Is writing salescopy for a web site the same as a direct mail piece? What should you do different copywriting for the internet? Here are 10 web site copywriting 'must do's' for you to consider ...

Internet Copywriting - The Ten Internet Copywriting Must Do's (in no particular order)

When setting out to write salescopy of any kind, one of the first and main things you should have on your mind is who exactly are you targeting. Your target audience is extremely important because it will decide how you choose to write. The terminology that you choose to include will heavily be decided upon by the audience. For example, if you’re writing copy for people who nothing about baseball, you wouldn't include terms like “foul ball” or “outfielders” because they wouldn't be familiar with these terms, and you could 'turn them off'. On the other hand, if you’re writing to athletes that make baseball their priority, the correct terminology will not only be appropriate but expected by the readers. Keeping your readers in mind should determine how you write your article, and what language to use.

By knowing and understanding your readers, you’ll know how to better appeal to their emotions. Being able to do this develops a rapport with your readers and will ensure that they continue to' listen' to you. The more rapport you can develop early on with your readers will cause them to continue to read and start to trust what you have to say (sell). That will make the reader relate to your copy personally, getting emotionally involved in what it is you are saying. Once you’ve been able to do that for a reader, the call to action (You, Buy This Now!), is so much easier. Build trust and rapport!

Benefits and Features! One of the most discussed topics in beginner copywriting! A benefit to a product, lists all of the things that a product will do to produce a positive reason for owning the product. The benefits are all of the positive reasons why you should own a product. The features of a product are the things that are included in the product itself that produce the positive effects that make up the benefits. A product’s features are things such as the air cleaning filter that is included in a humidifier. The benefit is that you can breathe so much more easily, making you healthier (for example). If you are trying to sell a product, work to the product’s benefits rather than the features. List them both, starting and ending with the benefits. Buyers like to know about a product features, but they’re much more interested in what the benefits of the product are. Appeal to the emotions.

There are ten must do’s when it comes to internet copywriting and writing sales copy on the internet. Those must do’s are following:

1. Make sure that the writing is legible. Use black ink, a clear font such as Verdana, and keep the writing uncluttered. Keeping it readable should be the most important aspect of writing internet copy because of course, an article that’s hard to read is not going to get much interest.

2. Your headline should match the topic of the article and it should grab the interest of the reader. The headline can simply tell the topic of the article, or it can grab the attention of the reader and leave them wanting to continue to read the article.

3. The sub headlines should be placed in an order that makes sense to the reader. Each sub section should relate to the whole topic of the article while making its very own point to the subject.

4. When writing sales copy, be sure to promote the benefits to the product. This will be more likely to sell the product over any other aspect.

5. When appropriate use testimonials to promote a product. Those that are shopping for a product and trying to make a decision are more likely to purchase a product that is given a testimonial by another owner of the product.

6. Try not to use links that will leave the page. If the article is being used to sell a product and will be placed with the product, the last thing you’d want to do is give a potential buyer a link to a page that they cannot buy the product from. There’s a good chance they’ll get distracted and not return to purchase the product.

7. Include a call to action in your article. This will make your reader feel that they must purchase the product or perform an action in order to accomplish a goal.

8. Using long copy will give you the ability to include all relevant information in one page. Short copy will give less information on a page and require several pages to include all relevant information.

9. A P.S. at the end of an article will add more relevant information while making the reader aware that you’d like to give them all information necessary.

10. Use split testing in order to improve your sales with your sales copy.

Following the ten above steps will definitely improve the response to your internet copywriting, but as everything to do with this 'game', the only true way to know for sure is to test.

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