One of the biggest copywriting mistakes you see is that the writer has made assumptions about the reader.
What do assumptions make? Absent readers because they would have toddled off and found what they were looking for elsewhere.
Everyone wants something different out of life – whether it is peace and quite, a high flying career or just to be left alone. If we didn’t the world would be a pretty boring place.
It is the little things that get us up out of bed in the morning that are crucial to the way you write your website content and copy. If you don’t know what makes your reader tick you’ll never get inside their heads, inspire them and make them take the action you want them to.
Guess what? Even if you do know them so well you know what buttons to push, you can never assume you know how they’ll react.
Even the most seasoned copywriter can come unstuck if they think they know what everyone wants. You see the problem is that we all have our own way of looking at the world and tend to assume that everyone else sees the world in the same way.
Remember, what motivates you will not necessarily motivate your target audience. You have your own ambitions and goals in life, but the people who you want to buy from you may be looking for something very different – and therein lies the trick of writing website copy that converts.
If you can’t reach people and tap into what they want, you’ll never be able to sell them anything at all.
Getting to know them
Your website content must separate what you want from life from what your target audience wants. You are only after one thing – sales.
So how do you sell to someone who doesn’t think like you do? Simple – you become your target reader. Forget about your motivators, assume nothing, and discard all your personal perceptions. Put yourself in your reader’s shoes.
Your reader is trying to work out where your company figures into the equation. Why should he choose your business?
Perhaps he’s stressed and needs ways to make his life more peaceful. Perhaps he wants to cut down on his workload or boost his business.
If you know what motivates him you can sell him what you have. Take the time to find out, don’t assume anything.
Recently I was asked to do a video for BT Tradespace. I have been using this service for quite some time now, in fact probably from the very start of my freelance copywriting days. It has been a great tool for me to attract business as it provides an extra web presence.
By the way, that’s not my living room!
Follow this link for more details about how your business can benefit from BT Tradespace.
More often than not, puff or hype and copywriting go about as well together as oil and water.
But hype can atually be good. You see there are 2 types of hype:
hype that will always convert
hype that will NEVER convert
The piles of junk mail waiting to be recycled are full of the latter type. They are stuffed with words such as biggest, fastest, easiest, greatest, amazing, unique, etc., and unblievable claims such as “Your skin will be transformed overnight”.
These examples stand out as hype because they are recognized as less than believable and are quickly discounted and ignored by most consumers.
But there is nothing wrong with using these words if they are accurate descriptions.
Turn bad hype good
If you are writing an ad and used this either in the headline or body copy:
All your wrinkles will miraculously disappear overnight!
The chances are it won’t believed and it won’t convert.
It won’t matter if the rest of your add can actually prove the claim – by kicking off with it ruins any chance of getting a sale.
If you are going to use a claim such as the one above, you need to place it wisely within your ad.
Avoid the ad-killing claim
How? Simply by making it an unavoidable conclusion.
Before making any claim to unparalleled excellence—prove it first.
Assemble and present your evidence; this proof will lay the groundwork for what is to come by creating a strong and overwhelming direction and momentum.
In other words…
Turn hype into an undisputed conclusion
So when you finally do present your hype it will be seen as a descriptive and accurate statement of the obvious and the proven (hype of the good kind). If executed skillfully, your hype will also have the added benefit of becoming sustainable and actionable.
If there is one method guaranteed to get your articles and blogs read, then it would have to be to fill them with emotive content.
Before you say thanks for the tip, sit down at your desk as usual and start to write – STOP.
Emotive content doesn’t come from calm, well thought out writing. Emotion comes from within you – something has to stir you up and get you riled before it will come out in your writing.
The best time to write is when you are feeling:
happy
sad
so angry you could punch the next person that looks at you
How do you get to feel like that? Read or talk to people.
Start your day reading a few blogs, even working through your email inbox can do the trick. How many times have you read something and thought what the **** are they going on about! Well when it happens write about how it makes you feel.
When our beliefs are challenged or questioned we become so wound up we need an outlet – let articles or blogging be yours.
Write about whatever has got your blood boiling – forget structure for now and just let it flow. I’ll guarantee that when you’re done, not only will you feel a whole lot better but you will also have one of your best articles in front of you.
I am willing to bet that if you had tried to sit down and write about the same subject from cold you would never have come up with an article that was so damn good.
This is because you are letting your emotion do your talking – you are holding a conversation so your writing is more relaxed and therefore more accessible to your reader.
So next time you see red, start typing or pick up a pen. Let it all pour out and before long you’ll have a stack of fantastic blogs and articles which will spark new debates, articles and blogs…
content.
