Marketing Copy - Writing Effective Marketing Copy
Writing Effective Web Based Marketing Copy Part 3
Six Simple Rules to Writing Effective Marketing Copy
These six simple techniques will help achieve our two core goals
of delivering key information up front and keeping our potential
customers reading.
- Write Like a Journalist. In the newspaper business,
they call it the inverted pyramid. It's inverted because a newspaper
story is top-heavy. Newspaper writers know that many readers only
skim the first few paragraphs of a story, and that most never
turn the page to see the end of the story that's buried inside
the section. The first paragraph contains all the key information-who,
what, when, where? What's considered "key information" may vary
a bit depending on your goals for the page, but whatever it is
that you want to be sure to communicate to your reader should
hit him right between the eyes when the page opens.
- Keep it concise. Many site owners make the mistake
of thinking that complex sentences will make their writing look
more professional, and that volume of text will make their sites
look more substantial. In fact, one of the most crucial aspects
of writing effective web copy is making it clear and easily readable.
That means short, concise sentences that get to the point. Unnecessary
introductory clauses, descriptions, side notes, and redundancies
simply slow down the reader and distract from the key words and
phrases that you want to be noticeable. They also make it difficult
to create visually accessible text.
- Make your text visually accessible. To an extent, this
is the job of the web designer, but only to an extent. A designer
isn't going to chop up your paragraphs for you or turn something
you have written in sentences into a bulleted list. Remember that
you want the most important points to be readable at a glance.
Don't make your reader work to find important information: odds
are that he'll simply look elsewhere.
Consider the item below:
Plum Grove Acres offers horseback riding, riding lessons, stable
rental, grooming services, campgrounds, picnic areas, and more.
Now look at the same information in a different format:
Plum Grove Acres offers:
- Horseback Riding
- Riding Lessons
- Stable Rental
- Grooming Services
- Campgrounds
- Picnic Areas
- Other amenities
The text is virtually identical, but in the second entry the key
terms-those that will draw customers-are isolated in a way that
makes them immediately noticeable
- Break up the Text. Readers are going to skim, so help
them find what they're looking for. Keep paragraphs short and
limit each paragraph to a single subject, so that a keyword scan
will allow the reader to quickly locate the right piece of text.
For longer copy, use headings and physical divisions within the
text. Don't bury the "bait" between things you'd like the reader
to know. You can't force your potential customers to read what
they're not interested in, and an inability to quickly locate
the information they came looking for will most likely lead them
straight to the dreaded "back" button.
- Make the Language Accessible. Web users want and expect
things to move quickly. They don't want to get bogged down in
formalistic language, complex sentences, long paragraphs, or anything
else that will make them work for the information. Straightforward,
user-friendly language is far more effective than "smart-sounding"
language that reminds the reader that he's reading and understanding.
Good copy carries the reader forward almost unconsciously, and
it is indisputably unlikely in most contexts that monosyllabic
words, complex syntax, and multiple clauses will lend themselves
well to unconscious and effortless reading on the part of your
customers or potential customers. (See?)
- Be meticulous. Although we're throwing out a lot of
the rules regarding paragraph formats and introduction, we aren't
throwing out the rules of grammar and spelling. Nothing says "amateur"
like obvious misspellings and grammatical errors. The problem,
of course, is that the errors you'll make are never obvious to
you. Even professional writers have difficulty spotting their
own errors. When you know what the text is supposed to say, human
nature is to see what you're expecting rather than what's actually
written there. That's why professionals have editors, and why
you should, too. Always ask someone else to proofread your copy
before it goes online.
Following these six simple steps will help any site owner achieve
the two key goals of business web copywriting-providing the key
information in the first few lines of text, and then making visitors
to your site want to read further. Allowing the reader to find the
information he wants, and then encouraging him to go forward and
learn more about your company and its products and services, drastically
increases your chances of achieving your ultimate goal: to turn
that visitor to your website into a customer.
Tiffany Sanders - Copywriting Specialist
Copyright © Tiffany Sanders All Rights Reserved
Tiffany Sanders is a freelance writer/editor whose background
includes corporate copywriting, web-based marketing and educational
copy, journalism, community education materials and legal reporting.
She has two books currently in print--one fiction and one non-fiction--and
a third under contract.
Writing Effective Web Based Marketing Copy
Web Writing Article by Tiffany Sanders
- Part 1 -
Web Writing - Why Web Writing is Different
Writing Effective Web Based Marketing Copy - The foundation of
effective copywriting can be summed up in one sentence: Know your
audience.
- Part 2 -
Web Content Writing - Core Goals
Writing Effective Web Based Marketing Copy - Effective web content
writers know something that journalists have known for decades-most
readers aren't going to finish the article.
- Part 3 -
Marketing Copy - Writing Effective Marketing Copy
Six Simple Rules - These six simple techniques will help achieve
our two core goals of delivering key information and keeping our
customers reading.
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