In our day and time, copywriting and content creation are the touchstones of successful marketing, while higher conversion rates are the goals of every small or big business. Today we will analyze a few tips and recommendations on how to use copywriting to boost your conversion rate.
According to recent statistics, we live in a “content shock” era – 25,000,000 pieces of content are shared every day. With so much content poured upon us, can we still be talking about increased numbers of visitors, of increased sales? Does is it even matter that one offers high-quality copies that really boost ROI, or are we all lost in a sea of articles?
Those who are not misled by this “content shock” panic understood that copywriting became a very serious deal as of late. Overloaded with information, people need more than word-packed web pages. Don’t get the wrong idea, though – content creation is now more important than ever and skilled copywriters are more valuable now than ever before. Can you truly create copy that sells? Let’s find out!
Your Headlines Are Your Business Card
David Ogilvy once said that “Five times as many people read the headlines as read the body copy.”
He was right. According to recent research, 8 out of 10 people read the headlines of your articles, but maybe 2 of them will also read the body of your copy. To add insult to injury, people’s attention span has dropped to the staggering rate of 8 seconds. Also keep in mind that people don’t actually read anymore – they scan and browse and only click on the headlines that truly tells them something. So how can you optimize your headlines?
- Besides using the right keywords, you need to make it abundantly clear what the article is about.
- Try to concentrate the information you need them to focus on in the first three and last three words of your headlines – it’s scientifically proven that people only scan the words in the middle.
- Headlines starting with numbers work the best according to recent data.
- Use power words and don’t ever think they are obsolete these days. Words like “You”, “Exclusive”, “Proven”, “Successful”, “Now” and so on are still wise choices to make.
- Keep your headlines short – the 65 – 70 characters rule is absolutely
- Clickbait may sound like a good idea, but in the long term it may negatively impact your brand, so refrain from using such cheap tricks.
- Never forget that over 70% buying decisions are made solely based on the headline. It’s that important.
Your Body Copy is What Makes or Breaks the Deal
There are probably millions of tutorials for copywriters on how to write fresh, actionable, interesting and shareable content but let’s take a look at some strategies to make your content to actually sell.
1. Run Each Piece Through an AIDA Test
After you finished a piece run it through an AIDA evaluation. This means that the body copy should: Attract Attention, Trigger Interest, Create a Desire, Call to Action. In other words:
- Attract attention in the headline.
- Build interest in the first paragraph – clearly describe them what your topic is and why it is important for them to read it.
- Make readers desire whatever you are selling by clearly listing one major benefit and continuing with other important benefits. This is the part where you use subheadings, numbered lists, and bullet points. Remember that you are not the only seller of refrigerators or books, but you need people to wish to buy from you and not the competition – this is why you either exploit their existing desire, or you create a desire they didn’t even know they had.
- Call readers to take action on the spot at the end of the article. Ask them to share the content, invite them to leave a comment, make it easy for them to click on a link at the bottom of the article.
2. A/B Test and Re-Test
Now this is a strategy, not many uses, while they all should. You wrote an excellent piece covering all bases of skilled copywriting. You publish it and wait for the miracle to happen. And not much happens. Why? Well, you might have skipped an important part of the content marketing process – it’s YOU that thinks everything is perfect, but your readers may not be that impressed.
A split test will show you what kind of content and what kind of presentation of your content work best. There are useful tools out there to help you run an A/B test by creating two different pages with two different headlines and two different content displays (you might want to tweak the content to comply better with the AIDA principles). If one page performs better than the other, you have a winner. Count how many people read the copy, how many responded to your call to action and how many got engaged with the article. This will give you a better idea of what to write next and how to write it.
3. Make them an Offer They Can’t Refuse
Talking about discounts doesn’t work anymore. People are less interested in what they gain if they buy from you, but in why should they buy from you in the first place – really, competition is fierce in all domains. In terms of “value proposition”, your content should address people’s emotions and desires. Nobody needs to buy a book, and there are billions of books out there – but you want them to buy your books. So this is the moment when you need to truly understand who your readers are and what makes them tick. This is the moment when you have to realize that the built-in SEO widget in WordPress is not enough.
- A/B test your copies until you understand what works and what doesn’t with your readers – you may want to use different fonts, bold some words, and switch from bullets to number lists and so on.
- Take polls and surveys in a friendly manner engaging your users to honestly tell you what they like and dislike about your posts.
- Play with different article lengths and evaluate which ones work better.
- Never forget about inserting pictures in your copies – it may look like a no-brainer, but including photo and video works very well. They may superficially scan your block of text, but they will take a look at the picture – and if it triggers their curiosity, they might actually read the full article.
Conclusion:
These are just a few tricks and recommendations for creating ROI-boosting content. Of course, there are many others you can try and test to understand their impact. Have you used some of these tricks already? How did they work for you?
This article is written by Dustin Ford. He is from Denver and reviews apps and gadgets for Tech Exploring.
Web developer and SEO specialist with 20+ years of experience in open-source web development, digital marketing, and search engine optimization. He is also the moderator of this blog "RS Web Solutions (RSWEBSOLS)".
