5 Tips to Take Your Copy Up a Notch

With 47% of buyers viewing three to five pieces of content before talking to a sales rep, having excellent copy is essential. After all, today’s consumer accesses content from various sources, has a short attention span, and anything they read must answer their questions, or they’ll click away from your website. Although satisfying the user’s intent is crucial, you’ll find that stellar copy also increases conversions and boosts your search engine page rank.

Smart Insights reports that in a matter of 60 seconds, 3.8 million Google searches occur and users publish 1,440 posts on the WordPress platform. While it’s important to add new content frequently, if your copy falls short of your customer’s expectations, then you’re actually hurting your business more than helping. Take your text, and by extension, your business, up a notch by incorporating these five tips into your writing.

1. Optimize Content for SEO

Far from choosing a few keywords and stuffing them into content, optimizing for SEO requires more skill to get noticed. This stems from the fact that the internet is overloaded with content, much of it considered poor quality. A study by Moz analyzed one-million pieces of content and found that a whopping 75% received fewer than “10 social shares and zero links from other domains.”

If your content doesn’t get seen, then does it exist? Sure, you see it on your site. However, when someone searches for your keywords does your article pop up? If not, then you need to optimize your copy.

• Know what keywords you’re targeting.
• Include longtail and voice search optimized keywords.
• Add a keyword in the title, HI and H2 header.
• Use keywords naturally in your first 100 words.
• Sprinkle keywords throughout your content, but don’t stuff.

Search engines are smarter than ever, and you’ll be swiftly punished if your content keyword stuffs and fails to add value. Take your content up a notch by understanding the current best SEO practices and implementing these while writing.

2. Keep it Relatable to Customers

While statistics and facts help educate the consumer, for your brand message to stick you must keep it relatable. A fantastic way to keep your writing friendly is to use storytelling. Before writing, think about your ideal customer and their pain points. Put yourself in their shoes. Then write for them, not at them. No one wants to feel shamed or talked down too; instead, consumers relate the friendly expert who seeks to make their life easier.

3. Create Conversion-Focused Copy

With Junto reporting that “18% of local searches done on mobile devices lead to a sale within a day,” if you aren’t converting viewers with your content then what’s the point of posting it? Before writing each piece of material you should know where it falls in your buyer journey, then add an appropriate call-to-action.

• If you aim to increase sign-ups to your newsletter, then end your post by asking your readers to sign up.
• However, if you want to build awareness and increase social shares, then ask viewers to share.
• Engage readers by asking them to comment on your blog post which helps you connect with leads.

4. Provide Valuable Information

Today’s time-strapped consumer is more likely to watch a quick video or scroll past a search engine result that appears to be of low quality. For your copy to get views and for people to find your business credible, you must offer value to your readers. Use data-based information, include links to trustworthy sites, and format your headers so your readers can scan the page and understand what it’s about. However, consumers want more than words. Turn your essential information into short videos, high-quality images, and infographics to increase the value of your content.

5. Maintain the Correct Tone

Maintaining a similar tone throughout all your content helps build trust with consumers. The tone isn’t the same as a style of writing. The tone is what separates your business from the thousands of others. You’re an expert in your business, and your online voice needs to convey that. Business 2 Community recommends that the correct tone is consistent, authentic, and unique.

If you belong to the “39% of marketers who don’t think their organization’s marketing strategy is effective,” then it’s time to look at your marketing strategy. Businesses can’t risk posting low-quality, error-filled content anymore. You’ll lose consumer trust and face a lower ranking from search engines. By focusing on user intent, then delivering search engine optimized content that your customers can not only relate too but feel that it’s valuable, you’ll increase conversions and notice a difference in both web traffic and social shares. Boost your inbound marketing strategy with content that converts.