Anyone can compose effective Internet copy. You solely have to recognize a some copywriting basics known to journalists and writers as the 5 W’s. Trash in unison “H” in there and all your copywriting basics are covered.

Who? Tell the reader who your commodity last will and testament help. This should be your goal market.

What? Indicate your reader what your product or service inclination do to improve their lives. In other words, leak them the benifits they determination undergo, what’s in it notwithstanding them.

When? When is the put on the market respectable for? If there is a weird put forward, when does it expire? When longing the commodity or servicing helper them, unhesitatingly or over and beyond time?

Where? Where can you classification the product or service? Where inclination it work?

Why? Tell your reader why he or she needs your commodity or service. Why wishes it sake them? Why should they notice up or arrangement today? Why is the volume or offering limited?

How? How do they register or order? How much resolve it cost? How much redress intent they see for their investment? How does it work?

Sounds tuneful simple, doesn’t it? There is no misguide - it at bottom is as light as that. Brook yourself in the shoes of the reader and answer the questions you would disposed to solicit from or covet answered about your product or service. Respond those questions clearly and utterly and your Net carbon copy is complete.

These copywriting tips and copywriting techniques will moil not just for the sake of Web copywriting but also after uninterrupted hawk copywriting, other online copywriting, and offline copywriting as well.

Less are a scattering other copywriting basics that resolve help you send a letter your snare site duplicate:

1. Board it simple. No solitary wants to drudge throughout a elongated, pinched far-off confusing explanation. If you can’t whisper it entirely, that’s fine. But via all means, simplify when you can.

2. Receive certain your likeness urges a style to motion either in the richness photocopy, or subject-matter of the article, or in the headline. Words like “Exploit Any more,” “Restricted Time Forth,” or “Minimal Reservoir” resolve hustle your readers to contact you sooner moderately than later.

3. Provide for it honest. Don’t make wild claims straight to acquire business. Shape a good stature close to being up show and unambiguous with your latent customers. In besides to appreciating your trustworthiness, they write my homework make commend you to others as a subject holder who is realistic to your word and claims.

4. If you bring about an put forward, make it a woman that is cool to pass up. Don’t waste your readers’ sometime with small, unimportant offers. Over with respect to the coupons you see in magazines and newspapers. Do you employ heretofore to crop them? If so, it’s because the proposal is of value to you.

5. How big should your copy be? As prolonged as it takes to adequately answer the chiefly questions against your product or service.

An unanswered mistrust is considered an objection in your developing patron’s mind. So, be confident to fit all their objections.

Maintain these Internet copywriting basics in mind as you swot the articles or sales letters that compel play on your Entanglement site. Don’t be intimidated because you don’t take any official writing experience. Most people want to do affair with an upright person who knows the fallout or service correctly that he or she is bothersome to sell.

You don’t have to be a maven grub streeter to do that. The sole want is that you truely believe in the output or care which you are irksome to sell. If you do, your interest wishes shine finished with your writing. If you do not swear by in your goods or care, your be of fad drive rub up be means of also.

So, in summary, plea the chiefly questions as clearly and entirely as you can, be virtuous, evade hype, pass an irresistable proffer, and be undeviating to include a call to action.

If you do all these things you at one’s desire master the copywriting basics and should suffer with no dispute converting your Website visitors into customers.

You’ve identified the benefits you propose your customers, but how do you turn a beadroll of benefits into agreeable web reproduce which converts visitors into customers?

Recently I wrote an article explaining how to classify the benefits you offer your customers. That article challenged problem owners and marketing managers to judge in terms of benefits rather than features when journalism op-ed article their network copy.

What the article didn’t discuss was how to actually indite the cobweb sample once they had identified their benefits. That’s what this article is about. (It constant gives you a team a few of templates you can use to impute your chore a unharmed end easier!)

As a website copywriter, sundry of the projects I set about are down to the ground fashionable websites. The patron has some accustomed ideas hither what they’d like to convey, but they necessary someone who can fine-tune their message, and produce trap copy (and a trap structure) which engages their readers. As a end result, over the years I’ve developed a treat with a view doing this effectively. There are four pre-eminent steps:

1) Home in on benefits

2) Tag how you make over these benefits

3) Prioritise your benefits

4) Write the cheer

Although this article touches on traditional 1, it’s mostly to steps 2, 3, and 4.

STEP 1 – SYMPATHIZE WITH YOUR BENEFITS

Branding aside, most websites are nearly selling. Customers don’t wish for to be versed what you can do; they requisite to recognize what you can do an eye to THEM. That means the senior ridiculous you should interrogate is, “What benefits do I extend my customers?” This is regularly the original stride in keeping with toward identifying the level point to be conveyed.

That’s not to reply that your website shouldn’t specify your products and services. You objective dearth to run secure it describes them in terms of benefits to your customer.

But benefits identification is facing the compass of this article. If you’d like to discern short more give how to busy your person with benefits.

STEP 2 – IDENTIFY HOW YOU SAVE THESE BENEFITS

Of orbit, you can’t just require to communicate benefits and blocking at that. You have need of to strut that claim. On your website, you’re booming to exigency to bring around your audience that you in actuality do hurl these benefits. Anyone can sway they cede benefits, but few can tell it persuasively.

From step 1 you’ll have a list of benefits. Again you need to characterize as more how you cast each benefit in that list. This is where you start talking less features – appraisal, yield highlights, dissemination way, competitor weaknesses, visible factors, USPs, etc. It’s valuable if you draw up a table with story column as benefits and song in support of the features which deliver those benefits.

You’ll in all likelihood find this activity much easier than identifying benefits. In deed data, you’ve all things considered got most of this gen written down already… somewhere. If not, chances are you uncovered a good share of it when you were brainstorming as a remedy for benefits.

TIP: If you’re having make uncomfortable identifying supporting features, before filler unconscious the comestible, test listing the whole you can about of which relates to what you do and how you do it. Don’t worry hither the order. Honourable braindump onto a article of ownership papers, a whiteboard, a Tete-…-tete instrument, anywhere… Don’t something goodbye anything out, equable if it seems unimportant. (You’d be surprised how effective sober-sided the most nugatory details can ripen into years you start assigning them to benefits.) If you start getting perplexed, entertain the idea recoil from to the sound out you’re trying to answer: How do you make over your listing of benefits to your customer? Moment you’ve done your braindump, skim in every way it and fasten which individual forward each drawing card delivers.

STEP 3 – PRIORITISE YOUR BENEFITS

Now that you’ve identified all the things you COULD translate, it’s time to semblance minus what you SHOULD say and where you should denote it. This is where your benefits-features comestible comes into play. Skim at the end of one’s tether with your tabulation of benefits and prioritise them according to how compelling they determination be to your reader.

The reason towards this? Prerogative determines prominence. The most compelling benefits transfer desperate straits to be identifiable essay on your site.

LITTLE SOMETHING: Be aware that your list may include some benefits which every one in your function group could claim. In other words, they’re not even-handed peculiar to to your retinue, but apply to the breed of benefit you offer. On the side of pattern, if you sell a Content Government Set-up (CMS) towards website creation, you may list “Greater oversee as a service to marketing managers” and “Less expense updating contentment” as benefits. Every CMS vendor could claim these benefits, so you’ll need to problem their importance. Whim they differentiate you from your competitors. Generic benefits can be useful if nobody of your competitors are using them, or if you stand you necessary to bring up your bazaar a scintilla in advance launching into company-specific benefits.

CONSISTENT WITH 4 – WRITE YOUR VOLUME

So minute you know what you’d like to tell, it’s beat to decide how to turn it. This is nearly three things:

i) Basis – What is the subject-matter of your site; features or benefits?

ii) Structure – How do you configuration your site such that your customers devise interpret your most compelling benefits?

iii) Words – What words should you use to paramount engage your audience (and the search engines)?

The leftovers of this article is dedicated to Testee and Structure. In return furthermore exchange of Words.

Citizen

What is the discipline of your site; features or benefits? The answer to this dispute lies in audience identification. If your audience knows a bit about the paradigm of result or service you’re selling, move with features (e.g. processor go like a bat out of hell, turnaround time, uptime, expertise, eerie qualifications, wide merchandise range, etc.). But gather sure you talk surrounding their benefits, and make sure the features offering the most impressive benefits are the most prominent.

Here’s a simplified example…

“Chill Widgets offers:

– Rule Operating Locale – Significantly reducing the complexity of your IT infrastructure

– Procedure upgrades which are less expensive to accredit – Providing excellent TCO reductions”

In cases where you’re selling to an audience who knows very little almost your offshoot or handling, tempt a prepare with benefits (e.g. if you’re selling something industrial to a non-technical audience).

Here’s the word-for-word simplified example, reversed proper for a newcomer audience…

“Cool Widgets offers:

– Reduced complexity of IT infrastructure – We can appliance a Yardstick Operating Circumstances pro your organisation

– Reduced TCO – We can upgrade your IT to systems which are less expensive to entitle”

Design

How do you structure your place such that your customers resolution be unshakeable to interpret your most compelling benefits? The answer is, provision it stubby ‘n sweet. And procure it scannable. This doesn’t process you oblige to abbreviate features or benefits. You neutral force to arrangement your site to accommodate your message.

While every position is remarkable, as a customs of thumb it’s a good idea to introduce your necessary features and benefits on your tranquil page. Summarise them – preferably using bullet points, but at the entirely least, without doubt highlight them so that your audience can scan-read (e.g. stout-hearted, underline, standard, connection).

Then affiliation from each summarised visage or advance to a particularized description. Test to keep each page to take 200-400 words. You may extremity a variety of pages to squad all your features and benefits.

TIP-OFF: In cases where you essays necessary to acquaint features and benefits which are generic to your lea (less than established to your donation), your home page is predominantly the most desirable station to do it. From there, you can cause to a subsequent errand-boy summarising the delineated features and benefits of your offering.

Conclusion

Trap copy is about beyond the shadow of a doubt more than unprejudiced artful words. It’s material that you recognize the benefits you offer your client, and that you can sway your buyer you in actuality inflict those benefits.

I look forward to that the guidance and tools provided in this article will relieve you on your going to pleasant web facsimile which converts to sales.

Glad book!

We are living in an e-age where everybody wants to sale their product or

services through Internet. In the physical world your interacting behavior and

friendly relationship can create a better avenue for selling your products. Your

face to face interaction can completely convince an individual to buy your

product.

But in the internet world everything is different. You just get 10 seconds to grab a visitor’s attention who may turn into your customers. Your only way of

interaction with your customers is your sales copy. So it must be a copy which really generates sales. It’s not an easy task to make your visitor pull out their credit cards out of their pocket.

Are you also thinking of selling your products or services on net? Well it’s a great decision. Now what points you should consider when creating a sales copy for your product or services. Here it is:

1. Head line:

Head line is most important part of your web copy. In fact a great headline is

90% success of your sales page. When somebody comes to your site, usually

you have only 10 seconds to grab his attention. Most people will make a decision about reading your sales page in less than 10 seconds. If your headline is compelling enough to grab your visitor’s attention they will stay otherwise they will go to other website.

>> Tell about the biggest benefit of your product in headline.

>> Create some serious problem and tell your visitors that you can solve their problem.

>> Show specific results of using your product in your headline. Like if you are selling a book about dog training, tell them that in next 15 days your dog will follow all your instructions.

>> Use attention grabbing words in your headline like Free, Save, Guaranteed.

Many big copywriters say that headlines can increase response rate by up to

1500%.

2. Sub Headline:

A sub head line gives you one more opportunity to grab your visitor’s attention and pursue them to read your sales page. Highlights your product’s benefits again and create a feeling of urgency in your sub headline so it encourages your visitor to read your sales page.

3. Bulleted Points:

In today’s world everybody is very busy and always in hurry. Usually your visitors first quickly skim your webpage to know what’s in it for them. Bulleted points always grab attention because it’s easy to read. So always tell your product’s benefits through bulleted points. Remember bulleted points just act like bullet and triggers a human mind.

A bit of suggestion: always convert your products features into its benefits.

4. Credibility:

It’s also a key point of a successful web copy. Your customer must feel that it’s not just a sales copy. A real person is sitting behind it. You should put your photo, your full contact details (not just email, full physical address and phone number) in your sales copy.

Testimonials are one of the best ways to build credibility but it should be real not fake. Many people think that they can fool their visitors by placing fake

testimonials but I want to make you clear that whatever you think about your

visitors, your sales page reflect that.

A strong Guarantee is also essential to build your credibility. You may also place an audio or video message to give them a sense of belonging and a kindly feeling.

5. Bonuses:

It’s a human psychology to aspire to get one or more thing free with the

product. Offer them some bonuses related to the product you are offering. If you are selling dog training book, you may offer a dog food recipes ebook or a dog health checkup guide.

Try to feel them that the bonuses you are offering are worth more than the price they are paying. It’s a good idea to offer digital products as bonus because you have to invest only once to create them and delivery cost is also zero.

6. Sense of Urgency:

You must create a sense of urgency in your sales page. Make them realize that once they lose this offer they will never get it again. Give them an extra price discount, more bonuses, or any lucrative offers which make them buy. You can also offer personal email consultation if they buy within a time frame.

7. Ask for order:

Many people make a great mistake in their sales letter. They write a wonderful sales letter but never ask for order. In the sales letter make it a key point that you are here to sell your product. So ask your visitors to place an order in clear words. It is a must to call them again and again to buy your products on a single sales page.

8. P.S. Lines:

Life goes busy and no one have a spare time to even read your sales copy.

Sometimes they just see your headline and your P.S. Lines. Top copywriters

believe that 9% success of a sales letter depends on P.S. lines. Make it strong and compelling. Pinpoint your product’s benefits, bonuses and any special offer you are offering.

These are some points for a perfect sales copy. If you follow these simple points, your dream of having a long queue of customers eager to buy your products will get true.

We are living in an e-age where everybody wants to sale their product or

services through Internet. In the physical world your interacting behavior and

friendly relationship can create a better avenue for selling your products. Your

face to face interaction can completely convince an individual to buy your

product.

But in the internet world everything is different. You just get 10 seconds to grab a visitor’s attention who may turn into your customers. Your only way of

interaction with your customers is your sales copy. So it must be a copy which really generates sales. It’s not an easy task to make your visitor pull out their credit cards out of their pocket.

Are you also thinking of selling your products or services on net? Well it’s a great decision. Now what points you should consider when creating a sales copy for your product or services. Here it is:

1. Head line:

Head line is most important part of your web copy. In fact a great headline is

90% success of your sales page. When somebody comes to your site, usually

you have only 10 seconds to grab his attention. Most people will make a decision about reading your sales page in less than 10 seconds. If your headline is compelling enough to grab your visitor’s attention they will stay otherwise they will go to other website.

>> Tell about the biggest benefit of your product in headline.

>> Create some serious problem and tell your visitors that you can solve their problem.

>> Show specific results of using your product in your headline. Like if you are selling a book about dog training, tell them that in next 15 days your dog will follow all your instructions.

>> Use attention grabbing words in your headline like Free, Save, Guaranteed.

Many big copywriters say that headlines can increase response rate by up to

1500%.

2. Sub Headline:

A sub head line gives you one more opportunity to grab your visitor’s attention and pursue them to read your sales page. Highlights your product’s benefits again and create a feeling of urgency in your sub headline so it encourages your visitor to read your sales page.

3. Bulleted Points:

In today’s world everybody is very busy and always in hurry. Usually your visitors first quickly skim your webpage to know what’s in it for them. Bulleted points always grab attention because it’s easy to read. So always tell your product’s benefits through bulleted points. Remember bulleted points just act like bullet and triggers a human mind.

A bit of suggestion: always convert your products features into its benefits.

4. Credibility:

It’s also a key point of a successful web copy. Your customer must feel that it’s not just a sales copy. A real person is sitting behind it. You should put your photo, your full contact details (not just email, full physical address and phone number) in your sales copy.

Testimonials are one of the best ways to build credibility but it should be real not fake. Many people think that they can fool their visitors by placing fake

testimonials but I want to make you clear that whatever you think about your

visitors, your sales page reflect that.

A strong Guarantee is also essential to build your credibility. You may also place an audio or video message to give them a sense of belonging and a kindly feeling.

5. Bonuses:

It’s a human psychology to aspire to get one or more thing free with the

product. Offer them some bonuses related to the product you are offering. If you are selling dog training book, you may offer a dog food recipes ebook or a dog health checkup guide.

Try to feel them that the bonuses you are offering are worth more than the price they are paying. It’s a good idea to offer digital products as bonus because you have to invest only once to create them and delivery cost is also zero.

6. Sense of Urgency:

You must create a sense of urgency in your sales page. Make them realize that once they lose this offer they will never get it again. Give them an extra price discount, more bonuses, or any lucrative offers which make them buy. You can also offer personal email consultation if they buy within a time frame.

7. Ask for order:

Many people make a great mistake in their sales letter. They write a wonderful sales letter but never ask for order. In the sales letter make it a key point that you are here to sell your product. So ask your visitors to place an order in clear words. It is a must to call them again and again to buy your products on a single sales page.

8. P.S. Lines:

Life goes busy and no one have a spare time to even read your sales copy.

Sometimes they just see your headline and your P.S. Lines. Top copywriters

believe that 9% success of a sales letter depends on P.S. lines. Make it strong and compelling. Pinpoint your product’s benefits, bonuses and any special offer you are offering.

These are some points for a perfect sales copy. If you follow these simple points, your dream of having a long queue of customers eager to buy your products will get true.

These days, there’s widespread acceptance that a website is an integral part of the marketing plan of any business. Likewise, it’s commonly accepted that web copy is a vital component of any website. But how much web copy is enough?

The pure volume of information available on the Internet is daunting &ndash often counterproductive. There are approximately 550 billion documents on the web, and every day another 7 million are added. According to an A.T. Kearney, Network Publishing study (April 2001), workers take so long trying to find information that it costs organizations $750 billion annually!

Yet people continue to use it. Information gathering is the most common use of the Internet (American Express survey, 2000). And it seems work-related searches are amongst the most common, with 48% of people using the Internet to find work-related information, as opposed to 7% who use magazines (Lyra Research, 2001).

Interestingly, however, the average person visits no more than 19 websites in the entire month in order to avoid information overload (Nielsen NetRatings in Jan 2001).

So how do you ensure your site is one of those 19? How do you make your content helpful without making it overwhelming? That’s what this article is about…

I’ve written several articles on WHAT to write on your website in order to make it helpful. (See .divinewrite.com/benefits.htm, .divinewrite.com/webbenefitwriting.htm, and .divinewrite.com/webwriting.htm.) But that’s only half the battle… Businesses also need to know HOW MUCH to write. Here are 5 quick rules of thumb to help you decide how much is enough.

1) Know your audience (Reader or Search Engine?)

Think about whether you’re targeting human readers (potential customers) or search engines. This must always be one of your very first questions, as the answer will determine your approach to content.

In general, human readers think less is more. Search engines, on the other hand, think more is more (well, more or less…). In many ways, it comes down to a question of quality versus quantity. Human readers are interested in quality, whereas search engines are interested quantity. Human readers want you to answer their questions and make it clear how you can benefit them. And they don’t want to wade through volumes of text. Search engines want a high word count, full of relevant keywords, and short on diagrams. (See .divinewrite.com/seocopy.htm for more information on writing for search engines. See .divinewrite.com/SEOCEO.htm for an introductory article on search engine optimization.)

You need to think carefully about your audience. In most cases, it’ll be a trade-off. A high search engine ranking is important (or at least beneficial) to most businesses, so a happy medium is required. The following tips will go some way toward providing this balance.

2) Make it concise

Say everything you need to say, but always ask, “Can I say it with fewer words?” The literary world may be impressed by complex writing, but visitors aren’t. Keep it simple, and keep it brief. Your home page shouldn’t be more than 1 screen long. In other words, visitors shouldn’t have to scroll. Subsequent pages can be longer, but try to keep them to a maximum of about 300-400 words each (approximately 1 scroll). A lot of people will tell you that you also need 300-400 words or more on your home page for a good search engine ranking. You don’t. If you focus on the right keywords and generate a lot of links to your site, you can achieve a high ranking without losing your readers’ interest by padding

TIP: For most businesses, a good rule of thumb is to make it conversational. Old school writers and would-be writers oppose conversational copy; don’t listen to them. Unless you’re writing for an old-school audience, feel free to write as people talk.

3) One subject per page

On this, both readers and search engines agree. Don’t try and squeeze too much information onto a single page. For example, instead of trying to detail all of your products on a single Products page, use the page to introduce and summarize your product suite, then link to a separate page per product. This way, your content will be easier to write, your readers won’t be overwhelmed, and you’ll be able to focus on fewer keywords (so the search engines will get a clearer picture of what you do).

4) Make it scannable

According to a 1998 Sun Microsystems study, reading from a monitor is 25% slower than reading from paper. As a result, 79% of users scan read when online. So make sure you accommodate scanning. Use headings and sub-headings. Highlight important words and sections. Use bulleted lists and numbered lists. Use tables. Use statistics. Use meaningful indenting. Use short sentences. Most importantly, be consistent in your usage. Oh… and follow rules 2 and 3 above.

5) Use a simple menu structure

Try to keep your high-level menu (Home, About Us, Contacts, Products, Services, etc.) to a maximum of about 10 items (5-8 is ideal). If you have too many options, your site will seem unstructured and your visitors won’t know where to start. In order for a visitor to want to come back to your site, they need to feel comfortable when they’re there. They need to know what to expect. If they can’t identify any logic in your menu structure, they will always feel lost. What’s more, this lack of structure will reflect badly on your business.

The Internet can be an incredibly cost-effective form of promotion because the cost per word to publish is so low. Don’t be fooled into thinking more is more just because it costs less. Audiences &ndash even search engines &ndash don’t want everything; they just want enough.

Happy writing!

These days, there’s widespread acceptance that a website is an integral part of the marketing plan of any business. Likewise, it’s commonly accepted that web copy is a vital component of any website. But how much web copy is enough?

The pure volume of information available on the Internet is daunting &ndash often counterproductive. There are approximately 550 billion documents on the web, and every day another 7 million are added. According to an A.T. Kearney, Network Publishing study (April 2001), workers take so long trying to find information that it costs organizations $750 billion annually!

Yet people continue to use it. Information gathering is the most common use of the Internet (American Express survey, 2000). And it seems work-related searches are amongst the most common, with 48% of people using the Internet to find work-related information, as opposed to 7% who use magazines (Lyra Research, 2001).

Interestingly, however, the average person visits no more than 19 websites in the entire month in order to avoid information overload (Nielsen NetRatings in Jan 2001).

So how do you ensure your site is one of those 19? How do you make your content helpful without making it overwhelming? That’s what this article is about…

I’ve written several articles on WHAT to write on your website in order to make it helpful. (See .divinewrite.com/benefits.htm, .divinewrite.com/webbenefitwriting.htm, and .divinewrite.com/webwriting.htm.) But that’s only half the battle… Businesses also need to know HOW MUCH to write. Here are 5 quick rules of thumb to help you decide how much is enough.

1) Know your audience (Reader or Search Engine?)

Think about whether you’re targeting human readers (potential customers) or search engines. This must always be one of your very first questions, as the answer will determine your approach to content.

In general, human readers think less is more. Search engines, on the other hand, think more is more (well, more or less…). In many ways, it comes down to a question of quality versus quantity. Human readers are interested in quality, whereas search engines are interested quantity. Human readers want you to answer their questions and make it clear how you can benefit them. And they don’t want to wade through volumes of text. Search engines want a high word count, full of relevant keywords, and short on diagrams. (See .divinewrite.com/seocopy.htm for more information on writing for search engines. See .divinewrite.com/SEOCEO.htm for an introductory article on search engine optimization.)

You need to think carefully about your audience. In most cases, it’ll be a trade-off. A high search engine ranking is important (or at least beneficial) to most businesses, so a happy medium is required. The following tips will go some way toward providing this balance.

2) Make it concise

Say everything you need to say, but always ask, “Can I say it with fewer words?” The literary world may be impressed by complex writing, but visitors aren’t. Keep it simple, and keep it brief. Your home page shouldn’t be more than 1 screen long. In other words, visitors shouldn’t have to scroll. Subsequent pages can be longer, but try to keep them to a maximum of about 300-400 words each (approximately 1 scroll). A lot of people will tell you that you also need 300-400 words or more on your home page for a good search engine ranking. You don’t. If you focus on the right keywords and generate a lot of links to your site, you can achieve a high ranking without losing your readers’ interest by padding

TIP: For most businesses, a good rule of thumb is to make it conversational. Old school writers and would-be writers oppose conversational copy; don’t listen to them. Unless you’re writing for an old-school audience, feel free to write as people talk.

3) One subject per page

On this, both readers and search engines agree. Don’t try and squeeze too much information onto a single page. For example, instead of trying to detail all of your products on a single Products page, use the page to introduce and summarize your product suite, then link to a separate page per product. This way, your content will be easier to write, your readers won’t be overwhelmed, and you’ll be able to focus on fewer keywords (so the search engines will get a clearer picture of what you do).

4) Make it scannable

According to a 1998 Sun Microsystems study, reading from a monitor is 25% slower than reading from paper. As a result, 79% of users scan read when online. So make sure you accommodate scanning. Use headings and sub-headings. Highlight important words and sections. Use bulleted lists and numbered lists. Use tables. Use statistics. Use meaningful indenting. Use short sentences. Most importantly, be consistent in your usage. Oh… and follow rules 2 and 3 above.

5) Use a simple menu structure

Try to keep your high-level menu (Home, About Us, Contacts, Products, Services, etc.) to a maximum of about 10 items (5-8 is ideal). If you have too many options, your site will seem unstructured and your visitors won’t know where to start. In order for a visitor to want to come back to your site, they need to feel comfortable when they’re there. They need to know what to expect. If they can’t identify any logic in your menu structure, they will always feel lost. What’s more, this lack of structure will reflect badly on your business.

The Internet can be an incredibly cost-effective form of promotion because the cost per word to publish is so low. Don’t be fooled into thinking more is more just because it costs less. Audiences &ndash even search engines &ndash don’t want everything; they just want enough.

Happy writing!

You’ve identified the benefits you offer your customers, but how do you turn a list of benefits into engaging web copy which converts visitors into customers?

Recently I wrote an article explaining how to identify the benefits you offer your customers (.divinewrite.com/benefits.htm). That article challenged business owners and marketing managers to think in terms of benefits rather than features when writing their web copy.

What the article didn’t discuss was how to actually write the web copy once they had identified their benefits. That’s what this article is about. (It even gives you a couple of templates you can use to make your job a whole lot easier!)

As a website copywriter, many of the projects I undertake are completely new websites. The client has some general ideas about what they’d like to convey, but they need someone who can fine-tune their message, and create web copy (and a web structure) which engages their readers. As a result, over the years I’ve developed a process for doing this effectively. There are four main steps:

1) Identify benefits

2) Identify how you deliver these benefits

3) Prioritise your benefits

4) Write the content

Although this article touches on step 1, it’s mostly about steps 2, 3, and 4.

STEP 1 &ndash IDENTIFY YOUR BENEFITS

Branding aside, most websites are about selling. Customers don’t want to know what you can do; they want to know what you can do for THEM. That means the first question you should ask is, “What benefits do I offer my customers?” This is usually the first step toward identifying the key message to be conveyed.

That’s not to say that your website shouldn’t describe your products and services. You just need to make sure it describes them in terms of benefits to your customer.

But benefits identification is outside the scope of this article. If you’d like to find out more about how to engage your customer with benefits, go to .divinewrite.com/benefits.htm.

STEP 2 &ndash IDENTIFY HOW YOU DELIVER THESE BENEFITS

Of course, you can’t just claim to deliver benefits and stop at that. You need to support that claim. On your website, you’re going to need to convince your audience that you actually do deliver these benefits. Anyone can say they deliver benefits, but few can say it persuasively.

From step 1 you’ll have a list of benefits. Now you need to think about how you deliver each benefit in that list. This is where you start talking about features &ndash price, product highlights, distribution channel, competitor weaknesses, external factors, USPs, etc. It’s helpful if you draw up a table with one column for benefits and one for the features which deliver those benefits. (Click .divinewrite.com/downloads/benefitsfeatures.doc to download an example Benefits-Features table &ndash 20KB.)

You’ll probably find this process much easier than identifying benefits. In fact, you’ve probably got most of this information written down already… somewhere. If not, chances are you uncovered a good portion of it when you were brainstorming for benefits.

TIP: If you’re having trouble identifying supporting features, before filling out the table, try listing everything you can think of which relates to what you do and how you do it. Don’t worry about the order. Just braindump onto a piece of paper, a whiteboard, a Word document, anywhere… Don’t leave anything out, even if it seems unimportant. (You’d be surprised how important even the most insignificant details can become once you start assigning them to benefits.) If you start getting lost, think back to the question you’re trying to answer: How do you deliver your list of benefits to your customer? Once you’ve done your braindump, read through it and decide which specific benefit each feature delivers.

STEP 3 &ndash PRIORITISE YOUR BENEFITS

Now that you’ve identified all the things you COULD say, it’s time to figure out what you SHOULD say and where you should say it. This is where your benefits-features table comes into play. Read through your list of benefits and prioritise them according to how compelling they will be to your reader.

The reason for this? Priority determines prominence. The most compelling benefits will need to be prominent on your site.

TIP: Be aware that your list may include some benefits which everyone in your business category could claim. In other words, they’re not just specific to your company, but apply to the type of service you offer. For example, if you sell a Content Management System (CMS) for website creation, you may list “Greater control for marketing managers” and “Less expense updating content” as benefits. Every CMS vendor could claim these benefits, so you’ll need to question their importance. Will they differentiate you from your competitors. Generic benefits can be useful if none of your competitors are using them, or if you feel you need to educate your market a bit before launching into company-specific benefits.

STEP 4 &ndash WRITE YOUR CONTENT

So now you know what you’d like to say, it’s time to decide how to say it. This is about three things:

i) Subject &ndash What is the subject of your site; features or benefits?

ii) Structure &ndash How do you structure your site such that your customers will read your most compelling benefits?

iii) Words &ndash What words should you use to best engage your audience (and the search engines)?

The remainder of this article is dedicated to Subject and Structure. For further discussion of Words, see .divinewrite.com/webwriting.htm and .divinewrite.com/seocopy.htm).

Subject

What is the subject of your site; features or benefits? The answer to this question lies in audience identification. If your audience knows a bit about the type of product or service you’re selling, lead with features (e.g. processor speed, turnaround time, uptime, expertise, educational qualifications, wide product range, etc.). But make sure you talk about their benefits, and make sure the features offering the most important benefits are the most prominent.

Here’s a simplified example…

“Cool Widgets offers:

– Standard Operating Environment &ndash Significantly reducing the complexity of your IT infrastructure

– System upgrades which are less expensive to license &ndash Providing excellent TCO reductions”

In cases where you’re selling to an audience who knows very little about your product or service, lead with benefits (e.g. if you’re selling something technical to a non-technical audience).

Here’s the same simplified example, reversed for a novice audience…

“Cool Widgets offers:

– Reduced complexity of IT infrastructure &ndash We can implement a Standard Operating Environment for your organisation

– Reduced TCO &ndash We can upgrade your IT to systems which are less expensive to license”

Structure

How do you structure your site such that your customers will be sure to read your most compelling benefits? The answer is, keep it short ‘n sweet. And make it scannable. This doesn’t mean you have to cut features or benefits. You just have to structure your site to accommodate your message.

While every site is different, as a rule of thumb it’s a good idea to introduce your main features and benefits on your home page. Summarise them &ndash preferably using bullet points, but at the very least, clearly highlight them so that your audience can scan-read (e.g. bold, underline, colour, link).

Then link from each summarised feature or benefit to a detailed description. Try to keep each page to approximately 200-400 words. You may need several pages to detail all your features and benefits. (Click .divinewrite.com/downloads/pagestructure.doc to download a page structure template &ndash 29KB.)

TIP: In cases where you need to introduce features and benefits which are generic to your field (rather than specific to your offering), your home page is generally the best place to do it. From there, you can lead to a second page summarising the specific features and benefits of your offering.

Conclusion

Web copy is about far more than just clever words. It’s essential that you identify the benefits you offer your customer, and that you can convince your customer you actually deliver those benefits.

I hope that the guidance and tools provided in this article will help you on your way to engaging web copy which converts to sales.

Happy writing!

You’ve identified the benefits you offer your customers, but how do you turn a list of benefits into engaging web copy which converts visitors into customers?

Recently I wrote an article explaining how to identify the benefits you offer your customers (.divinewrite.com/benefits.htm). That article challenged business owners and marketing managers to think in terms of benefits rather than features when writing their web copy.

What the article didn’t discuss was how to actually write the web copy once they had identified their benefits. That’s what this article is about. (It even gives you a couple of templates you can use to make your job a whole lot easier!)

As a website copywriter, many of the projects I undertake are completely new websites. The client has some general ideas about what they’d like to convey, but they need someone who can fine-tune their message, and create web copy (and a web structure) which engages their readers. As a result, over the years I’ve developed a process for doing this effectively. There are four main steps:

1) Identify benefits

2) Identify how you deliver these benefits

3) Prioritise your benefits

4) Write the content

Although this article touches on step 1, it’s mostly about steps 2, 3, and 4.

STEP 1 &ndash IDENTIFY YOUR BENEFITS

Branding aside, most websites are about selling. Customers don’t want to know what you can do; they want to know what you can do for THEM. That means the first question you should ask is, “What benefits do I offer my customers?” This is usually the first step toward identifying the key message to be conveyed.

That’s not to say that your website shouldn’t describe your products and services. You just need to make sure it describes them in terms of benefits to your customer.

But benefits identification is outside the scope of this article. If you’d like to find out more about how to engage your customer with benefits, go to .divinewrite.com/benefits.htm.

STEP 2 &ndash IDENTIFY HOW YOU DELIVER THESE BENEFITS

Of course, you can’t just claim to deliver benefits and stop at that. You need to support that claim. On your website, you’re going to need to convince your audience that you actually do deliver these benefits. Anyone can say they deliver benefits, but few can say it persuasively.

From step 1 you’ll have a list of benefits. Now you need to think about how you deliver each benefit in that list. This is where you start talking about features &ndash price, product highlights, distribution channel, competitor weaknesses, external factors, USPs, etc. It’s helpful if you draw up a table with one column for benefits and one for the features which deliver those benefits. (Click .divinewrite.com/downloads/benefitsfeatures.doc to download an example Benefits-Features table &ndash 20KB.)

You’ll probably find this process much easier than identifying benefits. In fact, you’ve probably got most of this information written down already… somewhere. If not, chances are you uncovered a good portion of it when you were brainstorming for benefits.

TIP: If you’re having trouble identifying supporting features, before filling out the table, try listing everything you can think of which relates to what you do and how you do it. Don’t worry about the order. Just braindump onto a piece of paper, a whiteboard, a Word document, anywhere… Don’t leave anything out, even if it seems unimportant. (You’d be surprised how important even the most insignificant details can become once you start assigning them to benefits.) If you start getting lost, think back to the question you’re trying to answer: How do you deliver your list of benefits to your customer? Once you’ve done your braindump, read through it and decide which specific benefit each feature delivers.

STEP 3 &ndash PRIORITISE YOUR BENEFITS

Now that you’ve identified all the things you COULD say, it’s time to figure out what you SHOULD say and where you should say it. This is where your benefits-features table comes into play. Read through your list of benefits and prioritise them according to how compelling they will be to your reader.

The reason for this? Priority determines prominence. The most compelling benefits will need to be prominent on your site.

TIP: Be aware that your list may include some benefits which everyone in your business category could claim. In other words, they’re not just specific to your company, but apply to the type of service you offer. For example, if you sell a Content Management System (CMS) for website creation, you may list “Greater control for marketing managers” and “Less expense updating content” as benefits. Every CMS vendor could claim these benefits, so you’ll need to question their importance. Will they differentiate you from your competitors. Generic benefits can be useful if none of your competitors are using them, or if you feel you need to educate your market a bit before launching into company-specific benefits.

STEP 4 &ndash WRITE YOUR CONTENT

So now you know what you’d like to say, it’s time to decide how to say it. This is about three things:

i) Subject &ndash What is the subject of your site; features or benefits?

ii) Structure &ndash How do you structure your site such that your customers will read your most compelling benefits?

iii) Words &ndash What words should you use to best engage your audience (and the search engines)?

The remainder of this article is dedicated to Subject and Structure. For further discussion of Words, see .divinewrite.com/webwriting.htm and .divinewrite.com/seocopy.htm).

Subject

What is the subject of your site; features or benefits? The answer to this question lies in audience identification. If your audience knows a bit about the type of product or service you’re selling, lead with features (e.g. processor speed, turnaround time, uptime, expertise, educational qualifications, wide product range, etc.). But make sure you talk about their benefits, and make sure the features offering the most important benefits are the most prominent.

Here’s a simplified example…

“Cool Widgets offers:

– Standard Operating Environment &ndash Significantly reducing the complexity of your IT infrastructure

– System upgrades which are less expensive to license &ndash Providing excellent TCO reductions”

In cases where you’re selling to an audience who knows very little about your product or service, lead with benefits (e.g. if you’re selling something technical to a non-technical audience).

Here’s the same simplified example, reversed for a novice audience…

“Cool Widgets offers:

– Reduced complexity of IT infrastructure &ndash We can implement a Standard Operating Environment for your organisation

– Reduced TCO &ndash We can upgrade your IT to systems which are less expensive to license”

Structure

How do you structure your site such that your customers will be sure to read your most compelling benefits? The answer is, keep it short ‘n sweet. And make it scannable. This doesn’t mean you have to cut features or benefits. You just have to structure your site to accommodate your message.

While every site is different, as a rule of thumb it’s a good idea to introduce your main features and benefits on your home page. Summarise them &ndash preferably using bullet points, but at the very least, clearly highlight them so that your audience can scan-read (e.g. bold, underline, colour, link).

Then link from each summarised feature or benefit to a detailed description. Try to keep each page to approximately 200-400 words. You may need several pages to detail all your features and benefits. (Click .divinewrite.com/downloads/pagestructure.doc to download a page structure template &ndash 29KB.)

TIP: In cases where you need to introduce features and benefits which are generic to your field (rather than specific to your offering), your home page is generally the best place to do it. From there, you can lead to a second page summarising the specific features and benefits of your offering.

Conclusion

Web copy is about far more than just clever words. It’s essential that you identify the benefits you offer your customer, and that you can convince your customer you actually deliver those benefits.

I hope that the guidance and tools provided in this article will help you on your way to engaging web copy which converts to sales.

Happy writing!

Anyone can write effective Internet copy. You just have to know a few copywriting basics known to journalists and writers as the 5 W’s. Throw one “H” in there and all your copywriting basics are covered.

Who? Tell the reader who your product will help. This should be your target market.

What? Tell your reader what your product or service will do to improve their lives. In other words, tell them the benifits they will receive, what’s in it for them.

When? When is the offer good for? If there is a special offer, when does it expire? When will the product or service help them, immediately or over time?

Where? Where can you order the product or service? Where will it work?

Why? Tell your reader why he or she needs your product or service. Why will it benefit them? Why should they sign up or order today? Why is the quantity or offer limited?

How? How do they register or order? How much will it cost? How much return will they see for their investment? How does it work?

Sounds pretty simple, doesn’t it? There is no trick - it really is as easy as that. Put yourself in the shoes of the reader and answer the questions you would likely ask or want answered about your product or service. Answer those questions clearly and thoroughly and your Web copy is complete.

These copywriting tips and copywriting techniques will work not just for Web copywriting but also for direct market copywriting, other online copywriting, and offline copywriting as well.

Below are a few other copywriting basics that will help you write your web site copy:

1. Keep it simple. No one wants to drudge through a long, drawn out confusing explanation. If you can’t say it simply, that’s fine. But by all means, simplify when you can.

2. Make sure your copy urges a call to action either in the body copy, or text of the article, or in the headline. Words like “Act Now,” “Limited Time Offer,” or “Limited Supply” will urge your readers to contact you sooner rather than later.

3. Keep it honest. Don’t make wild claims just to get business. Build a good reputation by being up front and honest with your potential customers. In addition to appreciating your honesty, they will recommend you to others as a business owner who is true to your word and claims.

4. If you make an offer, make it one that is hard to pass up. Don’t waste your readers’ time with small, worthless offers. Think about the coupons you see in magazines and newspapers. Do you take time to clip them? If so, it’s because the offer is of value to you.

5. How long should your copy be? As long as it takes to adequately answer the above questions for your product or service.

An unanswered question is considered an objection in your potential customer’s mind. So, be sure to answer all their objections.

Keep these Internet copywriting basics in mind as you prepare the articles or sales letters that will appear on your Web site. Don’t be intimidated because you don’t have any professional writing experience. Most people want to do business with an honest person who knows the product or service well that he or she is trying to sell.

You don’t have to be a professional writer to do that. The only requirement is that you truely believe in the product or service which you are trying to sell. If you do, your enthusiasm will shine through your writing. If you do not believe in your product or service, your lack of enthusiasm will shine through also.

So, in summary, answer the above questions as clearly and simply as you can, be honest, avoid hype, make an irresistable offer, and be sure to include a call to action.

If you do all these things you will master the copywriting basics and should have no trouble converting your Website visitors into customers.

Anyone can write effective Internet copy. You just have to know a few copywriting basics known to journalists and writers as the 5 W’s. Throw one “H” in there and all your copywriting basics are covered.

Who? Tell the reader who your product will help. This should be your target market.

What? Tell your reader what your product or service will do to improve their lives. In other words, tell them the benifits they will receive, what’s in it for them.

When? When is the offer good for? If there is a special offer, when does it expire? When will the product or service help them, immediately or over time?

Where? Where can you order the product or service? Where will it work?

Why? Tell your reader why he or she needs your product or service. Why will it benefit them? Why should they sign up or order today? Why is the quantity or offer limited?

How? How do they register or order? How much will it cost? How much return will they see for their investment? How does it work?

Sounds pretty simple, doesn’t it? There is no trick - it really is as easy as that. Put yourself in the shoes of the reader and answer the questions you would likely ask or want answered about your product or service. Answer those questions clearly and thoroughly and your Web copy is complete.

These copywriting tips and copywriting techniques will work not just for Web copywriting but also for direct market copywriting, other online copywriting, and offline copywriting as well.

Below are a few other copywriting basics that will help you write your web site copy:

1. Keep it simple. No one wants to drudge through a long, drawn out confusing explanation. If you can’t say it simply, that’s fine. But by all means, simplify when you can.

2. Make sure your copy urges a call to action either in the body copy, or text of the article, or in the headline. Words like “Act Now,” “Limited Time Offer,” or “Limited Supply” will urge your readers to contact you sooner rather than later.

3. Keep it honest. Don’t make wild claims just to get business. Build a good reputation by being up front and honest with your potential customers. In addition to appreciating your honesty, they will recommend you to others as a business owner who is true to your word and claims.

4. If you make an offer, make it one that is hard to pass up. Don’t waste your readers’ time with small, worthless offers. Think about the coupons you see in magazines and newspapers. Do you take time to clip them? If so, it’s because the offer is of value to you.

5. How long should your copy be? As long as it takes to adequately answer the above questions for your product or service.

An unanswered question is considered an objection in your potential customer’s mind. So, be sure to answer all their objections.

Keep these Internet copywriting basics in mind as you prepare the articles or sales letters that will appear on your Web site. Don’t be intimidated because you don’t have any professional writing experience. Most people want to do business with an honest person who knows the product or service well that he or she is trying to sell.

You don’t have to be a professional writer to do that. The only requirement is that you truely believe in the product or service which you are trying to sell. If you do, your enthusiasm will shine through your writing. If you do not believe in your product or service, your lack of enthusiasm will shine through also.

So, in summary, answer the above questions as clearly and simply as you can, be honest, avoid hype, make an irresistable offer, and be sure to include a call to action.

If you do all these things you will master the copywriting basics and should have no trouble converting your Website visitors into customers.