You may be starting a new business or building your website. Congratulations on that! You’ve got the products laid out. Everything looks good from your end. The next thing that you should do is to make sure that you convey the message properly to your audience. The goal is to turn your audience into customers. Do you think that this is an easy feat? Yeah, no, think again!
Website copywriting and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) writing are two skills that you can’t simply learn overnight!
Here are some reasons on why Do-It-Yourself copy isn’t always the best idea.
1. Your audience will get confused
You’ve probably spent a lot of resources – be it money, time, or efforts – into photographing or making graphics for your website. The visuals are great! But once your audience looks at the copy, they go “eh?” Now that is a reaction you would not want to get from your target audience! That simple reaction may turn your business from pop to a flop. Why is this so?
The reason behind it is that maybe you have done such a great job in doing your visuals, but when it comes to the copy itself – the one that contains the call-to-action – you just did not hit the target. But don’t feel bad. Not everyone who DIYs their copy gets it. That’s the reason why SEO copywriters are on the loose! We aren’t regarded as professionals for nothing!
2. It tends to get self-centered
This is the hard truth. We don’t blame you for this! It is completely understandable why some business and website owners gravitate towards using the pronouns such as “I”, “me”, “myself”, and the like. These people invested a lot on their business – you included! Putting up a business is very much like sharing a part of yourself to the world, especially if you developed the whole process from scratch.
That’s always an inspiring story to hear. But you know what’s not? Repeating it too many times on your sales copy, website or even in your “About” page. Yes, we get it. You are proud of your business and that YOU are sharing a piece of yourself with it. But take the spotlight off from you and let your business shine through. Your audience is drawn to your product or service but not in what YOU have to say about it.
You know that your sales copy is effective when you see the post engagement shoot up. It’s when you know that you did not only create a good product, but you have also gone the lengths of creating a great brand. Let your business do the talking for you!
3. What’s a call to action?
Copywriters know what a good call to action is. If you think that this is just a simple phrase which encourages the audience to buy your product or book your service, then this is a strong indication that you need to hire a great copywriter. It is not all about adding a short phrase at the end of the copy. Instead, it is about the proper placement and how the entire copy is done in a cohesive manner to strengthen the call to action.
Read more about why storytelling marketing is the best type of content marketing!
4. You are too close to the topic
If you are writing sales copy for a product that you have also developed and worked hard on for years, it is inevitable to feel proud of it. This may also translate to the copy that you are writing. Chances are, you might highlight other features of your product or service that most of the customers don’t care about. You might just be selling your product, but in copywriting, hard selling is also present in the field.
You may have encountered a salesperson trying to sell you a product. Can you recall how uncomfortable you were back then? Now that you are the one selling the product, put your audience in your shoes back then. What are the things that, as a customer and not as a seller, that you would want to hear?
Hiring a copywriter for the job can solve this problem in an instant. They are not the developers of the product. They are not that close to the topic that they will tend to brag about every feature it has. Copywriters have the least tendency to hard sell. It also helps that there’s a new and fresh perspective that could write about your product. You might be seeing the product in a different way that the copywriter sees it. It is like having another set of eyes!
5. It is hard to create a headline
This might be shocking news to you, but even pro writers find it hard to create a headline that instantly catches the attention of the readers. In doing a sales copy, the pressure is twice the amount compared to merely creating a simple article. This is because the text is supposed to translate into sales. A pro copywriter would know how to catch his audience’s attention right away. As a businessperson who DIYs their copy, you might be wasting your time in doing this.
Focus on everything related to your business. Hiring a copywriter for producing texts will ease your mind. Not only that there’s a high chance that these will all translate into sales, but you will also get to divert your attention into the other parts of your business.
Final thoughts
We understand how tempting it is to create your own sales copy, especially if you are just starting out with your business. But think of it as a part of your website’s branding. With the proper visuals, along with a compelling story, expect that your business will boom and receive the attention you have always expected!