The 11 Commandments of Creating Compelling

Web Copy for the Non-Copywriter

I. Hire a copywriter. I know—these are the 11 Commandments for the do-it-
yourselfer. So why am I bothering to tell you to hire a copywriter?

I mean, undoubtedly you’ve generated hundreds or thousands of emails in your

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life and sat through some sort of composition class before now. Heck, maybe this
Web site is to promote a book you just wrote. You can certainly write some copy
for your Web site, right?

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friend, and haven’t yet signed up
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please consider subscribing. After Copywriting is different from other types of writing. Copywriting is about
all, it’s filled with free persuading people—your site visitors—to take action at your Web site. (More
information and tips on building
an effective Web site, search
on that later.) It takes a different set of muscles.
engine optimization, email
marketing, business blogs and U.S.A. Track and Field would never put their top sprinter in the marathon with
more!
hopes of a winning gold medal. It’s a completely different type of race. The
It’s delivered right to your email. same is true of writing copy.
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Copywriters have experience in using specific words to get people to take
Thanks, action. They are professionals in what they do. While they are not inexpensive,
they are a great investment in the success of your Web site.
Rich Brooks
President, flyte new media

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written permission from the author.

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If you’d like to hire a professional copywriter flyte can recommend a few. If not,
then read on…

II. Keep the focus on your visitors. Too many Web sites have the “About Us”
content on the home page. Let me be blunt:

No one cares about you. (At least not at first.)

They don’t care about your mission statement, your customer service philosophy,
how long you’ve been in business…not even about your products and services!
They only care about one thing: themselves.

As the old adage goes, everyone’s tuned into the same radio station: WII-FM.
(What’s In It For Me?)

Your visitors are at your Web site because they have a need or a problem.
Talk first about their problems, their needs, their situation. After you’ve
addressed these issues, then you can talk about how you can help.

Take the “we-we” test. After you’ve written the home page copy count up the
number of times you use “we” words: we, us, our, or your company name, and
compare it to the number of times you use “you” words: you, your, etc. The
“you’s” should have it.

III. Write to one person. Although thousands (if not millions!) of visitors will come
to your home page, they’ll be filing in one-at-a-time. Don’t try to talk to all of
them…instead talk to each one of them.

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Imagine you’re having a one-on-one conversation with your best prospect or

customer and write as you’d talk to her. The people who are most like your
best prospect will respond to this message—these are the people most likely to
buy, subscribe, or join.

IV. Start every Web page with a descriptive page title. You’re actually writing for
at least two audiences: people and search engines. And although search engines
will never buy your products or services, they can drive qualified people to your
Web site.

However, search engines are blind. They don’t care about your fancy Flash
movies, your flaming logo or your product beauty shots. They only understand
copy.

To that end, start with descriptive page titles that explain succinctly and
specifically what the focus of the page is. Don’t use a generic phrase like
“Services” when you can title a page “Holistic Healing Services in Greater
Duluth”…or whatever is appropriate for you.

Your page title is often the first thing prospects see of your Web site on a
search results page…make sure this title gives people a compelling reason to
click on your link and not the link of your competition.

V. Support descriptive page titles with complementary, keyword-rich headers

and copy. By using (and repeating—within reason) effective keywords throughout
your page you’ll rank higher at the search engines for those phrases…all other
things being equal.

How do you know what your effective keywords should be? How can you

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Did you know flyte offers
Keyword Analyses? Contact us
through our Web site
(http://www.flyte.biz/contact)
or call us at 207.871.7921.
determine which words will drive qualified traffic to your Web site and compel
people to take action?
You can either guess at what your prospects are searching for, or you can run
a Keyword Analysis. A Keyword Analysis will uncover the most effective
keywords based on actual search engine results and competition in your niche.

VI. Use your keywords in your anchor text. Anchor text refers to the words that
are “hyperlinked” to another page. These words are often underlined and appear
in a different color from the rest of the text. Search engines consider these
words more important than non-linked words and phrases.

How can you take advantage of this? Instead of creating a link from your home
page to your resources page that says “Resources,” be specific: “Public Speaking
Resources,” “Resources for Home Schooling,” or “Resources for People Suffering
from ADD/ADHD.”

Search engines will now have a better idea of what the linked-to Web page is all
about and should rank it higher…again, all other things being equal.

In addition, the descriptive hyperlink is more helpful to your site visitors.

VII. Narrow the focus of each page. Search engines prefer specialists at the expense
of generalists. The search engine results page is Darwinism in action.

Search engines want to provide users with Web pages that are most likely to
answer their search query. Therefore, the tighter the focus of your page, the
more likely it is to answer a specific question.

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While it’s true that a narrower focus means the page will come up for fewer
searches, your goal is to bring qualified traffic, not just anyone, to your Web
site. Concentrate on the people you are most likely to help.

VIII. Keep your copy short and easy-to-read. Reading words on a Web page is
difficult. Eyestrain, short-attention spans and our desire for instant gratification
all dictate shortened copy.

Use as few words as possible to get your point across. While some search
engine experts say that every page should have 250 – 500 words minimum (for
search engine optimization purposes) there’s no real evidence to back this up.
Use what’s right for you.

If you have longer copy, break up paragraphs into smaller pieces…use headers
and sub-headers to give readers an idea of what’s coming and what they may be
able to skip over.

If your paragraphs still look like dense blocks of text, use extra paragraph
breaks, bold and italicized text to stress important ideas—dashes and ellipses as
well…they all break up paragraphs nicely. And everyone loves a bulleted list.

Important Note: Never use underlines on the Web for emphasis outside of a link.
You’ll frustrate visitors who will click on underlined words.

IX. Be specific. Vague, superlative words have little impact on your prospect.
Consumers today tune out words like “greatness,” “excellence,” and “quality.”
To counter this, give a specific example that helps your visitor visualize the
greatness or quality of your product.

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written permission from the author.

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As copywriter Jonathan Kranz wrote, “If you want to scare the cloak off Little
Red Riding Hood, don’t lecture her about the woods and its perils—put the wolf’s
hot breath on her neck.”

What about your product or service has the impact of the wolf’s hot breath?

X. Create calls-to-action. Buy now. Subscribe to our newsletter. Complete this

form. Enter our sweepstakes.

This isn’t creative writing class. The purpose of copy is to sell…to sell a
product, a service or an idea.

You need to ask for the “sale” at least once a page. Don’t assume your site
visitors know what’s expected of them. At the bottom of every page there should
be a call-to-action. What that call-to-action is depends entirely on your business
and Web site goals.

Don’t forget to ask for that sale.

Important Note: Don’t hyperlink phrases like “click here” or “learn more.” Since
anchor text is important to search engines, and since the eye is naturally drawn
to a link, hyperlink your keywords.

• “Download our free report on carcinogens in your home.”

• “Enter our drawing for a free iPod.”

• “Sign our petition to stop late fees at the library.”

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written permission from the author.

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XI. Hire a copyeditor. Sometimes you can be too close to your copy for your own
good. The fact that no one knows your product or service the way you do can be
a negative, as you may make assumptions about prospects’ knowledge or
experience.

Having a professional review your copy and make recommendations can be a

cost-effective method to a better Web site, a better conversion rate, and a
better bottom line.

If you’re working with flyte, we provide Content Intake Sheets that help you
organize your content, and prompt you for a lot of the information above. These
sheets match up with the wireframes we’ve created for your Web site to help you
envision where the copy will lay on the page.

Our intake sheets will remind you to create descriptive titles, keyword-rich copy, and
calls-to-action for each page.

If you’re not working with flyte, consider giving us a call at 207.871.7921 or

complete our contact form (http://www.flyte.biz/contact) today!

Rich Brooks
President, flyte new media

Copyright flyte new media 2005. All rights reserved. No part of this article can be reproduced without
written permission from the author.

http://www.flyte.biz