The hot shot ad agency types will tell you it’s about something gimmicky, shocking or what’s hot today. They’re only partly right. There are many reasons people ‘get it’ – and plenty of obstacles that stop them getting it! Here are 7 tips that will help your copy to be read:

1. I don’t want to know what you do, I want to know what I get so write about what’s in it for ME (your reader).

2. If you give me lots to read I might not bother, keep paragraphs and sentences short and to the point.

3. When you start writing you MUST know why people buy you and tell your readers that’s what they get.

4. Most people don’t read online, they scan, so put easy-to-read devices like bullets and subheads to help them get your message – and whilst people tend to read more from paper, it’s a good way to draw their attention to the key points.

5. What do people REALLY want to know? Not lots of detail. Tell them what they want, not what you want to say.

6. What do you want people to do when they’ve read your message? Don’t forget a call to action.

7. Don’t make people work hard; tell them what to do and make it easy for them to do (i.e. make the words a link) or put the phone number right there (don’t expect them to search around for it).

There are many more reasons people stop reading – but just getting these right will make a real difference.

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You can also find us at Lesleywriter or call us on +44 (0) 1245 473296

Everyone seems to be obsessed with being ‘on the front page’ of Google, getting up the search engine rankings and getting hotshot AdWord specialists to increase the traffic to their website. Of course, getting traffic is important; it doesn’t matter how impressive your site looks if the only people that ever see it are your existing clients and your Auntie Flo!

The issue is that getting traffic is only half the equation – the other half is all about what happens to the ‘traffic’ when it lands on your site!

Keeping people is at least as important as getting them there in the first place. Not least, because search engine optimisation is an expensive art, takes time and effort, not to mention considerable expertise, updated almost daily as the search engines develop and rules change. If you’re investing anything from £50 to £5000 a month to get traffic, it’s money down the drain if people take one look and then hit the ‘back’ button.

So what should you be paying attention to?

1. A headline that reassures people that the site will deliver what they were looking for. If you have a targeted AdWord account, that means a landing page written specifically with each key word or phrase featured.

2. A design that makes reading easy – a clear place to start, no fancy distracting visuals, copy in the place that people naturally read – there’s a lot of ways to get this part wrong (sign up on the right for the Goldfish Report to find out more). If you have many different boxes on the page with a variety of messages you’ll just confuse people.

3. Compelling copy, focused on the reader and what they get if they buy your product or service.

It’s not quite as simple as 123, but if you’re investing in getting people to your site, you also need to invest in keeping them long enough to persuade them to take action. If you’d like to know more just give us a call.
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Sign up to our in the box on the right and get your free reports, tips and information that will help you get your message across in writing.

You can also find us at Lesleywriter or call us on +44 (0) 1245 473296