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5 Reasons your online copywriting is not converting

5 reasons your online copywriting is not converting

No matter how much traffic your online copywriting generates, unless people do business with you or unless they do what you want them to do, it doesn’t matter much.

Your online copywriting must convert.

Read: 10 copywriting tips to boost your website conversion rate

What is conversion?

In terms of writing content for your website (even your blog) conversion means people doing what you want them to do.

Conversion can be macro and micro.

Macro conversion means more people buying from you and more people using your service.

Micro-conversion can be anything.

You may want your visitors to download your e-book or your white paper.

You may want them to subscribe to your email newsletter.

You may even want to encourage them to come to your website or blog frequently.

You want to engage them.

Your macro conversion is the sum total of your micro-conversions.

The more engagement you have with your visitors, the greater are the chances of them becoming your paying customers and clients.

Here is a comprehensive explanation of the difference between micro-conversions and macro conversion. A long read, it is also good example of a pillar page as well as long form content.

How do you know your online copywriting isn’t converting?

Of course, if you are not generating enough sales it means your online copywriting is not converting.

If you are not getting regular subscribers to your newsletter it means your content is not inspiring people enough.

If people are not downloading your e-book, they don’t find your content or your copy worthy enough.

Somehow, your copywriting isn’t making a mark.

People are not impressed.

They are not finding what they are looking for.

You need to evaluate your writing.

Unless you know why your conversion rate is very low or even non-existent, you cannot make amends.

Listed below are 5 reasons why your online copywriting is not converting.

1. You are focusing more on yourself and less on your customers and clients

When people come to your website, they’re not interested in you just for the heck of it.

They have a problem and they are looking for a solution.

They have a need and they are looking for someone who can fulfill that need.

If you come to my website looking for someone who can improve your SEO with online copywriting, you don’t want to know what a great copywriter I am.

You want to know whether I understand your problem or not and accordingly, I can improve your SEO.

YOUR problem should be my focus, not my skills and abilities.

Of course, you need to know my skills and abilities, but they should be integrated into a you-centric message.

If you focus more on yourself and less on your customers and clients, there is no emotional connection and people leave your website without doing business with you.

2. You don’t have a call-to-action

What do you want people to do when they are on your website?

If you are simply busy generating traffic from search engines and social media websites without making it clear exactly what you can offer, your conversion rate is going to be low.

Your copywriting should make it clear that you are in the business of providing solutions people are looking for.

3. Your online copywriting is not web friendly

People have a certain way of reading text on their mobile phones and even on their PCs and laptops.

I have repeatedly written on my website that people don’t read blogs and websites the way they read traditional magazines and newspapers.

The digital world is full of distractions.

While you are browsing a website or a blog, you are constantly being disturbed by notifications and by the possibilities of easily going to another website or blog.

Since most of the people may be accessing your website or blog on their mobile phone, they may be sitting at a crowded and noisy place.

The point is, online copywriting needs to take into account zillions of distractions.

Write very short sentences.

Be clear about what you are saying.

Cover every important point as quickly as possible so that even if someone leaves your website midway, he or she knows what you are trying to communicate.

Keep your copy easily scannable.

Organize your text under various headings and subheadings and bullet points.

Don’t beat around the bush.

4. You have a misleading headline or web page title

Many people come to your website after coming across your link on Google or one of the social media websites like Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter.

They will be drawn to your website due to the title or the headline that they read.

Some writers create misleading headlines and titles to draw people to the website or blog thinking that the only purpose of their writing is generating traffic.

Many entrepreneurs mistakenly think that it’s all about getting traffic to the website, whereas it is not.

Yes, you need traffic, but more than traffic, you need people who are actually interested in doing business with you.

When you use misleading headlines and web page titles, people feel cheated and they quickly leave your website.

5. You are not getting rightly targeted traffic

Rightly targeted traffic means getting those people to your website who would like to become your paying customers and clients.

For this, through your online copywriting, you need to target searcher’s intent: why people are looking for that particular piece of information?

In the beginning, when people had just started doing business online, I was providing web design and web programming services.

I mostly focused on creating and publishing HTML and PHP tutorials on my website.

Though I was able to generate lots of traffic, I rarely got clients.

Instead of targeting people who were looking for web designers and web programmers to build their websites, inadvertently I was targeting people who themselves wanted to learn web design and web programming.

Routinely publishing educational content is not bad, but publishing educational content just to attract an audience who is interested in learning but not in doing business, can be counter-productive.

Even for my content writing and online copywriting business I share lots of educational content but now I don’t repeat the same mistake.

Even when I’m sharing my knowledge and experience with my visitors, I never neglect the keywords and search terms that bring me content writing and copywriting clients.

Hence, be careful of your targeting when regularly publishing content on your website or blog.

Remember that it’s very chaotic on the web.

People will come across your information among hundreds of other links.

When they come to your website, they may get confusing or mixed signals.

The job of your online copywriting is to make sure that you articulate the benefit of doing business with you, as clearly as possible.

If you don’t do that, you will have a low conversion rate.

Difference between demand generation and lead generation and how it affects your online copywriting

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Demand generation, lead generation and online copywriting

The end result of online copywriting can be very delicate.

It’s like, when you are launching a space probe, even a difference of 0.00003 degree can send your space probe millions of kilometers away from its target.

Small words can make a big difference.

The purpose of your online copywriting is to get the right people to your website or blog.

These people should convert and buy from you, become your customers or your clients.

If, instead of attracting visitors who want to become your paying customers and clients, you are constantly attracting people who want to learn so that they can do on their own what you do professionally, you are not going to get any business.

Again, if I want to attract businesses looking for premium online copywriting services but instead, I attract businesses and individuals who are looking for cheap copywriting services, my targeting is skewed.

Anyway, I’m digressing from the main topic: Difference between demand generation and lead generation and how, knowing the difference, affects your online copywriting.

What is lead generation?

You generate a lead when someone gives you his or her email ID or phone number so that you can keep in touch and preferably, make a business proposition.

Now, when I say someone giving you his or her email ID or phone number, it doesn’t mean any person and for any reason under the sun.

If you give me your email ID or your phone number knowing that I will be promoting my online copywriting services to you and in near future, you may be interested in hiring me, you are a lead for me.

Even if you don’t want to hire me in the foreseeable future but think that somewhere down the line you may need my services and hence you would like me to keep in touch with you, you are a lead.

So, someone who shows interest in your business (knows what your business is) and gives you his or her contact information so that you can keep in touch (about your business) that person is your lead.

What is demand generation?

Different sources have different meaning for demand generation, but what it basically means is, letting people know what you can do for them and what is the benefit of doing business with you.

The demand can be generated in two ways: (1) recognizing an existing gap and filling it, and making people aware of what you have to offer them; (2) making people who know that they need your services but are not aware of your existence, aware of your existence.

When Steve jobs came up with the design of the first iPhone almost everyone scoffed at the idea of a mobile phone without physical buttons.

Now we will scoff at the idea of a mobile phone with physical buttons.

He generated a demand for mobile phones that didn’t have physical buttons, even when people didn’t know that such mobile phones were possible.

Hence, to generate demand, you raise awareness about what you can do.

To promote my online copywriting services, I need to constantly educate people on why quality copywriting is necessary for their websites and blogs and what they are missing if they are not working with a professional online copywriter.

Online copywriting for generating leads

As mentioned above, generating leads means encouraging people to give you their contact information so that you can keep in touch with them and present to them your business proposition.

How do you achieve that through online copywriting?

To understand this, you need to understand why would people give the information to you?

When they trust you.

When they value your advice.

When they trust your knowledge.

I don’t believe in offering people something in lieu of their contact information.

This is why, I’m not comfortable with the idea of offering your prospective leads an e-book or another lucrative offers so that they leave their email ID or their phone number to you.

I would rather offer them valuable content through my blog and website and then leave it up to them whether they want to keep in touch or not.

But then, it depends on your audience. Just the fact that they are ready to give you their email ID to be able to download your e-book means that they value that e-book written and published by you.

Anyway, to generate leads, you need to create a positive presence on the web.

People must feel confident enough to leave their email ID and your phone number with you.

They should feel moved enough to call you or fill up your contact form.

Whether you want to achieve it through quality content writing or through one-off offer of an e-book or a white paper, depends on your marketing strategy.

Online copywriting for demand generation

To generate demand, you need to make people aware of the benefits of your product or service.

Why would you hire my online copywriting services?

You want to improve your SEO.

You want to engage your visitors in positive conversations.

You want to improve your conversion rate.

Hence you are looking for an online copywriting service you can count on.

But for that, you need to know an online copywriting service can deliver you these services.

What if you don’t know that you need these services to run a successful online business?

Then my job is to make you aware.

I need to tell you why search engine traffic is important for your business.

I need to explain to you why engagement is important.

I need to demonstrate how targeted search engine traffic coupled with engagement, can improve your conversion rate.

When I make you aware, I generate demand for my service.

So, basically, both for lead generation and demand generation, you need to make a connection.

The difference is, demand generation is an ongoing awareness campaign whereas lead generation is a consequence of that campaign.

In terms of content, what you should adopt and leave what, in 2020

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How your content marketing should be in 2020

This LinkedIn content marketing blog post compiles insights by various industry experts on what to adopt and what to leave in 2020 while implementing and carrying out a digital marketing and content marketing strategy.

The first, and the most noticeable advise is from Michael Brenner (because I too have been advising the same thing to my clients) who says that marketers should shift away from content randomness and have a clearly-defined idea of why they are publishing a particular piece of content.

He says that brands that stop publishing content randomly and follow a consistent pattern experience an increase of 50-200% in traffic and leads.

When you use content marketing to promote your business on the web, it is like maintaining a publishing or a media platform.

Whether they are consciously aware of it or not, your target customers and clients expect you to publish high-value content on regular basis.

Read How to come up with great content writing ideas every day.

Another issue that I have experienced with many content writing and copywriting clients is that all their content requirements are based on their keywords.

Yes, keywords are important, and you must optimize your content for better SEO, but if you solely focus on the keywords instead of the value that you plan to deliver with your content, your content begins to lose meaning.

As the next person in the thread says, you should escape the “sea of sameness” and focus on something unique.

The beauty of the world is, every person is unique.

Although, when you’re working with a content writer or an online copywriter, his or her own perspective is going to permeate through the content, but you can control the direction of the content to a great extent by choosing to focus on the value that you want to deliver instead of the keywords you want to optimize your content for.

How do you do that?

Stop living in a cocoon.

Take an active interest in your industry.

Follow conversations on Twitter and LinkedIn and participate in those conversations.

See how you can align your marketing message with the issues affecting the society in general.

You can also publish valuable content by vertical focusing.

Talk to a single individual instead of targeting a broad spectrum.

Focus on problems and issues being faced by a single individual for that blog post or web page.

Yes, if you don’t handle multiple issues in a single blog post you may have to publish multiple blog posts but then, this is a blessing in disguise.

You do need to publish multiple blog posts to cover all possible topics.

Does a strict schedule matter?

If you are publishing a blog post every Wednesday, unless people are really expecting to hear from you on Wednesday, it hardly matters, as long as, you are publishing every week.

Regularity is important.

It increases your brand visibility.

People become familiar with your business and they also begin to recognize you for your quality and sincerity.

This is what ultimately improves your SEO.

The right content writing way: focus on value and accommodate SEO.

The wrong content writing way: focus on SEO and accommodate value.

The wrong way doesn’t work but it seems like shortcut and hence, most of the people want to follow it.

The right way takes time and effort but also delivers results.

What is website content writing and how is it different from copywriting?

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What is the difference between website content writing and copywriting?

There is always some confusion about what is website content writing and what is copywriting.

This confusion is not there in the non-Internet world.

You know that a person who writes for newspapers and magazines is a journalist or a writer.

A person who writes ad copies is a copywriter.

A person who writes books is a novelist or an author.

The distinctions are clear.

But when it comes to writing for websites, there is a confusion about website content writing and copywriting.

This confusion is normally among the clients who are either unaware of the difference or don’t want to pay for copywriting but want to use the services of a copywriter.

Website content writers and copywriters come with different skills.

As a website content writer, you are mostly writing information.

A website content writer writes blog posts, SEO articles, social media updates and web page content.

A copywriter writes marketing copy or sales copy.

These are different writing styles.

I have different rates for website content writing and copywriting: I charge more for copywriting.

Copywriting, or rather online copywriting, is marketing and sales related, whereas, content writing helps you build your brand.

Can one work without the other?

I can’t deny. People have built entire businesses upon the fundamental base of good content, without resorting to copywriting.

In simple terms, website content writing gives you brand presence and online copywriting does the selling for you.

The job of a website content writer is to bring people to your website. The job of an online copywriter is to make those people buy from you.

Of course, a single writer can achieve both the tasks, just like I do.

When I’m writing for a blog or a press release or a social networking update, I am writing as a content writer.

When I’m writing copy for a landing page or homepage or even one of the main pages of a business website, or an email campaign, I’m writing as a copywriter.

Why I charge more for my copywriting services

I should begin explaining this by saying that I charge less for my content writing services.

The reality of the world is, you don’t mind paying less, but you certainly mind paying more.

It’s easier to be a content writer (compared to being a copywriter).

When someone hires you for your content writing services, he or she does not expect you to increase his or her sales.

At the most, he or she wants you to improve SEO and provide writing that is free of spelling and grammar mistakes.

If the writing is interesting, contains a personality and a stylish, well, it is icing on the cake, but, as long as the writing is good and covers all the topics (the keywords), the icing isn’t as important.

Copywriting comes with the cake, with the icing, and with everything else that must make the cake completely delicious.

No scope for compromise.

The stakes are higher when you are writing copy and the stakes are higher when you are hiring someone as your copywriter.

Your business depends on this type of writing.

If the copy is not effective, if it is not convincing, if it is not informative, if it is not compelling, people are not going to buy from you.

No matter how much traffic you are getting from search engines, if the traffic does not convert, it is of no use.

Hence, copywriting can make or break your business.

Content writing on the other hand, definitely makes your business, but the chance of it breaking your business is less and even if it causes some sort of harm, you can easily and quickly recover.

But writing is writing, you may say.

Yes, I agree.

I maintain a certain level of quality whether I’m writing content or writing copy.

I don’t cut corners just because I expect to be paid more for one type of writing and less for another.

The quality and the style is more or less the same.

I charge for copywriting more because people are ready to pay more for copywriting because it is crucial for the business.

Everybody with an ability to write straight sentences can be a content writer.

But, only a highly skilled and expert writer can be a copywriter.

This is the difference.

These Copywriting Tips Can Drastically Improve Your Conversion Rate

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Being a writer before being a content writer, my every piece of writing has an ample sprinkling of copywriting. Wondering what’s the difference between content writing and copywriting? Read: Difference between copywriting and content writing.

Now that I’m writing this, it comes to my mind that for a very long time, in fact, since years, I have not shared any tips on copywriting. There was a time when copywriting used to be one of my main services and I even used to rank quite well for “freelance copywriter”. Then I got distracted and my focus shifted to other activities.

In the coming days I will be refocusing on copywriting, especially sharing my insights and tips to help you improve your conversion rate.

Copywriting, as you will be able to read in the above-linked blog post, has more to do with selling. Through copywriting you are constantly trying to convince your visitors to do business with you.

With content writing you inform and engage, but it’s with copywriting that you eventually turn casual visitors into paying customers and clients.

Here is a good example of copywriting explained by Brian Clark of Copyblogger Media: The Greatest Sales Letter of All Time.

The above-mentioned sales letter was written for The Wall Street Journal and it has generated an estimated revenue of $2 billion for the publication. This timeless template is repeatedly used by advertising agencies to create a contrast between people who do and people who don’t.

Why knowing some copywriting tips is important for improving your website conversion rate

As I have explained multiple times on my website and blog, you need to convince your customers and clients. They are not just going to do business with you simply because you have a website and you have your products and services listed.

Copywriting convinces them. In fact, although, content writing improves your conversion rate in the long run, it’s copywriting that tips the balance in your favour and improves your conversion rate in the short-term, in a sense of immediacy.

Although all my clients hire me as a content writer (it’s because I promote myself as a content writer), aside from giving them great content, they also want my content to convince their customers and clients.

Intentionally or unintentionally, they overlook the fact that basically they are asking for copywriting (so, I should be charging more). Anyway, that’s another issue.

Are there well-defined copywriting tips that definitely improve your conversion rate?

No, there are not. Tips and rules are never written in stone, especially where human psychology is involved. The same applies to copywriting tips. Your conversion rate may improve by applying some totally unorthodox copywriting tactics that no one has ever come across.

Tips and tools give you a template. They are often a list of dos and don’ts that you can keep in front of yourself so that you don’t miss the important stuff and you don’t include the needless stuff. Even small things can totally screw up your copywriting and send people away from your website. It’s always better to know what works and what doesn’t and what has worked wonders in previous campaigns.

The biggest challenge you face when creating copy is keeping people on your website and getting their attention for as long as possible.

In his recent detailed blog post on copywriting (his which blog post isn’t detailed?), Neil Patel presents and explains 6 copywriting tips that can help you improve your conversion rate drastically.

A video accompanies the blog post. In the video Neil touches upon various aspects of copywriting that hook people to your website and encourages them to do business with you.

Although more than turning your visitors into customers he talks about keeping them on your website for as long as possible, in the long run it is more or less the same thing. The longer people stay on your website, the greater are the chances that they will buy from you.

I’m presenting below the gist of his copywriting tips that will not only make people stay longer on your website but may also help you improve your conversion rate. These tips and rules are not written in stone and they may vary from business to business, most of the advice is quite fundamental and you can easily use it on your website.

Answer all possible questions through your copywriting

Why won’t people buy from you? Either they don’t want to buy right now or they’re not convinced that they should buy from you.

If they don’t want to buy right now, maybe it’s not the right time for them or they are not aware enough about your offer and what difference it can make to their lives.

For people who are not yet ready to buy from you or are not aware enough to buy right now, your content writing can keep them informed and educate them. For that, encourage them to subscribe to your updates so that you can keep in touch.

Copywriting is for those who want to buy, who know that there is a need, who also know what a difference this particular product or service can make, but they are undecided about buying from you.

It’s the job of your copywriting to answer all their questions, the “why’s” that stop them from buying from you.

Give them something to compare, something to contrast

Refer to the above The Wall Street Journal sales letter example. It compares two individuals: it presents a contrast between someone who reads WSJ and someone who doesn’t. In the letter, you can make out who benefits and who doesn’t, by a single decision.

In your sales copy you can also create a contrast: what happens if the visitor doesn’t buy from you and what happens if he or she does.

The standard formula works always… a person is facing a problem and you are offering an irresistible solution.

Back your solution with facts. Don’t just make wild claims. Give some proofs. Use some hard numbers.

Neil refers to the “4 Ps” of copywriting:

Problem, Promise, Proof, Proposal.

Make your copywriting compelling by the power of words

Being a writer, I know the power of words. Words can trigger revolutions. Words can change destinies.

There is a reason why some seasoned copywriters charge thousands of dollars for a single copy.

The message is very important, but how you deliver the message is important too.

Neil in his post cites a Winston Churchill speech but since I’m not a big Churchill fan, I will cite my own example, from my homepage. I’m citing it because recently a client copy/pasted this portion that sold my content writing services to him:

As an experienced freelance content writer who has been providing content writing services for many years, I know that content writing is not about selling your product or service.

It’s about selling the overwhelming benefits.

It’s about catering to the deepest desires of your customers and clients.

It’s about establishing trust and credibility.

It’s about using words that change the way people value you.

And selling? Well, it’s a natural by-product of effective copywriting.

Again, words can be really powerful. Even the words that you constantly send to the universe can have an impact on your life. You should always be careful of what words you say about yourself and about others.

Don’t follow a copywriting template when it comes to the length of your web page

Length isn’t important, the message is.

Have you seen some landing pages that just go on and on without saying anything important? This is a sure shot way of sending people away.

If you have something, say it. If you don’t have something, say that too. Don’t waste people’s time.

If you have lots of interesting information to share with your readers, they will definitely go on reading. But if you are just beating around the bush simply to make your copy long, you will just have a long copy and nothing else.

The most important part of your copywriting is messaging. What you want to say.

Need more words to convince people because you have plenty of compelling examples? Go on writing.

If you feel that you have said enough and nothing more should be said, then stop.

There is no set formula for the length of your copy. It depends on your message. It depends on your style. It also depends on the level of convincing your prospective customers and clients require.

For a further analysis of how strategic copywriting can drastically improve your conversion rate, you can go and read Neil’s post (linked above); he has also given many examples.

Looking for more copywriting tips that can help you improve your conversion rate? There is a bar below. Submit your email ID to keep in touch because I will be posting highly useful information on copywriting, content writing and content marketing in the coming days.