Author Archives: Amrit Hallan

About Amrit Hallan

Amrit Hallan is a professional content writer who helps businesses improve their conversion rate through credible and compelling content writing. His main strength lies in writing search engine optimized content without compromizing quality and meaningfulness.

How do you transition from being a content writer to being a copywriter?

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Becoming a copywriter from being a content writer

Usually, the line between being a content writer and copywriter is constantly being blurred when you are writing for blogs and websites.

Whereas content writing mostly involves writing informational and educational material, copywriting is more about convincing and persuading people into becoming paid customers and clients.

As a copywriter you write for

The main sections of a website such as the homepage, the services page/pages, company profile, and product descriptions.
Landing pages.
Email marketing campaigns
Brochures and other marketing materials.

As a content writer you write

SEO content.
Blog posts.
Instructional articles.
Generic content on the website.
Social media posts (non-commercial).
Case studies.
White papers.
Every other piece of content that aims to inform and engage the audience.

I have been writing content for more than 17 years now.

My writing style is quite flexible.

Whether clients need an SEO content, blog posts, main website content, landing pages, case studies, or email marketing campaigns, I have been writing relentlessly, but just as a content writer.

I have been performing tasks of a copywriter as a content writer.

The disadvantages of working as a content writer while being a copywriter

Working as a content writer or a copywriter?

The disadvantages are multipronged.

There is of course, the financial aspect.

Whereas I should be paid as a copywriter, I am being paid as a content writer.

This way I’m not realising my actual earning potential.

This gets me trapped in a rut and prevents me from taking on assignments that can actually help my clients grow their businesses.

I’m mostly doing grunt work whereas I can do some really creative work.

Without knowing, even clients suffer.

Over the years I have noticed that they don’t take a content writer as seriously as they would take a copywriter.

This is obvious.

Since I’m not educating my clients (about me working as a copywriter and not a content writer), when I try to charge them more, they balk at my rates.

“Other content writers are not charging this much,” they often say.

When I tell them that I’m not writing like other content writers, they find it difficult to understand because they have hired me as a content writer and all I’m doing is, writing content for them, just like any other content writer.

It’s not their fault. It’s my fault.

Even while working as a copywriter, I have been promoting myself as a content writer.

Hence, when they find me on the Internet, they find me for my content writing services, and not for my copywriting services.

I’m changing that.

From being a content writer, I’m transitioning to being a copywriter.

Why copywriting costs more than content writing

Copywriting costs more than content writing

First of all, I don’t mean to say that if you are a content writer you are less of a writer than a copywriter.

I’m just saying that copywriting requires more expertise than being a content writer.

I have realized this more when I started hiring other content writers for my business.

I’m working with 15 content writers right now.

Although they can write blog posts, articles, and social media posts, none of them have been able to write content for business websites of my clients.

Even if I try to assign them some work for writing for a landing page, an email campaign, or even the main website, ultimately, I need to rewrite most of the text.

Educating as a content writer is easier.

Making people pay for products and services is harder as a copywriter.

The When you are writing for the main web pages you need to convince people.

You need to persuade.

For example, if I write for your app development company, after reading your text, your visitors must hire you as an app developer.

All your main website pages are intended to generate business for you.

What does generating business mean?

It means you are able to influence people in such a manner that they are ready to spend money on you.

This is a difficult job to achieve.

Without being convinced, people don’t even spend a single dollar.

Copywriting does the job of convincing people into spending money on your business.

It’s not a mean achievement.

There is no such compulsion for a content writer.

The job of a content writer is to increase your visibility and draw people into your sales funnel.

There is no commitment.

There is no stake.

As a content writer you’re not asking people to spend money after reading your text.

This is why copywriting costs more than content writing.

Can you transition into being a copywriter from being a content writer?

Possible being a copywriter from being a content writer

Depends on your writing abilities.

Content writing is about informing and educating.

Copywriting is about selling and converting.

As I have mentioned above, currently I’m working with 15 content writers and none of them can write for main business websites, landing pages and email marketing campaigns.

The success of your copywriting job is scrutinised with greater degree than your content writing job.

In content writing, your job is to deliver a well written piece of content that is easier to read and digest.

You don’t ask people to spend money.

You don’t ask them to make a commitment.

In copywriting you tell people to spend money on a product or a service.

You convince them into taking an action.

This Forbes article on the difference between copywriting and content writing explains in the following manner:

As a content writer you educate or entertain readers by creating high quality and valuable content.

Your content may drive sales in the long term, but that’s not its primary purpose.

Copywriting involves the creation of text content to persuade readers to take some type of action related to your business’s sale process.

You need to convince prospective customers that the product you are writing about is worth buying.

Or your business is worth calling.

Copywriting is the art of persuading readers to take a sales-related action.

When you work as a copywriter your language needs to change.

Your writing style must be conversational.

You should know how to use psychological triggers to convince and persuade your readers into taking an action.

Your writing should be able to hook your readers.

Some people have a natural flair for copywriting.

Some writers have gained enough writing experience (like yours truly) and just need to fine tune certain aspects of convincing and persuading.

Some writers need to learn from scratch.

They need to have basic writing skills.

To writers who have the basic writing skills and inclination but would like to become copywriters, I would suggest start following some established copywriters on LinkedIn.

There are many useful videos on YouTube where people share their copywriting tips and tricks.

In my personal experience, LinkedIn is the best source.

On blogs and YouTube videos, it’s mostly regurgitated stuff and people simply repeat themselves.

On LinkedIn on the other hand, people share their hands-on experiences and also give real-world examples of how certain pieces of copywriting perform well.

Additionally, copywriting depends a lot on your experience as an entrepreneur, a motivator, a learner, a listener, and an observer.

You can develop these qualities.

As a copywriter, when you are writing for a landing page or an email campaign you need to have a deep understanding of

What the business needs to achieve (for which you are copywriting).
What the product or the service you’re writing about delivers – what are its biggest capabilities.
What are the expectations of the target audience – what problems people are facing and what solutions they’re looking for.

Learn about power words.

Learn how to write compelling headlines.

Read books and LinkedIn threads on copywriting.

Follow influential copywriters on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Start practicing a conversational writing style.

Develop a habit of understanding your audience and then writing in their language.

Learn to love writing instead of doing it just to earn money.

Start building a swipe file to save good examples of high conversion copywriting.

How to use the concept of slippery slide in copywriting to increase your sales

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The concept of slippery slide in copywriting

For the first time I read about the concept of slippery slide in copywriting on one of Copyblogger posts.

Then I came across the reference in Joseph Sugarman’s book, The Adweek Copywriting Handbook.

In the beginning pages of the book, he writes:

“Your readers should be so compelled to read your copy that they cannot stop reading until they read all of it as if sliding down a slippery slide.”

Some also call it “the slippery slope of copywriting”.

There are also some good YouTube videos that explain how slippery slide works in copywriting.

When your copy is so compelling that your readers can’t stop reading from the beginning till the end, you have caused a slippery slide in copywriting.

If you want your copywriting to convert, you want to make an impact.

You make an impact through your words and sentences.

Hence, your readers must read your copy fully.

How do you do that?

You write a headline that hooks them and makes them read the first sentence.

Your first sentence is so effective that they want to read further.

Every new sentence propels the reader to the next sentence or the next subsection.

The reader goes on reading in rapt attention until she has reached the end where you have your call to action.

Here is a good example of the concept of slippery slide being used for paid content:

Slippery slide Netflix advertisement a New York Times screenshot

The above screenshot is an advertisement masquerading as an article.

When you read the headline “Women inmates: Why the male model doesn’t work”, you feel as if you are reading an article on jail reforms.

Even the subtext, “As the number of women inmates soars, so does the need for policies and programs that meet their needs” makes you believe it is an article.

It is in fact an advertisement for the Netflix series Orange Is the New Black.

Here is another example of a Volkswagen ad that shows the power of the slippery slide in copywriting:

Volkswagen ad crooked wheels

It shows the image of a car raised in the air. Its wheels are crooked.

The headline beneath the image asks, “Why are the wheels crooked?”

The reader or the viewer has the same question: why do the wheels appear crooked?

After the question being reaffirmed, the reader wants to find out.

The remaining copy of the ad explains that the crooked wheels in the car are not a defect but a feature.

How exactly does the slippery slide work in copywriting?

In the concept of slippery slide or slippery slope, your copywriting follows a set pattern.

The pattern goes like this:

Slippery slide in copywriting explained

Headline or image: This needs to be the strongest because unless this captures your reader’s imagination, they are not going to read further. A strong headline makes them read the subheading.
Subheading: It provides additional information in such a manner that the reader wants to read what comes next.
Introduction: It is the first sentence of your copy, followed by the second or the third sentence. Every sentence must prompt the reader to read the next sentence.
Remaining copy: Keep your remaining copy sticky. Keep them wanting to know more.
The end of the copy: This is where your CTA appears. It is a big achievement that you have made them read the entire copy and there is a great chance they will act upon the CTA.

Is slippery slide in copywriting just about an ad or web page?

Not necessarily.

You can create a complex marketing funnel.

That funnel itself can be a slippery slide.

For example, you publish lots of content and spread it using channels like Google, LinkedIn and Instagram.

People come across your content and want to know more about you.

They have entered your funnel.

They have climbed upon your slippery slide.

They follow you.

They subscribe to your updates.

They have started sliding.

The remain your followers.

They don’t unsubscribe.

They occasionally respond and engage.

They are going down the slippery slide.

Some of them eventually buy from you.

Hence, you can see that the slippery slide or the slippery slope can also exist in the form of your sales or marketing funnel.

Is slippery slide also used in content writing?

When you are writing online, the line between content writing and copywriting is constantly being blurred.

Many clients hire me as a content writer, but I work as a copywriter for their website.

Even when you are writing a blog post that is intended to generate sales, you are working as a copywriter.

Even if you are writing a blog post for information purposes, you need to attract traffic.

How to create your own slippery slide effect in copywriting

Frankly, this is just a fancy term for what you may call, old wine in new bottle.

Every promotional material that you write must be engaging and must be able to hook your readers into reading the whole copy.

Good and engaging copy often conforms to the concept of slippery slide or slippery slope in copywriting.

You need a headline that makes people read the fine print.

The fine print must have a narrative.

It must tell a story.

People should be made curious to know what is going to happen next.

You can take a calculated risk and use a headline that is not misleading, but has got nothing to do with the copy.

You can use the same treatment coming up with subject lines for your email – not misleading people, but being creative so that when people read the subject line, they open the email.

Hence, you may need to create a slippery slide headline to make people click your link and come to your blog post.

Take for example a headline

Why my horse is laughing to the bank

This is a typical slippery slide or slippery slope headline.

The reader would immediately want to know why this horse is laughing all the way to the bank?

If you want to have a step-by-step approach to slippery slide copywriting, you can do the following:

Craft a compelling headline that makes people eager to read your web page or blog post.
Make a strong introduction; in the introduction people must get an idea of what you’re offering.
Keep the readers on the edge of the seat.
Use crisp, smaller sentences that can be read fast.
Use simple language, again, so that your copy can be read fast.
Every sentence must lead to a culmination.
In the end, sum up everything because it is easier to remember the last thing that someone has read.
Present the call to action.

Can content writing help your business stand out from the noise?

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Your content writing voice helps your business stand out

Do you know there are 600 million blogs on the Internet?

7.5 million blog posts are published every day.

500 hours of video is uploaded on YouTube every minute.

With so many platforms like Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn and Medium, hundreds of terabytes of data are being injected into the Internet every minute.

At various levels, all these platforms have their highly evolved algorithms to help you find the content that you’re looking for (for example Google or YouTube), still, with every search bringing up hundreds of thousands of results, you need to be able to stand out for people to take note of you.

There is too much noise on the Internet.

What is voice and what is noise?

Your car engine gives out noise.

Your fan gives out noise.

The droning sound of a machine running nearby is noise.

When you sit in a busy restaurant or café, lots of people are talking at the same time; unless someone is sitting at your table, you cannot make out who is saying what.

Therefore, noise is a sound that you can hear but it does not contain words.

Voice is normally referred to as the sound that comes from human mouth.

Voice contains words and sentences.

It is distinguishable.

It contains familiar intonations and vocal ups and downs.

Voice can be a speech or even a song.

You should be able to understand what is being conveyed for it to be voice.

You don’t say, “She is an influential noise in the profession.”

You say, “She is an influential voice in the profession.”

The biggest difference between noise and voice is that you cannot make sense of noise (except for basic things like what is the noise like and where it might be coming from) but you can make sense of voice.

Your friend has a voice. Your colleague has a voice. Your child has a voice.

You understand the meaning of voice.

The Internet is full of noise though.

Not everything is meaningless, but most of it is.

The Internet is like a busy café.

With so much content out there, it becomes an indecipherable chatter.

If you become a part of the usual chatter, your message too turns into noise.

Content writing helps you turn your noise into voice

Your content writing helps you make an impact so that your audience pays attention to your message.

Quality content writing services can help you elevate your brand voice to a level that it rises above the noise and becomes distinguishable.

Why is it important to be distinguishable?

If there is nothing to distinguish you from your competitors, how do you expect people to not just find you but also decide to buy your product or subscribe to your service?

One needs to identify a business to be able to buy something from it.

Your prospective customers and clients should be able to identify your business to single you out and prefer you over other businesses.

You see, the Internet is not your normal marketplace.

There are practically unlimited choices for your customers and clients.

They can decide to go to any website.

It’s all a matter of doing a search on Google or coming across a website’s name on one of the social media websites.

People can also purchase from mobile apps these days.

Hence, you need to stand out.

This can be achieved with quality content writing with a personal touch.

People should be able to identify you for your content.

It can be your unique writing style.

It can be the unencumbered quality that you provide.

It can be your authority over a subject.

Two things are very important:

A strong sense of identity and uniqueness.
Uncompromising relevance.

What are the benefits of developing your own content writing voice?

The basic purpose is to sound unique.

The words, the expressions, even the slight liberties that you take with grammar and spelling, make you stand out.

Your copywriting voice helps you reinforce your first impression that you make on your customers and clients.

It helps you make an emotional connection with your readers.

You establish a personality for your brand and you stand out from the crowd.

Developing your voice gives you the following benefits:

Your business is memorable: It is essential for every business to make a memorable impression. People are more likely to remember you if they can recognize your writing voice.
It’s easier to identify you: This is very important for highlighting your brand. People should be able to differentiate you from your competitors. They should clearly know what your values are, what you stand for and what your opinions are.
You build trust: Your customers and clients trust you more if they become familiar with your voice and relate your presence with the values and opinions they hold dear.

Some good examples of good brand voice through content writing

Your content writing voice or your brand voice is a consistent way of communicating your message to your audience.

Language is important. Words are important. They can shape the way people think of your brand.

Many brands carefully craft messages using their own writing style and choice of words. I’m mentioning some of them below:

LetsShave

It’s an Indian company selling shaving and grooming products for men and women (and people in between).

I have been buying razors and shaving foam from them ever since they actively started promoting in India.

In all their promotions they have a very casual, conversational language.

It’s as if they’re talking to you.

They don’t sound like a company or an organization.

Even when they are promoting their products, they are recommending them in such a manner that it is in your best interest to buy them.

Their messaging is unique to them.

They are the perfect example of having a consistent voice when talking to target customers.

They never sound salesy.

Their conversational style made me switch from Gillette to LetsShave, maybe within 10 minutes.

LetsShave content voice

Starbucks

Starbucks takes its content voice so seriously that it has a special guidelines section for the company’s brand voice.

The company insists that its messaging is functional and expressive.

Its copywriters anticipate the audience needs and then create an enjoyable experience for everyone involved.

The company takes strong political stands without hurting someone and it uses expressive copy for this.

They also believe in telling “passionate coffee stories”.

Starbucks branding voice

Mailchimp

I’ve used the MailChimp service on and off, but I have always found their branding voice quite fascinating.

In the beginning they used to have a chimp cartoon on its home page with various funny captions (due to them being MailChimp).

These days they mostly showcase their customers who have used the email marketing service to create their businesses.

MailChimp has a separate section on “voice and tone” where they explain how empowering content can be written by being aware of one’s voice and tone.

They use a conversational voice to convey their messages.

They use plain language.

They also copiously use humor.

MailChimp writing voice

Content writing tips to turn your noise into voice

“It’s not what you say; it’s how you say it.”

If you are a seasoned reader of literature, you can identify writing styles of Hemingway, Charles Dickens, or a famous copywriter like David Ogilvy.

There is a certain texture.

There is a distinguishable tone.

There is a certain rhythm in words and sentences.

Read a few paragraphs and you can recognize the voice of your favorite writer.

Can you develop a similar writing style that is unique?

Yes, you can.

It is not as difficult as it may seem.

Also, whether you are writing content for your own website or for your client, it is important to sound unique to stand out.

If you just sound like the others, your voice becomes the usual chatter and then why should people pay attention to you?

Just like you’re sitting in a restaurant, what the others are talking about becomes “white noise”.

You either need to raise your voice, or you need to say something people really need to pay attention to.

Here are a few things you can do to change your noise into voice when writing content.

Develop a strong opinion

Have you noticed, when you have a strong opinion, the way you speak changes.

You speak with conviction.

There is confidence in your voice.

Even the words that you choose to express yourself are quite forceful.

People around you pay attention to you.

Since you speak with confidence, your sentiments rub onto your listeners, and they easily believe you.

The same happens when you are writing content or copy with a strong opinion.

Your opinion must be informed.

You should form an opinion after thorough research and reading.

When copywriting for a company, do thorough research.

Find out about their product or service as much as you can.

Not just features and specifications, but also the benefits that they can deliver.

How can their product or service change people’s lives?

Gather information about the target audience.

Read about competitors, watch the videos.

The more you know, the stronger will be your opinion.

Without knowledge, without information, without research, your opinion will sound hollow and unconvincing.

Empathise with your readers

Whom are you writing content for?

The simple answer is that you may be writing content for your own website (hence, for yourself), or for one of your clients.

You are writing content for customers or clients – whether your own, or of your client.

You write content to increase engagement level.

You write content to inform and educate people so that they turn into paying customers and clients.

Hence, no matter what you write as a content writer or copywriter, your ultimate readers are the prospective customers and clients.

How do you empathise with them?

Understand their concerns.

What questions and doubts do they have about your product or service?

What problems are they are facing right now?

How pressing are those problems?

What is the biggest benefit your product or service delivers to them?

How can this benefit transform their lives?

Understand their language.

Try to find out the words and expressions they use when they talk about their problems and probable solutions.

Then write your content using those words and expressions.

This will help you speak to them in their own language and consequently, help you find your content writing and copywriting voice.

Do some research and pick their dialect and accent.

Start compiling a list of words and expressions you want to use in your writing

The words and expressions that you use in your writing can have a lasting impact on your voice.

Take for example Nike.

They are targeting sports persons and athletes and people who intend to use lots of physical activity to keep themselves fit.

Their motto is “Just do it”.

Most of the marketing messages from Nike are inspirational and motivational.

They use lots of words like “believe”, “inspire”, “sacrifice”, and “hardwork”.

You find these words repeatedly appearing in their ads.

These words are a big part of their content voice.

Nike branding voice

You can have a similar list of words and expressions that truly represent the voice of your business.

There are many other ways you can develop your own content writing voice including

Practice writing every day.
Write mostly in the first person.
Write in active voice.
Write as if you are having a conversation with your readers.
Avoid using unnecessary words and sentences.
Establish a rhythm – use a mix of varying sentence length.
Don’t try to impress; write to inform and educate.

9 important KPIs you should be tracking when writing content

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Main KPIs to measurement when writing content

I have rarely written about key performance indicators (KPIs) because as a content writer, I write content and deliver the documents to my clients.

After that, it is up to them to decide which KPIs they want to follow.

Nonetheless, if you are writing content for your own website or blog, it is important to know which KPIs to follow to gauge the performance of your individual blog posts and web pages.

Content writing KPIs – what do they mean?
Why is it beneficial to measure KPIs when writing content?
How to choose which KPIs to track for web pages and blog posts writing?

Content writing KPIs – what do they mean?

You need to take the right key performance indicators to know if your content is achieving the desired results.

Why do you publish a blog post?

Why do you publish a web page?

Every blog post or web page needs to perform otherwise, you are wasting time and money.

Of course, the most common reason for publishing a blog post or web page is to improve search engine rankings.

I have clients who want to cover all their primary and secondary keywords through publishing blog posts.

For them, the biggest KPI is the search engine rankings attained by a particular blog post or web page.

Organizations that take content marketing seriously want their blog posts and web pages perform different tasks.

Every single blog post or web page has an ROI attached to it.

Though, I must quickly add that it’s quite difficult to calculate the ROI of a particular blog post or web page in isolation because all the blog posts and web pages collectively work towards delivering the needed ROI.

That’s a different issue.

But when it comes to tracking key performance indicators, there are multiple tools available that allow you to gauge performance at individual blog post and web page level.

Below I am listing different KPIs that you can observe, but knowing them collectively can help you fine tune your existing blog posts and web pages and make improvements to your future publishing efforts.

Studying content writing KPIs is of course, additional work.

You may need to set up Google analytics in a certain way.

You may need to generate URL parameters for different mediums where you promote your links.

But it is worth the effort.

Once you incorporate the measurement of KPIs into your overall content writing and content marketing effort, the results can be remarkable.

Why is it beneficial to measure KPIs when writing content?

Without the KPIs, writing and publishing content may be like hitting darts in darkness.

Or throwing mud on the wall and seeing what sticks and what falls on the ground.

If you don’t regularly measure KPIs you will never know how well your content is performing.

If you need to make changes to your content writing and publishing strategy, without observing KPIs, it is nearly impossible.

You write and publish content regularly because

You want to improve your search engine rankings.
You want repeat visitors.
You want people to stay on your website or blog for longer.
You want to engage your audience.
You want to generate more leads.
You want people on social media to talk about your business and share your content.
In general, you want to generate more business.

Each web page and blog post that you publish is a building block.

These building blocks need to be strong.

They need to perform well.

Unless individual building blocks perform well, your overall content publishing effort will be lacklustre.

Therefore, it is important to regularly measure the KPIs of your individual web pages and blog posts.

By regularly checking your KPIs you can analyse which content writing tactic is working and which isn’t.

Then accordingly you can make changes to your existing and future web pages and blog posts.

How to choose which KPIs to track for web page and blog post writing?

Which KPIs to choose when writing content

There are different KPIs for content writing and content marketing.

Writing and publishing content regularly is a subset of content marketing – without content, there is no marketing.

Hence, the set of KPIs that is applicable to content writing and copywriting is a subset of the KPIs for content marketing.

For this blog post, since I’m talking about KPIs for writing content, I have included the key performance indicators that are used with content marketing.

The key performance indicators mentioned in this blog post are only related to writing and publishing content – individual web pages and blog posts.

Time on page
Bounce rate
Scroll depth
CTR
Conversion rate
Inbound links
Social shares
Traffic from social media
Search engine rankings

Time on page

Time on page – content writing KPI

This is the time people spend on your web page or blog post after coming to your website.

They may come across your link on Google, some social media platform like LinkedIn or Twitter, or on another website or blog.

They click the link and come to the particular web page or blog post.

How much time do they spend on this particular link?

This is also called “average time on page” and even “average session duration”, but to find the average you need to first calculate the overall time people spend on your website.

If they spend more time on your page or blog post it means it is performing well and providing the visitors the information they are looking for.

Calculating time on page using Google Analytics can be a challenge, according to many.

The problem is that one, Google Analytics doesn’t start ticking the clock unless the visitor does some action (like scrolling or clicking an image), and two, it has no way of finding out that even if someone is on your page, is he or she still on the same tab or has moved on to another web page in another tab, without closing this tab.

Additional scripts and JavaScript coding is needed to accurately find time on page but the basic information on Google Analytics can give you a head start.

What is the use of this KPI?

You can find the usability of individual web pages and blog posts.

If people stay longer, it means they’re finding your information useful.

You can study these web pages and blog posts where people spend more time and then create similar web pages and blog posts to increase your overall stickiness.

Bounce rate

Bounce rate – web page writing KPI

This content writing KPI helps you find out whether your individual web pages and blog posts can keep people from going away or not.

A higher bounce rate can negatively affect your search engine rankings.

Your bounce rate is the percentage of people who arrive on a particular web page or blog post and then leave your website without exploring further.

They don’t scroll much.

Average bounce rate is 41%-51%.

What is a good bounce rate, depends on your industry.

Here are some benchmark bounce rate averages for different industries from Custom Media Labs

Bounce rates in different industries

To lower your bounce rate your current web page or blog post must encourage people to stay on the website and explore other parts.

Scroll depth

Scroll depth is a KPI you may not have heard of much.

In Google Analytics you can set a percentage, something like 10% or 50% to measure scroll depth.

Vertical scroll depth is based on how far down a user has scrolled on your web page.

If your content is interesting and useful, your visitors are going to scroll down more.

You need to make your content compelling to make sure that people scroll down and read the entire page or blog post.

One of the best ways of making people scroll down is making every sentence count.

It is like, your headline must make people read your first sentence.

Your first sentence must encourage people to read the second sentence.

Your second sentence must encourage your visitors to read the third sentence.

And so on.

This Google support web page describes how you can set up triggers that will enable Google Analytics to reveal to you how much people are scrolling when they visit your web pages and blog posts.

CTR – click through ratio

Click through ratio KPI

For content writing and content marketing, this is one of the most important KPIs.

If you check your Google Analytics data, you come across the CTR column that tells you how many people clicked the link out of how many impressions.

The number of impressions is the number of times your link became visible to people when they searched Google for a related search term.

So, if your link earned 100 impressions and 20 people clicked the link, your CTR is 20% for that web page or blog post.

Although your CTR depends on your search engine rankings (as far as SEO goes) it also depends on how compelling your web page or blog post title is.

When you are writing content, coming up with a title that would prompt people to click, is as important as writing the actual content.

The CTR KPI is not just used for the purpose of search engine optimization.

It is also used to decide the performance of online ads such as Google ads.

But right now, we’re just sticking to content writing KPIs.

Conversion rate

Conversion rate is mostly considered for landing pages and email campaigns but even your normal web pages and blog posts can have conversion rate.

Conversion rate means, how many people perform the CTA (call-to-action) of the web page or the blog post.

You publish a blog post to get more subscribers for your newsletter.

How many people subscribed after visiting that blog post in a month?

You want people to download your e-book.

How many people downloaded the e-book after visiting that blog post?

The same is true for your landing page copy.

How many people carried out the CTA?

Good copywriting generates a better conversion rate.

If your conversion rate KPI is not good, you need to reassess your individual web pages and blog posts.

Inbound links

Inbound links are important for SEO.

They can also send you a ton of direct traffic if you get inbound links from high traffic websites.

Most of the website owners and blog publishers don’t link to your homepage.

They link to a specific blog post or web page that they want to refer to.

This Search Engines Journal post explains in detail the relevance of inbound links from authoritative websites.

There are different tools available to find inbound links to your website as well as individual web pages and blog posts.

You may like to explore the Moz inbound links explorer, but it comes with an expensive package of Moz Pro.

Social shares

The social shares KPI of your written content is a great proof of how popular your web page or blog post is.

If you use WordPress to publish your website or blog there are innumerable plugins available to show social sharing buttons.

These plugins also keep a count of how many times people have shared your link on social media.

There are many third-party services available that help you manage your social media marketing.

Social sharing is one of the biggest proofs of the quality and relevance of the content you publish.

People share your content only when they feel it is share worthy.

Traffic from social media

Social media traffic depends on two factors:

The relevance and the demand of the link that you have posted on various social media platforms.
The size of your presence on social media.

No matter how good the quality of your content is, if you don’t have a significant presence on social media, you’re not going to get much traction.

Even if you have a sizable presence, if your title and description does not inspire your contacts and followers, they are not going to click the link and come to your website.

Search engine traffic

This is one of the most important KPIs when you are writing content.

Every content writer and online copywriter want their content to rank higher and clients are ready to pay a premium for this capability.

Most of the websites and blogs publish a ton of content primarily for search engine traffic.

Hence, the purpose of every individual blog post and website is to generate search engine traffic for relevant keywords.

Websites and blog posts that generate more search engine traffic are obviously well written and optimized.

Sometimes even badly written content ranks higher but that happens by fluke.

Measuring content writing KPIs is additional work but it is a part of the overall content marketing effort.

Keeping track of different KPIs can help you

Increase your conversion rate.
Write better, targeted content.
Boost engagement.
Increase brand awareness.

KPIs let you know whether the content that you are writing and publishing is delivering results or not.

Your KPIs give you a direction and enable you to write content that resonates with your audience.

6 e-commerce copywriting tricks you can master right now

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E-commerce copywriting tricks you can master right now

Although copywriting always has a commercial aspect to it, e-commerce copywriting means writing copy for e-commerce websites.

So, naturally, the primary purpose of your writing becomes: influencing maximum number of people so that they purchase from your website.

Main topics covered in this blog post are

What is e-commerce copywriting?
What does e-commerce copywriting achieve for you?
E-commerce copywriting tricks you can start implementing right now

A great difference between an online and off-line store is that in an online store, when someone comes to shop, they are alone and unassisted.

It is your words that do all the selling.

Your copy is the salesperson.

Frankly, there is no hard-and-fast rule on what effective e-commerce copywriting is because scores of factors are playing together.

One word that may influence one buyer may dissuade another buyer from making the purchase.

Consequently, your copy goes through lots of testing before it can be decided whether it is effective.

What is e-commerce copywriting?

In the context of the Internet, e-commerce copywriting must be able to describe the benefits of your product and at the same time, improve your search engine rankings.

To be an effective e-commerce copywriter, you must be a strong communicator.

You must be able to persuade people with words.

You should be able to understand the psychology of why people purchase a certain product or subscribe to a certain service.

Copywriting for e-commerce websites can be done for your own online store or you can write product descriptions for an Amazon or Shopify store.

Such copywriting can be done for individual products.

You can do copywriting for an e-commerce website at different locations such as the homepage, the landing page, the about us page or the blog.

E-commerce copywriting means writing content for an online store.

It may include writing headlines, product categories, product descriptions, brochure copy or email campaigns.

E-commerce copywriting may also involve writing sales letters, social media posts, and advertisements.

It is one of the most important tools in your marketing bag.

The copy needs to be able to sell.

It must convert and generate leads and then eventually, sales.

What does e-commerce copywriting achieve for you?

Copywriting for e-commerce gives you the following benefits:

It helps your brand look unique.
It can be a great differentiator.
Good copywriting can improve your conversion rate.
It can highlight the benefits of your products and services so that it becomes easier for your prospective customers and clients to decide in your favor.
It makes the first good impression.
You can keep your customers focused throughout the entire sales funnel.
Well-written e-commerce copy can improve your search engine rankings.
It makes your content shareable.
It hits the right tone with your customers and clients.
It builds your company’s image.
When you tell your brand story, it forms an emotional bond with your readers.
It persuades your visitors to take a constructive action.

E-commerce copywriting tricks you can start implementing right now

These e-commerce copywriting tricks will equip you to write effective copy that entices your audience to take a favorable action

1. Create psychological triggers in e-commerce copywriting

Psychological triggers can be

Greed
Fear of missing out
Desire to belong
Curiosity
Sense of urgency
Instant gratification
Sense of honor
Guilt
Hope
Familiarity
Current fads
Proof of value
Exclusivity
Respect for authority

95% purchasing decisions stem from the subconscious mind.

You are more likely to respond to a piece of copywriting that uses emotional psychology.

An emotional urgency like fear is commonly used by insurance companies and security agencies.

Example of copywriting inciting fear

The above copy scares you even when you have not fallen victim to a home invasion.

Until we are attacked, we cannot relate to someone who has been attacked.

The above ad makes us feel like a victim and hence, scares us out of our wits.

In the same vein, WordPress uses a sense of authority – “world’s most popular website builder”.

Copywriting asserting authority

You certainly want to use the world’s most popular and the most widely used website builder.

In many shopping carts listings, you must have seen “3 items left” – such messages create a sense of scarcity.

2. Create attractive headlines

Headlines are very important in e-commerce copywriting.

A successful headline must satisfy the 4 Us:

Unique
Ultra-specific
Urgent
Useful

The e-commerce product headline must encapsulate the essence of the product, or the item being sold.

Usually when we are talking about headlines it is mostly about headlines for blog posts, articles, or even newsletters.

Headlines are also important for your product listings.

It is the headline that people see the first.

It makes the most important impact.

What should a headline of an e-commerce listing contain?

The name of the item
The most compelling reason to buy it

E-commerce headline displaying convenience

The headline above shows convenience.

No reason to visit the neighborhood mall every month.

Your favorite clothes are delivered to you every month.

An ultra-specific headline

The above headline is quite specific.

The sleepwear is “good in bed” whether you look at it from the point of view of looking good or for comfort.

3. Keep your language simple

E-commerce copywriting is not the right place to show your language prowess.

Use very simple, straightforward language.

Example of simple language used in e-commerce copywriting

In the description above, just observe how simply all the highlights are presented.

The Solo Stove Lite is lightweight, cooks for 1-2 people, you can use wood or twigs, it generates little smoke, and it is made of stainless steel.

In the description there is not a single word you don’t understand.

In simple language the writer explains that the stove can be carried on a picnic or a hike without much fuss.

There is no need to carry fuel.

Why is it important to use simple language in e-commerce copywriting?

When people reach the product listing, they are at a very crucial stage.

They are about to buy.

They are about to place an order.

Even a small distraction can send them away.

Hence, it is important to use simple, precise words that convey the true essence of your product.

The main features.

The convenience it provides.

The overwhelming reason to buy it.

Another example of using simple language when copywriting for e-commerce

Above is another example of using simple language to describe great features.

The e-commerce copywriting above draws parallels between “Before Basecamp” and “After Basecamp”.

Although Basecamp is a heavily technology company, you can read in the description that there is no technology jargon.

They have simply explained what problems people may face when they don’t use Basecamp and then what are the advantages once they start using it.

In e-commerce copywriting, it is super important that you avoid wordy sentences, highlight more benefits than features, and use lots of action words such as “Buy Now” or “Download Now”.

4. Tell success stories

Success stories in e-commerce copywriting can be testimonials or positive comments made by customers and clients.

They can also describe someone who has used a product and immensely benefited from it.

Success stories are relatable.

They are not just claims made by the company.

The product or service is used by a real person and then that real person describes his or her experience.

Here is how the flow of an e-commerce success story goes:

The customer or the shopper is your hero.
They were facing an overwhelming problem.
For a fairly long time they were looking for a solution.
The problem had reached its peak and the situation was dire.
Then they came across your product.
They were swayed by the benefits and features.
They purchased it.
Now they are living happily ever after.

5. Use persuasive words when copywriting for e-commerce

Persuasive words can supercharge your e-commerce copywriting but for them to be effective, you need to know for whom you’re writing.

Examples of using persuasive words:

Easy to install.
Exclusive offer just for you.
Free for a limited period.
Get it right now.
Outstanding results guaranteed.
You are going to love it.
Best software in its category.
500,000 people trust us with their money
The offer expires in three days.
A bargain that will be foolish to miss.
A powerful way to optimize your website.
Win exciting prizes.
Deadline fast approaching.
The offer ends soon.
Verified investment opportunities.

6. Optimize e-commerce copywriting for SEO

I have always believed that search engine optimization is about using the right language and presenting the information in its correct form.

When optimizing your e-commerce copywriting for SEO make sure that the main headline or the title of the product listing contains the right keyword.

Will people be searching by the name of your product or the benefit that it delivers?

Suppose you’re selling an SEO analytics tool.

The name of your SEO analytics tool is Zolo.

You can write a headline like

Zolo – the only SEO analytics tool you will ever need

Zolo – the complete SEO analytics tool

or even better

SEO analytics tool – improve your search visibility in 2 weeks

Although the name is missing, you can use the name in the description.

These are easy e-commerce copywriting tricks that you can start implementing even in your ongoing project.