How to Write Powerful Web Copy That Sells

Web copy is often an afterthought for most small businesses and professional services. They figure that since they already have a corporate brochure, they can use that text rather than crafting text specifically for their website. Unfortunately, that’s often a big mistake.

There’s a big difference between text for print and text for the web. With websites, the vast majority of people skim rather than read. They want to know whether reading the article will be worth their time, so they’ll read the title, subheaders, bolded words, and maybe your bulleted lists. If they like what they see, they’ll keep reading. Otherwise, they’ll click away.

Here are a few tips you should follow when crafting copy for the web.

1. Use A Powerful Headline – Like good print and advertising copy, the most important part of your web copy is your headline. If your headline doesn’t grab your reader’s attention, they’re not going to read further. Check out CopyBlogger’s 10 Sure Fire Headline Formulas That Work for great ideas.
2. Tell Them What They Can Expect – After the heading, your next few sentences are the most important. These sentences should let the reader know what the article is about and entice them to keep reading.
3. Tell Readers What They Need To Know – Once you have your reader’s attention, your next job is to make sure they keep reading. They want to read copy that is to-the-point, jargon free, and that addresses their concerns. Here are a few tips:
   1. Use “you” instead of “we” – “You” is the most powerful word you can use in your copy because people are interested in themselves and their problems rather than who you are and what you do. They are choosing to read your text. If it stops being relevant to them, you’ve lost them.
   2. Give people a reason – After “you”, the next most powerful word is “because”. People want to know why they should believe you. Hopefully, have numerous reasons why people should do what you ask, so put the most compelling reasons first – just in case your reader gets side tracked and doesn’t finish your article. (See CopyBlogger’s The Two Most Important Words In Blogging)
   3. Be concise – Don’t make your sentences unnecessarily long. Cut out the extra words, eliminate the jargon, and write informally – no one wants to pull out the dictionary to figure out what your 50-cent words mean.
   4. Break up your text – Large blocks of text are intimidating and difficult to read on screen. They’re also impossible to skim. If you have a bunch of long paragraphs, look for ways to create subheaders, eliminate extra words, and use bullets rather than sentences. Remember, people will rarely read your full article, but they will skim it.
4. Test Your Copy – One of the best things about the web is that it allows for easy updates. If you want to know if something will work, create two pages and send half your readers to one page and half to the other. Whichever page persuades the most people to take action is the one you should use.

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