One of the most overlooked components of a website is its website copy. Have you noticed that as well? In this video segment, I will point out ten fundamental ways to improve the effectiveness of your website copy.
Is your website copy killing your business?
One of the most overlooked aspects of any website is the copy!
You will often come upon a website with beautiful imagery and pictures, but when you get to the copy on the site, it’s horrible and unbearable to read.
So is it the copy that’s killing your business? Maybe!
Let’s take a look at ten foundational copywriting items that can improve the effectiveness of your website copy immediately!
1. Use a Conversational tone
When you are writing copy, use a conversational tone. Don’t talk at me. Please don’t make it such that I’m watching a documentary or listening to a documentary. Talk to me in a conversational tone. Make me feel like you’re engaging me. Bring me in as opposed to talking to me in the third person. This is very powerful and very important!
2. Relevant Content
Make the content relevant. If I’m on a page about a particular topic, stay on that topic. Keep the copy relevant. Don’t meander off in fifty different directions. You’ll lose me. People have very short attention spans these days. (A little side note, that will also help you rank better in the search engines!)
3. Storytelling
The stories are great. They get the emotional juices moving and going. Just make sure that your stories have a point and that you’re not going on for years. Get to the point. Stories can be compelling.
4. Don't Be afraid to Polarize
Not everybody’s going to love you! I hate to be the one to break that to you. It’s okay if some don’t. It’s okay even if some hate you! When you polarize, you’re creating a rabid following fan kind of thing—you “re going to get fans that will resonate with you and are more passionate about you. So don’t be afraid to polarize!
5. Write for Skimming
Online we don’t read as we do in a novel. We skim first. We jump from section to section, and then if we remember a section that kind of resonated with us, we’ll go back and read the details of that section. You want to write with headlines, sub-headlines, and then copy. Maybe you have a headline, a sub-headline, two paragraphs, another sub-headline, another two paragraphs, etc. It enables the eyes to move around the page a little bit easier. This is a very powerful approach.
6. Whitespace
You don’t have to cram 10,000 pounds of information into your copy. Make sure that there is enough whitespace on the page. If there’s a little whitespace, don’t cram something there if you don’t have to. It makes it cluttered and challenging for the eyes.
7. Fonts
Don’t go crazy using ten different fonts on your web page. Two to three font styles are the max. And don’t go crazy with too many different font sizes or colors. You don’t need to make a rainbow spectrum on every single page. Keep it simple!
8. Imagery
You can add charts, graphs, and pictures, that support your content. Get rid of any images that have nothing to do with what the page is about. The images should support and add value to the overall page.
9. Calls to Action
Lead me and tell me what you want me to do next. I just read the copy. Now what? Calls to action are one of the most overlooked aspects of every page on a website. You need to tell the reader what’s next. What do you expect them to do. It could be as simple as calling me at this number. That’s one of the most fundamental basic calls to action. There are more robust ones that you can use for more information on this topic; here’s a special report. Fill in your information, and boom, it’s all yours.
10. Make it easy to share content
Let me share your content on Twitter, Facebook, or wherever I want! It may get you more traffic. And it expands and builds on your online brand.
Now there’s probably a lot more we can talk about on this topiic and you probably are brimming with more ideas of your own. I’d love to hear some of your ideas! Please leave a comment below!
Very educational video Dean, thanks. With the arrival of Google Panda 4.0, content is more critical than ever.