Ever been to a website, sales page or opt-in page and thought, “Man, that sounds amazing” or felt like everything you were reading was speaking right to you and your situation?  Almost as if the content was just jumping off the page and compelling you to take action?  We’ve heard it said often — and for perhaps a little longer than we’d care to admit — that “Content is King”. And if that is so then “Copy” is definitely Queen and we might be willing to say it has a close bid for that “Kingly” spot.  So what this really means is that your website’s conversion strategy (if you have one in place) must travel beyond simply producing “content” to creating real, genuine copy that speaks to the heart and problems of your audience so clearly and strongly that they just can’t help but to take the desired action.

Image and design don’t sell.  They attract.

With some exceptions (beverages, food, cars, and pornography come to mind), you can’t sell products and services with images alone.

Think of a complicated financial product, or a software system.  Images won’t help you sell them.  Your buyers are going to have questions, and only good copy will give them the answers. Even when images do the selling, there’s usually a carefully crafted caption to help it along.

Fancy images can be good at getting attention.  But they are lousy at keeping it.  And the attention they do get isn’t usually very useful. You know what grabs the right attention? A well-written headline.

What keeps that attention?  Good copy.

How do you get good website copy?

There are two ways to get well-written website copy:

• Learn to do it yourself
• Hire someone to do it for you

Learn to write good copy

Contrary to what some people may tell you, most anyone can learn to write serviceable copy. Certainly, some people have a natural talent for it.

But copywriting is (in my opinion) more science than art.  There are rules to follow – and sometimes to break.  And those rules can be taught. And unlike other types of writing, there is a very easy way to determine whether it’s good or bad:

Does it work?

Does the copy do the job you want it to do?  If so, then it’s great!  If not, then it’s not.

That simple.

Opinion doesn’t come into copywriting.

Copywriting is a science, and it can be learned.  But to do it well will take you time. How much time are you willing to spend learning?  And what else could you do with that time?

Hire someone who knows how to write good copy

If you decide it’s not worth it to you to learn to write copy yourself, you can always hire someone who knows what they’re doing to write it for you.

Truth:

Anyone can have good copy – freelancers are everywhere and if you do have an agency they should already be providing this service.

You don’t have to spend thousands of dollars to get effective website copy.

The reality is if you aren’t paying serious attention to the copy on your site, you’re probably leaving a lot of money on the table.  People are clicking away that otherwise would convert.

Buyers are buying from your competitors because they were able to clearly communicate and you weren’t. It could be that people aren’t even finding your site in the first place because your headlines don’t contain the relevant keywords that your prospects are searching for.

But don’t feel bad.

You aren’t alone.  There are a lot more websites out there with bad copy than good.

That’s an opportunity for you.  It’s up to you to take advantage of it.

Spend some time on your website copy.  It’s important.