5 Best Practices for Web Copywriting

Whether you are a business, a start-up, or an individual, you need to plan a proper strategy to reach the market standards. In other words, you need excellent sales tactics to convert the sight-seers into participants. Web Copywriting does just that, except, it’s online. To engage the readers to land on your page and then prompt them to take an action is the ultimate goal of a sales copy. 

To put it simply, when a prospective client clicks on your website and takes the desired action you want them to take i.e. subscribing to your content, buying digital products, etc., the sales copy that the copywriter has written has done its work. A sales copy is a written copy that the reader reads on the website.

The copywriter writes this copy in such a way as to compel the reader to take an action towards making a decision. This forms a relationship between your business and the reader. This copy should help the reader find the solution to their problem easily. Because people are looking for an answer when they search on the web and a nicely written and well-explained piece can be helpful in their search.

That’s when they start building trust with the services that your business provides. This is why businesses hire copywriters who know how to write a copy in a way that resonates with the target audience and in turn creates a relationship with the business. 

Why Do You Need Web Copywriting?

As we’ve discussed earlier, website copywriting is essential for businesses to create a trust-based relationship with their clients. When a client first clicks on your webpage, the first thing they see is your copy. A nicely written sales-driven copy is what drives the clients to take action.

To sell a product or a service, you need copywriters to explain the products and services to the clients in a neat manner. A web copywriter is responsible for writing the copy for landing pages, blog posts, product pages, social media posts, ads, etc.

They write informational and promotional content for web pages. They write content that sells and communicates the company’s message to their audience. But only writing a copy that drives sales isn’t the only factor in an online business.

Of course, having good website content is great but you need to be able to back what is promised to the audience in the copy. After all, you need a good relationship with your customers to become a successful business. The first step, however, towards a good relationship is taken through a sales copy. 

Difference Between Web Copywriting and Content Writing

There is a huge doubt in people’s minds when it comes to copywriting and content writing. Both do the same job i.e. writing online. If you are a beginner in the digital world, you may have come across the terms and were confused as everybody else, but we’re here to clear the doubt.

On the surface, both webs, copywriting and content writing are not so different. Both are writing online for digital purposes. One is writing for clients and the other is writing for businesses. But that’s where the similarities end. Copywriting is writing with customers in mind so it involves writing for them as the subject to manipulate the readers into buying.

Whereas content writing is writing informational content (eg. blogs, articles, etc.) that businesses upload on their websites to educate the readers on the subject and the knowledge that business possesses on the topic. Web copywriting is a short form of copy and content writers produce long-form content. A content writer has an advanced to expert knowledge of SEO and a copywriter only needs basic knowledge of SEO.

Read here How to Become a Copywriter

How to Write a Website Copy

There isn’t any specific way to write a website copy for your website. Whatever works for you is the right way in this case. Through trial and error, you can find your process for structuring the website copy and use it for your website. How you structure your website copy also depends on the type of business you are running. For eg., the webpage content of an e-commerce site will look different than that of a SaaS business one. 

Here are some steps that you can follow to write an effective website copy:

Step1: Plan Out Your Commercial Page and Content Pages

For an online business, the website is made up of commercial and content pages. Commercial pages are revenue-based pages that are written with commercial intent. For eg. the pricing pages, homepage, feature-related pages, etc. It is where you sell your products to the clients.

On the homepage, you can showcase the products and brief about the company’s history with the clients. You can show your product’s prices and compare it with the competitors to show the monetary benefits they would get with your product on the pricing pages. You can describe the product’s features and explain them in detail.

The main intent of a commercial page is to sell the product. Content pages on the other hand are where you educate the customers on the solutions to their problems. These pages contain lists, posts, guides, templates, etc. to help your customer understand how your services can help them overcome their problems.

You can search the most common keywords related to your services and write on them to explain your services to the customers. For eg. the how-to guides, beginners’ guide, basics, best, what, and why are all examples of content page headlines that are written for these pages. 

Step 2: Prioritize and Create

Now that you have planned out what needs to go on the commercial and the content pages, the next step is to prioritize and create these pages. First, you need to prioritize which pages are more essential and need to be created first. According to the business needs, you need to assign priority to some pages that need to be done first and foremost and pages that can be done later as they don’t hold much value as of now. 

For eg. for a new business creating the commercial pages may be of more importance as you need to show the products that you offer first. Whereas if your business is already established online you need to create the content pages that will teach the readers about your services.

Now you need to create the pages based on which pages you’ve given more priority. This is where you use SEO web copywriting services to increase traffic to your website. A new company may not use SEO as their priority to build up their website and services as SEO may take too much time to show results. 

An already established company may use SEO web copywriting to increase traffic and sales to their website. They may hire some web copywriter from a freelance copywriter website or already have a copywriter in their company presently.

Step 3: Publish and Optimize

After creating your pages, publish them to see the results live as you can never be sure what may happen until you try it out. To publish your web page and see the response it gets. It may take some time depending on the traffic that it gets. You can use various copy testing tools to test your copy based on headlines, sub-headlines, CTA’s, etc. 

When you’ve done your testing and seen the results optimize the pages based on what you have deduced with the testing. You need to optimize your pages from time to time to stand with the current trends. You may need to optimize the web pages based on the market demands. 

Some of the reasons for changing are market demands, products and services, competition, changes in customers’ needs, and changes in customers’ mindsets regarding your products. You also have to keep the information on the website updated at all times with the current needs. Now that you’ve learned how to write a website copy, it’s time to learn the tips and tricks of a smart web copy. 

Here is a guide to Technical Copywriting

Best Practices for Website Copywriting

1. Know Your Customers

Your business is for your customers’ needs. They will know and trust your products when you’ve built a strong relationship with them based on the services you provide. And that translates to your copy as well. When you write a copy with your customers’ persona, you will create a bond with them that will let you know their needs and preferences. This connection will help you in creating the right website centered around your customer’s desires. 

2. Write Compelling Headlines

Headlines are an important part of a compelling copy. Think about it, what does a reader first read on the page, the most attractive thing is the big font headline that immediately strikes your attention away from the content. So write a precise and attention-grabbing headline that entices readers’ conscience. 

There Are Some Things You Need to Keep in Mind Before Writing a Headline:

– Keep it short and simple.

– Set your reader’s expectations around the content by your headlines and make it descriptive.

– Be secretive with your headline. Don’t tell too much and make your reader want to learn more about the topic.  

– Remember it is about your reader so make it about them.

Here Are Some Examples of a Compelling Headline:

– 7 secret ways to chive success

– The most important skill nobody taught you

– 5 easy ways for fat loss at home

Recommended Read: Content Writing Courses in India

3. Remove Unnecessary Jargon

As a reader, they do not understand big phrases or difficult words that take their attention away from the content and make it distracting. They may not read further if their attention is disturbed. You want to keep them engaged with your content so make it an easy read for them.

Write in their voice. You need to understand your average reader’s voice and write it as they would like it to be written. Remove unnecessary words. Your content should be valuable to the reader. Trim the fat.

4. Use Active Voice

Use an active voice to speak to your customers. An active voice makes for an easy read and easily understandable paragraph that would otherwise be hard for the reader to go through. Make it about them and not about you. They are the ones benefiting from your services so make them feel the same with your copy.

Avoid using negative phrases like ‘if you don’t do this and use positive ones such as ‘we would like you to do’. Use bullet points and short paragraphs that way they won’t be having a hard time skimming through your content. 

Also Read: Copywriter vs Content Writer

5. Use Actionable CTAs

When the reader is done reading your content and is ready to take the action, they will search for a CTA. They find a CTA button that says subscribe and they don’t click it. The reason? They are confused. The CTA is not clear enough to let them know what they will be subscribing to.

They will most likely get confused and leave the website and that is the last thing you would want them to do. So write a CTA that is not ambiguous. In this case, you could write ‘Subscribe to our daily newsletter’ as a CTA for them to click on. The CTA is the last thing your reader would do so make sure you give it some thinking when you are writing one.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Q.1  What is Web Copywriting?

Ans. Website Copywriting is writing digital content for websites to persuade the customer in taking an action towards building a relationship with the company. These generally include writing for landing pages, blog posts, product pages, service pages, and the about us page on the website. This copy is mainly used for marketing purposes by the companies to market themselves to the customers.

Q.2  Why is Web Copywriting important?

Ans. A copywriter’s basic job is to write a compelling copy that persuades the prospective consumer to take the step towards building a relationship with the company by clicking on the prompt given. The copy is written in such a way to make the company’s motives and objectives clear to the customer. So that they can make an active decision about whether to trust them or not based on their first impression of the webpage. 

That trust is built through an effective sales copy which is effectively responsible for making the customer’s needs met and building trust in that company’s policies. Without a sales copy, the businesses suffer to make a good first impression on the company’s behalf when a customer first opens the landing page/ homepage. A copywriter knows the customer’s needs and wants and uses them to drive sales in the company’s favor.

Q.3  Is it necessary for a Web Copywriter to know SEO (Search Engine Optimization)?

Ans. A copywriter should have a basic knowledge of SEO i.e. they should understand the usage of SEO and its various functionalities. However, SEO is mainly important for a content writer to understand as it’s related to keywords and they are mainly used in an article or a blog. SEO web copywriting is used to write a copy that is SEO focused and content that is easy for google to find/understand.

Q.4  What do you do as a freelance copywriter?

Ans. A freelance copywriter writes copy for a website on a contractual basis. This includes writing for adverts, blog posts, digital media, and websites. The copy is written to rank well on the google search engine and to persuade, convert and sell. Although it is recommended to get a freelance copywriter that offers website copywriting services to write your sales copy it is quite costly. Many companies also hire copywriters on a job basis to look after these services.

Q.5  Who can pursue web copywriting?

Ans. Freelance web copywriters and professional copywriters pursue it as there is a demand for people who can write persuasive sales pages based on the consumer’s needs and what they want with this product to change in their lifestyle. 

Conclusion

Web copywriting is essential for online businesses to function well. The first impression that a business will leave on a potential customer is likely from its webpage. And this webpage will be responsible for targeting the customer’s needs and making them feel trusted. If not for a website copywriter neither the customer’s needs and wants will be fulfilled nor the businesses will be able to initiate that first step towards a healthy customer relationship successfully. So the services that a website copywriter offers are very important for both the company as well as the customers. 

Many businesses think that web copywriting is just writing and have a misconception that they can do it too. But writing a copy to sell online is a very tricky thing and should be considered an important part of online sales technique. Web copywriting is not something that can be done by anyone who can write as it involves writing to a specific customer and understanding them. It also involves writing to get results in the search engine which in itself is a very tricky part.