Entries Tagged 'copywriting tips' ↓

How much time did you put into deciding on your website’s URL?

For those who are unsure, the URL is the text address of your website:

http://www.briarcopywriting.com/seo-copywriting

Above is one of the URLs in my website. As you can see the name (Briar Copywriting) is followed by the name of the sub-page, in this case SEO copywriting.

The idea behind the URL is to describe what a website or page contains to both the web visitor and search engines. That’s why it’s essential it is relevant to the page.

But before you rush in and use your company name, stop and consider for a moment what it will actually look like.

If you don’t, you risk getting it badly wrong.

This is highlighted in the top 10 unintentionally worst company URLs as shown by the website Independent Sources. These are prime examples of companies that rushed headlong into creating their URLs without stopping to think about how they will actually be read by others.

Ready?

Here goes…

1. Experts Exchange, a site where programmers can exchange advice and views became expertsexchange.com

2. Pen Island, a one stop shop for any type of pen became penisland.net

3. Therapist Finder became therapistfinder.com

4. Who Represents, a site that helps you find the name of an agent that represents a celebrity became whorepresents.com

5. Italian Power Generator company – powergenitalia.com

6. Mole Station Native Nursery – molestationnursery.com

7. For computer software try ipanywhere.com

8. There is the First Cumming Methodist Church’s unfortunate cummingfirst.com

9. An art designers website – speedofart.com

10. If you fancy visiting Lake Tahoe, try gotahoe.com

Think before you buy

All of these examples are from bona fide companies that just didn’t stop and think before they bought.

So, the moral of this post is, before you rush in and grab your company’s name as a URL, write it down and see how it actually looks (or, get someone else to look at it for you) – it might just save your blushes.

Over to you

They are some cracking examples, but do you have any more?

If so, leave a comment below and let’s see how many companies forgot to think before buying.

When you designed your website, what was at the forefront of your mind?

Was it your colour scheme, the graphics you used, the font or perhaps ensuring the latest ‘must have’ gizmos were present?

At any point in the process did you think about the visitors to your site?

Granted, your site has to reflect you and your business, but it also has to offer your visitors what they want.

Yup, sorry, it’s all about THEM.

Your visitors’ wish list

In an ideal world your website has to satisfy these 4 visitor wants:

1. Does it have what I want?

Although they probably found you through a Google search, so in theory your site should be offering what they searched for, have you made it obvious?

The minute they land on your site they have to be able to see that you are offering what they’re looking for.

If your home page (because that’s probably the first page they’ll come to) is full of information about you – how wonderful you are, how long you’ve been trading, what colour your offices are decorated in – they will hit the back browser and disappear faster than a fast thing.

Instead, it should be all about THEM. Tell them how they’ll benefit from what you’re offering. Write your website copy in the second person to make it personal to them; keep the language simple and chatty to engage with them. In other words keep the focus firmly on THEM.

2. Are you trustworthy?

The Internet is a wonderful thing and has opened up all sorts of opportunities for businesses and customers that would otherwise have been closed to them. But because your business is ‘virtual’ and your customers can’t walk into your offices or showroom for a chat, you must use your website to show you are a real company that they can trust.

How do you do that?

Well, a professional site with a good design, great information and clear content is a good start. Throw in an About Us page with substance (showing awards etc.) and testimonials that are attributed to real people to add weight to your reputation.

If you’re mentioned in local newspapers or magazines, again link out to the articles or include a PDF that can be downloaded from your site.

All of these things show your credibility as a company.

3. What do you do?

There’s nothing worse than landing on a website only to be bemused about what the company actually does.

Because first impressions count, make sure your design and images reflect your business activities to strengthen your message.

Your products and services should be clearly stated. Clear navigation should be able to effortlessly steer your visitors to the pages they need for more information. Again, the About Us page that we mentioned earlier should also outline what you can do for your customers.

4. Easy to contact

Making yourself easy to contact will also help the trust issue.

Having a contact form is all well and good, but if you want to be completely transparent make sure you also show your email, phone number and physical address. At least then they are reassured that you really do exist.

And make sure all that information is easy to find. Don’t hide it away in the darkest recesses of your website so only the most skilled of surfers can find it.

Over to you

Have we missed anything?

What are your thoughts about what your visitors want?

Leave a comment below and let’s see how many we can come up with.

Audience engagement is the name of the game.

Everyone is trying to attract as much traffic as possible and then capture as much information about them as possible.

I don’t know about you, but I get a little bit hacked off at the number of sites these days that want you to set an account to access information. In fact, it’s pretty much at the point now that I won’t enter my details and come up with yet another password, instead I’ll move along and see if I can source the information I need another way.

I understand why marketers want to capture my information, but I often wonder whether they’ve actually thought about their web visitors much and the impact it has on them.

To show what I mean, here is an infographic that those lovely people at Convince and Convert have allowed me to reproduce (created by Janrain), which shows why 86% of users may leave a website when asked to open an account.

That might seem an odd question to be asking in a post on a copywriting blog, but it does make you think.

Many people believe that copywriting is all about being a red-hot grammarian, speller and punctuationalist (made-up word, but that’s OK because I’m a copywriter), but that’s not strictly true.

Granted, the ability to spell and use grammar and punctuation correctly helps, but it’s not the be all and end all.

You see copywriting is all about getting your sales message across to your audience clearly.

The most important elements in your copywriting

There are 3 vital elements to any copywriting assignment:

1. Your audience
2. The words you use
3. The offer – your message has to be a goodie

When those are combined, that’s when your copy is cooking with gas.

Get any one of them wrong and you’re in trouble.

Your audience

If you don’t fully understand for whom you’re writing, how can you make sure you use the right language, tone and approach?

After all, a sales message to teenagers will need a different style and approach to something that’s going out to CEOs.

That’s why it’s vital you spend time getting to know your audience, understand what it is they want and then deliver it in their ‘language’.

Words

Using the right combination of words can lead to a powerful and effective message, but get them wrong and you’re left with a damp squib.

Think about what you’re trying to say and then make every word count. Keep your message active and punchy and make sure it really resonates with them.

Also, don’t be tempted to throw in an obscure word that you think makes you sound really intelligent because it won’t. It will just leave your audience bemused and they’ll wander off and find another message out there that tells them exactly what they want to hear.

The offer

The message is basically your offer.

You can hire the best copywriter in the universe, but if the offer isn’t what your audience wants, your campaign will fall flat on its face.

So think about your product or service and determine precisely what it is that will make your audience want to buy. Simply offering a free gift may not be enough to make them want it. The trick is to found the one major benefit will it bring that they’ll be desperate for – find that and you’ve got a campaign that’s ready to rock.

Arguably, you can add in a fourth element – timing.

When you launch your campaign will also have a bit impact on its take-up. If you’re looking for a seasonal promotion, it’s essential you plan well ahead – rushing something out at the eleventh hour is never going to work

All of these elements need to work together to make your campaign work. That’s why copywriting is such a collaborative process. Your client knows their company, products and services better than you, but you as the writer have more of an understanding of how the message should be conveyed.

So next time you embark on a marketing campaign think carefully about your audience, your message and how you’re going to communicate it to them.

Why am I writing about this?

Well, for the first time ever in my writing career, a client complained about the fact that I’d used contractions in his copy.

Bearing in mind the brief was to write ‘friendly, conversational copy that will engage with our readers’; I was rather surprised by his reaction.

Are contractions sloppy? Do they suggest lazy writing?

In my mind, no they don’t.

I even went back to my well-thumbed copy of Fowler’s Modern English Usage to see what that had to say:

“Contractions of the type I’m and don’t are exceedingly common in informal writing and increasingly found in various kinds of fairly formal contexts.”

Even Shakespeare used them!

Do contractions have a place in business writing?

Let’s get one thing clear from the start; even if you’re writing for a business, it’s going to be read by a person.

The best way to get your information across to your reader is by using a conversational style and that means using contractions that provide an easy tone to read and comprehend.

If your writing is easy to understand, it’s easy to absorb.

The guiding principle to grasp with any written communication (especially marketing materials) is to always write for your reader.

Using simple language and contractions will result in copy that is friendly and warm.

What do you think?

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this matter.

Granted, there are certain circumstances where contractions are not appropriate, but for general marketing texts, do you thing they’re acceptable?

Have your say below.

Sally Ormond – Copywriter