Should You Hire a Copywriter for Your Website?
You might have already made the decision regarding who will design your new website. You could have chose to invest in a website designer and developer or go the DIY route with a service like Website-Builder.com where the process is made simple with professionally designed templates and intuitive editing tools.
The next decision’s a big one too…
Who’s going to write your website?
Should you (a) give it a try, (b) trust it to a friend or employee, or (c) hire a professional copywriter?
Real businesses need real copywriters.
The answer to the question above is almost always C. Unless, you have the vast experience required to craft compelling copy that will move your readers to act, you should put a professional on the job.
Of course, it’s cheaper—and therefore, tempting—to do it yourself or put a junior to work. However, you’re likely to discover when your website is published, you get poor results: low traffic, low conversion, and minimal sales. And that’s an expensive problem that sabotages all your efforts.
Online marketing is fiercely competitive. Those that come out winners use the best tools and talent.
6 important reasons to hire a copywriter for your website.
1. Objectivity
Your website copy needs perspective—but not yours. It should speak to your customers about their pleasures and pains. Company owners and directors tend to be too close the product and service and describe the solution in the wrong terms.
A professional copywriter is adept at delivering an objective point of view. He or she will ask the right questions and ultimately dial-down the “feature speak” and instead, stress customer benefits—a far more effective approach to selling.
2. The brand experience
The experience people have at your website plays an immense role in their overall impression of your brand. In fact, if visiting your site is their first experience with your brand, it plays the most important part.
Effective writing will help enhance your company’s image. It works to positively affect the perception regarding the quality of your product and give your brand a voice.
You also need to differentiate your business from the competition. The job of explaining the distinctive qualities you bring to the table rests with the copy. Your copywriter should be able to help you establish a unique selling proposition and communicate it powerfully.
3. Professionalism
Your website is like your storefront, so it must create a great first impression or the customer will simply leave. Without a professional copywriter, you run the risk of sacrificing professionalism.
The copy must avoid spelling and grammatical errors. It should have a nice rhythmic flow to it. It should be well organized and perfectly clear. It should speak in simple, easy-to-understand terms that touch on human emotions.
An experienced website copywriter will also write concisely and foster increased reading (time on site) by presenting the copy in an organized fashion with headings, subheads, paragraphs, lists, callouts and the various tricks of the trade.
4. Conversion
The bottom line in online marketing, like any marketing, is results. You want your website visitors to do something: call, visit, subscribe, try or buy.
Your site needs copy that employs the principles of persuasion, the basic intellectual tools in a talented copywriter’s arsenal.
The site should also have powerful call to actions to move readers to the next practical step in the sales progression. You’ll note at the end of this article, I’ve guided you on precisely what you should do next.
5. Search success
Online marketing is often referred to as “inbound marketing.” The idea is you minimize (or altogether cease) investing in traditional “push” marketing tactics where media investments are required. You switch to “pull.”
The pull, or inbound, approach relies in large part to your success with search engines. You want to be discovered in the results that are served by Google or another search engine. When prospects are in the research and/or buying mode, they’ll be doing online searches. They’re going to find the information they seek. Will it be yours?
Successful copywriters today understand how search works. Search engine optimization can be complex and overwhelming to beginners. So in addition to knowing how to appeal to people, veteran copywriters know how to craft copy (as well as “tags”) that attract bots (robots or search “spiders”).
When the site is setup to be indexed properly by the search engines—with the smart use of keywords, titles and tags—you’ll gain a major advantage in search. Translation: your site will be visible. Though it sounds fairly obvious, it’s wise to remind yourself, a site that’s seldom seen will do little to help grow the business.
6. Time
Running a business is a never-ending time suck. If you’re attending to the many issues it takes to grow your business, will you find the time to write website content? Should you even try? You know the answer now.
While you will need to part with some of your marketing budget to hire a professional copywriter, you’ll thank yourself for doing so. Your copywriter is a specialist who knows how to get the ball rolling quickly and follow-through to completion fast.
Did you like the way this article was written?
You probably didn’t give that a thought until right now when I posed the question.
Here’s why…
Effective copy simply tells the story. It doesn’t call attention to itself. It introduces the challenge and then smoothly moves into what feels like a nice, warm conversation about the solution.
Guess what? The owner of this business didn’t write it; a professional writer did (and he even used a semicolon correctly).
You’re about to get busy creating your website. If your goal for the site is to turn visitors into prospects and customers, don’t make the mistake of settling for anything less than stellar copy.
Go here to look at how to get started with your website. And contact us here if you’d like us to connect you to a copywriter who can help make it great. .
About Barry Feldman
Barry Feldman operates Feldman Creative and provides clients content marketing strategies that rock and creative that rolls. Barry authors "Content Marketing Minds" at Social Media Today and has recently been named a Top 40 Digital Strategist by Online Marketing Institute and one of 25 Social Media Marketing Experts You Need to Know by LinkedIn. Connect with Barry on G+ and Twittter @feldmancreative
