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Home::Online Promotion
How to Write Effective Web Copy
Author : Leva Duell
Most web designers won't tell you how important web copy is.
Although web design plays a crucial role in converting prospects
into customers, your web copy plays an even more important role
in generating online sales. Graphics may capture your visitors'
attention first, but you need powerful copy to entice them to
buy from you.
Here are some tips to make your web copy effective:
* Talk to your audience. Focus on your audience. Talk your
audience's language. Address your audience in your headline or
first paragraph. * Make your copy personal by using a friendly,
conversational tone. Write like you're talking to a friend. *
Get to the point right away. Make it clear what your web site is
about. If they don't read it, then they weren't interested in
the first place. * Mention the most important information first.
They may not read it if you don't mention it right away. *
Emphasize important words, headlines, and sentences by using
color, bold, and different text sizes, but do so sparingly. *
Mail order advertisers have told us for years, "The more you
tell, the more you sell." They are right. People will read long
copy. They just won't read boring copy. If they are interested,
you can't tell them enough. As long as your copy is interesting,
it doesn't matter how long it is. * Make your copy interesting.
One way of doing that is by telling a story. * Appeal to your
prospects' emotions, e.g. feeling of pride, fear, greed,
sadness, anger, or love. You can evoke emotion in your reader by
providing vivid details so that your prospects see, hear, smell,
taste and feel. This creates images in the reader's mind.
Copywriters are trained to write words that will touch emotions
and create a desire for a product or service. Then they use
features and facts to back up the emotion and justify the
purchase. * Use power words. Power words elicit emotions and
create visual pictures in your readers' mind. They have proven
to attract attention, motivate prospects to buy, and increase
sales. Use them in your web site's headlines and copy. A few
examples are: free, you, new, discover, amazing, breakthrough,
latest, proven, guarantee, money, top, secret, act now, save,
how to, easy, reveal, insider, and success. * Use action verbs.
A call to action such as "call now," "order now," and "click
here" can dramatically increase your sales. Motivate readers to
do what you want them to do with action verbs. Give precise
instructions. Tell them exactly what to do. Give them a direct
order, but add an incentive or benefit to your order. * Use
simple language. * Use short sentences and paragraphs. * Break
up your copy into short, easy-to-read sections and use
subheadings to highlight benefits. * Back up your claims. *
Include "you" more than "I" or "me" or "our." * Give specifics.
For example mention 97.4% vs. 100%.
Here are some important elements to include in your web copy:
* Provide a compelling, benefit-oriented headline. * Include
benefits throughout your copy. Use bulleted lists to make your
benefits easy to read. * Provide solutions. * Include product
information Give tips on how to buy your product, what your
products or services can do, to whom your products or services
may be useful, how customers might use your products or
services, and what results buyers will get from using your
products and services. * Give enough information to help your
potential customers make an informed decision. * Tips for buying
your products or services. * Give them what they want instead of
what they need. * Include bonuses. * Include testimonials from
satisfied buyers. * Include contact information. * Remove doubts
with a money-back guarantee. * Include case studies. * Include
statistics. * Include answers to frequently asked questions and
potential objections. * Summarize your offer. * Motivate them to
buy now by including a limited time offer. * Include a call to
action telling them exactly what you want them to do. Give a
command. For example, "Click here now to get this course
absolutely risk-free." * Include several compelling order links
throughout the copy. Use simple terms for your navigation
buttons and links that visitors will recognize such as "home,"
"order," and "contact." * Include a P.S.
Writing powerful copy is the first and most important step
toward web sales.
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