Words.
You use them every day.
Email clients, create marketing materials, produce content for your website…the list is endless.
How much do you think about the words you use?
What you write will have a massive impact on how people perceive you and your business, so professional writing is essential.
Get it right: web copy
For this article, I will concentrate on website copywriting.
Having spent a small fortune on your web design, you eagerly await your developer link to see the pre-launch site in all its glory.
Tentatively, you click on the link and your eyes widen with excitement as it is everything you hope it will be. Apart from one thing – where there should be powerful words, there are plenty of Lorem Ipsum.
That’s how it is; it’s up to you to find the right words, not your web designer.
You have two options: try to write it yourself or start looking for a professional copywriter.
Why should you go for the second option?
Have you ever tried to write about your business?
If you have, it was probably something like “We are experts in our field. We work from our state-of-the-art offices in…”
Big mistake.
You’ve missed the point of effective copying entirely.
If you want your website (and all of your other marketing materials) to have an impact, you need to write from your customers’ perspective, and that’s not easy to do.
It goes on regardless and eventually produces enough text to fill your website.
The site is published, and then you wait.
What happens?
Any. Your website doesn’t rank, attract visitors, and produce leads because the copy you’ve written focuses on you, your business, and your accomplishments. You have forgotten your client.
It’s time to rethink.
How does a copywriter write?
Once you’ve found a writer you think you can work with, it’s time to have a meeting.
You talk about your project and she asks you a lot of questions about what you are looking to achieve, who your clients are and what they need and many other things.
He leaves with a detailed summary and begins work on the first draft. Once it shows up, you can’t believe your eyes: it’s pretty spot on because it’s:
- Written from a unique perspective (i.e. they can distance themselves from your company and put themselves in the shoes of your customers to make sure you provide the information they want to know)
- written for your clients
- Show the benefits you provide to your client, not your achievements as a company.
- Visible to search engines
- Compel and persuade the reader to take action
- Designed to sell not to inform
- Professional and reflective of your business and your brand.
- Simple and unambiguous
That means it’s a customer magnet, and since it tells them what they want to hear, it converts visitors into customers.
Content that “speaks” to your readers and focuses on their needs makes your business put your customers first, and that’s worth its weight in gold.