Your Attention, Please!

The Internet is a jungle. Web surfers scan through pages until they get what they want. Writing an eye-catching headline is as important as the article itself. The only way to compel the reader to stay on your page is to catch their eye. Make sure your opening line evokes an emotion, a physical desire or a curiosity in readers—anything to get them to stay for the main course.

Eye-Catching Headings and Bullet Points

Organizing information is an important aspect of web writing. Information needs to be divided into headings and bullet points that attract the reader’s attention when sifting through pages. Nobody wants to waste their time aimlessly browsing information.

Bullet points guide readers to a decision of whether to stay on your page. As a copywriter, you also need to make sure that your website is compatible with all browsers. Information that will persuade readers should be placed at the top of the page so that they don’t have to scroll down to locate something.

Keep It Short and Simple

Readers should know how to contact you for more information. Avoid confusing potential customers. Keep it short and simple: the more details you provide, the greater the chance readers will forget the most important aspects of your campaign. Clarity and concision ensure the maximum utilization of your space and keeps the attention of readers. Readers are then more likely to contact you.

Call to Action

This is the second most important aspect of effectively written copy, after the eye-catching headline. The quality that separates average salespeople from great ones is the ability to identify when to close a sale. A great piece of copywriting without a persuasive call to action would effectively be a waste of time, effort and money. Calls to action create an urgency to respond.

Identify Your Target Audience

Copy intended to generate sales targets a particular section or group in society. The target audience could vary in age, socioeconomic status, education, gender and so on. The language used for high-school kids would be different than that used for grandparents. Similarly, the words and technical terms employed in writing for a layman are different than those in writing for a group of highly educated techno-geniuses. Analyze your target audience for the copy being written. This will not only ensure a successful campaign, but reduce the effort you have to make.

Connect With Your Audience

Copy that does not connect with its audience is not likely to keep anyone’s attention. The easiest way to welcome the reader into the piece is to write in the second person. Writing in the second person helps readers relate the points mentioned in the copy to their own lives. Read through your copy and count how many times you could replace “we” with “you.” The focus should be on readers, not you.

Know Your Product and Services

Expert copywriters don’t only focus on product features and related services but have a knack for connecting the benefits of a product to innate emotional needs. Connecting with your target audience emotionally will elicit their action.

As a copywriter, be well aware of the benefits of your product or service. Only then will you be able to describe its benefits and beat the competition. Potential customers are interested in knowing how the product can benefit them: the better these benefits are explained, the more likely they will connect their needs to your product.

Proofread

Professionalism and efficiency extends to everything associated with a company. Proofread and revise your writing, ensuring that not a single error in syntax or semantics remains. This will win you trust and legitimacy. Grammatical errors and typos make your company appear unreliable. If your company does not promote itself professionally, then what guarantees that it will uphold promises about its products?

Consistency and credibility are two major factors in building a brand name and gaining loyal clients.

Make Yourself Indispensable

Designers need to stay updated with new technologies, but that’s not all. A strong portfolio demonstrating more than one skill adds value to your profile and makes you indispensable in these tough financial times. Ask yourself a question. Who has a better chance of beating out the competition with an advertising agency on a cost-cutting spree: a designer who is good at design, a designer who knows how to implement a design and code, or a designer who has coding skills and is capable of preparing their own copy?

The choice for the management team is clear, but the buck doesn’t stop there. As a one-person army, you would be indispensable to any organization.

Copywriting as a Freelancer

Working full-time for an organization is slightly different than working as a freelancer. Freelancers run a one-person show and shoulder all the responsibility—and take in all the profit—of their hard work. Most successful freelancers prefer to run the show on their own. No editor or copywriting department is working along with you. If you hire a third party to do the writing for you, you end up sharing the money.

It’s only fair for your client to expect a completed project. They should not have to hire two different third parties. In either case, it is absolutely necessary for you to add copywriting skills to your portfolio unless you want to pass the buck.

Copy Helps Organize the Page

You’ve created a style masterpiece and are satisfied with the outcome… until you realize that the styling needs to be reviewed and realigned with the content of the website. This negates a lot of the time and effort you’ve put into the project. It also disrupts the flow of work by which the project should have been completed.

Now consider the following scenario. First, you prepare the copy, keywords and content. Then, you fit these elements into your design and begin to style the look and layout. In this order, chances are you’ll be congratulated for the project. Your original design idea is in place and backed by copywriting that conveys the primary message.

This is only possible when you multitask as both copywriter and designer.