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Web copywriting is the art of expressing your message in words so you attract and excite your website visitors. Then once you’ve got their attention and built desire they’re much more likely to buy your products or services. The problem is most websites read like a boring corporate brochure and do none of the things I just mentioned.

While audio and video are more popular on the web we still have a huge reliance on text if we want a successful website. Have great web copy (a fancy word for writing) also increases the number of visitors you convert into clients on a daily basis. This means great web copywriting is a very worthwhile investment as it will give you significant returns over the coming years.

Do it yourself web copywriting

If your budget is tight you can always write your own website copy in the beginning. However you’ll want to spend some time learning what you’re doing first. There are some carefully designed steps you need to follow.

There are many copywriting formulas to follow but here’s the simple version of what I use and teach:

1.    Get attention with a great headline
2.    Explain the benefits in terms your visitors respond to
3.    Make an irresistible offer
4.    Back up everything with proof
5.    Reverse the risk with a strong guarantee
6.    Have a call to action and reason to act now

By stepping through this formula and ensuring you’ve ticked all the boxes your website copy will be a lot more effective. Of course this is a basic explanation and it would pay to invest more time learning the art of copywriting for your business. Being great at writing sales messages is definitely a powerful skill to have both online and offline.

Picking the right web copywriter

If you prefer to just hire a copywriter you need to know what you’re looking for. There are many people out there claiming to be great web copywriters but it doesn’t mean they’ve produced measurable results in the past. There are also a lot of different types of copywriting like writing for search engines or even general advertising copywriting.

What you really want is someone who is skilled in direct response copywriting. This comes from the mail order business where the copywriters write sales letters or packages designed to sell a particular product. In this style everything is on the line as the reader will either buy or they won’t and the results are easily tracked.

Smart web copywriters use similar principles when writing copy online. Basically you’re looking for someone who has experience writing sales letters that get results. This is why learning about copywriting is important for your own education so you can choose great copywriters to work for you.

Taking action on what you’ve learned

All the advice in the world won’t help you if you don’t take action on it. So go now and take a look at your website and ask some other people to do the same. Do the words leap off your website and draw the reader in?