There are around 200 million websites that are consistently active at any given time. One thing these websites all share is the need for written content. Why? As visual as the Internet is, words are often still the primary mode of communication. Think of how often you look at a website’s About page or read their blogs.
Of course, you need more than just words. You need the right words. That means you need copywriting.
Not feeling confident about your copywriting skills? Keep reading for five copywriting tips to help you get started.
1. Deploy White Space
The advice to deploy whitespace actually covers a lot of ground. People reading online will often skip over large text blocks because they prove difficult to read. To combat this, you break up text into smaller chunks with some white space between them.
White space also covers things like using headings, subheadings, and the ever-popular bulleted list. All of these create breaks in the text that simplify reading. They also make the text more skimmable.
2. Benefits, Not Features
Unless you’re doing hardcore B2B marketing, your copywriting strategy should include a focus on benefits over features. Like it or not, consumers don’t buy features like 325 square inches of cooking surface on a grill. They buy the benefit of cooking 20 burgers at the same time!
Benefits leverage the fact that a lot of buying is an emotional choice, rather than a logical one.
3. Start with the Important Stuff
Another copywriting for beginners tip is to hit your main points immediately. If it helps, think of it as writing your conclusion first. It’s a trick to ensure that people get exposed to your key selling points even if they stop reading after the first paragraph or two.
4. Calls to Action
A lot of otherwise excellent copywriting falls down flat by not employing calls to action. Most copywriting focuses on creating excitement. Calls to action are the punctuation mark on that excitement.
It’s where you give the reader a clear direction such as “Call Today” or “Order Now.” You’re literally calling the reader to take an action.
5. Don’t Neglect SEO
Website copywriting is a slightly different animal than copywriting for print because you must worship at the altar of search engine optimization. Search engines are the guardians and the gatekeepers of the Internet.
That means that your web copy must incorporate things like keywords into content that search engines read as valuable and relevant.
Copywriting Tips and You
Think of these copywriting tips as a place you can start on your website copywriting journey. They offer a basic framework that lets set the right tone and impose a reader-friendly structure.
Even with all of that in place, there is always more you can learn and more you can do. Of course, if you feel truly out of your depth, you can also turn to professionals for help.
Enfuse specializes in web development and digital marketing, which lets you build for success from the ground up. For more information, contact Enfuse today.
