If you’re searching for the answer for how to make your website copy more powerful and engaging, then let me tell you you’re already winning. The fact that you have the awareness and knowledge that having engaging and powerful website copy is essential is already a win because awareness is the first step!
Your website copy is like a mirror… the mirror that you reflect outward to the world, telling them what your brand and business are all about. Your website is what you own and is really the only piece you do! So let’s make it count!
Let’s dive into my favourite tips for making sure your website copy is powerful and engaging.
1. Be Sure to Tell a Story With Your Copy
By taking the time to tell a story in your copy, you give your audience a glimpse into who your brand really is, making you much more relatable. By being more candid and vulnerable with your customers and prospects, you’ll humanize your brand and make it more accessible. Storytelling is also one of the easiest ways for consumers to process and digest information.
I also encourage you to get vulnerable and honest in your copy’s story, especially as a personal brand, because it allows you to really connect with your ideal clients at a much deeper level. It’s powerful for them to be able to see themselves in you.
A great rule of thumb for sharing more vulnerable things is to share your scars, not your wounds – meaning, share what you have overcome and can help others overcome! If you’re in the thick of something yourself, healing is the priority… not writing copy around it. You also can’t help others through something you are still deeply working through.
2. Format for Readability
While drafting your website copy, take measures to ensure that the copy is as readable and digestible as possible. Why?
- Think mobile – more than ever; content is being consumed mostly on mobile. Think from your dream client’s perspective, who is likely looking at your website from their phone. You want to ensure these prospects can skim your content if need be and still get the key messages you want to convey.
- It’s easier to digest– people looking at your website copy are likely busy entrepreneurs or business owners themselves, and if they have to waste their precious brain calories in reading large chunks of text, they’re bouncing!
So how can you ensure readability? You can use numbered or bulleted lists whenever possible to break up your ideas. However, the biggest tip I can offer is to use headings and sub-headings properly. Use an H1 header for the main title on the page, and H2 for breaking up the body text into sub-headings.
3. Optimize for User Experience
After spending a significant chunk of time crafting a beautiful, engaging piece of copy, you’ll want to ensure that it is also visually appealing in terms of the page and copy layout and that the time spent on the page offers an optimal user experience.
I’ve come across WAY TOO MANY blogs and websites with great content, but the pages are littered with multiple pop-ups, sidebars and banners. I’ll tell you now, nothing makes me close a piece of content quicker than a poorly designed webpage or a poor user experience. Limit the distractions on the page. Of course, pop-ups are a way to boost engagement – but 1 per page is plenty (if that’s your style! I personally don’t use pop-ups)
An excellent method for testing the user experience of your webpage is to ask a colleague, or a biz bestie, to candidly share their experience. Have them actually navigate to the webpage featuring the copy. Have them describe how they feel when they read it. Is there something on the page that is distracting them from the copy?
The name of the game here is balance – having some visuals on the page is a positive for engaging web copy – images help balance out the text. Just ensure that everything is kept in moderation.
4. Write Now, Edit Later
When someone finds out I’m a professional writer, they usually ask what my best tip is for someone who struggles with writing.
This is the tip I always give: write down everything you could possibly want to say without filter or worry, then edit later.
My favourite part of the writing process (and one I’m literally employing as I write this very phrase) is to let my fingers type away as my brain pours out every ounce of what I want to say. Yes, you will get some silly and redundant phrases… but they will be amidst nuggets of gold!
The best phrases I’ve ever written have come from this process. Get the words on the paper; edit later. Trust me. When you let loose with your writing and stop worrying about having the perfect phrase right away, you’ll really notice a difference… and might even have some fun!
5. Write Directly To Your Dream Client
The best way to really make sure your copy is engaging? Speak directly to one of your dream clients while you’re writing (or have one of your absolute dream leads in mind as you draft).
I highly recommend that when you speak to leads either online or on a call, you record the words and phrases that they use and their tone of voice, especially when they chat with you about their pleasure and pain points. Keep track of all of this in a personal brad word bank, and you can quickly draw on this language when it comes to writing your website copy.
Are you struggling to come up with your next piece of copy? Try one of these 3 magical copywriting phrases!
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There are some very important questions to ask yourself and elements you need to gain clarity on before you begin DIYing your own copy in your creative business. This free workbook is here to guide you through that process!
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