Writing Benefit-Driven Internet Copy four Actions to A lot more Sales
You have identified the advantages you supply your consumers, but how do you turn a list of benefits into engaging internet copy which converts guests into clients?
Lately I wrote an post explaining how to determine the benefits you offer you your clients (http://www.divinewrite.com/benefits.htm). That article challenged company owners and marketing and advertising managers to think in terms of rewards rather than features when writing their buy minecraft server net copy.
What the article didnt go over was how to in fact write the net copy once they had identified their advantages. Thats what this report is about. (It even offers you a couple of templates you can use to make your job a whole lot less complicated!)
As a site copywriter, many of the projects I undertake are fully new sites. The client has some common ideas about what theyd like to convey, but they need someone who can fine-tune their message, and produce internet copy (and a internet structure) which engages their readers. As a result, over the years Ive created a method for performing this properly. There are four principal steps:
1) Identify advantages
2) Identify how you deliver these rewards
three) Prioritise your rewards
four) Write the content
Though this report touches on step 1, its largely about actions 2, three, and 4.
STEP 1 Identify YOUR Rewards
Branding aside, most internet sites are about selling. Clients dont want to know what you can do they want to know what you can do for THEM. That means the initial query you really should ask is, What benefits do I offer you my consumers? This is generally the first step toward identifying the important message to be conveyed.
Thats not to say that your site shouldnt describe your items and services. You just need to make confident it describes them in terms of benefits to your consumer.
But benefits identification is outside the scope of this article. If youd like to find out more about how to engage your consumer with positive aspects, go to http://www.divinewrite.com/positive aspects.htm.
STEP 2 Identify HOW YOU DELIVER THESE Benefits
Of program, you cant just claim to deliver advantages and stop at that. You need to have to assistance that claim. On your site, youre going to require to convince your audience that you actually do deliver these advantages. Any individual can say they deliver positive aspects, but couple of can say it persuasively.
From step 1 youll have a list of advantages. Now you want to believe about how you deliver each and every benefit in that list. This is exactly where you start talking about characteristics price, product highlights, distribution channel, competitor weaknesses, external elements, USPs, and so on. Its beneficial if you draw up a table with 1 column for rewards and 1 for the capabilities which deliver these advantages. (Click http://www.divinewrite.com/downloads/benefitsfeatures.doc to download an example Rewards-Functions table 20KB.)
Youll probably locate this procedure considerably less difficult than identifying benefits. In truth, youve almost certainly got most of this data written down already somewhere. If not, chances are you uncovered a good portion of it when you had been brainstorming for positive aspects.
TIP: If youre having trouble identifying supporting capabilities, ahead of filling out the table, try listing everything you can feel of which relates to what you do and how you do it. Dont worry about the order. Just braindump onto a piece of paper, a whiteboard, a Word document, anyplace Dont leave anything out, even if it seems unimportant. (Youd be surprised how essential even the most insignificant specifics can turn into as soon as you commence assigning them to benefits.) If you start off acquiring lost, feel back to the question youre trying to answer: How do you deliver your list of advantages to your consumer? When youve carried out your braindump, read via it and make a decision which precise benefit every function delivers.
STEP three PRIORITISE YOUR Advantages
Now that youve identified all the issues you COULD say, its time to figure out what you Ought to say and where you really should say it. This is exactly where your rewards-features table comes into play. Read by means of your list of benefits and prioritise them according to how compelling they will be to your reader.
The purpose for this? Priority determines prominence. The most compelling positive aspects will need to have to be prominent on your website.
TIP: Be aware that your list may possibly consist of some positive aspects which everybody in your business category could claim. In other words, theyre not just precise to your firm, but apply to the variety of service you provide. For instance, if you sell a Content material Management Method (CMS) for internet site creation, you could list Greater control for advertising managers and Less expense updating content as benefits. Each and every CMS vendor could claim these advantages, so youll need to have to query their significance. Will they differentiate you from your competitors. Generic advantages can be beneficial if none of your competitors are employing them, or if you feel you require to educate your market a bit before launching into business-specific benefits.
STEP 4 Write YOUR Content material
So now you know what youd like to say, its time to decide how to say it. This is about 3 things:
i) Topic What is the topic of your site features or rewards?
ii) Structure How do you structure your website such that your customers will read your most compelling advantages?
iii) Words What words ought to you use to best engage your audience (and the search engines)?
The remainder of this report is dedicated to Subject and Structure. For further discussion of Words, see http://www.divinewrite.com/webwriting.htm and http://www.divinewrite.com/seocopy.htm).
Subject
What is the topic of your internet site functions or advantages? The answer to this question lies in audience identification. If your audience knows a bit about the sort of product or service youre selling, lead with capabilities (e.g. processor speed, turnaround time, uptime, expertise, educational qualifications, wide item range, etc.). But make certain you speak about their advantages, and make confident the functions supplying the most essential benefits are the most prominent.
Heres a simplified example
Cool Widgets gives:
-- Normal Operating Surroundings Drastically lowering the complexity of your IT infrastructure
-- Technique upgrades which are much less pricey to license Providing superb TCO reductions
In situations where youre selling to an audience who knows extremely little about your product or service, lead with positive aspects (e.g. if youre selling one thing technical to a non-technical audience).
Heres the very same simplified instance, reversed for a novice audience
Cool Widgets delivers:
-- Reduced complexity of IT infrastructure We can implement a Normal Operating Atmosphere for your organisation
-- Reduced TCO We can upgrade your IT to systems which are less expensive to license
Structure
How do you structure your web site such that your clients will be positive to read your most compelling rewards? The answer is, preserve it brief n sweet. And make it scannable. This doesnt mean you have to cut functions or advantages. You just have to structure your web site to accommodate your message.
Whilst each web site is various, as a rule of thumb its a good idea to introduce your main characteristics and rewards on your house page. Summarise them preferably making use of bullet points, but at the extremely least, clearly highlight them so that your audience can scan-read (e.g. bold, underline, colour, link).
Then link from each summarised feature or benefit to a detailed description. Attempt to keep every page to roughly 200-400 words. You might require several pages to detail all your capabilities and positive aspects. (Click http://www.divinewrite.com/downloads/pagestructure.doc to download a page structure template 29KB.)
TIP: In situations where you want to introduce features and advantages which are generic to your field (rather than certain to your offering), your residence page is typically the very best spot to do it. From there, you can lead to a second page summarising the particular features and rewards of your providing.
Conclusion
Net copy is about far much more than just clever words. Its essential that you identify the positive aspects you supply your customer, and that you can convince your customer you truly deliver those positive aspects.
I hope that the guidance and tools supplied in this write-up will assist you on your way to engaging internet copy which converts to sales.
Pleased writing!