To build a quality landing page you mainly need help from 3 people: web designer, web developer, and COPYWRITER. Unfortunately, very often site owners oversee the importance of the copywriter and prefer to write content by themselves or to delegate this task to someone from the company.
But crafting copy for a landing page is a difficult task. Every marketer should know that copywriting requires a specific set of skills that not everyone who works in online marketing is fortunate enough to have.
At the same time, content copywriting is crucial for your marketing success: even a perfectly designed landing page, needs compelling and well-written content to convert.
In this article, you will find landing page copywriting best practices, that could help to better organize your copywriting process. Most of the points I’m listing, though seemingly minor or obvious, are easy to overlook or to underestimate.
Nevertheless, these practices may have a huge impact on users and website conversions.
1. Determining the goals of the landing page
The first step of the writing process is determining the goals of the landing page.
The first question you need to answer yourself is “What action do you want visitors of this page to take?”.
This may seem obvious at first but websites can specialize in different things.
Some common website goals are listed below:
- Purchase your products (of course!)
- Subscribe for your newsletter
- Fill out an online form
- Download your brochure or catalog
- Leave a phone number and ask for a callback
- Register for an upcoming event
- View your list of products or portfolio
- Search for your store’s location
2. Identify your audience
The second step is to know who you are addressing.
While you’re writing website content, think about who your typical visitors are:
- male or female?
- what’s their age range?
- what’s their educational level?
Let’s say that you’re writing content for the website of a medical association from where visitors can download the latest medical research on prostate cancer: in this case, you can assume that the typical visitor’s profile is male or female, aged between 30 and 70, with higher educational level.
But if you’re writing for a gaming website that sells video games, you could assume that the average visitor of the website is a male, aged between 18 and 34, he is a gamer, technophile and computer savvy.
Google Analytics can also help you to identify your visitor’s profile.
GA’s Demographics and Interest report provides useful data and insights on your users’ age, gender, and interests.
To access this information, you’ll first need to enable the report by making a simple one-line change of the GA tracking pixel. After that, you’ll be able to see two new categories of reports in the Audience section of Google Analytics:
- Demographics – where you’ll find traffic by age and gender
- Interests – that presents traffic by affinity, in-market, and other categories)
Now, all you need to do is take into consideration this information when you’re writing for your users.
3. Address your audience in a simple and formal style
If your visitors are coming from different countries, this probably means that they have different levels of English knowledge. Therefore, it’s better if you write to a lower level audience and be sure that everyone would understand and easily consume your content.
Another common mistake made in copywriting is to write the content in a too informal style. Some companies even use jargon or informal expressions while trying to sound original or closer to the reader.
However, this practice is not recommended – don’t forget that your website is your main tool to develop an online reputation and establish your credibility as a business. Take advantage of that and make your web content as professional as you can.
Of course, writing in a too formal style is not an option either, unless you’re writing for an official governmental institution.
4. The structure you copy to make it scannable
It’s a well-known fact that web users do not read words on a website, they scan them. Therefore, you should try to simplify the structure of the content on every landing page. To do that, you could use:
- short paragraphs,
- headings and subheadings,
- bullet lists,
- bold main keywords and expressions and ideas.
5. Don’t make it too short nor too long
We also know that the shorter the content is, the more likely the readers will read it.
From an SEO point of view, however, it’s better to have at least 500 words per page.
Some companies and e-shops even prefer to put additional “filling” content on the landing pages just for “SEO purpose”.
Think of the most direct and simple way to say what you’re trying to say.
6. Find the right balanced writing style
There are three different and unique styles to write content for websites and landing pages.
You can think of them as “web writing styles”. Usually, copywriters balance between the three and finish by creating their own web writing style.
- Write Succinctly for Web Users – tell your readers what they want to hear. Make things as easy and as simple as possible.
- Write Professionally to build up the company’s image- give the readers some facts, figures, and data about the scale of your business. Impress them.
- Write for Search Engines (but not only!) – include the targeted keywords in the copy, but don’t make it too obvious for the reader that you’re writing specifically for search engines. If your writing is too obviously geared towards keywords and SEO you may quickly lose readers.
In my opinion, one of the biggest challenges in copywriting in is to create a balanced copy which:
- contains the main keywords for your business,
- is easy for the reader to understand,
- sounds professional and reassures the visitor in the credibility of your business and products.
7. Stay consistent
Once you’ve chosen or developed your
writing style, stick with it.
Some web writers even prefer to create a “persona” and keep that
persona in mind when they’re writing. This ensures that the content reads well
and stays consistent.
8. Influence the reader to take action
Remember that landing pages’ goal is to influence the reader to take a particular action.
I’m not saying that you should write copy for landing pages in trivial and old fashioned marketing style, by saying that your company is “the BEST” and that you sell “the MOST reliable products” on the “CHEAPEST” price” – that’s not serious and it’s completely outdated. But here are some tricks you could follow to compel your visitors to take the desired action:
But how to influence the user? Here are some ideas:
- use more action-oriented language: write with more verbs, give definitive instruction for visitors that helps them learn what they are supposed to do on that page.
For example: Instead of saying “the book will help you to learn more about … “ you can simply say “Learn more about >>> “Save your time and efforts on … ” or “Stop wasting time on …”
- write in the second person – One thing that the web struggles with is being personal. Writing in the second person could help to forge a stronger connection between the reader and your offer.
- do not use negative words and negative verbs – this may leave a negative impression on the user
This being said, I hope that most of the readers will agree that there’s no “quick way” to write content for landing pages. If you want effective and powerful landing pages, you’ll have to invest some time and money in copywriting. Even small writing nuances could have a huge impact on conversions – that’s why landing page content should be carefully crafted.
Smart companies and website owners know that even if they know their business the best, it may be helpful to hire an outside copywriter, who has a tough understanding and expertise in landing pages copywriting. Do not underestimate the importance of the content. Sometimes well-chosen words could be your most powerful advantage.
