Website Design and Promotion

The "How To.." Headline

Headlines  that begin with "How To" are known to be highly effective because people want information on how to do or get things (or at least think they do). Brian Clark at Copyblogger describes how to write a killer "How To" headline by focusing on the specific benefits.

Here are some of his examples:

1.    Double-Benefit Headlines

How to Win Friends and Influence People

Brian notes that double-benefit headlines such as the one above, have twice the power of a single-benefit headline. Further, this headline subtly implies that if you achieve the first benefit, you will automatically achieve the second benefit. 

2.    How To [Mundane Task] That [Rewarding Benefit]

How to get a Mortgage That Saves You Money

 In this example, Brian notes the importance of specificity in naming the benefit. The more specific, the better. I find this is one of the most challenging and most important aspects of writing a good headline. When seeing your headline, people need to be able to say, "yes, that is exactly what I want." It's hard to get them to say that if your headline is not specific.

3.    The "How To" Without the "To".

How I Improved My Memory in One Evening

This headline goes for the curiosity factor--evoking your prospect's curiosity so that he reads beyond the headline.

A great post. Reading it will help you write better headlines. After all, the headline is the most important aspect of your copy.  Without a compelling headline, no one is going to read beyond it. You can read the whole post here.

Short Copy vs Long Copy: Settling the Debate

In the world of copywriting, people still debate how long copy should be in order to get maximum results.  While I prefer long copy myself and believe it works best, I think it's more important to focus on writing as much as it takes to say what you have to have say in order to get your prospective clients and customers to take action. You don't want to make your copy long for the sake of being long if it's not interesting or compelling. On the other hand, it shouldn't be too short either as it won't provide the information the buyer needs in order to make the decision.

David Garfinkel thinks he has settled the long copy vs the short copy debate once and for all. He gives an example of an ad for a job that a colleague of his wrote that was 461 words long! The response rate was impressive and David concludes that the debate is now closed on long vs short copy.

I disagree that the debate will now be over as too many people believe the myth that short is best and too much information is bad. However, I do agree with David on this:

How would those people know about this job if you didn't take the time ... and the words... to describe it to them in the first place?

Long, compelling copy fills in the blanks and leaves fewer questions in buyer's heads. If you can give them all the information they need to make a decision, there will be much less hesitation on your offer.

Writing Powerful Testimonials

Testimonials are an important element in effective web copy, but only if they compelling.  Duct Tape Marketing has a post on How To Write a Great Testimonial.

His main tips:

• Get a testimonial from every one of your clients

• Consider audio and video testimonials

• Write them for them - or make it easy for them to write it

• Write as though you are speaking to a prospect (Most people write testimonials as though they are speaking to the owner of the company)

• Give a specific, measurable benefit of using the product or service

• Don't hype - write in plain English

To this list I would add that the testimonial begin with the "problems" the client was having before they bought your product or service and then proceed to write the core benefit.

Also, make sure you have strong testimonials whether you have them sprinkled throughout your copy, or on a separate testimonial page at your website.  My preference is to use the testimonials within the copy to back up or reinforce your marketing message.

Expressing Yourself in Your Copy

David Garfinkel writes a good summary of the importance of expressing yourself in your copy.
He starts off the post talking about a fortune cookie he received that said, "Magic will be created when an unconventional person comes to stay."

It is true, that being seen as different will get you more attention than if your copy looks like everyone elses.

Whether you are a socially responsible business owner or healing professional, your copy needs to indicate what is unique or special about your product or service. If you don't know what characteristics are unique or special, ask some of your customers or clients what they like about you or sit down and brainstorm with a business colleague or your employees.

I find that a lot of my clients don't fully understand what is unique about them until we engage in a discussion about it. Sometimes it takes a while to identify what is different about what you offer and sometimes you need to change or modify what you offer so that it is different.

Web Copy for Socially Conscious Businesses

SRB Marketing has some good tips on copywriting for socially responsible businesses in their post, Write Copy Like You Mean It (And Hopefully You Do). From their post:

Include your products environmental or social benefits, but try to stay away from industry jargon or anything that is too far out of the mainstream to be understood; avoid exaggerated and overused clichés like “save the world” (chances are your product doesn’t actually do that); and let your own personality come through to the reader. Chances are if you care about what you are selling, then your copy will show that too.

All copy must use simple, but compelling language that can be easily read and understood. You can't expect people to even read beyond the first few words of your site, let alone buy your product or service, if the copy doesn't engage and hold their attention.

If you are stuck with how to "write copy like you mean it," you can also check out the interview with Seth Godin, How To Tell A Great Story, which  SRB refers to.

Test Your Email Subject Lines

Email subject lines, like headings in copy, are one of the most important and challenging aspects of a strong campaign. Nick Osborne explains how and why to test your subject lines with a select group of your subscribers before sending out your newsletter to your entire list.

Nick tests 4-5 subject lines with 500-1000 names each depending on the size of his list. He then checks for open and click through rates and points out that the one with the highest open rate won't always be the one that brings you the best revenues. After running his test, the next day, Nick sends out the newsletter to the rest of his list with the headline that had the best results.

It's a clever idea that could make a big difference in your marketing.

Write Powerful Copy: Don't Write for the Search Engines

Robert Bly, the well known copywriter, wrote a great article on why he doesn't believe you should write your copy for the search engines.

Bob explains that you need to have a single core audience in mind if you want to write powerful copy. If you write for the search engines, then you are catering to them and not the reader.

His main points:

• Write the strongest selling copy you can aimed at the human reader and forget the search engines.
• When finished, check to ensure keywords are appropriately placed, but ...
• Never change a word of strong selling copy if that change will make it even one iota weaker, even if SEO best practices would endorse that change.
• Once the page is up and working (i.e., generating strong conversion), optimize for engines by experimenting with word changes, testing to ensure those edits don’t reduce conversions.

Bob includes comments made by other copywriters he spoke to and most agree with his point of view.

I also use a method similar to Bob's. I write the copy first (or help my clients write theirs) and then go back and do some keyword research and make modifications to the copy, inserting keywords where appropriate as long as they don't take away from the copy itself. I find that well written copy that is geared to a specific target audience naturally will include a lot of the key words people use when searching for a particular product or service on the web.

Getting Prospect's Attention with Emails

Nick Usborne has a post on writing intro copy at the beginning of emails in order to get the reader's attention.

He points out how busy everyone is that they usually don't have time to read emails and therefore they scan as opposed to reading them. His solution is to offer the core message within the first few seconds of the email in a format that makes it stand out. Here is a example that he uses:

********************************************
Sign Up for Widgety News Today and
we’ll send you 3 FREE Widgety DVDs
********************************************

Nick makes a very important point. With research indicating that 79% of people scan as opposed to read on the web, it's becoming increasingly important to grab potential client's attention within a few seconds. On the web, information is only a click away and if prospects don't get what they want quickly, they are gone somewhere else.

I would also like to add that getting prospects attention in the subject of an email is even more important. If you fail to get their interest in the subject line, the email won't even be opened. Writing compelling email subject lines is a topic for a future post. :-)

Creating a Compelling Headline for Your Website's Home Page

Your home page is the most important page of your website. It is the one that will determine what your potential client or customer does immediately after they arrive (i.e. stays or leaves your site).

Research on web usability shows that you only have a few seconds to catch the attention of your website visitors. One of the most important ways to do this is through your opening headline.

Your headline’s main purpose is to attract attention and generate enough interest so that your visitors keep reading. It’s a first step in a process where your goal is to entice them to stay at your site long enough so that they eventually take action on your offer.

Here are a few tips for creating powerful headlines:

• Let the reader know that your site is for them. People want to know instantly when they arrive at your site if they are going to get what they are looking for. Your headline should give some indication that the visitor is in the right place.

• Make sure your headline focuses very specifically on the core problem of your target market or the key benefit that you are offering.

• Choose interesting, meaningful and/or thought-provoking words. Ideally, your headline should jolt your reader into saying something like, "Hey this is for me!”

• Speak to your client’s emotions. People typically make purchasing decisions based on their emotions so you want to be sure you illustrate to your visitors that you understand the feelings they are experiencing.

• Your headline should be clear and to the point. Your reader should understand your message immediately. Do not water down or convolute your message so that the reader has to struggle to find it’s meaning. A few moments of confusion could mean that your visitor is gone to the next site.

Writing successful attention-grabbing headlines can be challenging as there are many components to consider. You might want to do some reading in this area or hire someone to help you create an effective headline. Your headline can make all the difference in determining whether your website is drawing, as opposed to repelling, potential clients and customers.

Writing Scannable Web Copy

Many people write their web copy as if the visitor to their site will be reading every word. It is a well known fact in the web copywriting field that most people scan copy on websites as opposed to reading it. Studies have shown that most people skim the headlines until something grabs their attention.

To write your copy so that it is easily scanned you might want to incorporate the following  5 tips outlined in Maria Veloso's new book, "Web Copy That Sells":

1. Use bullet points to summarize content.
2. Highlight keywords by using bold, italics or underlining.
3. Write interesting and meaningful subheadings.
4. Present only one idea per paragraph.
5. Present key points and conclusions first, followed by less important and background information.