Entries Tagged 'website copywriter' ↓

As a copywriter I am asked to undertake a huge variety of projects for my clients. They can range from website copywriting to providing copy for brochures or writing features/articles to interviewing people to write case studies and just about everything else in between.

A recent project I was involved with was to not only write a clients web copy but to also produce an awards entry for their company. They are a freight forwarding company and were looking to enter the IFW Freight Forwarder of the Year Award for the first time.

Working closely with the company, I produced an entry for them and guess what?

The Managing Director phoned earlier this week to tell me they had been shortlisted as finalists!

Superb! Now it’s fingers crossed time that come September there’ll be even better news – a win?

Tweet This Post

One of the most important aspects of your company’s marketing is its continuity.

Brand identity is key to gaining your customers’ confidence. If your marketing materials are the same across the board, your clients will be able to instantly recognise you.

• Take a look at your website – do your brochures and flyers share the same colour scheme?
• Is your logo consistent throughout your marketing materials?
• Are the fonts the same?
• Do you use the same tone of voice?

If you get your brand identity right and consistently provide an excellent service, your brand will be immediately associated with trust and credibility.

Review everything

Every now and then it pays to take stock of your marketing materials to ensure the message they are giving is still relevant and consistent with your company’s goals. When you update your website content check your other materials against it – are they still the same style?

Frequently when one item is updated it makes your other materials look staid and out of date. Therefore to keep your image constant update everything together.

Tweet This Post

Frequently I am asked by people to give them an analysis of their website copywriting. Again and again I see the same mistakes so I thought I’d write this post about it to help you review your own site.

Believe it or not, the appearance of your website text can actually have an impact on your sales. Its readability can affect your reader’s buying decision. Many companies place more importance on the design of their site than the words it contains – big mistake! It is the words that will sell not the graphics.

To give you a helping hand I have listed below 7 basics to make your website readable:

1. Easy to read

This covers everything from simple words and sentences to the colour scheme. Use a light coloured text on a light background and your copy will be unreadable; the same goes for using a bright coloured font on a dark background.

1. Attention grabbing

If you want to get their attention, use headlines. Make sure you work your keywords into the headings too. Break up your text with plenty of sub-headings. Not only will it make it more attractive on the screen (a huge block of text is a major turn-off) but they will also act as sign-posts so your reader can find the information that’s relevant to them.

1. Highlight your keywords

Emphasize words that are important to your reader by making them bold, italics or a different colour. Things like free, fast, free delivery and your key selling points.

1. Font size

Don’t use text that is either too small or too big. Save the larger text for your headings and sub-headings.

1. CAPS are bad

If you use all capital letters in your copy you’ll come across as unprofessional plus it’s very hard to read.

1. Spacing

A well spaced page of text is a readable page of text. Use plenty of white space, headings and sub-headings to signpost the important sections. Show your benefits as a bulleted list so they stand out. Whatever spacing format you use, make sure it’s consistent throughout your site.

1. Check and re-check

Breaking grammar rules can be very effective in sales writing, but sloppy spelling and punctuation isn’t. Mind you that’s not to say that your grammar can be sloppy – it should always be used correctly unless you are trying to get a point across. There is nothing worse than a website full of typos – it’s very unprofessional.

This list is by no mean exhaustive and I could go on for hours about. Take time out to review your website. It is your company’s online shop window. Review every section of text from its appearance to its factual content – is there too much detail or too little, are there any call to actions?

Your website shouldn’t be viewed as an optional extra in your marketing campaign. You don’t have one just because it’s nice to have or because everyone else has one. Your website is there to sell – use it.

Tweet This Post

Last night I gave a talk on copywriting and the 5 Simple Steps to Sensational Marketing to my local WIRE networking group in Bury St Edmunds.

During the talk I mentioned how important it is to get your website optimised and the content written so that it not only attracts traffic to your site, but keeps them there and sells to them. Believe me, that’s no mean feat but it is possible with well written and powerful website copy.

It is becoming more and more apparent that Google is taking over from the Yellow Pages, the Phonebook and local papers. Soon everyone will be searching for what they need through Google so it is vital that your website content is effective, powerful and persuasive.

Take a look at your website now – does it talk to your customer? Is it easy to read? Is there plenty of white space, headings and keywords?

Now would be a great time to revise your copy – if you are unsure of what needs doing call in a website copywriter. The investment will be well worth it because a well written site (SEO’d to the max) will get you great Google rankings and plenty of extra business.

That can’t be bad.

.

Tweet This Post

Copywriting is the one thing that will make your website work. Forget flashy graphics and annoying animations, it the copywriting that will convey your sales message to your readers and get them to buy.

If you don’t use the right words within your website copywriting you will never convert your traffic into sales. Everyone knows how important keyword research is and the effect it will have on your SEO, but there are also some other very important words that should be featured on your website.

By incorporating these 10 simple words in your copywriting, you will make your writing more powerful and results-driven.

You – too many websites use ‘we’ instead of ‘you’. Your readers are only concerned about how your product will benefit them. They couldn’t careless about your company. Copywriting is like holding a conversation – talk to your customers not at them.

Free – people love free. It helps build trust. It doesn’t have to be something big, a free eBook or consultation will do. Mind you, you do have to be careful. Over do the ‘frees’ and it could look like spam so be careful.

Guaranteed – all shoppers are cautious especially online shoppers. Guarantee builds trust as it gives your buyer a safety net should things go wrong. Just ensure you can honour the guarantee!

Easy – everyone loves easy; enough said.

New – people love to have the latest gadgets so ‘new’ is very powerful.

Proven – show your customers proof that your product/service will do what you say it will do. If you have them, use statistics or testimonials.

Results - don’t beat around the bush. Show them results if you have them. When confronted by irrefutable proof that it ‘does what is says on the tin’, they can’t say no.

Save – I am not just talking about money here. Saving time, energy and trouble can be just as powerful.

Maximize – this has the effect of showing your readers that ‘it couldn’t get any better’. But be specific – if it is a woolly claim they will just walk away.

Benefit – I have saved the best for last. The main aim behind any copywriting is to let your readers know how they will benefit from your product/service.

Now slip off and take a look at your website. All 10 words are there right? And you haven’t used ‘we’ anywhere (you can get away with it on your ‘About Us’ page)?

These simple tips will make your website a winning site.

Tweet This Post