Copywriting tips for your website
Hi tech hunni, happy Monday! Did you have a wonderful weekend? Feeling refreshed for another kick-a$$ week? I know I am!
WELCOME BACK to Day 11 (!!!) of the Live Video Training Extravaganza, we’re at it again with another week of free live video trainings and I am so excited to continue sharing this content with you! Week 3, hot dang.
Quick summary: every day for the past 2 weeks, I’ve hosted a free live video training over on my Youtube channel and shared those replays here on the blog. And honestly, it’s been so much fun that I wasn’t ready to stop quite yet… so I decided to continue these live video trainings into this week too! LET THE GOOD TIMES ROLL!
So we’re back for more and you can watch even more of these daily lessons as I keep creating content for you!
Today’s video was a blast, obvi, and we talked all about a topic that is often a hangup for many of my clients and audience. That’s right, the joys and woes of website copy
In this video training, I talked about copywriting tips for your website.
From page goals & CTAs to ideal audiences to content formatting to writing for conversions, we cover it all!
Alright, that’s enough intro for one video… let’s get to the goods.
Click the live video training replay below to watch now!
Copywriting tips for your website
Click play to watch the video above or on my Youtube channel
Here’s what we talked about in this video training:
Copywriting is creating the written text that goes on every page of your website, as well as all supporting marketing materials, social media posts, newsletters, etc. Many different moving parts but it all goes together!
Different pages on your website will have different copywriting strategies - for example, the home page vs a sales page vs the about page, etc.
Don’t let perfectionism hold you back
When it comes to website copy, trust me when I tell you that it’s forever changing. You will constantly be going in to tweak something, make a change, update the wording, etc. Way too often I see people get delayed from launching or updating their websites because they aren’t confident in the copy. They get hung up on copywriting, doubt their content, lack confidence to click Publish on that web page.
Instead, do you very best effort to create strong website copy but please don’t get hung up on the words you use - they can always be updated and refined as needed.
Perfectionism is a killer and a major drag - just do your best if you’re taking the DIY route, or else hire out your website’s copywriting if you simply can’t do it yourself.
Tip #1 : Short & sweet website copy
For certain pages of your website it can be super easy to ramble, so I recommend that you assign word count or limit to ensure that your writing is concise, that you’ve explained it in a simple way that’s easy to understand and digest.
Tip #2 : Always keep your ideal audience in mind
Different types of websites will have different ideal audiences : prospective clients for your services-based business, future customers for your products or online shop, attendees for your event, etc.
All of the copy on your website should speak directly to that ideal audience. Don’t be vague, write directly to your people, nail into your niche. People should arrive on your website and feel “wow, they totally get me and are exactly what I need or am looking for”.
Think about tone of your copy too - e.g., traditional & corporate vs casual & personal vs bubbly & hip, etc.
Who are you writing for? What do they want to hear? What do they need to know? Stay on brand and on message so that those people are reassured that they’re in the right place.
Related : Tips for sales pages that convert
Tip #3 : Formatting website copy
When formatting the copy of the webpage, consider the following:
page title
headings (hierarchy - H1, H2, H3)
body text & copy - paragraph breaks, short sentences, no long sections of text
bullet points
numbered lists
bolded text
Important for both human visitors reading you site but also for search engines (like Google, Yahoo, Bing) who are indexing the content of your website. I’ll be creating more SEO content in later videos so stay tuned.
Tip #4 : Every web page needs to have a goal & CTA
Each page on your website must have a goal, and depending on what the page is, your goal will be different.
For example, the goal of a sales page is to sell the product or services, so your call-to-action (CTA) would be for the person to purchase or book.
Other examples:
About page - goal could be to explain your story & convince potential clients to work with you
Blog post - opt in to email list, download freebie
Get in touch to book a service or inquire about a package.
Sign up to newsletter and join your email list
Read more blog posts (related blog posts)
Etc.
Keep these goals in mind as you’re writing the copy of each website, and that will help you to include clear CTAs on each page that are relevant and drive your business forward.
Tip #5 : Remove jargon & industry terms
Assume that the person who is reading your website doesn’t know what those jargon words or industry terms mean. Remember that your ideal audience might know what those words mean already, but it’s also very likely that they DON”T - and you don’t want to confuse them or make them feel embarrassed for not knowing.
Use plain English, write in simple language that doesn’t assume prior knowledge.
Find other ways to express yourself without jargon, exclude them entirely from your website copy.
Tip #6 : Write copy driven by EMOTION = higher conversions
Depending on the type of website, conversion could mean different things.
But, your website copy will be stronger if you are drilling into emotion of your ideal audience.
Talk about feelings and how you can express yourself in that way.
Whether it’s a product or a service, you can include emotion in the copy to support that.
Tip #7 : Tell a story
Stories are a very effective way to connect with your ideal audience and explain your products/services/offerings in a compelling way.
Stories work really well on your About page, but also for product descriptions, back story of your business, how your services came to be, etc.
Tip #8 : Review spelling & grammar
Review the copy of your website for typos, spelling errors or grammatical mistakes.
It’s not the end of the world because they happen all the time, but be sure to get a fresh pair of eyes to review and proof read the content before you publish!
Tip #9 : Balance between being specific & informative while also outlining benefits, value, outcome
This is something that people have trouble with and in my experience, it’s a hard balance to strike. But once you nail it you’ll have much stronger website copy!
Incorporate the outcome, benefits, value, highlights, and emotional feelings that someone will receive or gain from your products/services. Don’t just outline the features, describe the product, or rely on information alone.
FREE RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THE VIDEO TRAINING:
DAILY VIDEOS FOR THE LIVE VIDEO TRAINING EXTRAVAGANZA
As I mentioned, this video is for Monday, Day 11 and we’re continuing with another week of my Live Video Training Extravaganza! I’m PUMPED to be sharing so much free content, knowledge, information, strategies and tech tips with you for another week :)
I’ll be going live every day over on my Youtube channel again all week, sharing a free video training all about Squarespace, SEO, web design & development, online business, and a whole lot more.
We’re going to be talking about how you can grow your website, connect with your ideal audience online, attract dream clients and customers, and improve the look/feel/functionality of your website. Ready to up-level? PERFECT because my friend, you are in the right place and I’m sharing all my “secrets” to get you there.
I have a few topics in mind but I’d LOVE to hear from you!
If there’s anything you want me to talk about, any questions you want answered, any strategies you want me to debunk or explain, please let me know by leaving me a comment below. I’m open to suggestions because I want to make sure that these video trainings are super valuable and exactly what you’re dying to learn from me. So don’t be shy, consider this your invitation to pick my brain! I’ll be doing another Q&A video on Friday and I’d love to hear from you.
See you back here tomorrow or over on my Youtube channel every day this week for even more of the Live Video Training Extravaganza! Thrilled that you’re here xoxo
