Writing a website is both an art and a science.
An art, because it takes a human mind to understand and empathise with your target audience. Your customers, in other words.
A machine can’t discern whether a turn of phrase is arresting, adequate or dull. No matter how much artificial intelligence develops, Mr A.I. Chatbot can’t put itself in a would-be customer’s shoes.
Equally, effective copywriters understand precisely how potential customers read websites. That’s the ‘science’ part I mentioned a moment ago.
Usually, visitors don’t have time to read your site in detail. Instead, they’ll scan it for whatever they’re after.
So, if the English is waffly, a sentence is confusing or the information seems irrelevant to them, they’ll look elsewhere.
More to the point, they don’t give a hoot about you or your company.
They care about themselves – about satisfying some need they have. They’re thinking: ‘What’s in it for me?’
It’s brutal out there in cyberspace.
Which is why, in my view, copywriters shouldn’t be too coy about your website’s flaws.
What makes a website effective?
Sometimes, when I’m asked to rewrite a site, I’ll put together a report about how it comes across to me and highlight what I think should be changed.
Long, convoluted sentences? Ambiguous phrases? Stodgy jargon that stops readers in their tracks? Solid walls of text that send them scarpering?
All no-nos.
And if I’m honest, any member of the public can tell you themselves when their eyes are glazing over. It’s not a skill that takes 30 years in publishing to hone.
What’s clever is the rewriting.
The empathy for the customer. The persuasive language. A broad vocabulary, so that repetitive words and grating expressions aren’t an issue.
Holding the reader’s attention from one line to the next. Hitting on the most effective tone, be it conversational, sophisticated, authoritative or cheeky.
I know what some of you are thinking. That you can do this yourself and save money.
We all know how to write, right?
Wrong.
Skimping on the cost of a copywriter is a false economy
Look, I’m a very polite chap. Inoffensive, even. But beating about the bush isn’t going to improve your bottom line.
If the wording on your website is clunky, people’s eyes will stray. Simple as that.
The same is true if it’s generic and lifeless. That’s why ChatGPT doesn’t worry me.
Any copywriter worth their salt will collaborate with you to find out what makes your company tick. Why does your clientele pick you and not your rivals?
They’ll establish a profile of your archetypal customer, or ‘buyer persona’, so that when they sit down to write, it’s with that individual in mind, rather than some faceless crowd.
They’ll discuss blogging with you, to keep your website fresh. Have you considered case studies or advice columns, for example?
And with an eye on SEO, they’ll weave in any keywords you give them.
Think of it this way. Dreary websites don’t convert as well as engaging ones.
In a competitive marketplace, this is where professional writers show their worth.
Frankly speaking
When I critiqued a client’s website recently, I worried at first that I might have gone overboard.
The language was woolly, half-hearted, long-winded and limp, I told her. If I was baffled by some of the more pretentious sentences, it’s a safe bet that so was every other visitor.
“What’s your elevator pitch?” I wrote. “What’s your USP? We need to find a way to express it concisely and grab the reader’s attention.
“I appreciate that you want a sophisticated, aspirational tone for the site, and that it’s not The Sun, but the phrasing is too vanilla at the moment.
“By speaking to you and getting a feel for what makes you passionate about your business, my plan is to breathe more life into the copy and keep your web visitors hooked.
“Instead of talking at the reader, we’re trying to engage with their hopes, fears, uncertainties, etc, in plain English.”
Had I been too candid? Would my client be offended? It was, after all, a very tedious website.
The answer came next day.
“I am secretly delighted,” she emailed.
“Everything you say is how I feel about the site and copy.”
Photo by Siavash Ghanbari on Unsplash
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