Good web design, pleasant visuals, and a logical layout are all important for online sales pages.
But what really gets people to open their wallets is high caliber business copywriting.
With the right words, you can paint a picture of how great the reader's life will be after they purchase your product or service. You can show them others who have reaped similar benefits from your business. And ultimately, you can get people to give you the ultimate vote of confidence in marketing and business: Money.
Here are four tips to start putting words to better use in your business copywriting:
1. Grab attention right away
David Ogilvy, a legend of the Mad Men era considered one of the greatest copywriters of all time, once said, "When you have written your headline, you have spent eighty cents out of your dollar." Ogilvy understood that most people aren't looking to read sales pages, advertisements, and other things trying to sell them something. You're lucky enough to get them to pay attention to your headline, let alone an entire page.
Instead, it's your job to give them something interesting enough to make them want to continue reading your sales page. If you understand your audience, you should be able to open with a claim, question, or other statement that your visitor has such a strong reaction to that they can't help but read further.
Related: Business Blog Writing: Facilitating Exposure Through Copywriting
2. Use the word "because"
In many cases, effective business copywriting comes down to understanding psychology. When someone - especially a merchant trying to sell something - makes a claim that a product will provide a certain benefit, the mind's automatic reaction is one of skepticism. It's the result of living in a society where we are bombarded with commercial messages from all sides.
To overcome this initial doubt, it's important to give people a reason they should believe your claims. Be sure that the reason is believable and related to their concerns. For example, a food vendor emphasizing the benefits of organic products might write something like: "Our products are all-natural because we only source them from local farmers that use organic growing methods."
Related: Go Ahead - Steal These Awesome Business Copywriting Ideas
3. Mention money the right way
It's inevitable in business copywriting - you're going to have to bring up money at some point. After all, you are trying to sell something! But instead of using words like "price," or "cost," try to incorporate terms such as "investment," or "commitment." These words emphasize the returns that your customer or client will get when they decide to give you their hard-earned money.
Another good tip that you're probably familiar with is the use of sales or discounts. No one likes to pay full price for something - try to make your audience feel like they are getting an exclusive deal on what you are offering. Providing a coupon code for new subscribers is one easy way to achieve this, but there are plenty of other ways to provide competitive pricing based on seasonal sales and market cycles.
Related: 9 Great Business Copywriting Tips to Remember
4. Keep the reader guessing
Like almost any other endeavor, creativity is a critical component of excellent business copywriting. There are tons of competitors out there gunning for the same prospects as you. The good news is, many of them are using the same tired formulas on their sales pages.
Give the people visiting your site something unexpected. Use a personal anecdote. Start your sales page from someone else's perspective. However you decide to be different, making your copy stand out from the crowd by including something uncommon is an excellent way to maintain the attention of your prospects.
There are dozens more tips and tricks for good copywriting that you can learn with time and practice. If you can master these four techniques, you'll be well on your way to crafting hard-hitting website copy that helps grow your sales. To learn more, check out our white paper, "How to Build a Profitable Content Creation Agency."
