Hmm, copywriting…
You want to know why copywriting is one of the 3 important online business skills to add to your skills set as an online entrepreneur? Let me start with the fact below:
“More than 2 million new blog posts are published every day – Oasdom
That shows you simply can’t afford to publish just an average content without engaging your readers.
The number one skill you must have if you’re going to succeed not just online, but in any business is the ability to SELL through words – Copy-writing.
What Is Copywriting?
Copywriting is the art and science of writing copy (words used on web pages, ads, promotional materials, etc.) that sells your product or service and convinces prospective customers to take action.
But Why Is Copywriting So Important For An Online Business Owner?
Simply put, it helps you build solid relationship with your target audience. Come to think of it; When running an online business, there’s…
- No face-to-face with the customers.
- No brick and mortar store for them to walk into.
- No walking up to their door and knocking on it in order to market your products/services
So, the best possible way to Making a connection with your online customers must be done through the written word and that’s copywriting.
Here are 4 things that your copywriting effort should help you achieve:
- It should draw people in…
- It should open up their imagination…
- It should bring out emotion…
- It should also make it possible for your target audience to relate to you.
To make this possible, you should grasp the 4 elements of copywriting.
The 4 Elements of Copywriting
Although every copywriting assignment is different, there are some priciples that never change. This diagram from Abccopywriting shows how they come together. It is always worthwhile considering these elements BEFORE starting to write.
Take some time, think deeply, and provide answers to each question in that image. This is key to getting the very best results from your copywriting efforts.
Always remember.
“Copywriting is writing persuasively with the practical purpose of getting people to take action”
4 Steps to Becoming a Persuasive Copywriter
Copywriting, when compared to other forms of writing, is a different kind of animal. Thankfully, you don’t have to be a genius to write persuasive content that converts.
These 4 sure-fire steps will help you write effective copy.
1. Understand the Product/Service You’re Selling
The first step in any copywriting is to fully understand whatever product you’re selling. In other words, understanding the major thing that you’re presenting does (e.g ebooks, blog posts, services, etc).
Here’s a great example:
David Olgilvy, a legendary copywriter, known as the father of advertising is famously known for taking three weeks of meticulous study to come up with a winning concept for a Rolls-Royce ad.
The final headline reads..
“At 60 miles per hour the loudest noise in this Rolls-Royce comes from the electric clock.”
It took him that much time to find a detail compelling enough to sell a Rolls-Royce.
And if it took Mr. Ogilvy that long to discover such an important selling feature, it’s surely worth taking some time to study your product to learn which features will stand out to your customers.
Tips to Understanding Your Product/Service
You need to find out what makes your product unique and what benefits and features will appeal to your customers.
Here are 3 questions you really must find answers to:
- How would you describe the product?
For this question, provide a simple, two to three sentence description of the product. If you can describe it in few words, it means you don’t understand it. Simply write down a short description as if you were describing the product to a customer.
- What’s unique/special about this product?
The goal here is to identify something unique or special about the product. What does this product offer that others don’t? Is it made in the USA? Is it easy to install? Does it provide analytics that other sites don’t offer?
Eventually, you’ll use this to identify a unique selling proposition (USP). A USP is something unique that other products/services don’t offer.
Is there anything special about your product? Is there something that makes it stand out from the competition? Record anything here about the product that makes it special or unique.
- What pain does it alleviate?
People generally buy for one of two reasons — to increase their pleasure or to minimize pain. Understanding the biggest pains of your target audience that your content (product/service) will solve is vital.
2. Use Attention-Grabbing Headline
Something you’ll often notice is that writers try to emphasize how important something is by overusing the word really or very. And it’s not wrong to use them sometimes.
We use them a lot in the spoken language. But the written language can, and should, be more polished than the spoken language, especially if you want to take your content engagement to the next level.
Try using more imaginative words like blissful, massive, heartwarming, shortcut, vicious, sleazy, instantly, vivid, soar, and suddenly. Because these words are quite unusual, they are fuel for your reader’s attention.
Your headlines are the most important part of your copy as they draw the reader in. If your headline fails to do this, your content won’t get read.
Also Check: Words And Phrases That (Almost) Always Convert
The goal of your headline is to capture the attention of the reader. Tell people the “what”. It’s what the content/product/service can do for them. Just be specific.
Emphasize On The Benefits & Not the Features
Always remember that your target audience are more concerned about what is in for them. So, wasting time on the features of what you’re offering and not the benefits isn’t going to give results.
The difference between features and benefits is simple:
Features are facts about what your product or service does. Benefits are what your customer gets out of it.
Now ask yourself, which is more important in the eCommerce example, the feature or the benefit? The benefit of course.
A Simple Example
Product you’re selling: Smartphone
Feature 1: Integrated email application
Benefit 1: Check your emails where you are
Feature 2: 32 GIG Internal memory
Benefit 2: Store a huge amount of files (music, video, apps)
Feature 3: 5,000 mAh battery
Benefit 3: Enjoy your videos, browsing, gaming without worrying about the battery running out
Now you see…
[Tweet “Customers don’t care about what your product can do… they care about what it can do FOR THEM””]
3. Create Value-Adding Content
I can’t emphasize the importance of creating quality content enough. Your audience is already hungry, you’ve known their biggest pains. What you need to do next is to create content that helps you sell.
You should read more about content creation here because:
[Tweet “”The sale is made within the content” – Oasdom”]
Why? Because the content is where credibility is established. The goal of the copywriter is to prove there’s no match for the product or system they’re selling.
To accomplish this, the content must:
Your Content Must Provide Value: People want to be sure that what you’re presenting or selling is unique and amazing. They want to know that the product will impact their lives and provides positive results.
The key here is to prove it. Offer evidence, statistics, and maybe some odd details. These are great teasers.
Your Content Must Wow Your Target Audience: You must make them fee like “Aha, I never thought about this”. Creating a wow moment in your content will add to helping you get positive results from your copywriting efforts.
Another tip to employ in delivering your content is to use bullet points. People want to be able to ascertain what and what exactly they’ll be getting.
Bullet points have proven to be great. Lists/bullet points keep people focused, as people won’t just start reading — they’ll finish reading because they need that closure.
There you have it, quick practicable tips to effective copywriting, that will help you persuade your target audience to take action.
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