Every single word on your website should be designed to persuade the reader to do something you want them to; whether that’s to contact you, buy something or follow the next step in your sales funnel. But how do you persuade them?
Make your case
Think of your sales copy as an essay. It should be a clearly stated argument in favour of a particular conclusion – in this case, that the reader should use your services or buy your product.
As such, your copy needs to be carefully structured. You need:
- An introduction
To draw the reader in and pique their interest.
- A conclusion
Depending on the page this could be that the reader should contact you, look at a particular page, or buy something from you.
- A clearly set out argument
Everything between your introduction and conclusion should be a tightly structured argument leading to the conclusion.
When writing your copy, set out your argument in bullet points. Each bullet point is the basis for a paragraph where you back your point up. Each bullet point should lead on to the next, eventually leading to the conclusion. Don’t allow tangents.
Ask yourself why
The key question for any copy is ‘why?’ This applies to every single stage. Your introduction should answer the question ‘why should I read this?’ Every single paragraph should be answering a specific ‘why’: ‘Why should I trust this business?’ ‘Why do I need this?’ (NB: the answer is not ‘because it has 4 wheel drive’, the answer is ‘because 4 wheel drive will make it easier to drive off-road’ – benefits not features.) At the same time it should answer the question ‘why should I continue reading?’
If you can’t answer the question at every stage of your copy, neither will the reader. Either cut or come up with an answer.
Spell it out
Finally, you need to convert your ‘is’ into an ‘ought’. Having set out the reasons why the reader should continue reading/contact you/buy your product, you make it clear that that is what they should do. People are surprisingly susceptible to being told what to do, and are far more likely to do something if you tell them to.
This is where your call to action comes in: ‘contact us today’, ‘read our testimonials page’, ‘buy our vacuum cleaner’. If your argument is strong enough, the reader will see no reason not to do what you say.
Have a look at your own website now – is there any evidence of the power of persuasion?
Image Credit: Zela
Hi,
The Why questions is crucial.
Why do you write what you write? To write, or to move someone into a clear and direct call to action?
Each call needs to be beyond clear. The post should lead up to a call, and in truth, most of your blog should be a direct call to action.
Attract attention with usable, value-packed content and your calls become stronger.
Thanks!
Ryan
Ryan Biddulph recently posted..Keep Blogging | You Touch More Lives than You Realize
Thanks Ryan, you’ve made some great points. Having your post lead up to the call to action is important, rather than just springing it on people when they’re not pre-conditioned to buying or getting in touch.