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How to Create Website Headlines and Content that Get Visitors to Take Action

Guest post by: Janis Pettit

Article Overview: Imagine changing just the words on one of your web pages and suddenly seeing a spike in people signing up for your mailing list, or buying from you. It happens everyday. Yet I see small business websites all the time with poorly written web copy. These business owners just don’t understand why their website isn’t generating any business for them. Great copywriting is really the key to getting visitors to take action.

How to Create Website Headlines and Content that Get Visitors to Take Action

Imagine changing just the words on one of your web pages and suddenly seeing a spike in people signing up for your mailing list, or buying from you. It happens everyday. Yet I see small business websites all the time with poorly written web copy. These business owners just don’t understand why their website isn’t generating any business for them. Great copywriting is really the key to getting visitors to take action. I know right away that change is needed when the home page starts with “welcome to our website…“we do this and we do that”. The problem is that the copy is focused on you instead of your website visitor who has come to your site to see what you can do for them.

When people visit your website, they are already a warm prospect. Otherwise why would they be searching for your information? It’s your job to convince them quickly that they need to take action and engage with you in some way. You can do that by answering their main question which is, “What’s in it for me”?

In every marketing message you write, whether it’s a web page, direct mailer, e-mail, e-book or report title or brochure, the headline is the most important element. The headline has to convince people to take the time to read further. It needs to state a benefit you offer and it needs to create enough curiosity that makes someone want to read more. Just changing your headline can literally double the response you get. I’ve seen it happen many times.

The same is true for you blog posts or the names of your free giveaways and your products. If your headline or title doesn’t create curiosity or state a benefit your readers want, then they won’t read further.

Then there’s the content. Do you touch people at an emotional level with your message? No matter what type of product or service you offer, you need to prove that you really understand their needs, pain, challenge or wants. Then you have to go about proving that you can give them the solution they’re seeking. Finally you need to show them that you’ve already successfully helped other people achieve the same results. People aren’t all that interested in the process you go through to get results. They just want to feel confident you’ll get the results they want because you already have.

Now more than ever, when people are bombarded with information and marketing messages, the impact of your message needs to stand out from the crowd if you hope it will be noticed. Look at your web and sales pages. What is fresh and different about your message or approach that sets you apart and makes people take notice?

We use an 11-step copywriting system to create headlines and web content that compel people to take action and it’s a copywriting template. In fact there really is a system that works like a charm. Start bookmarking web pages that capture your attention and notice the elements of the page that got you interested.

You can drive all the traffic you can to your website but if visitors don’t take action once they’re there, you’ve wasted all that effort. First get your website ready for visitors and then create a steady stream of traffic.

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Article Tags: copywriting, online marketing, small business websites



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