Put Your Most Important Tool in the Hands of a Web Writing Pro
Not all copy is created equal. And that’s exponentially truer when it comes to website copy.
It’s easy to think of copy as a secondary concern. Design is splashy and artistic. Coding is mysterious and complicated. But copy is just information. You know your business better than anyone. So when it comes to writing your website copy, you can just throw together a few quick paragraphs and get on to more important things, right?
Well, you could. But you’d be doing your website — and your business — a huge disservice.
A copywriter’s job isn’t just to write about your business clearly and with impeccable grammar. We’re storytellers. Guides. Salespeople. Motivators. And…fly fishermen? Anyways, we transform your website from a series of information pages to a seamless journey for potential customers, hitting them with the right information at the right time to get them closer to making a buying decision.
That’s it in a nutshell. But, let’s crack open that nut and take a deeper look at the impact a professional copywriter and content strategist can make your website.
Copywriters Have Different Personalities
Good copy isn’t just about conveying information; it’s also about representing a brand personality. We’re a little bit like actors in that at any given moment, we have to inhabit a different brand personality to write in that voice.
What do I mean by that? Well, think about some popular brands you know. The brand personality for Ritz-Carlton differs from Walmart. Apple feels different than Budweiser. Even within industries, brand personalities are distinctive. Think of Burger King’s quirkiness versus the accessibility of McDonald’s. An experienced copywriter will take on your brand voice or help create one to differentiate you from your competitors.
Copywriters Drive Website Strategy
Before a single word is penned, pixel designed or line of code written, you need a solid content strategy in place. A content strategy will serve as the foundation for your entire site, from sitemap planning to wireframes to design. To create a solid content strategy, a professional copywriter will:
- Sketch out a fuller picture of your target audiences
- Create website user journeys for each, which will help inform the overall user experience
- Audit your existing content and Identify gaps
- Determine what content belongs where to help facilitate the user journey of each audience
- Prioritize the order of messages on each page to ensure it leads the user down the right path of their journey
- Figure out what calls to action are needed and what language will be most effective
Copywriters Get You Found…
…without alienating your site visitors. There are two big mistakes businesses often make with their website copy:
- not using any keywords, especially in strategic spots such as headlines and title tags
- stuffing as many keywords as possible into every sentence
The first will result in your wonderful website not getting found by any potential customers. The second will result in copy that sounds so unnatural, users won’t want to read it. In fact, Google began penalizing websites in search results if their keyword density (the ratio of keywords to the total number of words used in copy) is too high.
Professional website writers understand how to write great copy that flows well for the user while also incorporating keywords naturally. Because it’s not about the number of keywords; it’s how you use them and where you put them.
Copywriters Tell Multiple Stories, All Ending in Conversion
Some websites are made for exploration. Some, to communicate specific information. Others, to educate. No matter the purpose of your site or what you want a visitor to ultimately do, your website will almost never be experienced as a single page.
Web writers understand how to weave your brand story across your site, without duplicating content. More than that, copywriters know how to weave multiple stories at the same time, to speak to the unique user journeys your site visitors will experience. Lead this person through one path, someone else through a second path, and so on—all culminating in whatever action you want each to take.
Look, I get it. Hiring a website copywriter is just another thing to add to a long list of tasks when working on a new website. But trust me when I saw it could be the most important decision you make, saving you tons of time and money. Plus, by reading this blog, you’ve already found a good website development agency and web writer. So see—you’re already saving time!