How to write website copy that converts visitors into happy clients
The biggest stumbling block my clients have when it comes to getting their websites launched? Easy: Writing their website copy.
It’s great if clients can work with a copywriter - and I highly recommend doing so. If hiring a copywriter or taking a course doesn’t fit into the budget, your on your own.
Often, the problem isn’t just the technical ability to write copy but rather, as Lisa Townsend shared on this blog, unconscious fears around getting started with the writing process.
I provide helpful links in my Launch In A Day pre-work process, like this short video series by Donald Miller, who wrote Building A Story Brand.
I also provide prompts and links to helpful blog posts like What to Write on Your About Page and What Should Go on Your Home page. But it’s still hard.
Here’s the key:
Show your customer you understand her problems and dreams. Clearly and authentically articulate these hopes, fears and frustrations and explain how you can solve them.
Easier said than done, I know, but if you keep that as your north star, you will get there.
Believe me, I know you probably feel like you have no time for this project, that you just want to get it over with.
Maybe you feel like you’re just staring at the screen ‘vomiting stuff out on the page’ as one of my clients put it.
But if you push through and get this done, and get it even halfway right it will help you convert your website visitors into paying customers
You want your ideal client to arrive at your website and think ‘I belong here’.
Push through this, you can do it. Afterwards you’ll feel both relieved and excited. Your website will be on cruise control, showing potential customers the value you bring them.
When you write your website copy with a little strategy and authenticity it’ll be easy to convince them to take the next step towards working with you. Here’s how
1. Take several passes
To get started write what writer Anne Lamott calls ‘A Shitty First Draft’ . Just get something - anything! - out and come back to it later.
This is a crucial step in getting thoughts out of your head. Organize, clarify and refine in subsequent passes.
Do not have the expectation that you will get everything down, perfectly, in one sitting. That’s impossible.
2. Write like you talk
Unless you’re in banking or law, most businesses these days communicate in a casual tone.
Don’t fall into the trap of trying to sound ‘professional’. This just puts distance between you and your potential client.
It fools no one and doesn’t do much to get people to know, like and trust you.
3. Write in first person
If you’re a single person business and the sole service provider in your business, write in first person.
Don’t write ‘we offer’ when it’s really ‘I offer’. If people are going to be working directly with you, set that tone and be authentic about it from the start.
4. Focus on benefits, not features
Your website text should focus on what you do and the benefits your potential client will experience by working with you.
In my case it’s painlessly and easily getting a website out into the world fast, feeling amazed and a renewed sense of pride.
The distinction between benefits and features is subtle but critical.
In short, a feature is a service you provide or something your product has. A benefit is the result or outcome that feature yields.
Some examples:
iPod
Feature: Storage for 1 GB of MP3s
Benefit: 1,000 Songs in your pocket
Mobile Phone
Feature: Integrated email application
Benefit: Check your email wherever you are
Slimming Underwear
Feature: Shaping Lycra Panels
Benefit: An ass you’ll want to show off
You get the idea.
A helpful way to figure out what your benefit is, is to tag “which” onto the end of one of your service features.
For example:
I’ll create a professional website for your business (feature) which will help you feel confident and ready to face the world (benefit).
5. Keep your website text short and break it up
Don’t write paragraphs and paragraphs of text. Ideally keep your text on each page of your website to about 500-700 words.
TL;DR. Too long, didn’t read. After you’ve written your home page text, cut it in half. Then cut in half again. Be ruthless.
People want to know who you are, what you can do for them and (ultimately) how much it’s going to cost. Everything else is just blah, blah, blah.
Remember that people are information rich and time poor. Get to the point and get to it quickly. Don’t give them more of what they already have (too much information).
Here are some helpful hints:
Use small paragraph sizes.
Keep your paragraphs to two sentences. Even two sentences on smaller devices like phones look like a big chunk of text.
Use headlines and sub-headlines.
Break up larger stretches of text with headlines and sub-headlines. Not only is this good for SEO it provides ‘visual breaks’ in your homepage text which encourages your website visitor to continue reading.
Include calls to action.
Calls to actions are things like buttons and links that ask your home page visitor to engage further or take some action.
6. Extra Credit: Find your SEO Keywords
Writing your homepage text may feel like a big task.
However, if you’re feeling ambitious and want to make SEO (search engine optimization) part of your online marketing strategy - and I think you should - It’s worth it to create your list of keywords.
This involves figuring out what terms your ideal customers might use to find you in you in Google and strategically placing these phrases and terms in your homepage copy.
Lucky for you, I’ve created an easy DIY SEO course on exactly how to create a keyword list for your website text:
Super Basic Keyword List
A DIY SEO course giving you just the right amount of info to start a keyword list to drive traffic and your ideal customers to your website.
If you take anything away from the post about writing your website copy, it’s to just start. Your website is a living breathing and dynamic. If you find you don’t like the way you wrote something, you can easily change it later!
Want to talk about your website copy and my Launch in A Day Offer?