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Copywriting, Website Optimization

One Easy Way to Boost Online Sales

FMSkeen

Let’s say you manage an online storefront and you want to make more sales. You have decent traffic or you’re increasing your traffic with marketing campaigns, but you want your conversion rate to be higher on your product pages.

It’s long been established that trust is one of the biggest factors in sales. If potential customers have questions about your product or service that they can’t find answers to, they’re going to become skeptical of your business and look for a website that offers more information.

When a visitor is eyeballing your product page, you want them to feel like they have everything they need to make a confident and comfortable purchase.

You do this with product description.

A proper product description is going to do two things:

  • Inform
  • Entice

Your reader needs to know if the product is what he or she needs, so it’s crucial to provide enough information that he or she can say, “Yes, this is the one I want.”

Simultaneously, you want to paint a picture that allows the potential customers to envision themselves with the product, imagining how much better life will be once they have it.

They’ll look and feel amazing in those clothes. They’ll be safer and more fearless with this gear. Traveling will be more convenient with this bag. This lawn care service will make them the envy of the neighborhood. You get the idea.

Let’s say you’re selling a lady’s handcrafted ring. The customer needs to know the size, the color, the material, the weight, and any physical features, whether apparent in images and video or not (not all of your visitors can see your images and videos, but they can probably hear a screen reader).

Now your customer knows the ring won’t turn her finger green. It’s the right size, not too heavy and the filigree sounds charming. Your conversion rate is okay, but we want better than “okay,” don’t we?

So, you deliver those simple details in a skimmable blurb -written at an 8th-grade reading level- that leaves Ms. Buyer dreaming of the dinner party she will soon be attending, at which this stunning accessory will accentuate the blue of her eyes and sparkle softly in the intimate lighting.

Your reader is now picturing herself wearing the ring and instead of talking her into the purchase, it’s a matter of whether or not she will talk herself out of it. If the price is right, your chances are looking good.

Now you’ve made the sale, you’ve got a boost in SEO from your new original content, and your conversion rate is looking pretty damn good, which means your sales, revenue, and profits are up and Christmas is a little merrier this year.

With a little practice and study of consumer psychology, you can save yourself some pocket change and write your own product descriptions. But if you’re not a writer or you’re busy managing your business, a copywriter like me is always happy to oblige.

There are so many of us nowadays, rates are more affordable than ever, and you can generally be confident in the quality you’ll receive just by looking around the copywriter’s website and reading a bit of their writing, publications, and reviews.

 

Consumerism

Don’t Trust the Internet

FMSkeen

The internet is an incredible place, full of knowledge and information to which previous generations never dreamed of having instant access. I myself am a contributor to the wealth of content available online.

So why am I bashing this beautiful resource?

For those in search of knowledge, who can easily identify a credible source and differentiate between fact and opinion or speculation, the world wide web is an oyster. That same diligent researcher, however, can be caught off guard when they’ve replaced their scholar hat with their consumer hat.

Most of us, as consumers, look for a few key bits of information once we’ve located a product we want. Are the reviews good? Can I afford it? Do I trust the seller?

You may not consciously ask yourself the last question, but theories in consumer psychology teach us that trust is one of four crucial factors in a purchase. If a brand can make you feel comfortable, they can make you buy.

The problem arises when we think we have the correct answers to the questions we’re asking, but we actually don’t have nearly enough information.

Reviews

This might be old news to many, but I only learned about fake reviews when I started my career as a copywriter. I used to receive inquiries every day, mostly from Amazon sellers, asking me to write blatantly false reviews for their products, usually to counteract bad reviews left by real customers.

Amazon requires purchase for review, so those sellers wanted to pay me to buy the product first. Other retailers didn’t seem to care if I had ever actually seen their product. They just wanted those five stars.

Some even had the review written and just wanted it posted from an unrelated account. Fake reviews can get the seller banned from Amazon, but it’s worth the risk to those who are peddling garbage products.

To be clear, I myself like to provide incentives for my clients to leave feedback. This might be a discount or whathaveyou, but under no circumstances would I ever pay someone to leave a positive or dishonest review or copy/paste a review I had written for myself.

It takes hard work and repeated failure to launch from nothing, but if you’re honest and persistent with a good product or service, you don’t need to cheat.

When I read reviews now, I recognize the language and form of these fake reviews and let me tell you, they are everywhere. When you’re reading reviews about something you might spend your hard-earned money on, remember to consider the details of poor reviews (what exactly was the problem?) and the number of reviews.

It might also be helpful to look for other information that can help make your decision. If you want to know how durable something is, for example, find the product specifications and look for materials, etc.

Affiliate Marketing

Most of us have jumped online at some point to search “best walking harness for dogs that pull” or whatever it is you’re looking for. That search will lead you to a bunch of blog posts about the type of product you want. It’s important to note that many of these are written by bloggers who have never used the products.

From buyer’s guides to listicles, blog posts that push products can be some of the most deceptive forms of advertising. Affiliate marketers have an agreement, giving them a cut when they send traffic to the retailer via links in the post.

A lot of affiliate marketing is honest. Many bloggers only recommend products that they have thoroughly researched and truly believe in, but you have to know where to go for that kind of honest review. Look for a blog or brand that is known for making reliable product recommendations.

With the recent rise in the popularity of affiliate marketing, the majority of “buyer’s guides” and product listicles are written by bloggers who are just trying to get traffic to the retailer with whom they have an arrangement.

Dropshipping

This one is difficult for me to write about. Many of my clients are drop shippers and they offer easy access to otherwise hidden products from all over the world with information about those products that might be hard for an English-speaking person to find.

Unfortunately, the growing popularity in dropshipping has attracted money-hungry retailers with no quality standards, and these are the people I have to write about, because I am so disgusted with this scheme.

Common drop shippers will find cheap products manufactured in Asia and dress them up on a pretty website with American price tags. Then they hire someone like me to write compelling product descriptions that make you think this cheap thing is worth that price.

The crazy part is that they don’t ever actually touch the product. You’re paying a markup that’s two to ten times the original retail price just to use a middleman. The drop shipper will send you the product straight from Asia and guess who pays the outrageous shipping and customs fees. You do.

The fastest way I’ve found to avoid this insanity is to reverse search the product image. Drop shippers usually use manufacturer images, so you can locate the original retailer with a quick skim through the other prices related to that image (Hint: it will be the lowest price).

Web Content

This part is a little complicated, because it’s not something most of us consciously consider while shopping, but it is arguably the biggest determining factor of whether or not you make a purchase. Do you trust your retailer? And if you do, is that trust based on a lie?

Personally, I don’t write for clients I don’t trust. When you read my content on a client’s site, you’re getting the real story. The purchasing confidence you feel is born of the retailer’s own commitment to quality, written using my skills in sales copy and web content.

But then there are those who come to me and say, “I need an About page,” and when I start with my usual questions about their brand, story, tone, etc., I am met with, “It doesn’t matter. Write what you want. Make it up.”

Nope. Not me.

But they will find a writer. That means any trust you develop with that brand is false, and that deception will most likely be reflected in the quality of the product or service.

Unfortunately, if the client is able to find a good writer, it can be nearly impossible to tell if the content you’re reading is genuine. You might look for a portrait of the founder on the About page or check that the contact number area code makes sense with the story.

Most of the time…

…you’ll get the product or service you ordered, it will be adequate and everything will be fine. But if you want to lower the risk of wasting your money, buying garbage products or just being duped, take charge of your consumerism and watch out for this new age of internet salesmen.

 

Copywriting, Website Optimization

Writing for Yourself

FMSkeen

I get a lot of clients who are writers, bloggers or other professionals with decent writing skills. They’re often embarrassed about coming to me for web content or other work, because they feel like they should be able to handle the job themselves.

Some of them simply don’t have the time. Creating a website and running a business is a consuming venture. Even when you dedicate your every waking moment to it, it’s still easy to fall behind. Getting the content writing or marketing copy out of the way can free you up to focus on the areas where you excel.

For others, however, the problem is just that they can’t seem to write for themselves. They can write all day long for their work or their clients or for fun, churning out creative, engaging material, but when it’s time to sit down and write their own About page, it all comes out wrong.

Let me reassure you, your skills are not the problem. For one reason or another, writing for your own business can be much more difficult than writing what you’re used to.

Writing for my own sites is one of the most drawn-out processes I go through as a professional. I have to refer to notes on things that I do every day, things that I have no trouble remembering when writing for clients. I find myself making common mistakes and forgetting to stick to the CTA of each page, so I have to revise again and again and I’m still not happy at the end.

Sales copy is easier for me personally to write for myself, maybe because it’s more personal, but I know there are many who have a hard time with both web content and sales copy.

The good news is that freelance copywriters like me can take over this part of the project, leaving you with more time and less stress. While I share your struggle in writing for myself, I thoroughly enjoy filling my days with writing for others and I have the skills to make your copy and content effective.

If you’re having trouble getting your words in order, contact me to find out how I can help. 

 

 

 

Copywriting

Commas

FMSkeen

Some of you might have noticed that I am pretty stingy with my commas, to the point of omitting them when the rules of English says they should not be omitted.

I can hear some of you gasping already. “A professional writer deliberately omitting necessary punctuation??” Yes. Yes, that is what is happening. Breathe into a paper bag and allow me to explain.

It’s actually incredibly simple. Research has shown that readers are put off by too much punctuation, and sometimes the English language calls for too many commas. That’s it. Thanks for reading.

Cluttered text is as off-putting to a site user as a busy page layout. It’s crowded and ugly. It makes skimming more difficult. Cleaning it up and keeping punctuation down to two, maybe three max in one sentence opens up the page and makes it more visually appealing.

Now, you can’t just forget about them completely. Commas should not be skipped if skipping them changes the meaning of the sentence or if there would be a noticeable pause when speaking the text.

And before someone bites my head off, I know there are always exceptions. A professional website written in a formal tone should definitely not publish selective punctuation or sketchy grammar. Your audience will be more forgiving of the ugly commas, because they expect sharp precision.

As a writer who appreciates proper grammar, spelling and punctuation, I understand that this concept can be difficult to swallow. However, my job is to get conversions and the research does not lie. You lose this round, Punctuation Police.

Website Optimization

5 Tips for Naming Your Pages

FMSkeen

When building a website, naming your pages is probably the last thing on your mind. You’ll have your standard “About Us” page and your “Contact Us” page, as well as “Home” and maybe “Services” pages.

Those are the names everyone uses, so why spend time you don’t have thinking of creative little titles? There are actually a few reasons.

Avoid Bad SEO

Anyone who’s created a website has probably Googled “SEO” at some point. So you know that repeating the same content as other pages can knock your SEO down a bit, or at the very least waste an opportunity to generate better SEO.

Boost Your Brand Name

By choosing “Business Copywriting Services” as the name of my home page, instead of “Home,” I’ve turned that tiny bit of content into positive SEO.

If you can get your brand name into your page name, you’ll get a little boost in SEO for that phrase, specifically.

Maintain Clarity

Of course, these little boosts aren’t worth losing usability, so your main priority should be a balance of clarity and creativity. In other words, be creative, but only to the extent that your audience can still tell what the heck you’re talking about. Ask yourself, “Will my readers know what they’re going to find on this page?”

Cater to Your Audience

It’s also important that your page names reflect your tone. If you’re a friendly, trendy and bold fashion designer, you can go for fun, funny and creative names. If you’re professional and formal, be straightforward and clear.

Remember that your audience wants to be able to find what they’re looking for at a glance. If you get super complicated with the names, your visitors might get frustrated trying to figure out where to go. Frustrated visitors = high exit rate.

How’s it Look?

Keep an eye on your aesthetics. If you’ve written long phrases for every page name, take a look at your menu and navigation panel and make sure they don’t look crazy.

Naming your pages shouldn’t be a big deal, and you shouldn’t have to hire anyone to do it for you, unless you just don’t want to deal with it.

Sticking to standard names is always an option and won’t hurt your SEO too badly, especially if 99% of your content is original.

Keeping these tips in mind will simply give your site a little boost and help your brand to stand out from the others.

FMSkeen