This is Part 2 in a seven part series on great copy writing for the web. When I wrote part one, I arbitrarily decided that there would be seven parts, so seven parts there will be.

Ask for the Business

Ask any great salesperson, and they’ll tell you that you’ll never make a sale if you don’t ask for the business. In fact, if you ask a Sales Trainer like Howard Olsen, he’ll tell you that 62% of salespeople (even the trained ‘professionals’) never ask for the business. Why? Because it’s uncomfortable to so so. But the fact remains, if you don’t ask for it, you might never get it. And in web copy, you don’t have to feel that knot in your stomach when you have to ask a question you don’t feel comfortable with.
Why would I keep related web copy back to sales, you ask? Because as Business Owners, that’s what our sites should be designed to do: Sell. Why else would a business have one? I can appreciate that using that kind of language is maybe a little too direct for some. Plus, not every website out there is built strictly for making sales. So I’ll switch up the language a bit here. Let’s eliminate the words sales, and start using the word conversion.

In this context, my definition of conversion is very simple: It is when a site visitor takes the “next step,” and gets closer to becoming your customer.

So, let’s go back to the start. We’ve already talked about the importance of using “you” to engage the customer, and talk about what is important to them. Now, we’ll engage them one step further, with a few basic “calls to action.”

Let’s say you’ve written a page of copy on your site. Your home page, just for the sake of the example. When the reader gets to the bottom of the page, where do they go next? Where might they like to go? Well, if you tell them, or give them some options, maybe they’ll end up where you want them to go. A great example of this would be:

Now that you know a little more about Tell Ten Friends, keep reading to find out about the services we provide for our clients. Or if you’re ready, contact us to ask about how we can help you with your needs.

And so on and so forth until they’ve had all of their questions answered, and are ready to take the action you want them to take. In the example above, there are two possible conversions. In one, the reader carries on to have more questions answered, or they click through to the contact form. If they end up filling out that form, they become a very qualified lead, which in my business is as good as currency. A conversion like that for me is extremely valuable, as it provides the opportunity to start a new relationship.

Admittedly, this is a rather passive way of engaging people on your site; letting them explore what you’re all about on their own terms. But this is also key; everyone has their own terms. They all have questions, and different things will be important to different people. This will be the focus of yet another chapter in this copy writing saga, but for now, use this basic rule of thumb: If a reader has taken the time to read through your page of copy, don’t leave them hanging with a dead end, and force them to go back to your menu and find where they might like to go next.

People have a short attention span, and statistically, the longer you can keep them on your site, the better chance you have of making them your customer.

Ask and Thou Shalt Receive, Sometimes

For some, a more direct approach is necessary, like the case of Pay-Per-Click Advertising Campaigns. If you’ve spent ad dollars on bringing that traffic to your site for a specific product, then a passive approach won’t do, and a powerful call to action is even more critical, especially “above the fold” which is there area of screen visible before any scrolling is done. Explaining the nuances of a great landing page and convincing visitors to “Buy Now” is also an item for another day, but the important message is this: You must ask people to take the next action if you ever expect them to take it. And “Add to Cart” or “Click here” are just simply not enough. Like any good campaign, you must test and measure to see what works best, but let me save you some time:

• Give them compelling reasons and benefits for why they want what you’ve got
• Ask them to buy it, in no uncertain terms.

Once You’ve Got ‘Em, Keep ‘Em

For statistics junkies like me, adding this one simple element of a call to action on each page will help your site stats a great deal. For starters, page views will go up. And average time on site, too. Fewer people will just bounce away from your homepage if you give them a reason and invite them to keep reading: Statistically, on a “static site” your home page will be both the most and the least popular page. The highest number of visitors will see it, and it will almost always have the highest number of exits from it as well. Asking people nicely to continue on to another page should help eliminate that number of hasty exits, and bring you one step closer to converting a new contact, customer or friend.

Read also: Part One of this Series.

Tags: marketing, content, copywriting, writing, webcopy

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This entry was posted on Friday, October 13th, 2006 at 12:29 pm and is filed under copywriting, marketing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.