Entries Tagged 'copywriting' ↓

Today’s guest post was contributed by James Adams, a writer with CartridgeSave covering the latest releases of Canon supplies.

5 Tips for Writing Effective Copy for Products

If you’re running an ecommerce store, then you know that there are two main pillars to your success: get relevant traffic to your store, and then convert that traffic into sales. One of the best ways to do both is to learn how to write not just good sales copy for your products, but sales copy that compels prospects to buy. Ideally, you would like to have compelling sales copy that encourages people to buy, but which is also search engine optimized so that it sends more traffic your way. Let’s take a closer look at 5 tips for writing effective copy for products of any kind.

1. Focus on Benefits

As you browse different ecommerce sites, you will notice that some sites emphasize the benefits of the product, while other sites might merely list all of the features. In all likelihood, the site that emphasizes benefits is making more sales. People don’t purchase a product because they are impressed by the list of features: They want to know what those features will do for them. They want a product that satisfies some of their needs and wants, or they want a product that will better satisfy a frustration that they are currently experiencing. If you are selling a pair of boots, for example, you might want to let the customer know that it has double Teflon-sealed soles. However, there is a good chance that your potential customer doesn’t even know what Teflon is, so it would be much better to tell him that the double Teflon-sealed sole will keep his feet dry even if he gets caught in a rainstorm or steps into a puddle.

2. Know the Audience

When you list the benefits of a product, it is important to know who your target audience is. If you are selling a cell phone, there will be a world of difference between what a teenager and what a business man is looking for. A teenager may want to send text messages to his friends, watch YouTube videos, and play video games. A business man wants a phone that will handle multiple email accounts, allow him to take notes at meetings, and allow him to manage his stock portfolio. Even if a single phone is more than capable at handling all of these tasks, you will want to emphasize a different set of benefits depending on which demographic most often shops in your ecommerce store.

3. Describe Your Prospect Using the Product in the Future

If you can get the prospect imagining himself using the product, then you are halfway to the sale. If you think to all of your own purchases both online and offline, you will realize that you never bought a product unless you could picture yourself using it in the future. It’s an essential part of the human decision making process. You can help your potential customer get there by describing him in a scenario of your own making. If he couldn’t picture himself using the product before, he definitely can now.

4. Weave in Your Keywords

Once you’ve written your sales copy, it is time to work in some keyword phrases so that you can get some additional traffic from the major search engines like Bing, Google, and Yahoo. Excellent sales copy is important, but if no one sees it, then you aren’t going to achieve any sales. However, you should incorporate your keyword phrases in such a way that they don’t distract from your copy. If it sounds stilted, then you should take a few of the keywords out. It’s a good idea to write your copy without the keywords in mind, and then to go back and add them in later. If your sales copy is pretty long, then you can target several keywords. However, if it is only 60 or 70 words long, then you should probably just focus on one keyword phrase.

5. Always Test and Track

It’s a good idea to always have two different versions of sales copy for each product that you sell. You can use various tracking software, including free software provided by Google, to alternate between the two versions of your sales pages and to track the results. After tracking for a month, you can keep the version of copy that converts better and construct a new one to test against it. By doing this, your product conversion will continuously improve, and you will become continuously better at writing copy. You shouldn’t worry too much if you don’t get it right the first time.

Writing great sales copy can be a tough skill to learn. In fact, it is one of the most valuable skills in all of sales and marketing. If you have mastered it, then you should be able to sell nearly anything. Despite its difficulty, there are a few proven techniques that you can incorporate into your product copy.

As a freelance copywriter I receive numerous requests for quotes every week.

They can be anything from new website copywriting, content for a brochure or direct mail letters to newsletters, email marketing and case studies. To make sure I get all the information I need I use a pro-forma that asks a series of questions designed to extract as much information as possible from the client so I can put together a comprehensive proposal and quote.

Most of the time clients are more than happy to complete the form in a very detailed way. However, every so often, clients will just jot down the bare bones of what they’re looking for assuming I’ll be able to fill in the blanks.

I’m good, but I’m not that good.

What your copywriter needs to know

When I first started as a freelance copywriter, one friend said to me “But why would I need a copywriter? You couldn’t possible know my business better than I do” and he was right, I couldn’t – not only that, I would never suggest I did. But that’s not what copywriting is about.

It’s not about who knows your business the best, it’s about who can write the strongest sales message.

Business owners tend to want to write about their business and achievements. They find it difficult to stand back and see their company from their customers’ point of view. And that’s were a professional copywriter comes into their own. Not only do they understand how to write powerful marketing copy, they can also view the company and its products/services from the customers’ perspective.

But to be able to do that, your writer is going to need as much information as possible about your company, its services and products, its ethos as well as the tone you want to convey.

Can’t you just write it?

As I mentioned earlier most of my clients appreciate what they need to provide me with, but there’s always the odd one that doesn’t. They think they’re doing my job for me by providing me with information – well, I don’t have a crystal ball, I don’t know your company intimately so I can’t write fabulous copy just from you company name.

To illustrate my point consider what would happen if you wanted someone to build you a house. When you sit down with your builder to brief him and say – “I want you to build me a house. Get on with it.”

Is he going to say “OK” and start building? Very unlikely.

He’ll want to know:

• What style you want – detached, semi, bungalow
• How many bedrooms
• How big the rooms should be
• How many rooms you want
• How big is it going to be

And that’s just for starters.

You wouldn’t dream of doing this so why expect your copywriter to write amazing SEO website copy from your instruction “I want you to write my website – get on with it”.

The copywriter/client relationship is a very close one. You have to work together to achieve the right copy. It’s a very collaborative approach and one that can create a strong working relationship. The more work your copywriter does for you, the better they get to know your company. They will be able to make suggestions and point out areas of your marketing that need strengthening, giving your income a much needed boost.

A great copywriter is a valuable asset for any company to have and a worthwhile investment. Through their marketing expertise your company will gain the upper hand. Through powerful brochures and email campaigns to strong SEO website copy to boost your rankings, your copywriter is quite literally worth their weight in gold.

Content is King!

How many times have you been told that?

Well, it is true. Internet marketers have been telling you for years if you want more organic traffic you must publish more web content targeted at your long tail keywords. Finally, you’re taking notice and more and more companies are adding page upon page to their websites of new content.

But of course, hiring a talented copywriter doesn’t come cheap. So, adding hundreds of new pages of content to your website is going to be expensive.

Now, there is a group of you out there who think you’ve found the perfect solution to this. I can see you patting yourself on the back because you think you’ve got the best of both worlds – shed loads of new content without the high price tag. If that’s you, you’ve probably done one of two things:

• Out sourced your content writing to an Indian company or elsewhere in the world where you can pick up loads of articles for next to nothing
• Decided to take the DIY approach and written it yourself

Big mistake!

Yes, you are increasing your web content at a great rate of knots – but at what cost? And I’m not talking about how much you’ve paid for it; I’m talking about the cost to your reputation.

Why you shouldn’t value quantity over quality

Watering down the quality of your website content in this way could have a seriously detrimental effect on your rankings. Remember those? You’ve quite possibly spent years working on your search engine optimisation to achieve great rankings, do you really want to jeopardise them now?

A big part of your SEO strategy is building back links. Of course, people will only link to you if you provide great content. If you start to water down the quality of your content with poor articles, people won’t want to link to you. And if they don’t link to you…you got it, you’ll start sliding down the rankings faster than soap down a helter-skelter. If you want to attracts links, your content must be entertaining, intertesing and appealing.

But there is a more serious consequence – yes, even more serious than affecting your rankings. Low quality content will have a detrimental effect on your company’s image. Now for the science bit – take a look at these equations:

Great Content = Increased value + Positive effect on your company’s image

Poor quality content = Disappointed readers + Negative effect on your company’s image

OK, so maths was never my strong point but I’m sure you get the gist.

Why am I telling you this?

Because, if you don’t invest in quality content for your website you are going to do some serious long term damage to your reputation.

If you’re not particularly bothered about anything I’ve warned against here, go and hire a company that will generate oodles of content for you for just a few pounds. But if you do care about your image and reputation, invest in a quality freelance copywriter and focus on getting quality content. Yes, it will cost you more but the long term benefits speak for themselves.

The choice is yours.

A strange thing for a freelance copywriter to write about? Well, yes and no.

One question I often get asked is why do I think I can write better copy than someone who’s involved in the business and knows it inside and out.

Well, there’s the answer. Yes, you know your business better than anyone else. But because you know it so well, you become totally absorbed by it. How often have you been asked what you do by someone? And by the time you’ve finished explaining they’ve dozed off, lost interest or are completely confused?

You see, there lies the problem. It is very difficult to take a step back from your business to see it from someone else’s point of view. If you are writing your own marketing materials, you have to write for your reader. You have to get into their shoes and explain exactly what benefits your product or service will bring to their lives – which isn’t easy.

But there’s more to it than that. Writing to attract and engage readers isn’t as easy as it sounds. Below are a few pointers to show how you can improve your writing, and turn it into great sales copy:

Think about your reader

Many businesses, when they write their own copy, don’t have their reader in mind. They tend to write content that they would want to read, which is usually very different from what their customers want.

Think about your readers – what type of people are they? What age are they? What are they interested in? Only when you have looked into this can you decide what tone to take. Should the voice you use be casual, formal, conversational?

If you are writing to a teenage audience, you’re likely to take a different approach to an audience who are 40+. They will have different priorities and interests so your copy must reflect that.

Grammar

We all hated it at school, but it’s a vital part of getting your message across. You will be judged on your use of the English language. Therefore you must ensure you follow the grammatical rules (although they can be bent at times to achieve certain effects).  Spelling is also key – make sure everything you publish has been proofread. There is nothing more off putting than reading something full of spelling and punctuation errors.

Your writing will say a lot about your company – sloppy use of grammar, spelling and punctuation will suggest your business is one that doesn’t care about attention to detail!

Headlines

The headlines you use in your communications will determine whether or not they get read. It sounds harsh, but most people judge content by the heading.

A weak and uninspiring heading won’t encourage your audience to continue reading. Therefore it really is worth spending a lot of time coming up with the perfect headline.

Make it simple

One trap that many business owners fall into when it comes to writing their own copy, is that they write it in jargon.

Your readers are only interested in one thing, and that’s what you are going to do for them. If you write copy that is centred on your business, how great it is, and full of jargon, your reader will be switched off in an instant.

Target your reader in everything you write. Make sure you show the benefits of your product and service to them.

But above all, make sure you use simple sentences and words. Many business people have a hang up about using an impressively large vocabulary when writing. That is one of the biggest turn offs ever. No matter how educated your audience, keep your words and sentence structure simple. People lead very busy lives these days so they want to be able to read quickly. Therefore the layout of your communication is also important – make sure the benefits stand out by placing them in bold type or in a bulleted list.

Why am I telling you this?

All your written communications (website copy, email marketing, newsletters, case studies, press releases etc.) reflect your business. Therefore it is vital you get them right.

Most people don’t consider hiring a copywriter because they think they can do it themselves. But let me ask you something, you can probably lay a few bricks if you tried hard enough, but would you consider building an entire house on your own? Probably not.

When your business relies so heavily on your written communications, it really is worth thinking about bringing in the professionals – after all you don’t want all your years of hard work to come tumbling down.

“Sally is working hard in her English lessons and is producing some exciting and thoughtful stories. However, her written work would benefit from using a wider vocabulary and bigger words.”

That is what my middle school English teacher thought of my writing skills. I wasn’t using enough ‘big’ words. I’m sure many of you reading this had similar experiences at school. It was as though your intellect was being judged by the number of syllables your words contained.

After reading this, I used to keep a thesaurus beside me and changed perfectly good words for more complex counterparts.

However, as a copywriter, I am now doing the exact opposite – Ha! Take that English teacher.

Keeping it simple

Using complicated words that attempt to utilise every letter of the alphabet may make you feel more intelligent, but that’s not how your reader’s will view you.

I’m going to let you into a little secret – it’s not just you that leads a busy life.

These days, we are all running around like headless chickens trying to get everything done. Therefore the last thing we want is to be faced with ridiculously complex words.

Whether you are writing to personal customers or other businesses, the key to successful copy that works, is  simple language.

Step away from the thesaurus

People often argue that if you are writing for the B2B market, you have to write in an intellectual stuffed-shirt kind of way.

Wrong.

At the end of the day, your copy is going to be read by a human being. After all, despite what Dr. Who would like us to believe, the human race is still running things.

In a way it’s more important to write simply for the B2B market because you are writing for people who are incredibly busy. They want to be able to glance over your copy, be shown the benefits of your product and how to order. That’s it.

A freelance copywriter is not there to make you sound intelligent

Sorry, but we’re not.

You hire us to write strong copy that sells. Therefore when the first draft is sent to you, don’t complain that there aren’t enough three syllable words in it.

The copy’s function is to inform, convince and sell.

Let me repeat that – we are not here to make you sound intelligent. We are here to sell your products to your readers.