Powerful ways of writing web copy

Unearth the gold nuggets and let them sparkle on your home page

Whenever I assess and revamp a client’s website I comb through their current web copy in order to find gold nuggets of information. Gold nuggets include any piece of persuasive information that will grab your visitor’s attention and inspire them to take some action.

Case study: Property buyers’ agent

My client, Nicole, works on behalf of people who want to buy a property, and deals directly with real estate agents on their behalf.

She’d already written a lot of excellent copy, so my job was to find the gold nuggets, polish them and then showcase them in the right places.

With this in mind, on Nicole’s home page we made a point of speaking to her target market’s frustrations and problems, and then offered them the benefits of using her services. Here’s an abbreviated example:

Problems: Tired of spending endless weekends looking at house after house? Not sure of a property’s true value?

Benefits: We source premium properties on your behalf, 30 percent of which are never advertised. We negotiate the best price and the best terms, and save you time, money and potentially thousands of dollars.

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Inform, reassure and generate trust

When writing web copy, make sure you:

• Answer all your prospect’s questions
• Reassure all their fears
• Build their trust

In Nicole’s case, I suggested she feature her video testimonials and money back guarantee on her home page, because they generate an enormous amount of trust.

Interestingly, later, a woman contacted Nicole and said, ‘Although your website wasn’t the flashiest I’ve seen, it was the only one I made a connection with.’

And there’s the key. When you inform, reassure and generate trust you’ll make a connection with people. Make a connection and you promote action.

Write a ‘Why Choose?’ page

A Why Choose? page is a highly persuasive page that helps differentiate you from your competitors. Nicole had so many Unique Selling Points that I felt her website really needed a Why Choose? page.

Could your business benefit from one too?

Take your time

If you’re revamping your own web copy, take it one step at a time or else the process will become overwhelming. Make a list of the changes you want to make, and then set realistic deadlines for when you can make them.

I’d like to leave you with a paragraph from ‘The Ultimate Website Evaluation Checklist’, which is, ummm, a free eBook written by me:

Every single day people make changes to their website that have a positive impact on their conversion rate. Today is your day. Tomorrow is your day. And all the days following are your days!

So, is today your day? Or do you some tips for writing web copy to share? If so, convert us here.