There are many tricks copywriters use when writing good quality content for business. I’d like to share a few you can implement right away to start seeing results.
These tips are proven to increase engagement, lower bounce rates, and keep your customers coming back for more.
Tip #1: Meet and greet
As a copywriter, I avoid the words “Welcome to this business.”
These are words that take up valuable space that can be better used for other words or visuals.
Here are some over-the-top examples that could appeal to a younger generation:
- Get ready to shout from the rooftops, as you’re a second away from discovering your next BFF.
- Add us to your little black book now, as you’ll be coming back, again and again and again. Let’s get started, shall we?
- Why, hello there. What great taste you have. We won’t waste your time. This is what we think you’ll like.
Of course, if your tone of voice is more formal, you may choose to welcome them with a line such as, “We’re delighted you’ve found our website, as we are here to enhance your day and make your world a little better. See exactly how we aim to do this here.”
You can also begin with a slider or an image.
A 500-word homepage doesn’t cut it anymore.
Tip #2: Consider the scanner
If you do use a great deal of copy on the homepage, you’re likely to lose the scanner, a person who doesn’t read the content thoroughly.
The scanner follows looks at a page like this:
- Top Left Corner – This is why you always see a telephone number for service providers here
- Top Right Corner – Usually reserved for the logo that links back to the homepage
- Middle – When reading the copy in the middle, the scanner will read the first and last sentences of a paragraph and sometimes only the first and last words of each sentence.
- Bottom Right – The bottom right usually has a call-to-action (CTA) or a lead to another page to continue the journey.
What about the bottom left? What about it? When did you last look at the bottom left of a webpage?
I didn’t think so.
Tip #3: Realize that it’s not about ‘them’
I always suggest using the second person when writing copy for businesses. It’s not “them”; it’s “you.”
“Thank you for visiting our website,” not “We’d like to thank our customers for visiting our website.” The second person draws a visitor in, creates a feeling of false intimacy and makes the reader feel welcome.
Tip #4: Get rid of that stiff upper lip
I advise strongly against using corporate copy, even on a corporate website, since it creates a divide and adds a formality that doesn’t encourage a bonding relationship. At best, it can make some visitors feel superior, for having landed on a website only Mensa members can understand. At worst, it alienates the visitors.
If the average person needs a dictionary to translate your copy, you’ve lost multiple sales already.
Every business should make a visitor feel valued, clever, welcomed, special, unique, and intelligent. In my opinion, corporate copy does the opposite of this.
Tip #5: Make it a worthwhile conversation
The best websites make visitors feel as though they’re conversing. You need to adopt a conversational tone when writing copy for your website.
Think of your most interesting friend, the friend that can say a sentence in two words. That’s the type of voice you need your copy to have.
Tip #6: Keep ’em coming back
It’s amazing, but true, that when writing copy for business websites, some businesses forget about their current, most loyal customers. Their focus is almost always on generating new customers, rather than keeping the ones they already have.
The majority of visitors to your website will be repeat customers, and they want to feel rewarded for returning, not ignored because they’re not brand new.
You can reward current customers, while still enticing new ones, by showing off loyalty bonuses on the homepage.
A slider is great to use this way.
Your goal is to be interesting and inviting enough to appease existing customers and entice new ones.
Tip #7: Borrow from Hollywood
A great website will lead customers on a journey until they’re absolutely convinced they should sign up, buy a product, or make a telephone call. This journey eliminates buyers’ concerns surrounding post purchase regrets, and ensures your customers are always happy to come back for more.
Great Hollywood directors are also incredible at creating a journey that keeps engagement at maximum levels throughout entire films.
There’s a Hollywood rule that says interest starts to wane about 16 minutes into a film. This is when there needs to be some action or plot turn used to retain interest.
You can use this information to your advantage by guiding the user through you your website, and looking for ways to add value to every step of their journey. Maybe you can add value by presenting them with a special offer at one point in their journey, and a unique piece of content at another point. However you add value to the user journey, make certain that you elicit a response of some sort.
What tips on creating more effective copy would you like to share? Please tell us about them in the comments.
