If you want your business to succeed, creating a website for it is essential. But crafting text for your website is a whole other matter.
When deciding to develop a website for your business, your primary focus might be visual appeal. You want to captivate users with interesting graphics and animations, which makes sense. However, the text is just as important — if not more. Copywriting establishes the essence and authentic value of your brand, helping you establish a connection with potential customers.
Moreover, a common mistake small business owners make when writing their web copy is that they write for the sake of having content, ignoring strategy.
The words written on a web page won’t hold much value for your business if you don’t know how to compose a copy that attracts potential clients, effectively communicates your business’s advantages, and emphasizes your brand’s uniqueness. And of course, you want your site to attract new users and rank well on search engines. As such, you need to understand the nuances of SEO.
So what makes the perfect copy for a small business website? We’ve outlined some pieces of advice to help you come up with engaging and effective content.
- Gather all the data about your product
It’s not enough to simply state that your product is good. You need to convey to the user why it’s good and why it’s worth paying for. To create a compelling copy that highlights the benefits of your product, gather all the data about it. Besides its functional capabilities, include other aspects such as test results, effectiveness statistics, comparisons with competitors, customer reviews, and more. Each detail helps create a more comprehensive and persuasive representation of the product and its value to the consumer.
- Study your audience
It’s easier to write the right copy when you have a clear understanding of who you’re writing for. What concerns your potential customers? What problems do they encounter most frequently? How can your product solve their problems? What style should you choose to establish a connection with the user?
Let’s consider a simple example. Let’s say you’re creating a copy for an advertisement for a new mobile app. It’s designed for users who want to live a healthy lifestyle. By studying your audience, you discover that most users are interested in fitness and proper nutrition. But they often struggle with a lack of motivation for regular workouts.
Based on such information, your copy should emphasize how your app can help users overcome their problem. You can highlight the app’s features, such as personalized workouts, daily reminders, progress tracking, and participation in a community of like-minded individuals.
The tone and style of the copy should also be motivational and supportive, engaging the audience and prompting them to take action. For example, using active verbs and inspiring phrases can help persuade users that your app is exactly what they need to achieve their health and fitness goals.
- Avoid vague wording
Clarity, precision, and conciseness are the hallmarks of effective copy for a sales-oriented website.
Avoid complex wording that unnecessarily increases the word count. Excessive text on pages can confuse readers or discourage them. They might leave the site as soon as they see how much information they’ll have to digest. It’s best to give users what they want — a clear understanding of the product’s features, its benefits, and why they should buy it from you. Every paragraph, headline, word, and period should serve a specific purpose. There should be enough text to describe who you are and what you do — neither more nor less.
- Don’t forget about SEO
Want your website to attract a lot of organic traffic? You’ll need to put in some effort! To ensure your site competes successfully in the top 10 search results, it’s important not only to write useful and engaging copy for users but also to optimize them correctly for search engines.
- Study the keywords. Users may search for your product in various ways, and sometimes their queries are surprising. You’ll never know how people might search for your site until you conduct keyword research. It’s best to use specialized programs and services for this purpose — for example, Ahrefs or Semrush. Here are the main factors to consider during analysis: keyword volume (shows how often users search for the product using a particular phrase) and keyword difficulty (indicates how difficult it will be to appear in the top 10).
- Study your competitors. Take a look at the copy on the pages of competitors ranking in the top 1 to 5. You might identify some patterns. For example, all competitors use primary keywords in H2 headings or follow a consistent text presentation structure.
- Don’t forget about backlinks. It’s very important for Google that your site is authoritative. This can be achieved by obtaining backlinks from other resources. Simply put, these are regular links to your site placed on other sites. The more backlinks, the better! However, make sure that quality resources are linking to you.
- Trust the professionals
The expression ‘If you want something done right, do it yourself’ no longer applies to the modern world. If you want something done right, learn how to delegate effectively.
You may know everything about your product, how to sell it, and how to push the buyer towards a deal, but you may not be able to write a copy that effectively encapsulates all your experience and knowledge. Or, it might be very time-consuming. And that’s okay! The best thing you can do in this case is to hire professional copywriting services.
Don’t worry that the copy will be written by people who don’t have a good understanding of your niche. A good digital marketing agency will organize all processes so that the copywriter will be fully informed about the nuances of your business. And, if necessary, the copywriter will edit the copy several times so it meets your standards.
Also, keep in mind that the agency may offer content from copywriters with SEO knowledge. This simplifies the task of incorporating keywords into the copy correctly.