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copywriting :: Internet Marketing :: Copywriting
Copywriting Makeover: Know Where Your Customers Are In The Buying Process Part 1 of 2
When you're learning about something new,
it's easy to feel overwhelmed by the sheer amount of relevant
information available. This informative article should help you focus
on the central points. Once you begin to move beyond basic background
information, you begin to realize that there's more to seo and software
than you may have first thought.
When you begin to write copy for any product or service, there
are a few things you have to take into consideration. The first is
always your target audience: who you’ll be writing to. Finding out
about the needs and wants of the audience members, their communication
styles, their lifestyles, and a multitude of other elements are “musts”
before writing one word of copy.
But something most people neglect is giving due attention to the
buying process as a whole and where your target audience is within
their own process. Understanding this can, oftentimes, make or break
the success of your copy.
When AEwebworks (an online, dating-site software
developer) approached me about rewriting their website copy, it became
immediately apparent that their copy could benefit from paying some due
diligence to the buying processes of their customers.
The Problems
My primary concerns with the copywriting on this site included the
lack of synergy within the copy, the use of testimonials, the lack of
focus on the target customer’s buying process, and the inability for
the copy to support the search engine goals of AEwebworks. In its
present state, the copy contained few mentions of keyphrases.
You can view the old copy in PDF form at this link: http://www.copywritingcourse.com/AEWebWorks-Original.pdf.
When I first read the copy, it felt as though I was being pitched
to from all sides. The headline spoke to someone thinking of entering
the online dating site industry. The body copy did not support that
headline; rather it spoke to someone who had already made the decision
to launch or improve a dating site.
The use of testimonials at the bottom of the home page posed a
challenge for two reasons. The first was the sheer location. The design
of the site was such that it appeared nothing fell “below the fold”
(what was first seen when the home page loaded onto a browser). The
second challenge was that many of the testimonials were from people
asking questions or stating they were considering trying the dating software… not actual customers attesting to the benefits they’d personally experienced.
In addition, while the information included in the body copy was
good, the information given on the home page needed to outline why
AEwebworks was better than the competition. In its present state, it
did not. That meant finding those aspects of buying dating software that were most important to the customer and highlighting them within the copy.
Lastly, I needed to focus the home page copy on only two or three
keyphrases and increase keyword saturation for those phrases. This also
meant creating a copy strategy that would allow me to use the
keyphrases effectively without making the text sound stiff.
The Solution
As always, I started the project by gaining a good understanding of
who the target customers were, what they wanted, their fears, their
likes, their dislikes, and anything else I could discover.
After a good bit of research, and after reading the completed target
audience analysis from AEwebworks, I felt I had a good understanding of
those I would be writing to.
In order to combat the lack of synergy within the copy and the lack
of focus on the target customer’s buying process, I created a
copywriting plan. From my research I found that installation, upgrade
policies, and support were the three most common gripes buyers had
about dating software. I decided to make overcoming those obstacles the focal point of the copy instead of the actual features and benefits.
That may sound like an odd choice, but that’s where recognition of
the buying process comes in. Considering that the majority of visitors
to the site had already made the decision to launch a new site or had
chosen to upgrade an existing site, they were already well versed in
the features of dating-site software
and their associated benefits. Yes… the benefits did need to be
mentioned; however, other issues proved to be more pressing to this
particular group of customers.
The use of testimonials on the home page was easily corrected by
simply deleting the ones that did not directly apply to actual users of
the software.
I chose two for use within the copy and suggested that, as AEwebworks
gets more testimonials, they create an entire page that visitors can
read.
That left me with overcoming the inability of the current copy to
support the search engine goals of the site. I suggested AEwebworks
review their keyword choices to be sure they were targeting the ones
most likely to bring in qualified customers. After a review, they
provided me with a revised list to choose from.
I selected three keyphrases for each page in order to allow an
adequate level of both keyword saturation and natural language. For the
home page, the terms “dating software,” “online dating software,” and “dating script” were used.
After all the hoopla with Google, AEwebworks was in foul shape as
far as search engine rankings were concerned. I had to pay particular
attention to creating copy that impressed the search engines AND their
site visitors in order to help them regain ground with their
positioning and sales efforts.
The plan was in place. Now “all” I had to do was write the copy. In
part two of this series, you’ll get all the details on how I turned
“OK” into “Wow!”
About The Author
Karon Thackston © 2004 http://www.copywritingcourse.com
Copy not getting results? Learn to write seo copy that impresses the engines and your visitors at http://www.copywritingcourse.com.
Be sure to check out Karon’s latest e-report “How To Increase Keyword
Saturation (Without Destroying the Flow of Your Copy)” at http://www.copywritingcourse.com/keyword.
Those who only know one or two facts about seo and
software can be confused by misleading information. The best way to
help those who are misled is to gently correct them with the truths
you're learning here.
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