What Is Website Copywriting? Why Web Copy Is Your Key To Better Sales
Connection is the glue that makes a customer want to buy from you but without good website copywriting on your site, you have no hope of convincing visitors to stick around.
As an online business, you’re almost completely reliant on your web copy to take the place of your voice and compel visitors to buy. With returning customers essential to good business health, you need visitors to buy into your brand and become returning buyers.
To do that, your website copywriting needs to be memorable. If you can display content that sets you apart from competitors and builds a lasting emotional connection, you’ll have a brand people want to buy into.
The Best Website Copywriting
The best website copywriting makes an impact. It has tons of personality, a unique voice that’s authentic to you and a technical structure that follows tried and tested sales methodology.
Your web content is your chance to put your unique stamp on the internet so don’t shy away from doing it in a fresh way that feels right for you.
In fact, think of the most successful and innovative brands, such as Apple, Innocent or Nike and you’ll notice their copy is as unique and unexpected as the products they sell.
Brands should build curiosity and excitement, they should be unique and unusual because we want website visitors to be intrigued, surprised and read on to learn more.
It’s curiosity and connection that compels a website visitor to make an enquiry so never be afraid to be let your personality shine through your copy.
Why SEO Website Copywriting Is Important
Yet web copy with personality is not all you need.
Selling online twice as hard as traditional selling because the internet is not an automatic gateway to the public. Before you can sell anything online you need the technical know-how to get your website in front of customers.
There’s millions of people out there with the potential to buy from you but without SEO copywriting you’ll never find them. This is why website copywriting is a combination of traditional sales copywriting and SEO website copywriting.
So when hiring a copywriter for your website it’s important to look for an experienced website copywriter like me who can help you both sell and rank online. Get it wrong and you could end up with a website that never gets seen or website copy that won’t sell. See what I do
What do I mean?
Let’s take a closer look at what website copywriting is and why it matters so much to the success of you business.
What Is Website Copywriting? The Ultimate Guide To Better Web Copy
1. Emotional Connection: According to Forbes 9 out of 10 startups fail.1 Whilst there are a lot of different reasons why that figure is so high, one of the biggest factors is a failure to make the human connection that separates you from your competitors.
Selling online is about emotional connection. We buy from people we feel share our values, interests and aspirations.
That’s why, when you land on a website it needs to have instant impact.
Why Use Website Copywriting?
We’re a busy and impatient people. Research by SEO guru Neil Patel at Crazy Egg shows you have less than 15 seconds to convince a website visitor to stay on your site.2
Studies have shown it takes seconds for a website to make an impression so every letter counts.
This is the point where human connection and your choice of website copywriter are critical because what impresses one person may turn off the next.
For example, I write for lifestyle businesses including the wedding industry. Wedding industry copywriting is a breed of its own. Unlike, for example, copy for the construction industry or the IT sector, wedding industry copywriting is highly descriptive and imaginative.
For most wedding businesses it’s written in a creative style that’s often dismissed by copywriters from other sectors for being too flowery, however for the wedding industry and the deep connection they form with their customers, it’s exactly right.
So it’s really important to understand what appeals to your specific target market and put website copy on your site that will connect with them personally. More top sales website copywriting tips
2. Branding: This is where branding and your choice of website copy comes into its own. You are your business so you have the freedom to put the style of website copywriting you feel is right for your brand and customers on your site.
When you first start out in business it’s easy to look at the competition and think you should emulate what’s gone before. However, what you really need to do is find your own voice.
You want branding that’s unique to you and relevant to your customers and industry. When you can do this and reflect it in your copywriting, you can find and connect with your tribe around the world.
I’ve been lucky to work with a wide range of lifestyle businesses long-term because I write in a unique style that attracts like-minded companies who want to work with me because I get them, their customers and the way they want to sell. Learn more about my work
3. Hiring a Website Copywriter: So before you hire a website copywriter take some to think about your brand, your target market and the styles of copywriting that are working well in your industry.
Copywriting is very personal so every copywriter writes in a completely different voice. As we’ve discussed, copywriting styles vary across industries so most website copywriters will tend to write for certain industries most of the time.
There are lots of different types of copywriters out there so make sure you hire a website copywriter who can both help you sell and rank high.
What do I mean by rank high? Let’s take a look at website rankings and what they mean for business success.
4. SEO Website Copywriting: According to Statista there are almost 2 billion websites online so you’ll find there’s a lot of work to do to get your web pages in front of your target market.3
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is a multi-layered process which enables your website to be found quickly by search engines. It involves both SEO website copywriting and work in your website CMS.
SEO website copywriting is a structured way of crafting web copy so it’s selected by search engines as the best solution for their customers. Without it, your web pages won’t get found.
Let’s take a quick look at what SEO website copywriting includes:
5. Keywords: Whilst today we see the internet as a source of entertainment, it is in fact, a source of information. Contemporary web copy is creative and entertaining but each piece is still an answer to a question.
So SEO web copy includes a set of keywords plus comprehensive information to attract the attention of search engines and show them it’s the best answer to their customer’s question.
A website copywriter will be able to carry out the research needed to find the right keywords for each piece and weave them into a carefully structured text that’s crafted to rank high.
How do they do that?
6. Structure: Your website copywriting needs to entertain, sell and be the best solution to a search query so structure is everything.
From headings to calls to actions and page layout, every aspect of your web copy needs careful consideration. More about SEO website copywriting
Here’s how:
7. Headings: Search engines will look at the keywords in your headings first so whilst you need them to be catchy and grab the reader’s attention, you also, as far as possible, need them to help you rank well.
Creative website copywriting is again industry specific. Some sectors, as we’ve mentioned, have more descriptive copy than others whilst some are very formal and others are very casual.
Choose a level of creativity that’s right for your audience and sector. Overall you want headings that grab the reader’s attention and where possible, include main keywords.
8. Concise: Web copy should be easy and enjoyable to read but what that means can vary across industries. Your website copywriting should show your industry authority.
For some industries that means you need very formal, comprehensive copy, for others casual and really clipped is the way to go. Getting it wrong can be a complete turn-off so make the right choice for your audience and sector.
Again, don’t make the mistake of thinking that concise means short in length, there’s lots of research to show that plenty of people want to read longer pieces of copy.
How Long Should Website Copywriting Be?
Copy length is a debate that rears its head every year but as Margarita Loktionova, writing for SEMRush suggests, it all comes down to ‘your content goals, audience needs and search intent’.4
To provide the best answer you need to write with breadth and depth so don’t be misled into thinking all website copywriting needs to be short.
What every piece of web copy needs to be is broken up into chunks so there’s copy with a depth that satisfies every need.
From spacing to bullet points and short sentences, make your website copywriting as easy to read as possible.
9. Calls To Action: Ultimately, you want customers to do something after reading your copy. Whether you want them to buy, call or book, your website copy needs to be written to achieve that goal using calls-to-action and other sales copywriting techniques.
Sales website copywriting is the process of making an emotional connection with website visitors when they land on your page. To do this you need to show you have the answer to their needs and difficulties.
From text layout to navigation and calls-to-action your sales website copywriting will be crafted and organised to inspire the reader to take action.
Take a look at how I can do that for you. Go
Further Reading:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/neilpatel/2015/01/16/90-of-startups-will-fail-heres-what-you-need-to-know-about-the-10/#:~:text=Along%20the%20way%2C%20I've,do%20well%20to%20meditate%20on.
2. https://www.crazyegg.com/blog/why-users-leave-a-website/#:~:text=How%20long%20do%20users%20stay,someone's%20attention%20on%20your%20website.
3. https://www.statista.com/chart/19058/number-of-websites-online/#:~:text=As%20our%20infographic%20shows%2C%20there,increasing%20at%20a%20fast%20rate.&text=This%20chart%20shows%20the%20number%20of%20websites%20online%20from%201991%20to%202021.
4. https://www.semrush.com/blog/how-long-should-a-blog-post-be/