How Do Fruit Snacks Affect How Well Your Web Site Copy Performs?
By Brenda GallowayI was finishing a 20+ page web site and 25+ page online relocation guide 23 hours before I gave birth to my daughter. It went something like this: contraction, breath, type, type, type, contraction, send to client, pack for hospital.
I made a promise to myself that I would not let the business that I worked so many years to establish, fall by the wayside as I sauntered into motherhood.
Fast-forward 2 years…
How can I grab my toddler’s attention and coax her to do what I want? Is poopey spelled with “ey” or a “y”? Is preschool hyphenated? Yes, when I started critiquing Curious George Makes Pancakes and spelling "poop" in my head, I knew it was time to make good on my promise and get back to copywriting.
It was time to use my brain or lose my mind.
Fast-forward 2 weeks…
Now my adorable daughter is enrolled in a pre-preschool program. I’m catching up with clients. And I’m wondering if I still have what it takes to be a leading copywriter?
You bet I do. See, I’ve realized that I’ve been perfecting my copywriting skills while raising my daughter all along. Are you about to throw yourself on the floor and defy me? Come on…follow along…if you’re a good reader, you’ll get a treat!
Within the first few months of her life, I knew that my daughter was strong-willed. As the months tick by, her stubbornness requires me to see things as her two-year old mind and body does. A copywriter does the same. Before beginning any project, I have to learn who my audience is and write copy that speaks to them on their level.
In my house, “yang yang” means raisins and earrings. My child speaks a language that doesn’t resemble anything near English. Yet, we manage to communicate quite well with one another. How? Just like I do as a copywriter, I’ve discovered her needs and wants and I make sure they are addressed in our activities and conversations.
All needs and wants are not created equal and effective copy thoughtfully addresses issues specific to each audience. Let’s say my client sells real estate. Her web site visitors’ wants and needs are very different from those visiting an IT consulting web site.
Tell my child to find her shoes, pick up toys, eat lunch, and put Elmo on the table simultaneously and she’ll ignore you as she goes about her merry way. She can do all that and more, but we have to take it step by step. Web sites have an ultimate goal to obtain contact information, sell a product or service, etc. Achieving that goal means writing copy that walks readers through the process of buying concisely and logically. Take them in fifty directions at once and they’ll click off your site going about their merry way.
Like any honest mother will admit, I’m not above bribery. And neither should you be when it comes to your web site content. Typically, offering a bribe to get your visitor to buy a product or divulge their contact information creates a win-win situation. Fruit snacks or a book works for me as a mother, but special discounts, added value information, or a free gift works for me as a copywriter.
You’ve finished the article like a good reader and if you were my child, I’d be whipping out the fruit snacks right now. But effective copy speaks to your audience, right? Therefore, here’s your treat. Concerned that your current web site copy doesn’t target your readers, effectively address their needs and wants, or persuasively lead them through the buying process? Worry no more. Contact me and request a FREE home page review. No fruit snacks, but you’ll receive a no-obligation completely objective evaluation of your home page content.
Originally published in 2007.