By mbretous@hubspot.com (Martina Bretous)

A 2022 State of Content Marketing report by SEMrush revealed that 40% of brands surveyed say they outsource copywriting. If you fall in the 60% and want to improve your copywriting skills, we’re here to help.

Web copy can make the difference between a visitor and a lead. It plays an integral role for consumers at every stage of the buying cycle, from awareness to decision making and advocacy.

Below, you’ll find tips on how to write compelling copy.

Most marketers can identify poor web copy when they see it. Why? Because poor web copy doesn’t read smoothly, stir emotions, influence behaviors, or make explicit calls to action.

It feels purposeless — and that’s the exact opposite of what marketing is meant to accomplish.

Yet, web copywriting is a strategy that sometimes falls by the wayside, often overlooked for other website elements like SEO, design, and functionality.

1. Know your audience.

The number one tip for website copywriting is to know who will be reading it. If you don’t have a reader in mind, how will you know which words and tone will resonate with them best?

As a writer myself, I am constantly aware of the user and their needs. It’s my north star when writing posts. How did I get to know them? Through user personas and data.

User personas will tell you who is the average reader landing on my article, what their pain points and challenges are, along with their goals. Data will give you insight into what strategies have performed well with that audience and which ones to stay away from.

With both, you’ll gain a deeper understanding of your audience, which will allow you to write copy that will engage and compel your user to take action.

2. Figure out the why.

You’ve been tasked with writing a particular piece of copy on the company website.

Once you understand your audience, one HubSpot marketer recommends asking yourself, “who cares?”

“If I can’t answer that, then I can’t expect anyone to read it,” said Curtis del Principe, SEO content writer at HubSpot. “Once I have an idea of who cares (and why), then I have an angle and a through line to guide my writing.”

Image Source

Too often, we write without diving into the purpose of the content. What will the reader gain from reading this? What do I want them to do after reading this? Why should they care about this content?

Answering these questions is key to writing valuable content.

3. Complexity kills readability.

SEMrush recently analyzed over 23,561 texts ranking in Google’s top 10 results. They found that the lowest-scoring texts had two things in common: They were too long or too complex.

In fact, 41% of low-scoring texts used words that were too complex.

Take this as your sign to skip the jargon and the fancy words – just get straight to the point. Here are a few examples:

…read more

Source:: HubSpot Blog

Author: Aaron