The copy you write for your website (or any marketing collateral), has a strong impact on your sales figures. You’ve optimised your website to convey your brand story, your website homepage is simplified, clear and flows well, and you’ve nailed your tagline. But you’re not done yet.
The fact is, pretty looking websites alone don’t sell things, words sell things.
The human brain is drawn to clarity, hence the importance to be clear, not clever with your copy. The simpler your copy, the easier it is for the brain to digest, and the more likely it is you will keep your visitors’s attention.
Tip #1 – Understand your customer’s pain points
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- Understanding your customer’s problem is vital in delivering a clear message. You need position yourself as their ‘guide’ who can fix it.
Let’s say you’re a landscape gardener. Your customers don’t just want turf for their lawn, they want an amazing looking garden that makes them feel proud. By including copy that focuses on the benefits of your service (which would be having a nice outdoor space, for great relaxing, adventuring or entertaining) rather than the features (lawn-mowing, patio laying, fencing…boring! 😴) you’re helping them visualise their desired outcome.
Your powerful tagline that places the customer at the centre of the story could be… “A lawn that makes your neighbours jealous!“.
Tip #2 – Be clear and not clever.
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- Readers have a general tendency to skim what is in front of them. Therefore if you have a longer narrative, it is a good idea to not only break up your copy with paragraphs, but with testimonials and imagery too. Images can say a lot about your brand and who you are as a company, and testimonials help clients to paint the picture of your brand story, and the successes they can also achieve with your help. Keep it as simple, relevant, and concise as possible. As Jay Abraham famously advises:
Make your copy straightforward to read, understand and use. Use easy words; those that are used for everyday speech. Use phrases that are not too imprecise and very understandable. Do not be too stuffy; remove pompous words and substitute them with plain words. Minimize complicated gimmicks and constructions. If you can’t give the data directly and briefly, you must consider writing the copy again.
- Readers have a general tendency to skim what is in front of them. Therefore if you have a longer narrative, it is a good idea to not only break up your copy with paragraphs, but with testimonials and imagery too. Images can say a lot about your brand and who you are as a company, and testimonials help clients to paint the picture of your brand story, and the successes they can also achieve with your help. Keep it as simple, relevant, and concise as possible. As Jay Abraham famously advises:
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Tip #3 – ‘refiine’ your copy.
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- Read your copy aloud to somebody else. This is a good way to check for unclear sentences, overused words and make sure that the copy reads well and makes sense.
- Get somebody else to proofread for typos. Perhaps somebody out of your industry, who is not familiar with content and therefore more likely to pick up on things such as spelling mistakes. It is easy to miss these little mistakes when you have been reading the same paragraphs day in and day out.
- Be clear. Not clever. Cut it down, and spread it out. Delete any waffle or too much repetition.
- Integrate paragraphs to avoid your prospective clients losing interest or giving up trying really hard to read between all the lines.
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