The HerBusiness Masterclasses are small-group sessions that focus on specific member issues and offer practical advice in a hands-on way.
I was honoured to present the very first Masterclass in December 2011, focusing on how to use copywriting to improve the performance of business websites. If you couldn’t log into the live Masterclass or you haven’t watched the recording, here are the best tips on making your website copywriting more effective and engaging.
Copywriting Health Check Stage 1: Your credibility
When someone lands at your website, they get an instant impression about how reputable your business is. The look and feel of your website plays a big part in that critical first impression, but the types of pages you have also communicate a lot about your credibility. To create the right impression, your website should have:
- Pages about your products or services
- An About page introducing yourself and/or your business
- Pages that show you’ve worked with other clients (like testimonials or case studies pages)
- A reasonably detailed contact page
All of these pages work together to tell me that you are a real and credible business.
Copywriting Health Check Stage 2: Every page essentials
Every page needs: to back up your value proportion I call this your simple truth and it is the real benefit you offer your customers (when you get past the marketing speak and industry jargon). To work out your simple truth, imagine describing your business to someone you’ve never met. In response to your fantastically detailed explanation they say, “so what?” You dig a bit deeper. They say, “so what?” When you continue this imaginary conversation, you will eventually get to the simple truth behind what you offer the world. Every page needs: to answer “what’s in it for me?” This is the question your website visitors are asking from the moment they arrive on your website. Rather than simply describing what your business does, remember to link your services back to the reasons your website visitor is looking for a solution. How are you making their life better?
Every page needs: a headline Your headline is the attention grabber for your page. As prime real estate, it’s useful to focus on the key benefit you offer and your main keywords. Imagine if your visitor read nothing else on the page, what is the most important thing they need to know? Another great tip is to make your page headline specific. If your headline would make sense in any other industry, there is an opportunity to make it more specific to your business. Every page needs: a call to action A call to action simply instructs your website visitor to perform an action. While you might think it’s obvious that you want people to email you for more information, register for your event or download your free report – a specific call to action will improve your response rate. Make your call to action clearly visible and actionable.
Copywriting Health Check Stage 3: Language and Readability
Once you know your key marketing messages and the benefits your target audience will care about, you can look at the way you communicate those messages. How well your audience understands your message is the key to action and fancy, formal language can sometimes do you more harm than good.
Here are some tips on making your copywriting easy to read and understand:
- Imagine speaking directly to a single person and write like you speak
- Keep your paragraphs relatively short and focused on one idea
- Vary the lengths of your sentences to create a changing rhythm
- Use whitespace to some breathing room around your copy
- Break up long sections of copy with subheadings and lists
Remember, always keep your simple truth in mind and make sure your website copywriting answers the question: what’s in it for me? Oh, and don’t forget those headlines and call to actions! Premium Members can and see my Copywriting Health Check applied to three member sites (along with more tips for effective website copywriting).
