Why Writing Copy for the Web is Different

One of the most important reasons why copywriting for the web is different to writing copy for offline promotions, is down the mindset of those who are going to be reading it.

More often than not, most webpages will be found via a search engine.  This is very significant, as it means that the person reading your site has either been looking for you or someone like you.  So that puts them in control as they are focused on finding a particular product, service or piece of information.

So anyone visiting your site for the first time that has found it via a search engine will have a few questions in mind.

“Have I come to the right place?”

“Will I find what I’m looking for at this page or site?”

“Do I trust this person or company?”

So it’s vital you answer these questions in both your headline, any sub-headlines and as early in your body copy as possible.  It needs to be able to secure a response from this first time visitor immediately.

In order for this to happen, your writing needs to provide answers so that the visitor knows exactly what they are looking for.

What is important when writing any copy for the web is that you reassure any visitors that they are in the right place, and that they should continue to read on.

Visitors Are Important to You

You’re sitting there reading the line above thinking “Yeah Einstein, no kidding!” but you’d be surprised to know how many businesses completely miss this point. (How many companies have you dealt with that had awful customer service? Yeah, I’ve dealt with more than a few too!)

So in order to produce great copy, you need to get into your customer’s mindset as best you can to try an anticipate the questions they might need answering.

Normally, there are four questions a visitor will have that need to be answered.

1.    What am I doing here?
2.    How do I do it?
3.    What is in it for me?
4.    Where do I go from here?

If your site’s design and navigation can’t provide an obvious answer to these questions, then you should look at using copy in order to explain them and simplify your navigation as much as possible.  It is important that the answers to these questions should be obvious to all your users, and not just those visiting your site for the first time.

What is important to remember is that half the visitors to a site will not try to bother with working things out for themselves, and the other half may not even succeed.

Next, when planning, focus on your core audience. You won’t be able to reach everyone, so make sure that the copy you produce addresses your site’s most important visitors directly.  So, spend time explaining what the site can do for them in particular.  If you want to make it more effective, then don’t use words which would only be looked at by people that won’t be interested in what you’re offering.

If you’re targeting more than one type of visitor to your site, then either direct them to different pages or a different site.  What you should remember is that a visitor will go somewhere else if they do not feel your site has something of value to offer to them in particular.

So when providing them with facts, let the facts speak for themselves.  It is important that you make your descriptions compelling, although not excessive. Many visitors to sites will skip a site if they feel it is too full of hype (just bear in mind that some hype will almost certainly be necessary in order to excite your visitor).

In the next article, we’ll talk more about planning to succeed and how to write effective copy for the web.

See you then.