Copywriting Formulas
Easy Copywriting Tips for Small Business Owners
Small business owners end up wearing different ‘hats.’
The small business owner often takes on different roles. You might say, they wear many different hats, metaphorically speaking. One of these might include ‘person in charge of the website.’ I imagine that one being a trilby…
Anyway.
Having a website is a marketing staple. These days it’s not that hard to get a website up and running.
If the budget doesn’t yet allow for a professionally designed site there are many great platforms out there like Weebly, Wix, or Squarespace where you can easily create good looking websites yourself.
However, it's not enough to throw up a site on Wix, plug in some details about your business and hope for the best (although I’m sure you wouldn’t do that).
The words are just as important as the design
Writing copy that people actually want to read requires a bit of thought.
It can be overwhelming when faced with the task of writing your small business’s web copy but fear not.
Whether you’re just starting out or you want to refresh existing copy, this article will give you the tools you need to write engaging copy for your small business web pages.
Anyone can write!
Some people believe that copywriting is a natural talent you’re either born with or not. That’s not true. Anyone can learn the basic skills needed to attract his or her ideal customer.
It’s like that film Ratatouille where chef Gusteau says that ‘anyone can cook.’ In the same way that not everyone will be the next top chef, not everyone is going to be a superstar, A list copywriter making millions of dollars from one direct mailing. But anyone who needs to can learn enough to write sales copy that helps with conversion.
And it’s as simple as following a tried and tested outline, step by step.
Copywriting Formulas
Luckily there are proven copywriting formulas available that anyone can use to get results.
Follow the formula to organise your writing and structure your message. It’ll help you hit all those psychological points and keep you on track.
AIDA
One of the most famous is AIDA. It stands for Attention, Interest, Desire, Action.
Here’s how it flows:
ATTENTION:
The direct response copywriter Gary Halbert would attach intriguing items such as a dollar bill or a bag of sand to the top of his sales letters as an attention grabber. For the purposes of your web copy, use the headline to get your target audience’s attention.
You can stimulate curiosity (‘Why on earth would someone send me a bag of dirt?’) but don’t be irrelevant (the bag of dirt was linked to the real estate he was selling).
Don’t try to hook your reader at the start with anything clever, cute, or amusing. If your headline intrigues, you had better pay off that curiosity within the first few lines of your copy.
False claims and ‘clickbait’ will insult, offend, and put people right off you forever so it’s never worth being attention-seeking for the sake of it.
Your headline could focus on the single strongest benefit you offer the reader. Don’t be coy and save your best stuff for last. If they don’t get past the headline they’ll never find out.
Lead with the biggest benefit to your customer - like I did here on the IRT Surveys homepage
Alternatively, focus on their biggest pain point. You’ll have to make the judgement call on how important it is to push the pain points or emphasise the benefits depending on your audience.
INTEREST:
Once you have their attention, you hold their interest with facts, features, and advantages to using your product over the others.
Kilted Black Cabs Tours give their audience a flavour of what a day out with them would be like.
If you promised a big benefit in the headline, zoom in on their pain points and the details of how you can solve that pain.
Write it in their language (which you’ll have from your customer research) so that they feel as if you are entering the conversation inside their head.
If you started off by identifying a pain point you will have stimulated a need to solve the problem. Satisfy that need now.
DESIRE:
Then you create desire. Give your target reader a bit of FOMO (fear of missing out).
Help him or her picture how life would be so much better with your product or service. This is where you hit them with the big benefits. You crank up the heat and let the steak sizzle. Play on his or her psychological needs including the need to impress, be safe, have peace of mind, secure a mate, or of course (the two oldest chestnuts - faves for a reason) save time and make more cash.
Create desire by offering your target audience the thing they really want - in this case an easy way to reach their performance goals.
While you're seducing them with your offer, there may be some lingering doubts. It’s vulnerable to commit to something especially if you’re not sure. Put these to rest by showing proof like statistics and facts based on credible, authoritative research. This needs to be concrete evidence that will appeal to the rational mind.
Use social proof like testimonials and customer reviews.
A positive review from a fellow customer feels more credible to your audience than your marketing copy - no offence!
Sure, people buy for emotional reasons more than they’d admit, but without the proof, it’s easy for them to walk away.
ACTION:
Once you’ve taken them on this little adventure through these steps, (hopefully they are following along by your side, hanging onto every word) close the sale.
Make it super easy on them.
Be very clear and specific about what you want them to do next. Tell them what to do using strong verbs like ‘buy,’ ‘click,’ ‘call,’ ‘read,’ ‘act’ and tell them to do it ‘now’ or ‘today.’ If they’re ready to buy you need to make it as easy as falling off a log.
Incidentally, if you don’t have the time to write copy that converts, get in touch to find out more about how I can help.
(see what I did there…)
Anyway, let’s keep going
Keep on track with your copywriting
If you do a bit of Googling, you’ll uncover plenty of other copywriting formulas such as:
ACCA: Awareness, Comprehension, Conviction, Action
The Four P’s: Picture, Promise, Prove Push.
PAS: Pain, Agitate, Solve.
And so on.
When crafting your copy a copywriting formula can be a helpful tool.
There are similarities and differences to these formulas but the aim is the same: to structure your writing so that your reader hangs on your every word. Joe Sugarman likens this sort of writing to a ‘slippery slide.’ Once your audience starts reading, they can’t stop. They just have to slide all the way to the bottom.
Done right, you should have your reader’s eyes glued to your copy from the headline, through the body copy, right down to the call to action.
You’re taking your customer on a clear, step by step journey. Use a copywriting formula to lead them by the hand and make it very easy for him or her to take the action you want.
Don’t rush your prospect - he or she will get there at his or her own pace if you just make it super easy.
Writing copy for your website doesn’t need to be difficult.
Take it a step at a time. Use a copywriting formula and - even if it’s not perfect - you have a structure that logically takes your customer on an emotional journey through the thought process needed to make a buying decision.
As you get better you will be able to know when to push the pain or emphasise the big benefits. Finesse comes with time. Remember, even though you’re following a formula, it doesn’t mean your copywriting has to sound the same as everyone else’s.
Heads Up: These tips are probably best suited to landing pages or service pages where you’re writing for conversion. You can use these tips on your homepage too, but as your homepage has to cater for lots of different prospects at different stages in the buyer’s journey you need to be aware of meeting differing needs for each stage.
Don’t worry - I will cover writing your home page in more detail in a future post.
For now, use a copywriting formula today to write about your service in a way that leads to more online success for your business.
I look forward to checking out the results.
Good luck!