How to Create Copy That Creates Customers (And Not Just Leads)
The emphasis during a web development project is often on the design. Of course, everyone wants a beautiful website that reflects their company with its look and feel.
But a website that converts customers from visitors to leads to customers isn’t just about great design. While design is certainly a big piece of the puzzle, your website’s copy is just as important.
Creating web copy that will your convert your visitors into customers is a delicate balance of a number of factors. So how do you actually convert customers?
What’s going to get visitors in the proverbial door?
Before we get into how to create copy that will convert, let’s review the ways that people are going to find your website. Ultimately, if your visitors are going to convert into customers, they need to find you first.
Some of the major ways a visitor will find your site include:
- Search Engine Optimization
- Social media
- Blog
- Paid advertising
- Videos
- Webinars
- Physical marketing collateral
- Traditional marketing (e.g. TV ads or radio)
- Word of Mouth
Think carefully about your target audience.
So now it’s time to start the journey of creating copy that converts.
Each and every piece of content that you create should have (one of) your target audience(s) in mind. (For most businesses, you’ll have at least three ideal markets to target.)
Once you’ve defined who those people are, define what they want to read.
If your web copy isn’t honing in on a target market in some way, then it’s simply not worth creating.
Your visitors need to feel like they are being spoken to directly, like you are identifying (and solving!) their individual need or problem, and that you’re there to help.
Define a purpose for each page.
Have a purpose with each page of content (on your website or blog). Each page should serve a specific purpose and identify a certain problem, solution, or subject matter.
Think of each page on your website as being a targeted opportunity to bring someone into your website from the list of methods above.
Meld copy with design.
So you’ve created purposeful and targeted content on your website. Awesome! But you’re not done yet.
Use your site design to show off your company’s personality, as well as define your branding. That way, everything is cohesive with your web presence.
Incorporate calls-to-action into your copy and feel free to meld with your design here, too. A well designed call-to-action can go far in converting your site visitors or leads to customers.
The conversion point needs to make sense.
Regardless of gorgeous design, the conversion points or calls-to-actions you define for visitors need to make sense for the sales cycle stage the lead is in.
Think about the potential customer who is visiting a service page, for example. Perhaps they’re pricing out like companies for the service. Instead of pushing them aggressively into a sale, perhaps your call-to-action is around signing up for a free 30-minute consultation or a free guide to become more educated about the particular service (which then signs them up for your email newsletter). That way, you can warm them up a little more as a lead.
Similarly, take a visitor who’s just visited your blog for the first time. More than likely, they landed on the blogpost based on interest in the specific subject matter. They’re not even remotely looking to become a customer right now. However, you can still offer a conversion point by showing them similar posts they may be interested in or the opportunity to sign up to receive your blogposts regularly via email.
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Creating copy that converts doesn’t have to be rocket science, but it does need to be well-planned and constructed.
Once you’ve created copy with a plan to convert, don’t forget to measure regularly to see what areas are working and which aren’t. That way, you can continuously make improvements (and even more conversions) over time!
Bio: Nicki Hicks is a Maryland-born, Maine-raised, and Florida-implanted Web Marketing expert and Copywriter. With over 8 years of experience in the industry, Nicki has a passion for helping her clients create a well-rounded web presence. These days, Nicki owns and operates red vine web studio, a Florida-based full-service web design, development, and marketing shop. If Nicki isn’t optimizing a website or writing for one of the blogs she manages, you’ll probably find her coaching college cheerleading, playing with her dogs, working out, or having a glass of red wine…or maybe all of the above.