Whatever your business, you need great copy to sell it. From product descriptions on your online shop to adverts in the local press – well-crafted words are what will get you noticed and get you sales.
The quickest and most effective way to do this is to hire a copywriter. But if you fancy trying your hand, then here are my 7 tips to write better copy for your business.
- Sell the experience
Nowadays we are bombarded with sales messages. If you’re going to make your product irresistible, you need to make sure it is experience-driven. In short, write about the benefits of what your customer will get rather than just the facts, and start with your biggest selling point. - Build a story
Creating a story helps push your reader along through your copy and builds their engagement with your product. By story, I don’t just mean a fantasy tale. Have a clearly defined beginning, middle and end to your copy (e.g. start with a product’s rich history and end by showing how it is still beneficial to your customer today). - Hook with headlines
Your headline should be relevant to the text that follows, but it should also be simple. Headings of around 6 words work best and will be fully visible in Google. Great headlines are active, informative and intriguing. Subheadings should be used to break up a lot of text and keep the reader moving through your copy. - Picture perfect
Images can help clarify a point and they are visually more appealing than a page full of text. But make sure they are relevant in some way and quality (not just clickbait). There are some websites where you can get license-free images (such as Creative Commons) which are not half bad, but if you want more choice then be prepared to pay and head to somewhere like iStock or Shutterstock. - Keep it short and sweet
There’s no set amount of words that is perfect to hook your reader. Use as many as it takes to sell your message. However, be aware that unless you’re writing about an academic or technical subject, making your content easy to read hinges on shorter sentences (up to around 16 words) with shorter words (ideally up to two syllables). - Call to action
It would be pretty silly to spend hours crafting a piece of copy only to forget to include a call to action. This is what gets you sales. In your CTA you need to ask your reader to do something, such as ‘visit our website’, ‘browse our online shop’, ‘download our free ebook’ or ‘sign up to our newsletter’. Anything you can offer your reader (ideally for free) is another incentive for them to act. - Edit, edit, edit…
Great copy undergoes rounds and round of extensive editing and proofing. Not only do you want to avoid glaringly obvious spelling and grammar mistakes, which plant doubt in your readers’ minds, but you also want to ensure your copy is as fluid, inspiring, engaging and seamless as possible.
A lot of time goes into crafting great copy that gets results. Writing your own is cheaper in the short term, but it can cost you big business if errors and bad writing put off your customers.
If you want to keep your time free to run your business in the best way possible, why not hire a copywriter to write your next webpage, flyer or job advertisement? I can take the hassle off your hands and save you time. Contact me today for a free and informal consultation.
Wendy Woodhead 