A general guide to get you started

So you’ve looked into copywriting, you know it’s a thing and you can’t afford my ridiculously high prices. You do a bit of writing. You used to love crafting those really long emails in your old job so why not turn your hand to your own website…..how hard can it be?

It’s actually really easy.

Easy peasy.

Just like it’s really easy to build your own house….using 4 pallets, 40 long screws and a power-driver.

Ok so it might not resemble a finely crafted house but it’s somewhere to lay your head for a while until you can afford the real deal.

I’ve watered down my whole profession into 5 top tips to get you well on your way to great website copy.

Adam White’s top 5 tips for writing your own website copy

1)      Stop using the words ‘we’….and even worse…’I’, as much as you do. This is all about perspective. You’re not writing for you….you will read your website multiple times until you feel like you’ve got it right, but you are not your audience. “We are awesome” might be the tag line of your dreams, but it won’t win you any customers.

Try this one for size: With [insert product name] you can [insert feeling or benefit]. E.g. with your new mattress you can sleep like that sloth you saw in the zoo.

The word ‘you’ means everything to your reader. It puts them in place of using your product and after all, you need to be customer-focussed so this is the first step.

2)      Simplify things.

I’ve done a whole blog post about this HERE so check it out. But in simple terms, keep the reader engaged by putting points across as simply as possible. No reader cares if your mattress topper is made from 220 different cotton plants – they want to know how soft it will feel on their skin.  

3)      Stop being fancy.

The 18 year old make-up buyer on your shopify store doesn’t care that you have an A-level in English. Stop using long words when you’re talking to normal people; it’s off-putting and makes you and your brand look like a nob (see what I did there?).

4)      Shorten it down.

No one wants to read a novel when they land on your website. Attention spans are short and there are 50 other notifications or tabs that need your reader’s attention. Keep it straight to the point and shorten it down. Then shorten it down some more. Then wake up the next morning and start deleting more words.

5)      Engage their imagination.

Boring = bounce. They’ll leave your website and google will notice, so don’t bore your reader in the first sentence. That cotton sheet made from 100 different cotton plants: “Imagine that soft feeling as you slip into bed and experience the wonder of our incredible cosy cotton keeping you warm for the whole night…”. Far better.

Do all of these and you’ll be partway there to having well—crafted website copy. You’ll feel far more confident when people land on your website then this might just show in the form of a reduced ‘bounce rate’ (the number of visitors who leave within 5 seconds).

This in turn improves your SEO – the more time people spend on your website, the more Google sees you as an authority and worthy of showing it to more people. (If you want to know more about SEO then take a look at my blog post HERE).

Congratulations if you’ve taken on board these points. I’m sure you’re happy with your new creation. The beauty of website copy is once it’s complete it will sit there and inform/persuade/sell for you…24/7.

You can always give it a monthly review and make sure that your message is still relevant.

Now onto your next task of email chain copywriting and churning out another 10 blog posts…

Want to save yourself a headache and hire an Ireland based email Copywriter with proven results? Just claim your free discovery session here!

Keep hustling,

Keep copywriting!

Thanks for reading,

Adam