The right words make a difference. It doesn’t matter if you are proposing to the love of your life or advertising online. Choosing the right words, the right tone, and the best delivery will make your statement heard and drive the action you want.
There are 8.5 billion searches made every day on Google, according to a recent study. So let’s see how more of those searches can lead to your brand with clever writing and crafted copy.
Dust off your keyboard, sharpen your pencils, open your favorite notebook or best word processor and let’s get writing for online gold.
Start a conversation that leads to a conversion today!
Contents
Got message?
First things first, you must know what you want to say. A red line that lights all your communication. Your message must be clear, well thought and understandable. Use as many or as few words as you need to think this mission statement through. It is the base for the rest of your writing. Of course, you won’t use it as such, but if you give it your all, it’s a powerful building block on which success is built.
Take into consideration that your message doesn’t live only in your mind. Your message will occupy a physical or digital space. Think how it will sound on a flyer, on an online banner, on your favorite website, or on digital billboards.
Aim high for your target.
The next step is determining your audience. After your message is clear and in the best form, think about who needs to hear it. Best, draft a persona for them. Use your imagination and picture them in depth: give them a name, an age, an occupation and think about their interests and hobbies. For example, let’s say your persona is Julia, she’s in her 30s, and she watches true crime shows on Netflix every night. How would your brand speak to Julia? What words would make her want to click your ad? Like a detective, would she spot your brand on digital billboards?
Get ahead with headlines
So, you’ve got a message and a target. Congratulations! It’s time to write one of the most important sentences in advertising: the headline.
If you were a fisherman, the headline is the hook, and your content is the bait. So make sure it is sharp and punchy. Keep it short, around 6 words maximum. Why so? Because it should be easy to read and grab attention just like Las Vegas billboards do.
Your headline must never be flat. It must launch, drive, create, innovate, grow and explore. It is an action put into writing. It is the action that inspires your target to take action.
The headline is your primary weapon to grow your brand and dominate the organic search.
Use all the above and own it!
Be yourself. Everytime, all the time
Writing online is all about building a relationship between your brand and your audience. To make it last, you have to be personal and authentic. Otherwise, your audience will catch on to your game and latch on to your competition.
Always use” you” and” your”. It creates familiarity and shows that your brand is approachable and real. These two magic words will close the gap between users and their screens faster than a yellow cab passing down the street when the green lights are on.
And one for the ROI
If you didn’t know already, most people would skim texts. Everybody is trying to take as much information at a glance without reading the whole article.
Make your writing as scannable as possible:
- Use Subheadings (like the one above) to attract attention to important information.
- Use bulleted lists like this one.
- Leave white space between paragraphs to declutter your text and highlight key points.
- Break the text with visual elements, such as pictures or infographics, to make your text easier to read.
Your formatting is just as important as your style. Your copy must be readable, scannable, and easy to understand from the overview. Because once your audience finds a piece that interests them, they will focus on it and read the fine print too – it’s a win-win for everybody.
Even if you don’t feel like you’re Steven King or Neil Gaiman, just start writing and stick with it. Not every word has to be a keyword. Instead, try the tips above, practice repeatedly and soon you will be the Sheik of SEO.
But until we meet again, let’s play a game! Now that you know more about writing, reread this article and try to find these tips applied in each paragraph, to see how they work.
