How to Write Content that Your Clients Will Actually Read…
…understand, engage with and take action on.
Small businesses, do you ever feel as if you are missing something?
You have a great product or service that solves all your customers' problems and yet when they land on your website they don’t know what to do next.
It seems as if they don’t get how simple it is for you to help them.
Why not?
All the information is there. You’ve explained your service: told them all about how you started the company 20 years ago and how many shiny awards you have. You’ve gone to great lengths to provide images and in-depth explanations.
Yet somehow you get people emailing you with the most basic questions, which leads you to believe that they haven’t read your painstakingly drafted text.
Chances are they haven’t.
And not because they are too stupid or lazy. It’s just that when confronted with a wall of text, most people struggle. It requires the attentiveness equivalent to the strength of Wreck-it-Ralph to uncover what they are looking for.
Most smart businesses know that to communicate their message effectively they need to carefully curate their content.
Don't make the mistake of thinking your website is the place to put everything there is to know about your business. As Donald Miller says in 'Building a Storybrand,' "The days of using our website as a clearinghouse of information are over."
Yes, it’s everything prospective customers and clients need to know to discover why you are the solution to their particular problem and how you can help, but that doesn’t mean literally everything.
If your prospect seems to have no idea how you can help transform their lives or what steps to take, then it could be that your message is drowning in a sea of irrelevant waffle.
No offence.
So, what do your prospects need to know?
Enough to get them to take action.
And you need to talk about your business in a way that matters to your customers.
When it comes to their website many businesses think that they need to tell their customers everything.
I get it, you know your stuff and you're proud of it but it’s overwhelming for busy people who have little time on their hands to trawl for answers.
They just want to know as quickly as possible what you can do for them. They don’t really care about all the things you do, nor do they need to know everything about your product or service - not yet. They want to know at a glance what you can do for them and importantly how to get it.
That’s why good copywriting isn’t about writing everything you know about your product or service. It’s teasing out those big benefits that trigger the understanding in your prospect that you are the answer.
Some people think if their prospects don’t hear them they should just turn up the volume, i.e. give them more information. But then the message gets even more drowned out.
If you are guilty of piling everything you know into your web content, don't worry. There is hope for you yet.
Here are a few tips to get you started.
Rachel’s Top 3 Writing Tips to Compelling Web Copy
1. Plan what you want to say first.
It’s easy to go off on a tangent and write about everything you know when you are the expert on a topic. Stick to what your prospects need to know to start working with you, buy your product or engage with your service.
2. Writing is rewriting.
Don’t be satisfied with the first or second draft and always get a fresh pair of eyes to look over your work - be it a colleague or trusted friend (not your mum, spouse or anyone else clouded by loving bias).
3. Edit and cut what does not serve the purpose.
In creative writing, there is a famous command to ‘kill your darlings’ meaning cut any writing that does not pull its weight even if you are chuffed to bits with it. Cut out any unnecessary 'fluff.' Even if it's good 'fluff.'
To delve deeper, check out my FREE PDF download ‘5 Simple Steps to Great Web Copy: A Guide for Small Businesses.’