It doesn’t matter if you’re crafting emails for a high-ticket email list to help convince them that you can get them more paying customers or you’re providing information on the latest hiking shoes for your niche site
You should always be using proven copywriting strategies to help convert these free viewers into paying customers.
No matter the style of copywriting you are using to do so.
You may not think that your writing or techniques that you use have any effect on your audience taking action and whipping out their credit card to buy whatever you’re selling.
But in reality, it really does.
A single word or phrase can be the difference in making them part with their hard-earned money and depositing it into your bank account.
So understanding what you should and shouldn’t do can mean the difference when it comes to finding success with copywriting.
These upcoming tips can be applied to any sort of writing you do, whether it’s long-form, short-form, email writing, or a 2000 word blog post on your tiny niche site.
We are going to split this into two parts;
- How to keep your audience’s attention
- How to convert them into paying customers
Both are equally important, so make sure you read to the end if you want to start taking your copywriting more seriously.
How to keep the reader interested
Get to the point.
We live in a busy digital world where all of us want instant information right there and then, as soon as we load up our phones and search into Google we are greeted with the instant information we need
This is both good and bad, for copywriters.
Since you have little time to sell to your audience, every word counts.
And if you lose them on the way, then you’re going to potentially lose out $$$ which make or break your online business venture.
Even if you’re writing long-form copy, you still want to get to the point as quickly as possible.
This can be done by giving a short and concise answer to the reader, and then after that you can go more depth later on.
So, remember, get to the point and forget the fluff.
Write as you speak
When writing, people forget to add their personality in the words they type.
Instead, they write how you’re taught during school/university…
Boring and formal, for the purpose of making sure you let the exam board known you understand the topic (and fluffing it up to stretch your word count out).
Not how you speak.
Copywriting is about relatability and trust, and writing how you speak will help you to distill this feeling into the reader as well as help to add an entertaining aspect to your writing since it will be much more informal and enjoyable to read than your typical uni dissertation.
This can be done by;
- Using slang words
- Using entertaining metaphors
- Writing on a personal level
- Writing as if you two are friends
You have to do this within reason of course, and it all depends on your industry niche, you don’t want to talk the way you would talk to a friend when you’re trying to sell a product to a high-end business owner.
So judge for yourself.
But generally, you’re going to want to write the way you would speak in your day to day life.
Visually entertaining layout
When reading anything, you begin to unconsciously see patterns in the text in front of you.
So eventually it can become boring to read the words, as you are sort of ‘predicting’ what you are reading next.
Based on how the layout looks.
One of the ways you can prevent this, even if the words you were typing were complete rubbish, is by mixing things up and making the layout of your words unpredictable.
This can easily be done by separating large paragraphs.
Using one-word paragraphs, such as the one…
Here.
Add bolding to your text.
Italic works too.
You could also do things like:
- Use bullet point lists
All of these things will help to keep your writing entertaining, visually, even if you’re talking complete nonsense.
Remember to be visual
Words can sell, but so can beautiful visuals.
The same reason as to why you’re going to want to keep your text fresh, using bolds, bullet points, and spaces.
Is the same reason as to why you should remember to use beautiful images throughout your copywriting.
Images are not only there to keep things visually pleasing, but they could also help to further sell to your audience.
For example:
If you’re selling a course on how to make money online, you could attach images like someone enjoying themselves whilst on holiday with their family.
Although an image like this doesn’t directly relate to making money online course you’re selling.
It does suggest the sort of reality they might have if they buy your course.
How to increase your conversion rate
Now that you understand how to keep your readers engaged and entertained.
We want to talk about how you can actually increase the conversion rate with some common techniques.
There are 100’s of ways you can go about this, so we could be here forever.
But for now, we are going to give you some of the ones that we feel are most important if you want to find success online when it comes to selling a product or service through the use of copywriting.
Appeal to their emotions
Anytime we mention this technique, people generally feel like this is a BAD thing to do.
Sort of morally wrong in a way, as they view it as them using someone’s emotions against them.
But we would always disagree with this mindset.
What we are suggesting is that you appeal to the readers’ problems and convince them that what it is you’re selling, will help to better their lives.
Are you selling a course on how to make money?
Then sell it to people who are looking for financial freedom so that they can quit their boring 9-5!
Are you selling weight loss pills?
Then let the audience know that they no longer have to rely on outdated weight loss diets to get to their dream weight!
What we are saying is, just know your audience and who they are and sell them exactly what they want by emotionally motivating them to do so; fixing their pain will help to do this.
In a way, it would be wrong for you NOT to sell to them, since your product is so good that it’s going to solve their very specific problem.
Which will make their life so much better.
Benefits not features
Customers couldn’t care less about how fast the latest smartphone runs, or what sort of materials the latest clothing brands use.
They are self-interested and all they care about how YOUR product can help THEM.
And rightly so, it is their hard-earned money, after all, a purchase they make should righty benefit them.
Although benefits are important and are always worth noting in your writing, they are not worth mentioning repeatedly as much as you should be doing with the benefits of the product you’re selling.
So, understand who your audience is, and what problems they need to solve – and sell your product or service based on this.
This is done in combination with our previous point of using their emotions to sell them better.
Incorporate CTA
One of the simplest ways you can make your copywriting convert much better is by incorporating CTA (call to action) in your text.
A CTA is essentially encouraging a person to do something by using a specific phrase.
Good (and common) examples of this which you will have seen everywhere are things like:
- BUY NOW
- SHOP NOW
- SHOP HERE
- ORDER HERE
- REGISTER HERE
- DON’T MISS OUT, BUY NOW
Note: Some of these CTA’s work brilliantly for some and terrible for others, we would advise running tests, to gather some data on how well they convert before exclusively sticking to one.
Generally, you will be using these at the end of your copy, as you round off your piece, but they can work throughout your copy as a way of breaking up your text
This might seem strange, but your words might have already worked their magic, so there is no point waiting round to sell them at the very end of the page, you might as well do it as soon as possible!
Be consistent in your writing
When selling, everything is about gaining the trust of potential customers, so that they end up trusting you enough to spend their cold hard cash on your product, which could change either life for the better.
There are plenty of things that can help you do this, but one of the main ways is to stay consistent through all of your copywriting.
If you use a particular image or set of words within your Facebook AD copy, then you should use these same words in the writing on your website – so that your viewers know they are in the right place after clicking a link.