Ensure your website copy describes benefits, not features
Survey consumers to establish brand values
A/B test copy on high-value pages
Always think about user intent
Increase your credibility with quotes
Every line of your website copy should have a purpose feeding into an overall goal. Writing blogs for the sake of writing blogs because that’s what you think you should be doing, won’t have any positive impact on your website. Did you know, 59% of people would avoid spending money with a company with poor copy on its website?
This blog outlines our top 5 ways you can instantly improve your website copy (specifically your blog copy). Plus, these tips are not specific to an industry or business type and can be utilised by anyone.
People don’t want to hear about what services you offer, they want to hear about the benefits those services will bring to them. It makes sense you want to showcase the differences between you and your competitors. But it needs to be done in a less direct and salesy way.
How does this translate in practise? Write blogs about helpful tips and advice for your industry area rather than writing about your services. You could even explore Q & A’s or guest speaker blogs. Guest ‘happy customer’ blogs, or partner with another organisation or even run a giveaway. All these forms of blogging will still be promoting your business and services, but not in a direct salesy way.
81% of people say trust is a deciding factor when making a purchase, so it’s essential you’re tapping into the values of your customers. And how can you find out the things your ideal audience want and value? The easiest way is to ask them!
Surveys and questionnaires are an excellent way to gather client feedback. Often companies will offer free incentives to fill out surveys like prizes or entries into draws. The gap between your values and your execution of them, and those that your customers value, is the gap that needs bridging.
A/B testing is a term that tends to frighten people because it sounds a lot more complicated than it is! In fact, it’s a method of testing used widely across digital marketing strategies and content which compares two versions of something against each other to determine which performs better. For example, two versions of a landing page, an email marketing template or a social media ad.
You should constantly A/B test the copy on your highest-value blogs and website copy, just as you would with a social media campaign. It’s important to note that even if you have the means, you wouldn’t need to A/B test every piece of material on your website. Instead, concentrate on the most high-value pages or the one’s that generate the most revenue.
We’ve discussed business intent (as well as the broader subject of intent marketing). However, we’re often surprised by how few websites appear to take user intent into account when writing their online copy.
So what exactly do we mean by user intent…
User intent refers to what someone plans to achieve when they visit your website. There are just a handful of reasons a person visits a website e.g. to buy something, to find out something or compare something, just to name a few. So you should be delving into your analytics to find out which pages your visitors are spending the most time on and what they are doing. Then the next step is to put in place a strategy to make it even easier for them to do those most popular things.
We suggest utilising quotes where possible in your blog content. Until fairly recently, blogging was perceived as an amateur ‘passion project’ endeavour. Now, companies who have a blog on their website receive around 55% more visitors than websites without blogs.
Within your blog, we suggest using quotes where possible. Here’s why…
It brings credibility to your blog when you can back up what you’re saying with the words of other people.
Linking opportunities. One thing Google likes is internal and external links in your blogs. When including quotes, you’ll need to link to where you sourced them from.
It’s a networking opportunity. If you can partner with other organisations and agree or put a plan in place to reference each other in your content, this is a great way to support each others websites.
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