Recipe for Stunning Web Copy

Savvy business owners know just what they want their copy to be like, sometimes down to the last detail.  If you were to imagine web copy as a meal that you serve in order to win a spot as a regular copywriter for a particular business, what are the ingredients that would make it perfectly delicious? 

·        Start with the presentation.  The dish needs to be visually stunning.  So you need to make sure your copy will grab the interest of the target audience while giving them an appetite for more.

·        Next you want to have the right balance so that it leaves just the right taste in the mouth.  For a copywriter, this means to make the copy easy to read and follow but with a distinctive zing.

·        The really healthy vegetables need to be included.  The way to serve up the parts of the meal that may not be fun for everyone takes finesse.  For a copywriter, this represents the tone of the article; this is very important.  While your underlying purpose is to help your employer sell a product or service, your copy shouldn’t sound like a subtle advertisement or a hyped sales pitch.  Instead, provide information in a way that presents an argument in support of the product from the standpoint of what is in the best interest of the consumer. 

·        Spices for the copy include proper punctuation, capitalization, and number usage.

·        Tricky parts of the meal can be correctly handling gender terms and including keywords that are sometimes awkward. 

When you’ve hit all points of the copy just right, it will be like serving the target audience an unforgettable meal.  The tip for good service might be that the person will come back for more.  But the icing on the cake is if they purchase the product, which is the ultimate goal from the business owner's point of view.

 

Get the recipe right and, of course, you get the job.

Non-Drowsy Web Copy

Copywriting for websites is not an aimless venture.  There is serious purpose behind what you write, and you are the expert who is supposed to fulfill that purpose.  One thing your copy should never be is a big snooze.  Success begins with capturing the attention of your target audience.

A writing principle that has stood the test of time and serves as an excellent guide for how to construct web copy is the AIDA principle, which says that copywriting should:

·         A – Capture the attention of the target audience.

·         I  – Gain the interest of the audience.

·         D – Build desire for the product or service.

·         A – Induce the readers to take action.

Your target audience has no patience for a boring presentation, no matter the demographic.  There are certain proven tactics for grabbing a reader’s attention, including:

·        Taking a novel approach.  When you present words or images on a page that are interesting and outside of the norm, people take notice.  Whether it’s a colorful and easy-to-comprehend graph, illustrations, photographs, or anything else somewhat mesmerizing, novelty is a reliable attention-grabber.

·        Catering to the F-scan.  When people visit websites, they scan in an F pattern on the page and then possibly read.  Since the vast majority of people scan rather than read, make sure that your copy is highly scannable.

·        Inspiring emotion.  People are drawn to headlines and stories that appeal to their emotions.  When you can get readers to feel something, you have their attention.

·        Structuring content sequentially and presenting one concept at a time.  Clearly introduce the value or promise, follow it up with a supporting presentation, and end with a conclusion that directs your target audience to take the desired action.  If text is disjointed, ambiguous, or difficult to grasp, you lose your audience.

Copywriting is serious business that even has value for people who aspire to be book authors.   After all, once you’ve mastered the art of grabbing attention as a copywriter, you have developed a skill that could be helpful in writing a real page-turner.

Headlines that Go Pow

A great headline, like a great book, has a hook that captivates readers and compels them to keep reading.  The importance of writing attention-grabbing headlines in web copy can’t be overstated.  Get this:  Only 2 out of 10 people who read a website headline will go on to read the rest of the copy.  So what are the secrets of writing irresistible headlines?

Michael Masterson, a business coach and extraordinary entrepreneur, developed a well-known “4 U’s formula,” which advises writing headline content that is:

• Urgent
• Unique
• Useful
• Ultra-Specific

If you had to leave off one of the U’s in the formula, it would be best to omit “urgent” because maintaining urgency can sometimes read as a sales pitch, which you want to avoid at all costs.

A few questions to ask when formulating a headline (the answers should be yes!):

• Will the headline immediately grab the reader’s attention?
• Does the headline incorporate a promise or benefit of genuine interest to the target audience?
• Does the headline convey the objective of the piece?
• Does the headline do at least one of the following:  arouse curiosity, stir emotions, begin with “how to,” convey specificity, make an announcement, or ask a question?

A few questions that should have “no” answers:

• Does the headline read like an advertisement?
• Is there a headline that would more accurately represent the service or product?
• Is there a headline that could better appeal to the target audience?

An easy way to collect and study great headlines is to write down and try to emulate the dynamics of the ones that distract you from your work on the Internet – if this happens to you, too.  I’m often busy researching an article and the headline about a completely unrelated topic is too much for me to resist, such as:

1915 Message in a Bottle Surfaces in Detroit.

(Sounds like an interesting story that could be the inspiration for a great book.)

A copywriter with a knack for writing great headlines has a skill that employers look for.

Deep Thoughts About Punctuation

You know writing may be your ideal profession when a book about punctuation is among your favorites.  The book Eats Shoots and Leaves is a popular classic on commas and such, and I highly recommend it.  But for many people, I realize, punctuation is nothing short of a necessary evil. 

Don't make the mistake of thinking the proper use of commas isn't a big deal on the Internet.  There are readers who can spot misplaced or just plain missing punctuation with ease, and it can take away from a website's credibility.

There have probably been countless analogies to illustrate how important punctuation is.  Stephen King compared it to tools in the writing toolbox in his volume On Writing. 

"Some grammarians have the analogy of stitching:  punctuation as the basting that holds the fabric of language in shape."  -- from Eats Shoots and Leaves by Lynne Truss

When I think about punctuation, I invariably think of my English court reporting instructor, Mrs. Reed.  She was like an Army  sergeant, drilling sentence structure, comma usage, and all things punctuation into our brains.  It really stuck, mostly because my fellow students and I came to understand the rules of punctuation and their various reasons via fear of the teacher's wrath.

But the punctuation I learned to use as a court reporter isn't the same "style guide" used for printed publications.

Newspaper and magazine editors usually ask writers to use the Associated Press Stylebook, and many publishers prefer the Chicago Manual of Style.  People in business often use the Gregg Reference Manual.

All web writers need to know some version of proper punctuation, not only to turn out professional work but also to make copy easier to read and understand.  If you doubt it, well, did you ever hear about the panda bear that eats, shoots, and leaves?

Cut Which Words and Why?

Stephen King isn’t the only writer who taught me the importance of editing, something I mentioned in my last post.  William Zinsser’s acclaimed book On Writing Well made a huge impact.  The main takeaway when I read the treasured volume is always:  Write simply and concisely.  Zinsser says, “Can any thought be expressed with more economy?”

Especially when it comes to blog posts, articles, and web pages for the Internet, writing should be done with economy.  People have the world at their fingertips; they don’t have to put up with websites that have rambling or garbled communication.

Writers like me are hired because businesses want to be at the top of search results.  What do search engines look for when deciding which websites to place there?  Google is looking for “high-quality sites that users will want to use and share.” 

Since the inception of the Internet, site builders have used every sneaky tactic possible to get around the search engine analytics and land at the top.  These illegitimate schemes are almost always found out, and the websites are penalized – they are dropped from search engines altogether.

Good writers are hired by businesses willing to play by the rules and build excellent websites.  What is needed, when it all comes down to it, is well written, engaging, and informative material.  Awesome graphics are nice, but that’s not usually enough to keep people coming back for more. 

The words a good web writer chooses include keywords but without keyword stuffing.  The words a good writer cuts are those which are unnecessary or bombastic.

Say Something Already

How does a business rise to the top of millions of search engine results?  One answer is that their websites and blogs actually say something in a way that is very readable and informative.
 
Communicating effectively with written words is not a simple task.  An important aspect of producing great copy that begs to be read is:  editing (a.k.a. cutting out unnecessary words).
 
An unforgettable lesson I learned from reading prolific author Stephen King's book On Writing was to unmercifully cut out unnecessary words.  Most people who visit websites are there because they want to know something.  If they begin reading but find nothing helpful, they will quickly leave the site and try another. 

On the other hand, if they discover the very answers they are looking for plus a lot more helpful stuff, they will stay.  In fact, there is a good chance they will bookmark the page or even share the page with their friends on Facebook or Twitter.
 
A copywriter who produces good results for employers is no doubt good at making sure their copy cuts straight to the business of saying something helpful, informative, or interesting.
 
The way I work on writing assignments:

·    Begin by researching the topic and reading much more information than the word count needed for my copy.

·    Organize the information to be used in a way that makes good sense.

·    Use bullet points when appropriate and avoid large paragraphs—in other words, I strive to make the article seem easy and not cumbersome to read.

·    Edit and edit again.

 
 

 

Words That Go Pow

Loving words has come as naturally for me as choosing Blue Bell Ice Cream from the dairy freezer at the grocery store.  Logophiles like myself find words simply scrumptious.  When I got the opportunity to write for a living -- thanks, tanked economy -- I dove in and found that all of my hopeful preparation has truly paid off.

For instance, I am aware that I confused my topic -- a love of words -- with a need to explain what the big deal is about Blue Bell Ice Cream to anyone who doesn't live in or hasn't visited Texas.  It's an ice cream made in Brenham, Texas, that puts the taste of all other brands to complete and total shame.  Okay, sure, I haven't eaten every brand under the sun, but I'm still confident I'm right on this point.

Also, what was my "hopeful preparation" for writing?  Well, even though I had a frustrating situation in which I earned two Associate Degrees that are not appreciated as a potential equivalent to a Bachelor's Degree (at least in the job market), I opted to educate myself through local libraries as opposed to returning to college.  I read/studied hundreds of books on writing, joined writers' clubs, participated in critique groups, and won some poetry competitions.  

So now I use my love and understanding of words to drive traffic to blogs and websites.  I've had success, too.  Most of my customers report an explosive increase in their number of site visitors, once I become their regular writer -- several have grown from around 30 hits per day when I started to over 400 within a short time.  Their businesses are booming, too, by the way.

Artfully arranging words and choosing those with the most impact, such as keywords, makes the words go "pow!"  Looking for one of the best blog writers?  In reviews posted on my profile page on the website where I obtain the bulk of my employment, it has been said that you, dear reader searching for top blog writers, are looking for me, Stevie McHugh.  

Contact me at thesteviemchugh@gmail.com.