Copywriting for the Web - Deliver both Creativity and Keywords for Success
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Friday, 11 April 08 - 01:21 PM (GMT +10:00) By Angela Booth in Copywriting |
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As more businesses flock to the Web, the need for copywriters explodes. In this article, we'll discuss Web copywriting, which is different from writing copy for print or for the audio-visual media.
Web copywriters write sales pages for the Web, rather than informational pages. Web pages which are strictly information are "content", rather than copy.
So what do you write as a Web copywriter?
You write all text which is marketing, advertised, and sales related. This text can include PPC landing pages, PPC advertising, straight Web sales pages, autoresponder copy, and much more. If the goal of a page is SALES, it's a job for a Web copywriter.
Here are four tips which will help you in writing copy for the Web:
1. Write for the Web site's visitors first
When you write for the Web, you're writing for people, with the search engines in mind. You must write with keywords - these are the words which people type into the search engines' query boxes to find what they want online.
If you haven't done any keyword research, then that's your first step, before you write a word of Web copy.
That said however, write for people, rather than for the search engines. Avoid Web-spam. Not only is it ineffective, because your copy won't convert, it's also likely to get your site banned and removed from the search engines.
2. Sometimes you must write for the search engines first
Occasionally you'll write copy which is for the search engines first, and then for people. For example, if you're writing catalog copy, start with the keywords - usually a brand name and model name and number - because these terms will get the catalog page found.
Once you've incorporated those vital words and numbers, you can write the copy.
3. Page titles and page descriptions are important
Although Web copywriters (usually) don't code pages, you will need to provide two things for the person who develops the page you're writing: a page title, and a page description.
Page titles and descriptions are vital for the search engines.
4. Write for scan-ability: make your Web copy easy to read
No one "reads" on the Web. Everyone scans, running their eyes rapidly down and across pages, looking for information.
As a Web copywriter, you need to take this into account when writing Web pages. The old copywriter's formula of AIDA (Attract/ Attention, Interest, Desire, Action) certainly applies.
White space is important. It makes your copy inviting. For a Web sales page for example, include lots of bullet points and sub-headlines. Your goal is to keep your site's visitor reading - to force him to read right down the page.
Web audio and video are useful strategies for some Web sales pages. However, don't repeat what the site visitor can read. The audio and video should add to the sales page, rather than repeating what's already there.
There's never been a better time to be copywriter. If you're thinking about a copywriting career, start now! I and my colleagues are booked up months in advance, so get started today. You'll be pleased you did.
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Easy Copywriting Tips - Use them to Increase Sales Instantly
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Monday, 31 March 08 - 10:56 AM (GMT +10:00) By Angela Booth in Copywriting |
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Copywriting is a prime business skill that's easy to develop, and will help you to make your business successful. We'll look at five easy copywriting tips to boost your copy's effectiveness in this article.
You may be wondering: why bother learning copywriting? Simply because it frees you.
Yes, you can hire copywriters, but that takes time: your favorite copywriter is busy, and if you need him for every tiny marketing chore, your competitors will eat your lunch.
So here are five tips for effective copy:
1. Use "YOU" to talk directly to your prospect
Using "you" makes your copy personal. You're talking directly to your prospect. Consider the difference between:
* "We've been in business five years...."; and
* "You know you can rely on us, because you ..."
You'll find that when you use "you" in your copy you get right on your prospect's wavelength. You start thinking from his point of view, rather than your own, and this is vital for effective copy.
2. Postscript power - remember the P.S. and make more sales
I love junk mail. Part of my affection for it is professional curiosity; I want to see how other copywriters handle copy, but a major part consists of pure interest too. I love a great offer.
However, my time's limited. So I read the headline of the sales letter, and the postscript. If they don't grab me, I toss the letter.
So when writing sales letters, focus on the headline, and on the postscript. You'll make more sales.
3. Long copy or short? Your choice
Copywriting is salesmanship. When you're wondering whether to write short copy or long, think about how you would approach the sale in person. What would get the prospect's attention?
Sometimes of course you're constrained by the medium. You can't write a two-page sales letter if you're creating a quarter-page magazine display ad. But if you're writing a direct response letter, or Web sales page, you can write long, or short. Your choice.
Here's a tip: beware of "laundry list" copy - long lists of benefits of your product. You can lose control with laundry-list copy easily, so aim to keep your buyer reading by using suspense.
4. Knowledge counts - use the product, evaluate the service, talk to users
Fake copy is easy to spot. Lack of knowledge of the product is the reason you see so much "cheesy", hype-ridden copy on the Web. You must know what you're selling. Touch the product. Use it if possible. Evaluate the service, and talk to users.
You need direct knowledge of a product to write effective copy. Get that knowledge any way you can.
5. Pay attention! Get noticed
If your prospect ignores the headline, you've lost the sale. So your first aim in writing copy is to get attention.
Because they're so important, headlines can be difficult to write, but write your headline you must, because the rest of the copy flows directly from the headline. So write your headline, and assess it when you've finished writing the copy.
Often the perfect headline will only come to you once you've completed the copy, as a flash of inspiration.
So there you have five easy copywriting tips. Use them for effective copy, and make sales.
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Copywriting - Sizzling Sales Pages coin Money for You
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Saturday, 15 March 08 - 07:40 AM (GMT +10:00) By Angela Booth in Copywriting |
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The online world provides you with an endless flow of clients for your copywriting services business. Many of your clients will be Internet marketers selling products online, so writing Web sales pages is an important part of your business.
Here are four tips to help you to write sales pages which sizzle, and get a great response.
1. Use suspense to keep prospects reading down the page
Long or short? Are long Web sales pages mandatory?
Many of your copywriting services customers demand long sales pages, of ten to 20 print pages (2,500 or 5000 words).
Writing a long sales page that prospects will read is a challenge. To keep prospects reading, one of your most useful tricks is to use suspense.
Plant questions in your prospect's mind, but don't answer those questions immediately. Then before you answer one question, ask another.
You'll notice that I used this technique when I asked the question above "Are long Web sales pages mandatory?".
Here's the answer: that depends on the product and on your writing skills. As long as you're explaining the benefits of the product, keep writing - and entertain as you write, boredom is death to sales copy. You'll know what your prospect is bored, because you'll be bored as you write.
2. Remember to put yourself in the shoes of the customer
When you write sales copy, you're putting yourself in the shoes of the customer. Ask yourself questions - who, what, why, when, where and how?, and answer those questions before you start writing.
Research online, as well as offline. Are there competing products? (There usually are.) What makes your product different and better?
Use the product yourself as part of your research. Ideally, talk to people who are using it. You'll need to include testimonials, so chat to the product's users and find out how and why they're using the product.
3. Test your headline - create at least two headlines, for split testing
It's often said that the headline is the most important part of a sales page. While this is true - without an attention-grabbing headline you won't get a chance to make your offer - the offer is just as important as the headline.
If your client forgets the offer - you feel the offer isn't compelling enough - work with your client to improve it. What are his competitors offering? Aim to make the offer so outstanding that it's literally an offer a prospect can't refuse.
Create two versions of your sales page with two different headlines so that your client can split test the sales page. Of course when you change the headline, you'll need to edit the sales page slightly to conform to the new headline.
4. Keywords are vital for free traffic
Because your client will be advertising his product, and using your sales page as a landing page, copywriters often forget that keywords are important when writing sales pages.
If you omit keywords, your client will miss out on free traffic over the coming months and years. So choose two or three keywords, and include them on the sales page.
So there you have four tips which will make your sales pages sizzle. Here's an additional tip - remember to write sales pages for your copywriting services business too: use your copywriting skill for your own business as well as for your clients.
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Angela Booth's ebook "Seven Days To Easy Money: Copywriting Success" takes you from novice to pro copywriter in just seven days. This popular ebook has been turning writers into successful copywriters for five years. Packed with information, the ebook also includes exercises which become your copywriter's marketing processes and portfolio. You could be signing up your first clients within two days.
Copywriting Like the Pros: Five Forms
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Thursday, 06 March 08 - 01:59 PM (GMT +10:00) By Angela Booth in Copywriting |
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Seven Days to Easy Money: Copywriting Success
If you like writing, try copywriting. Copywriters are promotional writers, and their skills are in huge demand.
If I asked you to write 35 words advertising a brand of soap, could you do it? If you can, you've got a great future as a copywriter.
Copywriters write many different forms of copy. Let's look at five popular forms.
1. Businesses love brochures
Whenever a new product is created, a brochure is developed for it. The brochure may just be flyer - think junk mail - or it can be a glossy publication.
2. Overviews or white papers are fundamental in business to business
In some of the business to business markets, especially for high-priced items, executive overviews or white papers are primary sales tools. These are information-packed documents, and copywriters write them.
Some white papers can be under ten pages, others can be 25 pages of information, and you're well paid for writing them.
3. Businesses need press releases to get free publicity
Businesses small and large hire copywriters to write press releases, with the hope of getting coverage in major newspapers and magazines, and even on television. So if you get some practice writing press releases, you can become a PR copywriter.
Since they're written to a format, press releases are easy to write. As a specialist, you could write several a day.
4. Performance copywriting - write radio spots
Many copywriters write for the audio visual media: radio and TV. It's easy to break in to radio advertising, especially in smaller cities.
Once you've written some samples, call your local radio stations to get an interview and present your portfolio.
You'll find that you will easily get hired: most radio stations aren't set up to write spots, and they love to farm them out to freelancers.
5. Ultra short copywriting with taglines and slogans
Taglines and slogans are usually very short, they're a brief bite which encapsulates a service or products.
Since they are so short, taglines give you a way to break into copywriting. Write a selection of taglines, and present them to a local graphics design agency. Such agencies use freelance copywriters, and you could walk away from the meeting with an agreement and check in your hand.
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