During the quarantine, we kept pretty busy at Webstix but I was able to squeeze in a copywriting class and I absolutely loved it. I learned a ton and continue to learn but right near the end of the first 21 day section, I learned something pretty scary. I learned that you can get people to do what you want with the right copywriting or words.
There are certain psychological methods at play with headlines and other forms of copy. If you write a headline a certain way, the chances someone will click on your search result, blog post, or ad go WAY up. Their brain pretty much forces them to click. That's powerful and it can, of course, be used for good or evil.
So, turning back to website design for a moment, this makes me think...
That's kind of like buying a fancy looking car with a teeny, tiny engine that doesn't go very fast.
OK, I guess I know about that since I drive a Honda CR-Z but that's beside the point. 🙂
And not to knock our design team since they're absolutely awesome but I know we've all seen pretty ugly looking sales pages (not much design at all) that have a compelling message where we can't stop reading, right?
That just goes to show that if you take text/copy alone on a boring page, but it's good copy, people will read it and take action. Now, combine that with beautiful, effective design and that's a grand slam home run.
At Webstix, we say "look good" - that's our tag line, but that's just not about design. We chose that tag line because there are lots of ways to look good:
You get great, effective design from Webstix that has UI/UX (user interface/user experience) principles built in (no, we don't "wing it" with design - no way) and to just slap in your own content is the great looking car without the horsepower to match.
Any business writing about themselves will turn out copy that's just... not that good - in virtually in all cases. When we get copy written for our website (for a landing page, etc.) we even hire it out. You need the outside perspective. You know your company too well, so you copy will stink and will probably be too inwardly focused or you'll miss key information - unless you are a skilled Copywriter, of course.
Just the other day, I was helping a client with their tag line. They wanted to put something about how they've been in business so long. OK, that's great but people coming to your website really don't care that much - not as much as you do, of course. It's nice but people are somewhat greedy and ask themselves, "what's in it for me?" So bragging about how long you've been serving the area is really just about you.
Instead, turn that around.
Something like (this is just off the cuff): "Our Expert Help Saves Our Customers 29% on Average"
See? That's about the customer - even though you're kind of talking about yourself still. People see that and know if they work with you and become a customer, they could get the same results (some transference). It leaves them wanting to find out more. That's so much better than "We've been in business for 47 years." right? ("OK.. good for you.")
That 29% has to be a real statistic, of course, and there are ways of getting that data, but you can see how words matter. You have to tell people what's in it for them to keep them sticking around to find out more.
I feel bad that client couldn't see things this way after I explained it and they're going to miss out on more business, too, but you can't win every battle.
Like I said before, there are a lot of little psychological reasons to write copy certain ways to get them to buy. And it's not dirty tricks, either. If you have a great product or service, people might not know it because you're not explaining it the right way. That's it, really.
Here's what Copywriters do to help your business:
And there's a lot more to it than that. I do not claim to be an expert Copywriter as I'm just learning still. I've only seen just the tip of the iceberg and there's a lot more to it, for sure.
They put in a lot of time doing research and getting into your customer's head to write copy that reaches them.
What they write better compels people to buy from you or want to learn more - and that is what any business needs. We pitch copywriting to every new client. We believe it in and it's honestly the difference between a project being a success or not - in most cases.
If you think you can do it yourself, just remember you suck as a writer. Don't do it.
You hire people to work on your car, to work on your house, even to make you food often, right? If you want the best results, get the professionals who are trained and who are experts. We do this all the time, why not with copy?
Just because you can, doesn't mean you should... right?
I can drive my car on a track pretty well but that doesn't mean I should become a professional race car driver.
Let's get your website converting better and racing like a real race car... not mine.
-Tony