There’s a saying: “Copy is king”. It’s always been true, with countless freelance projects being “I need a website” lead rather than “I have some great stuff I’d like to say online” lead. That’s not a problem in itself, but it’s important to remember the importance of great copy to help get the most out of your online goals.
A couple of quick win examples include;
- Making sure your subject lines are optimized
- Adding a list to the body text of your email campaign
- Ensuring your email and landing page copy compliment each other
Why is great online copy even that important?
It makes sense when you think about it – The more someone writes about a subject (providing that what’s wrote is quality content) is proving to Google and to their readers that they know what they’re on about. This has a more positive weighting than someone who has 1,000 spammy inbound links to their website.
Google author rank
Google’s Author Rank is making a lot of headlines in the world of digital marketing as of late, It’s a simple concept: If you write quality content on a subject, Google is more likely to present your information to someone searching for information on that subject, because you’re considered as an authority in that area.
There are lots of things that you can do to increase your author rank, one of which is to ‘hook up’ (technical term!) your Google+ account to your website. Sharing content across social media is one sure-fire way to show Google that you’re out there and know your stuff.
Compelling and cohesive messaging
The content you write should always be great quality, but it should also be compelling to the audience. Make sure that call-to-actions are optimised and that your messaging is cohesive across all your platforms.
I’ll add a caveat here. ‘Cohesive’ should never be misinterpreted as ‘duplicate’. A landing page with the same copy as an email presents nothing new to compel the visitor through the conversion funnel. I like to think of it in terms of a book: The front cover is the email, the back cover the landing page and the premium content given away upon conversion is the novel itself. The landing page should continue where the email left off, including CTA messaging and content in general.
A real life example
There are a number of good examples out there of great online copy increasing conversion rates of emails and landing pages. Here’s a case study video by marketing experiments detailing how Encyclopedia Britannica increased their conversion by 103% through improving their copywriting.
