5 Ways To Check If Your Website Has Good Copywriting

First of all, how to describe how copywriting works? Picture this: You’re at an art gallery event, enjoying some good wine and admiring the new collection. Some pieces have grabbed your attention at the get-go because they’re visually interesting. When you further examine them, they even make you feel something. You feel some connection to what you’re seeing. They’re not just pretty to look at.

Then you walk up to another art piece. Yes, it’s nice enough. But you really don’t feel anything while looking at it. It doesn’t make you think anything. It doesn’t even seem to have been painted with a purpose in mind. Just so... blah. You decide to move on to something more interesting.

This is exactly the reaction you want to avoid when your users go into your website. You definitely don’t want that “blah” impression. Good copywriting helps to turn your website into something that is not only visually pleasing but also creates interest and promotes action from your users.

Not sure if your website is creating this unspeakable “blah” reaction? Then take a look at our good copywriting practices checklist. And if you do find that your website lacks a little “snap,” then with a bit of our help and some inspiration from Elle Woods, we’ll get you there!

The Craft of Copywriting

That might sound a little bit spooky, but it’s just a fancy way of saying that copywriting is an art. It’s the skill of writing persuasive messages that encourage people to take action.

Copywriting is the skill (as well as the field of work) of writing sales promotions and other marketing materials for products, services, fundraising campaigns, and more. The point of it is to persuade people to take action, whether it's buying something, entering an email address, donating money, or clicking a button. - Brian Edmondson, The Balance

Effective copywriting works to drive responses and increase purchases. If you notice this isn’t really happening on your website, then it’s time to take a second look at your copy.

5 Effective Copywriting Practices Checklist

Time for a reality check. Let’s see if your website is really using effective copy. If everything is running smoothly, congrats! But if there’s room for improvement, don’t despair. There are always ways to get the help and guidance you may need. Ready?

1. Addresses a specific audience

Before any of your copy even gets written, the first thing that needs to happen is to get clear on your target audience. Instead of talking to a whole crowd of people, imagine one person representing that group and talk directly to them. Keep the tone of your copywriting conversational and relatable. We recommend that you create a user persona based on your target audience to write effective copy.

2. Offers a Unique Benefit or Promise

Prospects have an incredible amount of options to choose from. What is your copy doing to offer them something different? What makes you the best solution?

Many people refer to this as your USP or unique selling proposition. What makes you different from every other me-too product or service out there? - Brian Edmondson, The Balance

3. Grabs Your Prospect’s Attention

Before you can create any leads or make a sell, you need to generate your audience’s attention. The best way to do this is to have an attention-grabbing headline. This is a key part of copywriting. Headlines can be a great way to make clear the big benefit you have for your prospects.  They should create immediate interest in your users and make them want to learn more about your product or services.

4. Your Copy Is Skimmable

Sometimes, less really is more. Your users are busy people and may not have the time and energy to read everything on your website. Realistically, most of us don’t even have that kind of attention span.

Make it easy for your prospect to get the gist without having to read every word of your copy. In practice, this means to break up your copy with sub-headlines, bold text and bullet points. - Main Street ROI, “Simple 7-Step Copywriting Checklist.”

Effective copywriting will be able to make your ideas and selling points clear without so much fuss.

5. The Call-To-Action (CTA) Is Obvious

Good copy should tell people exactly what to do next and why they need to do it right now. Therefore, the CTA must be as clear and obvious as possible. Offering reasons to your users as to why they should act now rather than later is extremely effective. Offering incentives, bonuses, and discounts are also quite helpful.

Moment of Truth

How did your website do according to our checklist? Hopefully, everything is working as it should. If your copywriting could use some work, we’re confident our checklist will help you on your way to make it more effective. However, if you think you need help to achieve this, it’s time to hire a good copywriter (wink, wink).

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