Ghastly website copywriting is a sure fire way to frighten your website or blog’s visitors. Whether you’re in advertising and marketing, or you’re just writing your own blog, you have to always be a step ahead of your readers and the expectations of consumers. That means staying on top of events and holidays, especially those that generate buzz. You might already be prepared for Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s and you might have killer content ready to go, but one of the most missed events is Halloween.
Website Copywriting Gone Wacky: When It’s NOT Good
Halloween is technically the first holiday of the “season” and it’s a prime opportunity to spice up your website’s content. According to National Geographic, 158 million American consumers will take part in Halloween festivities of some kind in 2013. While Halloween isn’t an official holiday—banks still operate, school is in session and you’re not going to get the day off—it’s celebrated worldwide. So if you’re website copywriting doesn’t contain a little Halloween spirit, you’re missing out on a spook-tacular topic that is sure to generate a little buzz.
Before you sit down at the keyboard and start typing away about pumpkins, your favorite trick-or-treating experience, or spout off a ghost story, you have to remember you’re still selling something. Integrating holidays and events into your website copywriting requires a little creativity. Avoid clichés or tacky puns—they’re just frightful. Trying using a couple of our tips to write great seasonal content without spooking your readers.
Don’t Go Overboard
Halloween web copywriting doesn’t need to be over the top, but it still needs to be present. Write just one Halloween-themed blog or a tiny series. Every sales message, call-to-action or general content post can have a few Halloween-themed ideas, but less is always more. Use seasonal events, like Halloween, to show a little personality.
Have a Great Eye for Detail
Mistakes can cost your business hundreds to thousands of dollars and they’re difficult to recover from. Your website copywriting shouldn’t scare people away. It should be friendly for your targeted demographics as well as anyone else who might accidentally stumble upon your site. While you’re at it, check your content twice. Take extra time to spot grammar or spelling errors in the process. If writing isn’t your thing, consider hiring a web copywriting service to brew up some creative, Halloween and holiday-themed content for you.
Do Your Research
If you’re going to write about Halloween, do some research first. Perhaps offer a few historical tidbits about where the stories about witches and brews came from or where the tradition of candy corn was born. Offering little tidbits that teach your audience something can take your web copywriting to the next level.
Don’t Forget SEO
You might be writing a Halloween-themed copy or blog post, but you still have to keep SEO in mind. People regularly look for your site and services based on keywords, and it’s unlikely your products happen to be named after Halloween themed items year-round. So before you swap out services, products, or useful keywords for Halloween-themed terms, remember what people will be searching for the other 364 days of the year.
Remember the Purpose
No matter what your Halloween website copywriting entails, remember the purpose of the content. Ultimately you are writing to sell, promote or get readers to take some form of action. Your content should be entertaining, but the reader should still know you expect something out of them in the end.
Tie in Halloween When It’s Appropriate
If you’re sale is because of Halloween, tie that into your content. If you have products that can be related to Halloween, tie those into your blog content too. Only tie in when it’s appropriate and avoid throwing products and services into your Halloween website copywriting just to throw them in there.
Some Last Minute Blog Ideas That Don’t Bite
Not sure where to get started? Here are a few last minute blog ideas that are frightfully awesome for any industry.
Horror Movies – Everyone knows the classics and even if you’re not a fan, it’s likely the majority of your readers have heard of those classics too. Tie in a few well-known movie quotes to add a little pop culture to your content.
Halloween Tunes – “Monster Mash” and “Thriller” are popular songs for Halloween. Quote them in your content or have them playing when visitors come to your site.
Post a Halloween Recipe –Halloween-inspired recipes are a lot more versatile than you might think. Your website copywriting can share a favorite Halloween appetizer, dessert, snack or even a wicked cocktail in celebration of the season. You don’t have to actually make them yourself, but offering your readers a little something extra can go a long way to draw them in.
Halloween copywriting should be fun as well as purposeful. If you need help, hire professional website copywriting services. Web copywriting services have a team of writers that can generate content that won’t scare away current or potential customers—no witchcraft required.
By simply conducting an online search, you could easily find thousands of copywriters providing a wide range of decently priced services for any type of project. In this context, how could you possibly identify the best content creators who have what it takes to put your brands, line of products, and services under the spotlight, on time and on a budget? One thing’s for sure: finding truly skilled, experienced, and reliable copywriters can be challenging and time consuming. Follow these 4 simple steps to stumble across real talents, who will spare no efforts in delivering outstanding content pieces, improving conversion rates in the blink of an eye.
Pro Copywriting Tips From Pro Copywriters
1) First step: Analyze your real needs and requirements
In other words, why do you need a content writer in the first place? Copywriters provide numerous services and some of them offer complete packages, including these extremely useful elements:
a) Web content
b) Press releases
c) Sales brochures
d) E-mail campaigns
e) Slogans
f) Speeches and presentations
g) Newsletters
While most first-class copywriters have the skills, the in-depth knowledge, the tools, and the techniques required to offer you a good mix, you have to be very specific in regards to your requests to make sure that your assigned writer will meet and even exceed your highest expectations.
2) Second step: Consult different sources for your decision making
a) Offline sources
Of course, you will need to conduct extensive research on both online and offline markets to find the best candidates for your job. Ask around; see who’s behind the beautiful, sales-generating content pieces helping your competitors stay on top of their game. Check out flyers, brochures, and printed ads that you like with an ingenious creative execution and an inspiring vision and find out who was involved in this project.
b) Online sources
Who are the best copywriters operating in your niche? Use discussion forums to find the best answer to this question. Also, count on Google Authorship to spot great copywriters who could easily address your needs in a time-efficient and cost-effective manner. Google Authorship was designed and implemented to promote writers who deliver high-quality content, while penalizing content creators who offer low-quality Web material, based on keyword stuffing or any other black-hat SEO practices in an attempt to manipulate search engines. Long story short, Google Authorship will help you make an inspired decision and find a reputable copywriter, bringing you one step closer to a solid online reputation and increased profit margins.
3) Third step: Find a copywriter with extensive niche experience
There is no such thing as a “one-size-fits-all” content strategy, especially when you’re trying to consolidate your position on extremely narrow niches. In such cases, it is highly recommended to collaborate with a skilled tech writer who:
a) has more than a few years of hands-on experience in your line of work
b) understands your current challenges
c) already monitors the actions of your main competitors
d) has the know-how required to be a great consultant and provide 100% effective marketing strategies before delivering your first content pieces
In fact, Ken Hoffman from SiteProNews highlights the fact that a solid marketing strategy should always be considered a top priority; without it, great copy inevitably becomes useless copy. So choose to do business with an experienced content creator who could also be a full-time marketing consultant, guiding your steps in the right direction and helping you set realistic objectives in the long term.
4) Fourth Step: Ask to see the portfolio of your favorite candidates
At this point, you most likely have a whole bunch of copywriters waiting for you to welcome them aboard. All of them are probably guaranteeing significant sales increases, triggered by their influential, SEO-friendly, ingenious, 100% original copy. Also, they seem eager to rewrite content pieces for free if they fail to attain their end goals.
Doesn’t this sound incredibly tempting? It is probably counterproductive to hire an army of copywriters, so how could you put them to the test to identify the ideal candidate? Check out their portfolios. Does their creativity go hand in hand with white-hat SEO practices? Who do they work for: giant corporations or small-size, obscure companies that you have never heard of before? Do they have what it takes to maximize conversion rates?
A little in-depth research will help you spot some of the most embarrassing, yet incredibly common lies most copywriters will try to tell you to make you pay for their services. Here’s an extremely well-compiled list of beautiful lies told by content creators, (provided by KISSmetrics.)
All in all, follow these 4 easy steps to identify the best copywriters who are really worth your time and money. Don’t hesitate to pay the right price for premium copywriting services, as they are the central piece of the business success puzzle.
A successful website is one with compelling content. It showcases the brand, adds personality, and makes the reader want to stay on the site and see more. Most businesses use content as a way to fluff their own ego and talk about their products and services with buzz words in a way that brags to the world why’re they’re the best. Naturally you want to be the best, but when it comes to copywriting it’s not about you — it’s about the reader.
My Copywriting Is ALL About Me! No.
Copywriting services can take content about your company, products and/or services and spin them in a way that is about the reader, even though it’s really about your company. This effective method is what drives conversion rates and makes customers stay on your site. After all, why would they stay on a site that doesn’t benefit them?
So how does a copywriting service turn your content into something that isn’t about your company?
By answering three important questions:
What problem do you solve?
Why should the reader pick your solution over competitor solutions?
Does the content really solve the problem?
These questions are crucial to conversion rates and it takes skill to answer them. It requires your content to interact with the world, understand what the consumer’s issues are and offer a solution that they cannot pass up.
Creativity is important. You need to captivate your readers and inform them while entertaining them in the same piece of content. Copywriters are skilled at being sociable and informative. They get to know your products from an outsider’s perspective and write to the customer about you, while making the customer feel as though it’s all about him.
What’s the Problem? How Do You Solve It?
Your company solves something — if it didn’t, you wouldn’t have a company. Before you can sell your product or service, you need to decide what problem you’re solving. Do you offer financial advice for struggling consumers? Are you a fitness guru helping people lose weight? Define the problem and solution based on your company and the products/services you offer first.
A copywriting service can take the “problem” and help connect to readers who are suffering from that problem. They write content that is geared toward your ideal customer and make the reader feel as though you “get it.”
Then, the copywriter packs in the solution — all bundled up pretty and ready to buy. This solution comes at the perfect time within the content — usually after the writer has developed a rapport with the reader. By the time the reader sees the solution, they’re already amped and ready to purchase.
How Do You Solve It Better?
Just because your company has a solution doesn’t mean the customer will think your solution is the better one. It is up to your content to sell the customer on your solution and a copywriting service can help with that. Copywriters can highlight how your products benefit the customer and how it improves the customer’s life. Instead of telling the customer a long list of features, copywriters can spin the features of your products and answer the customer’s question of “Will this help me?”
Does Your Content ReallySolve the Problem?
Just because you have a problem and a solution doesn’t mean your content conveys that to the reader. Readers need to walk away from your content thinking that your solution is for-sure and will solve their particular issues. Copywriting services identify what your readers are struggling with and provide empathy, support and write content that makes the reader truly believe your solution is the only solution out there.
A Balance Between You and the Customer
Copywriting services can strike an equal balance between talking about you and talking about the customer. Copywriters do this by giving insight into the company, so that readers have a sense about who is behind the products or services they’re buying. But, copywriters don’t write about you directly, because you don’t solve the problem — your product or service does.
Copywriting services can also help build your authority and reputation with the readers. They can integrate your expertise and help build trust with customers, but in a way that benefits the customer — not your ego.
Don’t Forget the Search Engines!
While it’s all about the customer when it comes to your “solution,” your website must also be about the search engines. It is hard to find a balance between content and SEO, but search engines do consider a website’s content when ranking a page
(see more about how search engines rank on Search Engine Watch). According to Search Engine Land’s “Local Consumer Review Survey,” only 15% of consumers don’t use the Internet to find potential products, services or business.
That means potential customers see your website first, before they contact you or visit you in person. You’ll need SEO to attract the search engines and get traffic, but from there you need high-quality content to keep the customer on your site and interested in what you have to offer. Copywriting services can help you do both by integrating targeted keywords into your content, but still marketing the benefits of your services to human readers.
If you want more traffic or higher conversions, copywriting services is a valuable investment that can do just that. Copywriters know how to make content about the target customer — making them crave your products/services. And, copywriters know how to attract search engines so that you can take advantage of the potential 85% of customers out there trying to find a solution just like yours for their current problem.
Whether you’re a small business or a large corporation, you’ve likely heard about the importance of effective copywriting. But, what is copywriting exactly? You’ve been told time and time again that you need it, but pinning down what copywriting is can be a lot more difficult than it may sound. Copywriting, in its most basic form, is a marketing tool that is crucial for your business’s success. Having well-written, compelling content can be the difference between converting a reader to a buyer or watching them move on to the next guy.
Transform Your Copy Into Copywriting
Unfortunately a lot of websites don’t understand how powerful efficient copywriting is and that not everyone can do it. Article writers and general SEO writers cannot always break into the copywriting industry, because copywriting is a skill that needs to come naturally.
Well-thought copy doesn’t need an obnoxious sales message, embellishments or over-the-top messages to get the job done. Instead it uses a technique that gets the reader’s attention, sparks interest and makes them compelled to act. To know the answer to “what is copywriting?” you must know how to make effective copy without being over the top.
1) Exploit Benefits — Your Readers Want Them
When it comes to effective copywriting, it is all about the customer. You need to exploit the benefits not for yourself, but for the customer. Tell the reader how your product/service helps them and why you’re better than the other similar products or companies out there.
2) Don’t Be Afraid to Exploit the Competition’s Faults
Just because you tell the reader you’re better than the competition doesn’t mean they won’t go over there and buy from them anyway. You need to also tell the reader why the competition isn’t the solution. Your copy must explain the weaknesses of your competitors so that your readers know that buying from your competitors could be a costly mistake. While you want to tear the competition down, you need to back up the faults you list with actual proof. Don’t make up competitor faults just to gain an edge — it will back fire.
3) Understand Your Readers
As a business owner or inventor, it’s hard to really know your audience. After all, you come from the product/service perspective — not the buyer perspective. Effective copywriters flaunt your products, but do so from the perspective of the reader and consumer. They can tailor your content to speak the lingo of your target audience. For example, if you’re marketing to young teens or adults, a copywriter can use terminology that your audience uses on a day-to-day basis.
4) Flip the Perspective to the Other Side
Your readers don’t care about the “we” or “I” of your company. If most of your website’s copy refers to what “we do” or “we offer,” it’s time to switch. Switch your perspective from the “we” to the “you” and write directly to the audience.
5) Get Aggressive and Stop Being Passive
Actionable content results in actionable moves from the readers. If you just say “call us if you want” then the reader really doesn’t feel compelled to call, now do they? If, however, you say “Call now for your offer!” you’re going to get readers jumping on the phone to call your company. Passive voice doesn’t sell, and it doesn’t make readers react to your content.
What is Copywriting and Why Should You Hire a Pro?
There are a lot of books and websites out there that tellyou what techniques to implement to create effective copy. Strong statements, compelling calls to action, bullet points, and awesome headlines. So, with all of this information out there, no one should ever have the need for a professional, right?
Well, this isn’t true. There are times DIY projects make sense, but there are also times when professional help just makes sense. So, instead of asking what is copywriting? You should be asking, when do you need copywriting services?
You’re Not a Writer
Natural writing talent accounts for about 90% of copywriting, while 10% accounts for the personal connection with the product or service you’re selling. Also, if you don’t have the time in your schedule — how could you when you’re running a business, right? — You need a professional to help you out. According to the Content Marketing Institute, 64% of businesses don’t have the time to generate the amount of content needed for their website.
Writing can feel like a chore to someone who doesn’t do it on a day-to-day basis. If you feel as though it’s a boring task, it will show in your writing and your readers will notice.
Bottom line, it won’t matter how amazing your company is or how revolutionary your product/service is if you cannot tell the readers about it. Powerful copywriting delivers your message.
You Don’t Have the Necessary Writing Experience
You know your product and you know your company. So, you might be able to generate awesome content for your company newsletters or even your blogs, but when it comes to sales letters, landing pages and marketing material you need to be able to write well enough to move people from readers into buyers. An SEO writer or copywriting service can write your sales content so that it not only increases your conversions, but ranks your website higher with search engines too.
It’s Hard to Be Objective
When you’re close to your company it is really hard to be objective about what you’re offering customers. After all, you think about the time, resources and personal effort you put into creating what you’re selling. You know all of the behind-the-scenes details that most customers will never know about and unfortunately most customers don’t care to know about.
A writer from the outside can put aside those background details and write about what matters to the customer.
Your Brand is On the Line
Your brand’s reputation is always on the line. Since 80% of customers connect with brands through social media, according to the Huffington Post, a company needs to positively influence its brand through its website, blog and other online marketing outlets. Your sales copy and ad copy needs to make a positive impression that lasts, and a great copywriting service can do just that.
Recap: What is Copywriting?
It is writing that markets to the customer.
It is a well-structured service that conveys authority and gets customer attention instantly.
It is a professional service and investment for your company.
Are you a small business owner and have made up your mind that you are going to try your hands on a piece of copywriting for a marketing article? Well, that is a bold move, but by all means, not an impossible task. If you have the time, patience, and a creative brain, then this maybe a good idea.
Having the Right Copywriting Services For Your Business is Everything
I will give you one tip – not 5 or 10 just one.Confused? Well trust me on this one, because this is the most important tip that can get customers or any random viewer interested in your article.
Perfect Headline for the Article
There it is. Now you must be thinking “this guy must be crazy”. Well, not necessarily, as it has been found that statistically, 8 out of 10 people on average read the headline, but only 2 out of 10 will actually read the rest of the article. Still think I’m overreaching with this? Thought not…
It is pretty sensible if you consider it, because many people do not have the time to even skim through the content and some may just be killing time by surfing the internet. A good copywriting headline that catches a person’s attention will greatly improve your chances of getting readers to continue to the important part – the body.
Of course, a good headline alone will not guarantee success. Once the reader gets to the body, a good introduction and well thought-out content should follow – with each sentence enticing the reader to keep on reading, eventually bringing them to the all-important ‘call to action’ at the end of the article. Convinced enough to move on to the next bit of the all-important tip?
Working on the Headline
Now that we have said that the headline is immensely important, the next question is how do we write it? A majority of copywriters would say to start with the headline before moving to the content, for reasons like avoiding going off-topic or to guide you in what your body should consist of; but I think that may not be the case for a good marketing piece, as each person has his/ her own style of writing.
For example, when you start writing the article you may have all the ideas in the world about the topic and feel confident that you have everything organized, ready to be put together, so that it will be an awesome piece viewers will want to read. More often than not, you will – like most copywriters – come across a common issue called writer’s block, which basically means getting stuck somewhere down the article and not knowing how to continue from there on – due to no information to write about or that the article has gone on a wrong course.
When this happens, read from the top and you might have to delete some of the paragraphs/ sentences you have written that don’t really fit in with the rest of the article. That is, you must be ready to change the article and give it a new shape as you proceed. Thus, it is important that you leave the headline for last in copywriting because your marketing piece may not go in the direction that you were expecting it to when you initially started working on it. If you had already thought up of a great headline before moving to the body, but found out that it does not really match up with the body, your time and energy would have been wasted on the headline. However, do not mistake ‘being open to change the same thing’ as ‘rambling on’ in your article at free will. On the contrary, the article should be tightly written with clear objectives in mind, accessible and easy-to-read for readers to go on reading it.
For more tips and tools in writing perfect articles, visit Copyblogger which has some useful tips for copywriters.
How to Write the Headline
Now that you have written a good piece of marketing, it’s time to look into a catchy heading that will make your efforts worthwhile and attract readers to actually read what you have written.
Start by reading through your article and highlight the key messages that you want to get through to the readers and/ or what the readers will be most interested about. This could be, for example, some problems that people face and how these can be avoided or rectified if they use your product/ service. Now that you have a list of key areas in your article, analyze and prioritize them in order of importance and pick the most important of the lot.
Next is to use the most important aspects of your article that you have picked and combine them in a manner that doesn’t tell the whole story, but gives a good hint as to what the article is and how the problem can be solved.
Now, you may have some content and long sentences that make little or no sense, so the next step is trimming it down while playing around with where each word fits, adding a rhyme to it possibly, and hear how it sounds when you read it.
Guidelines in Copywriting the Headline
Ask a question
Give a guarantee
Give a ‘how-to’
Provide well-known phrases or sayings
Provide percentages and/or hard figures
Shock, intrigue, or amuse
Command or instruct
Just fiddle with it till you are 100% happy and if not, discard it and start over. I understand this is hard work, but getting it right will make a huge difference.
Too Much Work?
After reading this, you may think this is too much work for you, which is understandable because it is not easy to pull off a great marketing piece. That is why we recommend getting copywriting services from professionals in the field such as us; Express Writers, who has the knowledge and experience to handle any copywriting task. Remember that you will be in control as to what needs to be in the article but of course, do not have to waste your valuable time and energy in getting those ideas on to a marketing piece.
Once you have the perfect marketing tool on the web, use marketing analytic software such as MOZ to see how effective the marketing piece is, whether you wrote it yourself or got a professional to do it, this is very important feedback.
