Connected Copywriting

When I work with a client to determine the best strategy for web content development, I spend a lot of time researching the client’s industry, competition, and associated search terms, as well as gaining a deep understanding of the target audience and goals. Once all of that preliminary work is in place, it becomes a matter of creative idea generation and, of course, the copywriting itself.

If you’re developing a content plan on your own and aren’t sure what your website needs, here are a few key questions to ask yourself:

• What are my current goals for my website? (To increase traffic, to increase conversions, to reach out to a new consumer market, etc.)
• What are my competitors doing? How can I do better?
• What do my customers want? (Ask them for feedback.)
• What is unique about my product or service?
• What keywords or phrases will help people find my products? Do I appear in the search engine results for those keywords?
• Who is my target audience? Do I need different copy for different audience segments?
• Does any of my current content need reworking?

And, a bonus question:

• If I meet my goals (say, traffic and conversions increase significantly) what changes, if any, will I need to make to my way of doing business?

I raise this last question because recently, as a consumer, I visited a custom woodworking site for a specific product. The product was just what I wanted, at a great price…but in looking around the website and trying to order, I discovered that turnaround time for the product had gone from eight days to five weeks. This was enough of a deterrent that instead I found and purchased a similar product from a competitor at a higher price but with a shorter turnaround.

In other words…be prepared for success!