Before you write ANY good copy for your business, you need to know a few things first… Especially when it comes to writing your web copy, as this is the core of your marketing and needs to be done right to avoid confusing and losing potential customers.
So I’m breaking down the essential things you need to know before writing web copy – whether you choose to go down the do-it-yourself (DIY) route or hire a professional website copywriter like myself.
Without solid answers to these 7 areas, you’re writing web copy blind and it WON’T have any impact.
1. Know your audience inside-out
It’s a marketing cliché for a reason – you really do need to know your customers before writing web copy and expecting results.
- Who are your customers?
- What are their pain points?
- How do you solve their problems?
- What are their dreams and aspirations?
- What’s blocking them right now?
- What’s the transformation?
Exercise to get inside your customers’ heads
Here’s an exercise I like to get people to do during website copywriting training workshops. And even for my done-for-you website copywriting clients, I do this exercise myself.
Write down your customers’ feelings before, during, and after working with you.
Write a column for each stage, and start populating that with as many feelings or adjectives describing your customers at each stage.
Is your current website copy costing you sales?
Answer 10 easy questions to find out – it takes less than 2 minutes.
2. Answer, ‘What’s in it for them?’
Be aware of how potential leads view your website. Look at your business’ website from the eyes of a ‘cold’ lead who’s never heard of your business before. Is it clear what you do, who you do it for, and why?
Even if you can’t articulate it fully in writing form, you need to know what you provide for customers; go beyond the features and benefits – what’s the transformation?
How do you change your customers’ lives for the better?
Without this, you’re selling the features and benefits alone, and that’s not what anyone signs up for. Remember the common idea that, “People don’t buy a drill because they want a drill; they buy it because they want somewhere to hang their cherished family photos.”
What’s your equivalent transformation?
3. Identify why people choose you over competitors
Having a unique value proposition (UVP) is something that sets you apart from competitors – but too many businesses don’t take the time to identify theirs and communicate it through their web copy.
For established businesses, this should be easy. But it’s not always the case… we can become blind to what makes us great and sail through our businesses not really paying attention to why our customers choose us.
For newbie business owners, have you identified your UVP or a trait that makes you stand out? If not, think about how your story and experience make you the right person for your ideal client.
A great exercise to identify what makes people work with you (which is especially useful if you have long-standing or repeat customers) is to conduct customer interviews and ask questions about their experience of working with you.
Through these interviews, you can analyse the voice of customer research and see the common themes that your customers say. This is messaging gold dust, as taking words directly from your customers’ mouths is a surefire way to write copy that resonates.
As part of my website copywriting service, I interview my clients’ customers as a standard research task, as it’s so valuable.
4. Set clear goals for all website pages
Each page of your website should have a clear purpose – what is it trying to achieve?
Think about each page both separately and as a whole. What’s the main website’s purpose, then how does each page of copy support that goal?
Structuring your web copy is an important aspect of making sure it works hard for you and isn’t just a pretty shopfront.
General goals for different pages of web copy
For example, you are a business coach with 2 core service areas for business owners at different stages in their journey. Your website goals could look like this:
- The home page is to introduce the overarching transformation you provide and direct users to the right service for them
- Each service page is to qualify the right (and wrong) fit people and encourage users to book a call to start the process
- Your about page is to build trust and connection with your ideal clients by showcasing your expertise and that you ‘get’ them
- Your blog or resources section is to prove you know your sh*t and are clued up about your specific industry
Although the overarching goal is to encourage leads to become clients, each page has its own role in the journey and can appeal to customers at different stages.
5. Explain exactly how you operate
What is your offer and how does the process work? It’s important to have a clear idea of this so you can communicate it properly to potential customers. Things like:
- When people get in touch, then what happens?
- How can people contact you?
- What’s the process of you working together?
- What happens at each stage?
- What do you need from people before you work together?
- And so on…
Have a clear customer journey and your T&Cs all laid out, as whether you’re writing your own web copy or hiring a copywriter, this is important information.
People like to know what to expect upfront.
6. Understand that your tone of voice matters
It’s not just what you say (your messaging), but how you say it that makes an impression to your potential customers.
Your brand voice is made up of various elements. The important thing to understand before writing web copy is how you want to be perceived by customers. Your website tone of voice is a way to showcase your personality and what it’s like to work with you, so don’t overlook it.
When you work with a website copywriter like myself, I’ll ask you lots of questions and really dig deep into who you are as a person and business, so I can reflect the right tone of voice for you.
7. Make sure people can find you (SEO)
To get more enquiries through organic search, you need an SEO strategy. For writing web copy, keywords are vital – and so is knowing how to put them on the page.
You need to either conduct your own keyword research and apply on-page SEO best practices to your website copy, or hire a copywriter who does this as standard (like me!).
You don’t want to hire someone who doesn’t understand SEO principles (unless you don’t want organic traffic).
Learn effective brand storytelling and copywriting techniques with the ‘craft your message’ newsletter
Helping misunderstood creative business owners to capture their personality, connect with ideal clients, and sell themselves better.
Revamp your web copy to get more ideal client enquiries and grow your business
Whether you choose to approach writing web copy yourself or hiring an expert, this should have given you an idea of what you need to know before you can get more ideal client enquiries through your web copy.
And if you do want to work together on your website copywriting project, get in touch for a chat. I’d love to make your website work harder for you so you can achieve your dreams.