Category Archives: Copywriting and Content Writing Tips

Want to be a better copywriter? Know your customers/readers

Effective copywriting and content writing is always preceded by a thorough understanding of your target market – your customers, your readers. Want to be a better copywriter? Think from the perspective of your customers. And in order to be a better online copywriter you also need to understand how the search engines interpret what you have written.

Of course we all have different definitions of being better. By being a better copywriter I mean you can improve your conversion rate and by being a better online copywriter along with improving the conversion rate you also improve your search engine rankings. In the end what matters is what the results are and how consistently your copy can perform.

When you understand the needs and desires of your target readers you can provide them exactly what they are looking for. An average surfer on the Internet is looking for solutions. Even when people are looking for brands they are actually looking for solutions. For instance if I am looking for an iPhone, although I am looking for a particular brand I am actually looking for two things: my desire to own a trendy gadget and the things that I can do with all the functions the phone carries. You have to cater to both the aspects if you want people to buy iPhones from your online store.

So when you are working on a copy understand what your customer is looking for and highlight that thing. If you are promoting yourself as an online copywriter, along with highlighting the sort of service you are providing, also highlight the greatest benefit your clients are looking for in case they want to hire you.

Do they want a more professional voice on their website or blog?
Are they looking for a particular style of writing?
Are they looking for a particular expertise (technical writer, medical writer, film critic, instructional writer, blogger, SEO writer, etc.)?
Do they want to improve their conversion rate?

These kinds of things immediately convey to your prospective customer or client you have what they are looking for. If you simply go on and on about what a great writer you are and how many clients you have worked for it is not going to make much impact.

This goes for any kind of product or service. Whenever you are starting to write think about what your customer or client would like to read. If it helps make a list of all the things your customer can gain if he or she purchases your product. Feel enthusiastic about all the benefits your product can offer. Why must your customer feel excited about your product or service? This should be the starting point.

I understand your needs and I can meet them

Instilling confidence and trust with your copy

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This excellent post at Copyblogger talks about imaginary trolls that stop your customers and clients from doing business with you.

It is a bad, bad world isn’t it? Especially so on the Internet where every unscrupulous element can quickly set up a website and start executing his or her spurious activities to deprive you of your money. The situation is worsened by the fact that the Internet has no geographical boundaries and it is not bound by local jurisdictions. So someone in America can easily cheat someone in India and vice versa.

As rightly mentioned in the Copyblogger link, we are all haunted by our previous experiences whenever we want to buy something or subscribe to something. The imminent fraud is amplified when money is involved; you feel more stupid when you pay for something that you don’t get.

A person trying to sell a product or service on the Internet has to overcome a greater challenge compared to the actual world. On the Internet the only mode of communication is your website. You are not just fighting with mistrust you are also fighting with a zillion distractions. In order to the business on the Internet your website copy has to:

Engage the prospect
Dispel his or her fears and apprehensions
Lead him or her to carry out the transaction

How can you do that?

Have lots of quality content

The first thing that you can do is have lots of quality content on your website. Having lots of quality content on your website means that you are really putting your money and effort where your mouth is. You will put so much effort only if you are serious about your work and feel confident about delivering.

Aside from establishing a sense of confidence high quality content also helps you attract targeted traffic from search engines, blogs and social media websites.

Provide all possible solutions

When a prospect arrives at your website he or she is full of questions not only regarding what he or she wants but also regarding how well you can deliver. You need to answer all the questions your visitor can possibly come up with. Take for instance these questions:

Are you for real? Display your contact information prominently. A photograph may also help. A regularly updated blog is quite reassuring and if you are constantly interacting with your visitors, nothing like it. Create a strong social media presence so that your customer or client knows that your reputation is at stake if you don’t perform.
Is my money safe? How do I make sure that I will receive the product or the service once I have paid? Properly explain this procedure on your website and also clearly specify what your refund policy is in case something bad happens and the customer is unable to receive the product on the service.
Are you easily reachable? Make sure that you are just one call away in case the customer or the client needs to call you.

There might be many more questions; it depends on the kind of product or service you are providing.

Put visitors’ interest first

Okay, this reminds me to change my copy to (I am constantly learning and sometimes I teach myself). Highlight benefits instead of features. Handle the most pertinent question in the very beginning: what is the greatest benefit of your product or service? For instance, if I write your copy how is it going to benefit your business or your presence on the Internet? There are two things I am confident about:

Increasing your conversion rate
Writing search engine optimized content to increase your search engine rankings

Now, a person shouldn’t be bothered about how well I write and how I can juggle around words and how well-read I am. Can I really solve your problem? If you want to increase your conversion rate can I achieve that for you through my copywriting services? If you want more traffic from search engines can I do that?

Put your visitors’ interest first instead of blowing your own horn and feeling gung ho about what a great offer you have got.

What do your existing customers and clients have to say about you and your business?

For this you need a testimonials page where you publish all the great things your customers and clients have to say about you and your business. In fact your testimonial page is one of the most important aspects of your website.

The basic idea is that your copy should communicate a sense of trustworthiness and accountability.

What type of content actually moves your visitors?

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You publish content on your website or blog with a purpose. In fact whenever you publish something on your website or blog (from now onwards I’ll only say website and you can assume it for your blog too), you want it to do something. You don’t publish content without purpose. This is why in order to come up with effective and compelling content you must be clear about its purpose. Ask yourself the following questions:

Do you want people to purchase something from your website, or subscribe to your service or RSS feeds, or hire you, after reading your content?
Do you want them to click the advertisements that you have published on your website?
Do you want them to engage in conversation in order to build your brand?
Do you want them to promote your content on their own websites and blogs and on various social media and social networking websites?
Do you want to increase your search engine traffic?
Do you want to improve your conversion rate?

There can be many more questions but these are the fundamental questions you should ask yourself while creating your content strategy. Once you know what you want to actually achieve by publishing content on your website you can generate better content.

We all want to publish content that moves our visitors into taking some desired action. Your visitors will be moved if your content gives them what they seek. So after figuring out what you want your content to achieve for you, you have to figure out what it achieves for your visitors. Does it provide something that they desperately need?

When a visitor comes to your website he or she is normally:

Trying to purchase something in order to satisfy a need or an urge
Looking for a solution to a nagging problem
Looking for information that he or she may not find easily somewhere else
Searching for entertainment or amusement
Seeking advice or encouragement, or love
Looking for an outlet
Looking for a service provider

Again they can be hundreds of more reasons for people to come to your website, you had to figure that out.

So in order to come up with content that moves your visitors:

You must know why people should come to your website
How your content is going to convey that you really have what they seek, and do it convincingly

Writing an effective press release

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Effective Internet press release copywriting can generate lots of traffic and leads for your business. You can distribute your press release through websites or through e-mail. The formats for press releases for websites and for e-mails will be slightly different. You can have a longer press release on a webpage but when it comes to writing a press release for e-mail it needs to be quite catchy and succinct since these days anything related to promotion and business can easily be taken as spam and hence ignored.

The purpose of a press release

A press release is needed to disseminate information regarding a product, a service, an organization or a policy change. Suppose you have just launched a new product in the market. How do you let people know about your new product? In case your visitors have allowed you to send them e-mail notifications you can use their e-mail addresses to send the news. This can be either termed as a newsletter issue or an e-mail press release. You may also have an e-mail list of various journalists covering your area and you can send the press release to them too.

In case you don’t have a big database of e-mail addresses, or you have very few e-mail addresses, the best thing to do is utilize the services of a press release websites such as PRWeb.com. You can even use the various social networking and social bookmarking websites to distribute your press release but a formal agency that specifically handles this task is better suited for this.

Writing an effective press release

It matters a lot how you write your press release. Press release, as the name suggests is a piece of information that you release the news distribution websites and newspapers so that they can feature it under appropriate sections. Online press releases are distributed for raising awareness as well as improving search engine rankings because incoming links from reputed press release websites draw lots of relevance from search engines. Here are a few things that can help you write an effective press release.

Beginning with an introduction. People immediately want to know what you’re talking about; what company is being represented and what product or service is being talked about. In a press release you don’t beat around the bush.
Keep your language straight. When you’re writing a press release there is no scope for being “creative” in the sense that you have to straightaway mention what’s the big deal about the company, the website, the service or the product being covered in the press release. Don’t be vague because when people read a press release they are simply looking for factual information they can use. They don’t want to see your vocabulary and they don’t want to experience your literary depth. Say what needs to be said and be done with that, in as simple words as possible.
Talk to the target audience. A press release is as targeted as it gets. If it is being published in a technology publication you have to keep in mind that people reading your press release will easily understand the jargons and the expressions used while writing literature on technology and technology related affairs. Even if your present unease is going to be published on a generic press release website than too your press release will be published under the most appropriate category. In fact there is a chance that people will be accessing your press release through the RSS reader if they have subscribed to a particular category feed.
Quote an important person. People are reassured if somebody important from the organization about whom the press release is being written is quoted. For instance what does the product development manager have to say about the new features being introduced, and how they are at adhering to the quality standards why lowering their prices?
Include proper contact information. Most probably people will be interested in the product or the service (well, that is the purpose of the press release), or at least they would like to know some more. Include your website address, the e-mail and if possible, the contact person’s name and phone number along with the timings.

Please remember that a press release is not a sales copy. Wear the hat of a journalist while preparing the press release. Even a small hint of hard selling or a tone of partiality can put your readers off. Simply report, and include all the relevant information that can help the readers decide on their own.