So, do I still have your attention? I believe so and thank you for staying.
One of the best tools to keep visitors to your site is to produce intriguing content. This is why it is important for anyone who runs or markets websites to study copywriting.
Copywriting is the art and science of making words compelling and effective enough to inspire others to take the desired action. Your skills in this area determine whether people will continue to read your content, purchase your product, or hire you.
In this tutorial, our gaze will be less focused on a technical point of view and more from a human point of view. In the end, it's the people who click the buy button, not the bots.
For this reason, this tutorial will give you some copywriting tips to make your content more effective. The tactics below will help you turn your text from simple words on a screen into a tool for selling, converting, and keeping people on your site.
Let's go.
Writing tips to take your content from scratch to hero
If you are still reading this, I must provide valuable content that meets what you need.
1. Find your niche
When I tell people about my work, the comment I hear most often is "writing is so hard, I could never do it". Yet many of them are surprised to hear that writing is the easy part.
The hardest (and most time-consuming) part is research. Gathering information and structuring it takes time and effort. However, it makes all the difference between thin, forgettable content and blog posts that are shared hundreds of times and perform well in search engines.
For this reason, one of the most important copywriting tips comes from legendary writer Gary Bencivenga:
It took me a while to realize that the best writers are the most tenacious researchers. Like miners, they dig, drill, blast and copy until they have resources of precious ore. John Caples once advised me to gather seven times as much interesting information as I could possibly use.
I've learned that good copywriters know so much about the product and the prospect and its desires, fears, assumptions, and lingo that the copy soon wants to explode like a dam shatters. I've learned that research is the sure-fire cure for writer's block.
2. Use proven formulas
We are not all born copywriter. In fact, few people are. Most just have a knack for words and learn to use them effectively. Fortunately, this is also something that can be taught.
As mentioned, writing is not only an art but also a science. As such, it offers existing formulas that you can adopt and use over and over again for your own use.
One of the best-known formulas for structuring your copy is the use of 4Ps. Which looks like this:
- Problem - Present a problem that customers are experiencing
- Promise - Indicate how your service, product or content can solve this problem for them
- Preuve - Provide proof of your ability to eliminate this pain point from their life
- Proposition - Close with a concrete call to action
That makes sense, doesn't it? And that's just a formula. There are many more. Moreover, they exist not only for copying pages but also for other parts of copywriting. Another example is using the Smart Blogger Title Hacks, which I highly recommend.
3. Appeal to feeling
Emotions are one of the most powerful ways to get people to take action. In fact, research indicates that while we like to think of ourselves as beings of reason, it is our feelings that guide our decisions. As a result, if you move others emotionally, you can get them to act as well.
Here is an excellent example:
The doctor cleared his throat. “I'm sorry, but I have bad news. "
He paused, looking at the ground. He looked up at her. He started to say something then stopped, looking down to the ground.
It was then that Pat started to cry.
Don't tell me that doesn't prevent you from holding your breath. It is the beginning of the passage of a article written by Jon Morrow which has become one of the most famous articles on the internet. It has been read by millions of people and received almost 500 comments. On top of that, the article is an emotional roller coaster ride, which is why it touched a lot of people.
However, one of the most important tips in writing is this: When appealing to people's emotions, note that you can rarely force someone to feel something that isn't already there. Usually, a feeling can only be stirred if it exists in the first place.
To do this, it helps to have a deep understanding of what turns your readers on, what keeps them awake at night, turns them on, and motivates them. This is why market research for blogs and websites is so important as mentioned at the start.
4. Pay attention to the details (and follow them)
When looking at split A / B test case studies, it's always surprising how big a small effect can have. Change a color or the word on a button and you can have a completely different result.
The same is true of copywriting. A Carnegie Mellon University study found that changing the term "$ 5 fee" to "small $ 5 fee" increased the enrollment rate in a trial program by 20%.
The lesson: Simple words can have a big effect. For this reason, you should not only focus on crafting beautiful words, but also test their effectiveness and performance. Fortunately, WordPress offers a number of A / B test plugins for these purposes.
5. Anticipate and resolve objections
Many people are wary customers, especially online. Privacy is one of the biggest concerns for most people browsing the web. For this reason, it is important that you work to eliminate the factors that make people suspicious of your Website .
The copy on your site is part of that. If you only talk about the quality of your product and your product, it could make the visiteurs suspicious. When your sales page looks like "too good to be true," you'll have a hard time convincing them to buy.
To speak up to your customers and show that you take their concerns seriously, address possible objections directly. This way, you support your own argument by tackling the counterarguments head-on.
Doing so removes possible question marks from the minds of your customers. What they have left is only the positive. On top of that, talking about your own possible shortcomings avoids sounding like you want to sweep things under the rug.
