Supercharge your website copy by writing persuasively in all elements of your business – it’s what marketing and sales are built on, after all. Nowhere is striking a persuasive tone more important than on your website, where passing visitors can be converted into loyal customers with just a few clicks.
If you’re struggling to come up with effective, persuasive website copy, read on for our top tips:
Before you start writing the copy that you hope will be persuasive enough to convince visitors they need to purchase form you, ask yourself a few important questions. What is my customer looking for? What solutions can I offer? What impact will my solutions have on the customer?
Once you’ve got the answers, you’ll be in a much better place to tap into that persuasive mindset.
As well as asking yourself the important questions to boost your persuasive mentality, you can ask your audience questions, too. Questions are a great way to lead your visitors’ minds down a particular route. Asking questions can cause someone to look at a concept in an entirely new way, or provoke an emotional reaction in them.The right questions in the right places on your website can be very persuasive!
Research has found that as few as 16% of people read web pages word-for-word. The vast majority will scan over each new page to find words, picture or links that jump out at them. Bear this in mind when you’re writing – every message you have should be clear and easy to digest. Avoid repeating yourself, avoid long sentences and avoid jargon that might alienate some parts of your target audience.
When you’re so focused on writing short, to-the-point sentences and paragraphs, it can be easy to fall into the trap of creating unemotional, cold text that doesn’t ignite any feeling in your readers whatsoever. It’s important to sprinkle all of your writing with feeling. Our brains relate to emotional content, and we are hard-wired to gravitate towards it – thus making it a very powerful persuasive tool.
Developing original, unique content is essential for SEO purposes – you could be penalised by Google if any of your content is duplicated. But creating unique content has a dual purpose. Site visitors will be much more likely to look elsewhere if they feel like they’re simply reading a spiel that they’ve heard a hundred times before. Think outside the box and look for ways to phrase things differently – you don’t want your audience to have a feeling of déjà vu when browsing your website – you want to come across as a unique prospect.
Writing persuasively is all about developing a conversational style that the audience can build a sense of rapport and connection with. Most audiences don’t want to feel like they’re being sold to, and striking a friendly, conversational tone can you to gain their trust and keep their attention.