Day 2 - Product/service/landing page
We are jumping right into the deep end on the second day of our challenge so that you can start attracting leads and sales faster.
This section applies to any page where the goal is for the person to take some sort of action. If you don't want to sell a product or service, it could be simply completing a sign up or even just watching a video.
Or, if you plan to offer a product or service in the future, write your copy around it so you are ready once it's time to start selling.
One call to action per page
Whatever you do, pick just one thing. If you make too many asks on one page, people will get confused and not take any action or drift away from your site.
Tone
Who is reading this? Free-spirited Gen Z, conservative business people, or stay-at-home moms? Create a picture of the person in your mind and write as if you are talking to them. Refer to your exercise from day one. We defined who our customers were and their values.
Put the customer first
Another important thing to remember about the service page is that it’s about the customer, not about the company. Many companies are tempted to brag about how qualified they are, how many staff they have and how many years they have been located at a very prestigious address. The result is people walk away not truly understanding how the company can help them.
For small business entrepreneurs, this often manifests itself in a form of personal branding that is very popular on the Internet right now. We often see websites focused on one person, but how that person can help us is unclear. It’s fine to be front and centre in your business and maybe even desirable, but make sure the reader knows how you can help them. We’re going to talk about your "about" page on Day 4.
Proofread
In this age of the solopreneur, freelancer and gig worker, there are a lot of typos being made in some of the most high-stakes copy. Have you ever scrolled through a thousand word landing page only to arrive breathlessly at the all-important call to action – a button labelled “By now”? Um, fail.
Make sure your read and re-read your copy before hitting the publish button. It doesn’t matter how good you are at spelling and grammar. Everyone makes typos. Consider installing Grammarly on your computer. This program catches more mistakes than standard spellcheck.
Let's get started!
Today's exercise will show you how to work backward from the call-to-action and write your copy step-by-step. Think of an action that you want people to take on your page and get started.
Are you informing them about a product that is available in a store or can they buy it on this page? Do they learn about it on this page and buy it on another? Are you offering a Freebie? Do you want them to call you for a consultation or to order the product? Do you want to schedule the call?
Clearly define the action on your button or link. Don’t use “Click here” as a call to action.
Some suggestions: Buy, Schedule, Download, Get the deal, Call, Sign up, Get started, Subscribe
Urgency
Use limited time offers, limited promotions or sales, extra bonuses that are only available if you subscribe now and similar strategies to build a sense of urgency.
Or explain why they should take action now: They’ve lived long enough with this problem. They are wasting money by not taking action. Opportunities are passing them by while they fail to take action. The sooner they take this action, the quicker they will see the benefits you are promising.
A word about creative copy
When you become a multinational brand with a big budget, you have more creative freedom in your copy because everyone already knows what you do. You can create an entire web page with just an image, logo, and a slogan like “Just do it”, “I’m lovin’ it,” or “Maybe she’s born with it.”
However, when you are just starting out, you need to be more descriptive in your copy so that people can understand your product or service. Even well-known service providers like big name investment and insurance providers will thoroughly describe their offerings on their web sites. Slogans work better for brand recognition strategies that are outside the budget of small and medium-sized businesses.
If you want to build a brand, by all means develop a slogan or tagline and use it on all of your marketing platforms, but don’t rely on it to explain what you are about. We talk about taglines in the full 8-week course. Here, we are just focused on describing ourselves and our products and services.
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