Website Copywriting Basics

When companies set out to design their websites, they often make the mistake that the graphics or pictures are the most important contents of the site. While these are very important, it’s actually the copywriting that makes your sales for you! A good copywriter knows that fact and uses every technique in the book to capitalize on it. In this article, I will teach you the basics of copywriting and how you can turn your website into a sales monster!

1. Don’t use “business speak” in your copywriting. Some websites will write text such as: “Our Company has spent the last 12 years building and perfecting an enterprise quality suite of Advanced Network Management Solutions specifically designed for today’s SMB. With a dedicated staff of Expert NOC, Security, and Field Engineers, we are changing the way networks are managed and secured.”

Did you fall asleep yet? Your surfers don’t want to know about you and your business, they wanna know how your business will benefit THEM! Leave the horn-tooting for the “About Us” page. On your main page, instead say something like: “Who is looking inside of YOUR servers right now? Let our company help you lock out the bad guys!” Or something to that effect. Make your copywriting all about THEM. The customer is King!

2. Be yourself and make your copywriting informal. Don’t bore everyone with such informal business vocabulary. Is Yahoo formal? No. Is Apple formal? No. Is Amazon formal? No! These companies already know the secret to copywriting! Keep it all about the customer, and talk to them as if they were your long, lost friend. That’s it! Make it a conversation! The most important word that you can use in your copywriting is “YOU”. Make it about the customer, give them benefits and results, but do it informally as if you were telling all of your friends about your product or service. It will only gain you trust and your website will not seem so “stuffy”.

3. Use shorter sentences. In this world of “instant gratification”, people’s attention spans have shortened. Get to the point of your website with shorter sentences. Grab their attention quickly and command them (politely!) what actions you want them to take: “Buy now!” “Signup now!” “Take advantage of this deal now!”. You must use action words like that to tell your customer exactly what it is that you are seeking from them. And make sure you are simple and to the point.

4. Break up longer paragraphs. Unless you are an avid reader, you hate reading! And sometimes when you’re just looking for some quick information, you just wish to skim for it anyhow. So break up your longer paragraphs (if they are even necessary at all) with subheaders, bullets, checkboxes, etc. Check out a site like http://www.eonline.com They aren’t selling products. In fact, they’re selling stories and news items – a bunch of text! See how they break it up into smaller, more managable articles.

These are the basic points of good copywriting. As soon as you master these concepts and practice them on your website, believe me you’ll see a significant increase in your sales and productivity! Remember the customer wants to trust you and they want to know how your business benefits them! They want to be treated like a good friend and they want to get the information quick and easy. Use these basic copywriting rules with any site and watch its performance improve!