed because I dig the “flava.” They are at turns creative, insightful beyond most, and versatile in topic. BTW, both are based on the Blogger platform and if you had lost all hope that a .blogspot could be spun into coolness, then check them out:
Where’s My Jetpack – here’s my most recent find; and if you thought Blogger couldn’t be fine-tuned to look cool then you absolutely need to check into Jetpacks’ blog. Topics include commercial advertising, web copywriting, direct response and general observations as viewed through clearly creative goggles.
Make the Logo Bigger — another creative and cool argument for the very simple Blogger platform. I’ve actually had MTLB as part of my blogroll for some time, but find it one of the more unique. Again advertising focused with big slices of snark and squinty-eyed observation.
If you’re not using a keyword tool as research weaponry before you write, you could be missing-by-a-mile what your prospective clients and customers want most.
I read recently, “Keywords aren’t the key to good copy, they are only containers,” or something along those lines. It was a copywriter, btw. First, if I’ve misquoted him, sorry, but on the other hand that’s the first impression I got from his blog post…. Anyway, I took his slant to be a chop at any copywriter that relies on keywords to direct writing. Couldn’t disagree more. They are key, bucko.
One of the biggest missing components in persuasive web copy is the persuasion. Sure you can try persuasive techniques, but if you’re lacking the message that actually provides value (fills an immediate and purposeful need) for your prospective client it doesn’t matter how PERSUASIVELY you’ve crafted your webpage copy, sales copy, etc ….they are gone in a short click. click on, click off….so sorry…
diamonds in your keyword list
Use a keyword tool before you write to drill into the real desires of your business or niche market. Diamonds in your keyword list include phrases like “how to….,” “cheap….,” “free….” — and I’ve hit on two main desires (problems to be solved) right there: can I get it cheaper or even better for free (offer coupons, discounts, free bonuses and/or prove your product/service value or worth), and how do I do this…. (offer how-to guides, user manuals, tutorials, and reports that create a fix and make you the go-to guy/gal).
When you’re writing copy about someone else’s business/products, or you’re trying to write your own web copy for your own business think less about YOU and more about how how what you sell or offer meets the needs of someone else (read: your new customer).
Basic and simple-to-use keyword tools:
I have these bookmarked in my Firefox toolbar for speed and convenience.
Three of my most popular posts here have covered:
Procrastination
Slacking off “on the job”
Time tracking for freelancers
Taken together, and with the alarming spikes in traffic fueling them, I’d have to conclude that I’m not the only work-from-home writer that tangles with my daily work and monetization schedule….One big happy family, apparently.
Today it’s timely that the new Copywriter’s Roundtable newsletter features a guest post from a copywriting coach. Her sermon covers the basic steps you should to take to wrangle your inner daily wanderer. Why we can’t figure these rather sensible tactics out for ourselves I suppose is the reason there are copywriting coaches in the first place.
I won’t enumerate them all–I dig this weekly CR newsletter and encourage you to visit the site and sign up for it (it’s free, for goddsakes)–but here are a few time-corralling tips to tease you with if you struggle like the rest of us working at home–out of the office, the closet, the kitchen table…
1. Set policies–yeah, real rules to which you hold your freelancing business.
2. Before you begin any day of writing work, you must have a monetizing plan–what is the cash-generator for the day? Now there’s an idea….
Personally, I’d push this monetizing tactic one step further: if you market your copywriting services via blogging or newsletter (which doesn’t pay you anything in and of itself), dip your toes into any type of affiliate or internet marketing, then maybe set two monetization schedules–the one that you bill right now, ie copy projects completed for clients; the other a future cash generator, for which you set smaller, but clear-cut, chunks of time aside.
resource, Copywriter’s Roundtable
“Nothing good happens in your business until the copy gets written.” John Carlton
The word, while we’re being sucked downward in depression, is VALUE. But what does that mean for your business and how do you spin value into web copy?
# Google results for:
- ‘adding value to a business’ — 21,400,000
- ‘value added services’ — 21,000,000
- ‘value added content’ — 67,800,000
- ‘value added web copy’ — 3,310,000
Do you know the kind of copy product–the words and the formats for text– that actually packs value for your visitors and customers?
Value:
- Detailed information on your products and services so customers can visualize how these things fit into their lives (B2C) or their business (B2B).
- Detailed descriptions of features and benefits–that include appeals to the senses.
- Combinations of this tactility with appeals to customers’ needs and deepest desires–meet their pain.
- Tutorials that teach how to best use your products and services
Precise data, opposed to ambiguous and broad statements, that indicate you control results, sell proven products, guarantee best practices and architect trust and authority. For example, when the temptation is to write, “We sold over 9 million widgets last year that helped many of our customers increase business….” try rocket fueled (value-packed) web copy like this, “We sold 9.6 million widgets in 2008. Our customers reported an average 79% increase in business. Read a few dozen testimonials owing to the power of just one of our widgets…”
Write less about your business and more about tackling the needs of customers. The ubiquitous “About” page doesn’t have to be a dry historical account of your company, but is best spun to educate and illustrate value, always finding means to make it clear that what you do, what you produce, betters the customers’ lives or increases their bottom line.
Just because your business has a website, which you may have paid a pretty penny to have designed and developed, btw, doesn’t necessarily mean you deliver value to ….. anyone. Not to knock a good webmaster, but having one on your payroll doesn’t a complete web presence make. I can put together a basic website, but my specailty is copy and you’ll never find me trying to package and sell both to customers. And this attention to specialized services is yet one more way you can assure you provide value to your customers–enlist professionals.
Ask yourself, what would be valuable to your clients and customers? Open yourself to their viewpoint, walk among them, see things the way they see them and you will see what motivates them to buy you must get into their heads and find out what motivates them to buy.
Make something good happen–and if you believe your online business is running along just hunky-dory, why not find out if you can make it even better? Are you about keeping up with competitors or outdistancing them without them even knowing it?
