39 Writing Techniques That Drive More Conversions from Your Website Copy via Cleaning Support Services
Your most powerful
marketing tool is copy — words, sentences, and paragraphs.
Your website has the
potential to either drive sales or drive away customers. It all depends on how
well you can create that copy.
What should you do?
Apart from hiring a crazy-expensive sales writer, how do you fine-tune the
words on your website to drive more sales?
I created this 39-point list of techniques for that exact purpose.
If you follow these
methods carefully, I can almost guarantee that your website sales will go up.
1. Use the word
“you.”
You is a word that
engages the user directly and powerfully. It’s a fail-safe way to get right at
your audience. They know you’re speaking to them, and are more likely to
convert because of it.
2. Write your
headline first.
The headline helps
set the direction for the rest of your article, and keeps you on track. When you write your
headline first, the rest of the article will be laser-focused and
right on topic. Focused pages get more conversions.
3. Forget about
SEO, and focus on the user.
Instead of trying to
rank for certain keywords or terms, just write for the user. If you want your
copy to be truly optimized for search, it will be optimized for users. Plus, it
will be optimized for conversions, too.
4. Know the
customer.
Everything else in
copywriting is useless unless you know you
customers. If you don’t have one already, create a detailed persona
of your target customer. People don’t care about
your product unless you care about them.
5. Know what
the user wants.
User intent refers
to what the user is trying to gain when he or she types in a query. Make sure
you actually understand what the user wants before you try to write an article
for them.
6. Understand
the user’s hot-button issues.
If you want to create
electrifying copy, you need to know what turns your users on. “Interesting
copy” doesn’t refer to the style of writing as much as it refers to the
substance — topics that get users interested, angry, or passionate.
Know those areas, and
speak directly to them. Once you do, they’ll be more motivated to buy.
7. Know your
product before you write about it.
If you expect to be
able to write about a product or service, it’s important to know everything
there is to know about that product or service.
View your role as
more than a copywriter. Test the product, explore the product, research the
product. Become the master of the product, so you can become a teacher about
that product.
8. Know the
product’s unique selling proposition.
The unique selling
proposition (USP) is the whole reason why a user would want to buy the
product or service. Entrepreneur defines the USP as “the factor or
consideration presented by a seller as the reason that one product or service
is different from and better than that of the competition.”
You are responsible
for taking the USP and making it as powerful and exciting as possible. Keep it
in mind at every stage of the writing process. Doing so will allow you to
create copy that directly targets conversions.
9. Know how the
product alleviates the customer’s pain.
Writing content involves
a lot of emotion. You should understand how your product
can remove the
user’s pain. Speak to that pain so you can help
alleviate that pain.
10. Focus on
the verbs.
Verbs are the engine
of your content. What users really crave isn’t sparkling words and glistening
adjectives. Instead, they salivate over verbs, the action words of copy. The fastest way to
improve your writing for conversions is to write better verbs.
11. Create an outline
before you start writing.
An outline is like a
map for your website copy. Instead of plopping down and just writing, create an
outline first. It will take a few extra minutes on the front end, but it will
save you hours of time in the long run. Plus, it will allow you to broadly structure
your content in such a way that it is conversion-focused.
12. Write like you
talk.
People don’t want to
read boring essays or research papers. They want to hear you talk. If you have
trouble getting your words to come out right when you type them, then stop
typing. Record yourself talking. Then, transcribe what you just said.
Chances are, people
will enjoy reading it more. More significantly, they’ll be more likely to
convert.
13. Ask the user to
do something,.
It’s easy to get
caught up in the call to action, wondering what exactly it is, how to state it,
and where to put it. Forget the whole “CTA” business for just a second.
All you need to do is
as the user to do something or buy something. You’re writing
copy to sell, not just to state facts. Nudge them to make a decision by telling them
what to do. You don’t have to be salesy, but you can be direct.
14. Prove your
points.
If you make a claim, back
it up. It’s not good enough to declare that Alaska is the state
with the highest percentage of Star Wars fans. You have to back this up with a link. Your content will be far more
compelling if it’s reliable, credible, and backed by authorities.
15. Use short
sentences.
The average sentence is 15-20 words. If you go longer than 20
words, your readers might tune out. Short sentences help to engage readers.
They will pay attention, stay focused, and be more likely to convert as a
result.
16. Don’t use big
words.
Choose your words
carefully. But try not to choose big words. People won’t be impressed by a big
vocabulary. They’ll just be confused.
17. Ask questions,
then answer them.
What’s one of the
easiest ways to explain yourself? Anticipate questions, and answer them. One of
the clearest ways to do this is by asking the question and then answering it
right in your content.
A lot of times, I use
the question, “What do I mean by this?” or “What does this look like?” It’s a
technique that helps draw the user in while also explaining things in a clear
and understandable way.
18. Stop talking and show
them.
Break your text up
with videos, images, and diagrams. Using a quick video clip breaks up the
monotony of text. Besides, a well-placed video or image can explain things
better than you can.
19. Show a picture,
and talk about it.
You can drone on and
on for thousands of words, and never get any close to helping the user
understand. One technique that will help readers to really get it
is to show them a picture or example and then talk about it.
If you’re in
ecommerce, and your product is visual, then having great optimized product images are crucial.
20. Stay away from
cliches.
A cliche is a common
expression like, “It’s raining cats and dogs.” Often, such cliches are present in sales copy. Instead, come up
with unique metaphors or expressions. These will capture your reader’s
attention far better than some overused phrase.
21. Know the words
that always connect with customers.
Some words are always
powerful. What are these words? It depends on your customers. It’s up to you to
figure out the sales-worthy words and then use them in your copy. For starters,
check out Buffer’s Big List of 189 Words That Convert.
22. Cut the jargon.
Nobody loves reading
jargon. Drop it from your content for an instant quality upgrade. Jargon
can sound pretentious. Instead of adding clarity to your copy, it
usually obscures the true meaning.
23. Break grammar
rules intentionally.
Nobody respects typos
and grammar boo-boos. But if those grammar violations are intentional (and egregious), you’ll gain some style cred.
24. Establish
credibility.
If you’re writing an
article, you are the author. As the author, you are free to refer to yourself.
Maybe this was a no-no in high school composition class, but you’re not in high
school composition class.
The words “I,” “me,”
and “mine” are fair play. It actually helps the reader when you refer to
yourself, because it builds up the credibility of the copy. When you do so, you
can create content that has a higher likelihood of converting skeptical users.
25. Focus on
relevance
People will read what
they think is interesting. Relevance is your biggest ally. Keep in mind that your
audience isn’t the whole world. Your audience is the single
persona that you’re targeting.
26. Sound positive.
In public speaking as
in public writing, positivity is key. People like to listen to anything that
makes them feel good, positive, strong, and upbeat. While negative copy has
some sharing potential, it doesn’t produce the greatest amount of conversion
power and sales sizzle.
27. Write as quickly
as possible.
Write out everything
as quickly as it comes to mind. Don’t edit. There will be time for that later.
In your first rough draft just get your thoughts out. Chances are, it will
sound better than you expected.
A first outpouring of
your words is better than a slow and painful ordeal of overthinking every word.
28. Use short
paragraphs.
People will read
short paragraphs. Long paragraphs? People’s eyes will glaze over. A paragraph
that goes longer than five or six lines tends to get short shrift.
29. Tell a story.
Stories are a
powerful form of communication. Since humans are wired to listen to stories, you are virtually guaranteed to
capture and keep your audience. Short,
powerful, personal and memorable stories work best to gain conversions.
30. Anticipate what
your readers are thinking.
Good writing flows
smoothly. One of the reasons why it does this is because the writer knows what
her readers are thinking, and she speaks to those things. When you anticipate
your readers thoughts, you can directly speak to them. This approach will make
your content more engaging and compelling.
31. It’s not about
you. It’s about them.
Remember that good
writing isn’t about your product, your service, and how awesome you are.
Ultimately, you’re writing about and for
the customer. You’re trying to solve his needs, take away his pain,
and compel him to make a purchase.Write for your customer,
not for yourself.
32. Be as specific as
possible.
Specific facts,
figures, and data points are more believable than generic claims. Which of the two
sounds more credible: 1) “67.4% of the U.S. population has a sleep disorder,”
or 2) “tons of people find it hard to sleep at night.”
You probably picked
the first one. Such is the power of specificity. If you want to be more
persuasive, then be more precise.
33. Get to the point
as quickly as possible.
Rambling copy will
bore your readers. If you have something to say, just say it. Preambles or
let-me-get-to-the-point introductory material is a waste of your time and your
reader’s time. Chase down your point as fast as you possibly can.
34. Write a
conclusion.
Any article, landing
page, home page, or evergreen page needs a conclusion. Don’t leave readers
dangling in confusion. Wrap things up neatly, and let them know that the copy
has ended.
35. Don’t run from emotion.
Emotion is what sells.
People don’t make cold, analytical decisions. They makeemotional decisions. Therefore, make your copy emotional.
36. Cite experts.
You may lack
credibility as an individual author, but you can draw upon the authority and
expertise of others. If you are trying to persuade your readers to your side,
then cite experts who agree with you.
37. Write in the
first person.
Use “I,” “me,” etc.
People care about you in the sense that they want to know who’s writing this
copy and why he matters. When you write, you are describing yourself as an
authority. Your readers will respect or, at least, listen to your
thoughts, opinions, viewpoints, and feelings.
38. Be funny.
Your copy doesn’t
need to have the same hilarity as The Oatmeal, but don’t hold back from being funny. If you can
pull it off, let the funnies roll. Funny is not required.
It’s just nice.
39. Make your
audience want something in 15 seconds.
15 Seconds. That’s all you’ve got. In the time it takes you to read this
paragraph, you should try to make your audience want something.
Your product. Your
service. Your article. Something.
Conclusion
Powerful, strong,
sales-worthy copy is completely within your reach.
You don’t have to be
a genius or a big-name copywriter. You just have to know your audience, know
your product, and pull out a few stylistic firecrackers.
The process is
simple, even if the execution isn’t. But don’t worry. The more you write, the
better you’ll get. And the better you get, the more people will buy.
Main source: http://blog.crazyegg.com/2015/07/22/copywriting-techniques/
This figure is not just what the bank will lend you plus your savings.
