Writing Benefit-Driven Internet Copy four Steps to More Sales

Aus Salespoint

You have identified the benefits you supply your clients, but how do you turn a list of rewards into engaging internet copy which converts visitors into customers?

Not too long ago I wrote an write-up explaining how to determine the positive aspects you offer your buyers (http://www.divinewrite.com/positive aspects.htm). That report challenged company owners and marketing and advertising managers to think in terms of advantages rather than characteristics when writing their net copy.

What the write-up didnt go over was how to really write the net copy when they had identified their rewards. Thats what this post is about. (It even gives you a couple of templates you can use to make your job a complete lot less difficult!)

As a website copywriter, a lot of of the projects I undertake are totally new internet sites. The client has some common concepts about what theyd like to convey, but they need a person who can fine-tune their message, and generate web copy (and a web structure) buy minecraft server which engages their readers. As a result, over the years Ive created a procedure for carrying out this effectively. There are four principal steps:

1) Determine benefits

two) Identify how you deliver these positive aspects

three) Prioritise your positive aspects

four) Create the content material

Even though this report touches on step 1, its mostly about actions 2, three, and four.

STEP 1 Identify YOUR Advantages

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 1st question you must ask is, What benefits do I offer my buyers? This is generally the first step toward identifying the crucial message to be conveyed.

Thats not to say that your site shouldnt describe your goods and services. You just want to make sure it describes them in terms of rewards to your buyer.

But advantages identification is outside the scope of this report. If youd like to uncover out a lot more about how to engage your consumer with positive aspects, go to http://www.divinewrite.com/advantages.htm.

STEP 2 Identify HOW YOU DELIVER THESE Positive aspects

Of course, you cant just claim to deliver positive aspects and stop at that. You require to support that claim. On your site, youre going to need to have to convince your audience that you truly do deliver these benefits. Any individual can say they deliver rewards, but few can say it persuasively.

From step 1 youll have a list of rewards. Now you need to believe about how you deliver each benefit in that list. This is where you commence talking about features price, item highlights, distribution channel, competitor weaknesses, external variables, USPs, and so on. Its helpful if you draw up a table with one column for advantages and 1 for the characteristics which deliver these advantages. (Click http://www.divinewrite.com/downloads/benefitsfeatures.doc to download an instance Rewards-Functions table 20KB.)

Youll possibly discover this process a lot simpler than identifying advantages. In truth, youve probably got most of this details written down currently somewhere. If not, chances are you uncovered a great portion of it when you were brainstorming for rewards.

TIP: If youre possessing trouble identifying supporting functions, prior to filling out the table, attempt listing everything you can think of which relates to what you do and how you do it. Dont be concerned about the order. Just braindump onto a piece of paper, a whiteboard, a Word document, anywhere Dont leave something out, even if it seems unimportant. (Youd be surprised how essential even the most insignificant particulars can grow to be as soon as you start assigning them to positive aspects.) If you start off finding lost, believe back to the query youre attempting to answer: How do you deliver your list of positive aspects to your customer? When youve done your braindump, read through it and choose which particular benefit each feature delivers.

STEP 3 PRIORITISE YOUR Rewards

Now that youve identified all the factors you COULD say, its time to figure out what you Really should say and exactly where you really should say it. This is exactly where your benefits-characteristics table comes into play. Read through 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 want to be prominent on your website.

TIP: Be conscious that your list might include some rewards which every person in your enterprise category could claim. In other words, theyre not just certain to your business, but apply to the type of service you supply. For instance, if you sell a Content material Management Technique (CMS) for web site creation, you could list Higher control for marketing managers and Less expense updating content as rewards. Each and every CMS vendor could claim these advantages, so youll require to query their importance. Will they differentiate you from your competitors. Generic positive aspects can be beneficial if none of your competitors are employing them, or if you feel you want to educate your marketplace a bit before launching into firm-precise benefits.

STEP four Create YOUR Content

So now you know what youd like to say, its time to choose how to say it. This is about 3 things:

i) Topic What is the subject of your website capabilities or advantages?

ii) Structure How do you structure your website such that your customers will read your most compelling benefits?

iii) Words What words must you use to finest engage your audience (and the search engines)?

The remainder of this article is devoted to Subject and Structure. For additional discussion of Words, see http://www.divinewrite.com/webwriting.htm and http://www.divinewrite.com/seocopy.htm).

Topic

What is the topic of your web site functions or rewards? The answer to this query lies in audience identification. If your audience knows a bit about the kind of item or service youre selling, lead with features (e.g. processor speed, turnaround time, uptime, expertise, educational qualifications, wide item range, etc.). But make sure you speak about their positive aspects, and make sure the characteristics supplying the most crucial positive aspects are the most prominent.

Heres a simplified example

Cool Widgets delivers:

-- Typical Operating Environment Substantially lowering the complexity of your IT infrastructure

-- Program upgrades which are less costly to license Supplying outstanding TCO reductions

In instances where youre selling to an audience who knows extremely small about your item or service, lead with rewards (e.g. if youre selling something technical to a non-technical audience).

Heres the same simplified instance, reversed for a novice audience

Cool Widgets gives:

-- Decreased complexity of IT infrastructure We can implement a Regular Operating Environment for your organisation

-- Lowered TCO We can upgrade your IT to systems which are much less expensive to license

Structure

How do you structure your web site such that your clients will be positive to read your most compelling benefits? The answer is, preserve it short n sweet. And make it scannable. This doesnt mean you have to cut functions or benefits. You just have to structure your web site to accommodate your message.

Even though every single site is distinct, as a rule of thumb its a very good notion to introduce your principal characteristics and rewards on your property page. Summarise them preferably making use of bullet points, but at the quite least, clearly highlight them so that your audience can scan-read (e.g. bold, underline, colour, link).

Then link from each summarised function or benefit to a detailed description. Attempt to maintain every single page to around 200-400 words. You might want numerous pages to detail all your characteristics and positive aspects. (Click http://www.divinewrite.com/downloads/pagestructure.doc to download a page structure template 29KB.)

TIP: In circumstances where you require to introduce capabilities and advantages which are generic to your field (rather than particular to your offering), your residence page is usually the greatest location to do it. From there, you can lead to a second page summarising the precise capabilities and advantages of your providing.

Conclusion

Internet copy is about far a lot more than just clever words. Its essential that you determine the benefits you supply your client, and that you can convince your consumer you really deliver those positive aspects.

I hope that the guidance and tools supplied in this article will support you on your way to engaging web copy which converts to sales.

Pleased writing!