Conversion copywriting involves moving your visitors through a content funnel to the sales page, creating a strong desire to buy now, and that all-important button. It all comes down to getting that click.
There is no faster way to generate sales and bottom-line
results than direct response copywriting. Businesses live and die by the quality of their sales copy. And yet, oddly enough, most websites don't bother with high conversion sales copy. The owners believe their site's pretty design and very existence will magically attract and convert visitors into eager buyers.
Sales fixes everything. – Guy Kawasaki
Your website's design is just the container for the message; usually a header, footer and navigation. Web design doesn't sell anything. As Americans in the South would say, that dog don't hunt.
I've personally built over 350 websites and created content and copy for at least 500 more, so my statement about your website design's value – or lack thereof – is based upon decades of observation and empirical data. For the record, I love great web design, and beautiful content. And there are times when the website design is terrible, and it stands in the way of our content strategy and sales funnels. But copy must always lead design.
Direct response copywriting pushes for immediate purchase by the end of the copy. Everything your buyer needs to know to make a buying decision must be included in that copy; with every objection handled, sufficient proof provided... everything. Copywriting catalyzes the conversation that's already going on in your prospect's head.
Website content written by business owners and staff tends to focus on the company, and its accomplishments, products and services. But telling isn't selling. Direct response copy focuses only on one reader, with one offer, until the close at the bottom.
Always be testing! The huge advantage with direct response copy on the web is the results can be tested and modified in real-time. It's a living document. New copy is tested against the control, and if it's better, it becomes the control. Another piece of copy is then tested against that control. With direct response, it's possible to have a more effective website or email letter every week.
Examples of direct response copywriting services include:
Advertising legend John E. Kennedy referred to copywriting as salesmanship in print. Does your website have a 'copy first' customer journey strategy, with 'leak proof' funnels that reliably generate qualified leads and/or sales?
I have been writing copy for over 33 years. In 1987 I began writing ad copy for magazine display ads. My official roles in the publishing house included both ‘art’ and ‘copy’; but when they needed an article, I jumped across to editorial. At the magazine I gained experience in graphic design, content writing and copywriting. Long-form direct response advertorials quickly become my specialty.
And then in ’97, I began writing for the web, and a whole new world of possibilities opened up for content distribution. Despite claims that the internet was completely different, it's pretty much the very same model as magazine and newspaper advertising. We create incredibly valuable content, to build your audience, and then we sell to your audience. How is this new? Haha. The sales page is now on a digital screen instead of a magazine page or piece of junk mail.
The only real difference is that instead of the 3rd party publisher creating the "content" you use to carry your marketing, we now create that content on your own website. We've taken out the middleman.
For almost every online sales transaction, someone wrote the copy that created that opportunity, and then earned the all-important click.
Let's talk about your copy...
