All you need is to enter a word from your headline idea, and the tool will provide the right rhyme selection to make your potential headline better. To get insights on which title sparks interest among your website visitors and why, Qualaroo is the perfect option for you. It is a unique tool because it provides real data based on. Your website’s sales copy should always be written for your customers rather than search engines. It should be believable, convincing, persuasive and easy to read. The goal is to turn a random visitor into a paying customer, preferably one who comes back soon. Sales copy isn’t difficult to write, but it doesn’t always work after your first draft. In fact, it might not spark conversions until you’ve produced five or 10 — or even more — versions of the same page. While you’re collecting data from your website visitors, you can continuously tweak your copy.

Sharp Copy, Intuitive Design and User-Friendly Functionality Are Key

The best websites are written and designed with the user’s perspective in mind.

Quick Summary

1. Start with a clear navigation.
2. Use conversational English.
3. Apply SEO best practices in mind.
4. Provide all the relevant information.
5. Leave out the hype.
6. Make your home page a to-the-point summary.
7. Create unique landing pages for specific topics.
8. Let pictures help tell your story.
9. Include trust-building content.
10. Keep your website up to date.
11. Use a straightforward layout.
12. Make it easy for visitors to contact you.
13. Keep forms simple.
14. Include a call to action on nearly every page.
15. Make it perfect or as close to it as you can get.

Need help creating killer content? Work with a professional copywriter.

If you’re a DIY-type, read on for useful copywriting tips.

Write Copy with Your Customer in Mind

Here’s how many websites are developed. The decision-makers gather around the conference table and begin brainstorming. “Our website should include our mission statement so visitors know what guides us,” says one executive.

“It should look and sound professional, so let’s use stock photos and have Mary write the copy because she was an English major in college,” says another.

“We should have a page with all our products. But let’s not put too many details or prices because we want visitors to have to contact us,” says a third.

Crisp copy, innovative design and user-centered functionality should be your priorities when creating your website.

Someone from the sales department adds, “On the Contact Us page, let’s use a form with lots of questions that will help us make a sale. Have visitors tell us their budget and how soon they intend to make a purchase. And let’s be sure to get their full name, mailing address and phone number so we can have a salesperson pursue them.”

Are you cringing as you read these website suggestions? If not, you should be. They’re off-base and destined to alienate visitors.

The Visitor Must Come First

While all these ideas have merit for the company, they don’t make much sense for visitors. And that’s a big mistake. If you don’t put your visitors first, your website won’t be effective. Bottom line, it’s not about you!

The best websites are customer-centric. They’re designed to provide the information visitors seek and to present it in an interesting, organized fashion. They let the customer see the real you, which then builds trust.

Clarity and simplicity are excellent goals for website content.

They make it easy for visitors to complete whatever action they have in mind, whether it’s to buy a product, subscribe to a newsletter, or contact you for more details.

In an article on principles of website usability, Sabina Idler says, “If you distract or confuse your visitors, they will either need more time to find what they came for, or they might forget their initial goal all together. Either way, they will not experience your website as user-friendly and chances are that they leave dissatisfied and with no intention of coming back.”

Make sure users have a positive experience when they visit your website.

Visitors come to your site with certain goals in mind. Your job is to help them achieve these goals as quickly as possible, ensuring they have a positive user-experience or UX, as it’s become commonly known.

“UX design principles are all about creating an experience that is pleasurable, hassle-free and seamless from start to finish,” according to Dilate digital marketing in Australia. “Websites with killer UX will keep people on the website longer, help create a loyal audience and improve the chance of business success.”

The bottom line is your visitors don’t want cute or clever. They won’t take the time to decipher your meaning. They simply want to know how you’re going to solve their problem. Or, put another way, what are you selling and why is it right for me NOW?

Here are 15 tried and proven tips to help make your website successful:

1. Start with a clear navigation.
Organize your pages into logically-named categories and use standard terms on your menu. Visitors don’t want to guess where to go. They don’t want to analyze what you mean. And they don’t have the patience to embark on a scavenger hunt for facts.

2. Use conversational English.
Despite what your high school English teacher may have thought, nobody wants to read text that sounds like a term paper. Yawn. Write copy as though you’re speaking directly to the visitor. Pretend you’re having a one-on-one conversation.

Use second person like “you” and “we.” A friendly, informal tone is better than stiff, corporate-speak. Contractions like “you’ll” and “we’re” are fine. Industry jargon that your visitors may not understand is not.

3. Apply SEO best practices.
The best website in the world is a waste if no one can find it. If Google ranks your website high through your use of optimized copy, you immediately get fabulous exposure to prospects searching for your product or service. FOR FREE. Search engine optimization done right (white hat techniques only) provides a huge return on investment.

4. Provide all the relevant information.
When people search the web, they’re seeking answers. If your site doesn’t provide the facts, the visitor will move on to the next one in the search results.

When you write the copy, be sure to answer the typical visitor’s questions or they’ll click their back button.

Don’t be afraid of sharing too much, and that includes prices. Transparency works. Studies show information-rich websites are the most effective in converting visitors into serious prospects. And the search engines favor sites that provide comprehensive information, ranking them higher than sparse sites that lack subject matter depth.

5. Leave out the hype.
Visitors don’t want spin. They expect honesty and transparency. They crave facts so they can make an educated decision. Place all your cards on the table and let visitors draw their own conclusions. Whenever possible, include statistics and relevant specifics that can help support your claims.

6. Make your home page a to-the-point summary.
Since your home page is the most common entrance to your website, it should describe how customers will benefit from your content, products, or services. If visitors can’t quickly figure out what’s in it for them, they’ll click that back button. Poof, gone!

On your home page, include links to two to four inner pages that visitors commonly seek. They can be to your About Us or FAQ pages or link to the page for your top-selling product. Those links will help draw in visitors and engage their interest.

You only have a few seconds to grab the visitor’s attention. Use the space on your Home page wisely.

7. Create unique landing pages for specific topics.
While you might want everyone to come through the front door, the home page of your website, that might not be the best strategy. A more targeted approach is to create landing pages that speak to specific subjects.

If someone is looking for information on say your product’s military application, he should land on your page that is dedicated to that subject. Landing pages convert at a higher rate than do home pages.

If you’re interested in targeting vertical markets, create a separate landing page for each one. Not only will you attract more web traffic, you’ll also see an increase in conversions, that is, visitors becoming qualified leads and customers.

8. Use pictures to help tell your story.
If you have professional photos of your products or your people, by all means use them. Visitors want to see what they’re buying and who they’re buying it from. According to 10 Simple Rules of Visual Storytelling, “stories in text bore, stories told visually engage — and sell.”

But professional photos are a luxury not every business can afford. In that case, look to stock photos. You can use them to add visual interest to what would otherwise be a copy-heavy page. Stock photos used to be costly, but these days you can find many sites selling low-cost or even free stock photos.

Use photos to add visual interest to your web pages and keep the visitor engaged.

According to Word of Mouth, an Australian web design firm, “A modern web design trend that you’re starting to see in layouts is the inclusion of not only photos but also videos.” Using a variety of media adds excitement to your page!

9. Include trust-building content.
Explain why your company is uniquely qualified to provide its products or services. Include some details about your company’s history and achievements, especially on your About Us page.

Add a photo of the founder if it’s relevant. Bonus points if the founder is seen in their work setting, i.e. a restaurant owner in his kitchen wearing a chef’s hat, a wedding coordinator involved in directing the setup for a wedding, a car dealer standing on her car lot.

Consider dedicating a page to testimonials or case studies and even link out to your reviews on Google or Yelp. These third-party endorsements hold weight. Customers buy from companies they trust.

10. Keep your website up to date.
If visitors notice that your content isn’t current, then your site loses all credibility. Continually update your site, add to it and remove any information that is obsolete.

The last part of that sentence is critical, so I hope you didn’t miss it. You shouldn’t only add content. You need to also delete anything that’s no longer relevant. If the good information is buried, your visitor might never find it. Remember, we’re shooting for clean and simple.

11. Use a straightforward layout.
Nobody likes clutter, and that includes visitors to your website. Clean, simple and organized works best. The more intuitive, the better, so visitors can easily find what they need.

Clean and simple also applies to the programming of your site. Project Local Downunder advises, “If you want to dominate the search engines, hire an expert website designer who specializes in building websites with clean code and pays attention to site load speed and optimization.”

If you’ll be doing the design yourself, consider using a website builder like Weebly, Squarespace or Ucraft. “Website builders eliminate the need to hire a developer or learn to code,” according to a 2020 article about best website builder software.

Aim for clarity so customers can find what they need and accomplish their tasks.

12. Make it easy for visitors to contact you.
Put your contact information in multiple places and possibly your footer on every page so it’s easy to find. It should always be just one click away. Don’t make visitors work hard to reach you. They might not bother, and you’ll lose them.

You might even consider adding a live chat feature that enables you to converse with your customers in a written/digital format.

13. Keep forms simple.
If your website includes a form, such as on your Contact or Quote page, ask the fewest questions possible. Visitors hate completing all those fields, (don’t we all?), and they likely don’t trust you enough to provide all the information you’re requesting. Yes, you’d love to obtain their detailed information, but it’s what they prefer, not you!

Visitors to your website don’t want to fill out a complicated form. Keep it simple.

14. Include a call to action on nearly every page.
Tell visitors what you would like them to do next. Lead them down the path to a sale or to contacting you. It’s great to be a quality source of information, but you also want visitors to know they can make a purchase.

How To Write Killer Copy For Your Website Site

Conversion expert Neil Patel recommends that your call to action be closely aligned with your audience’s mindset. If your call to action “doesn’t closely match the intent of your audience, you’re going to see a sharp decline or limited lift in conversions for a given piece of content or landing page.”

15. Make it perfect or as close to it as you can get.
Spelling and grammar mistakes make you look like an amateur. So does poor wording. Review your work closely, or better yet, consider hiring a professional copywriter to craft your content.

Proofread your content to ensure it reads professionally and is error-free.

Deliver True Value

In today’s information-saturated world, visitors to your website are likely to be impatient. If they can’t quickly find what they want, they’ll move on. They’re skeptical of anything that sounds “salesy.” If they could speak to you, they’d say, “Just the facts, please.”

To be effective, your website must deliver true value. Put your visitors’ needs and wants first as you create its content and watch your conversion rate soar!

* * *

Read to the end of this blog post to receive $1 million!

Oh, if only that were true. I’d probably read through more than once. However, now that I have you thinking about the proper way to motivate someone, I’d like to share some tips on how to craft a clear and engaging call-to-action (CTA) for your marketing campaigns.

What Is a Call to Action in Marketing?

In marketing, your call to action is the part of your advertisement that tells your target audience what they should be doing once they click on your PPC ad and hit your website or landing page. The simplest example of a call to action is 'Buy now!'

The more information you can provide your potential customers with your CTA, the better it will be for all parties involved. You can let your audience know what to expect when they click on your ad, and you can help dissuade the wrong users from clicking by means of a clear and direct message. While it is also important to understand what industry-specific phrasings or messaging your potential customers would respond well to, the CTA tips below are equally valuable.

<<Want more help with your ads? Get our (free!) All-Star Playbook to Online Advertising>>

1. Use a strong command verb to start your CTA

It’s all about being clear and concise with your CTA. You don’t have a ton of space in your ad to get your point across, with the character limit set at 35 characters per description line, so it is important to get straight to the point. Let your audience know exactly what you want them to do, and don’t dilly dally – start the CTA with the desired action.

• Run an e-commerce website? Start your CTA with words like “buy,” “shop,” or “order”
• Promoting a newsletter or white paper? Start your CTA with words like “download” or “subscribe”
• Want someone to request more information? Try “fill out a form for…” or “find out how…”

Let’s go back to that white paper example. If you’re a marketing agency promoting your latest tips and insights, you want to be sure to that your audience understands exactly how to access that white paper. If your CTA read something like “Our latest white paper is available” you may not get a great click-through rate, as folks might not be sure where or when they can expect to get their hands on it. A call-to-action such as “download our white paper today!” is much more direct and informative, which should help improve CTR.

2. Use words that provoke emotion or enthusiasm

You want to be able to elicit a strong response from your audience as a result of their enthusiasm. If your CTA is enthusiastic, then your audience will be enthusiastic too. Take a CTA like “buy now and get 50% off!” – not only are you providing them with a massive benefit, but who wouldn’t be thrilled to get their order for half off?

For someone looking to book a trip with their family, a CTA such as “plan your dream vacation today!” will excite them about the notion of a family trip and make them eager to click on your ad. A small, yet effective element here is adding an exclamation point to the end of your CTA in order to provoke that enthusiasm. It makes your CTA pop, and gives it a little extra kick.

Look how much more exciting exclamation points make everything

3. Give your audience a reason why they should take the desired action

In other words, what’s in it for them? Will it help them do their jobs better, lose weight, or save money? This will tie in heavily with your value proposition, or unique selling point (USP). Your USP is arguably one of the most important pieces of acquiring new leads, so creating a nice USP/CTA mash-up is a great way to increase clicks. A good example of this would be something like “call today to schedule your free consultation!” Not only have you stated the action you want the user to take (call today), but you have also provided them with a reason why they should take that action (a free consultation).

4. Take Advantage of FOMO

This is actually one of my favorite tactics when it comes to a successful CTA. Fear of missing out, otherwise known as FOMO, is an extremely effective motivator. When people think they might lose out on an opportunity that might not come around again, they’ll be mighty quick to hop on the bandwagon.

One of the best uses of FOMO in your CTA is to mention a sale or promotion that your company is holding, and which won't last forever. You probably get emails with this sort of messaging all the time, I know I sure do. I’m talking about messaging like “Shop today! Sale ends on Monday,” perhaps during a three-day weekend. Or even “buy now while supplies last!” during the holiday season. It’s tough to ignore a prompt like that, especially during a time-sensitive, under-the-gun type of situation (e.g. the Christmas season). Similar to provoking enthusiasm as we discussed earlier, provoking fear of missing out in your CTA is sure to get you some additional clicks.

One is the loneliest number that you’ll ever do

5. Know your devices

Creating a killer call-to-action is important, that’s no secret. But I also urge you to consider customizing your CTA based on the device being used by your audience. Google considers desktop and tablet as the same device, as the screen sizes are roughly the same, and people use them for search in similar scenarios. An example of this would be a person sitting on the couch at night, who sees an ad on TV for a product they’re interested in. The next thing they’ll probably do is grab their laptop or tablet and search for more information on it.

However, mobile devices tend to have different user behavior and search intent than desktop/tablets, making it prudent to tailor your CTA based on device. Users who search for something on their desktop or tablet are typically still doing their research, and are not quite ready to commit. But users searching for something on their mobile phone are often looking for “instant gratification” or fast results.

Someone could be walking down the street when they see an ad on a moving bus, and whip out their phone and quickly search for what they saw before it leaves their brain. Their search will also likely result in a phone call to complete the desired action, rather than browsing a website. My advice is to create a more phone call-centric CTA for your ads that appear on mobile devices. You could try something like “call now to get started” or “call us today for more information,” and that should help guide your target audience to take the action you want them to take.

There are two ways you can make this tactic even more effective:

• Google gives you the ability to set a mobile preference for your ads, which allows you to designate certain ads to only appear for searches completed on mobile devices. With this option, you can focus your CTA on generating more phone calls.
• You can also enable call extensions, which allow you to display your phone number alongside your ads. This option is available for all devices, and I strongly recommend that you take advantage of it, but Google automatically adjusts the way your call extensions are displayed on mobile searches. Instead of your number appearing, a small “Call” button will be display, allowing for one-touch dialing. This is what is known as Google’s “Click- to-Call” function.

Google’s Click-to-Call button appears on mobile searches

6. Don’t be afraid to get a little creative

It’s important that you keep your CTA’s fresh, much like you should with your ad copy in general. A good, old-fashioned A/B test is a great way to identify which CTA’s bring you clicks, and which CTA’s bring you frowns. While your tried and true calls-to-action like the ones we’ve already discussed are always good to use, you really never know how they’ll perform in your account until you actually use them.

PPC is definitely a game of trial and error (which is why it can be frustrating!), and your calls-to-action are no exception to the rule. Something could look great on paper, or may sound great when a colleague recommends it to you, but the only way you’ll absolutely know for sure if something will work for your account is if you test it out. Your target audience may not respond well to what could be considered a “surefire CTA,” which is enough to make you pull your hair out. I recommend not only testing different CTA’s, but being creative with them too. If your target audience isn’t responding well to your ads, you might as well try to think outside the box a bit!

Elisa Gabbert shared some examples of creative CTAs in a blog post if you are looking for some additional inspiration, while Dan Shewan examined what makes some call to action examples so effective in a separate post, so do your research!

7. Use numbers when possible

How To Write Killer Copy For Your Website Page

We consumers respond well to seeing numbers such as pricing, discounts, promotions, incentives, etc. It helps us to determine whether or not it’s worth splurging on items we desperately want, but probably aren’t essential to everyday life. So when the opportunity arises, why not appeal to your target audience that way?

I am always a big proponent of including pricing information in your ad copy in general, and that includes your CTA. If a user sees your pricing information in your ad, and decides to click through to your site, then you know they are still interested in the product or service you are offering. Now you know you have yourself a valuable click, and an increased chance at generating a conversion. But, if you don’t include your pricing information in your ads, someone may click through to your site, excited about your products/services, but then get scared off by your prices; now you have yourself a less than desirable situation. This leads to the dreaded wasted spend in your account, and who wants to deal with that?

Try experimenting with your pricing information in your CTA, as well as any other applicable numerical information. A CTA such as “Shop today for TVs under $300!” not only shows a user how little they will pay for a TV, but it also hits on the FOMO element as well (pretty sneaky huh?). If you are running a special promotion for shipping, you could try something like “order by Sunday for 1-day shipping.” Maybe you are an auto body shop looking to incentivize your audience with a discount; your CTA might look something like “Book today! 15% off your next visit.”

Honorable mention: Use crappy language

This doesn’t make the top 7, as it can be a little risqué, but it can also be pretty effective in catching someone’s eye. I don’t always recommend trying this, as it can be tough to pull off, but sometimes using negative words can motivate a person to change something they are self-conscious about. For example, if I was on Google looking to lose weight and saw a call-to-action such as “end your crappy diet today,” I might just want to click. Sure, it’s a bit brash, which is why I recommend using this technique sparingly, but it definitely commands attention.

Another example might be if I was looking to fix the brown patches in my lawn. If I was perusing Google and saw an ad with a CTA like “your yard sucks, let us fix it,” not only would I probably chuckle, but I would also probably click – just to see exactly what that lawn company could do for me. You’re walking a fine line with this technique, but it can pay off.

Do you have a preferred call-to-action, or perhaps one that surprised you with how well it did? What about one that you were hoping would perform well but ended up bombing? I’d love to hear about it, so feel free to sound off below!

How To Write Killer Copy For Your Website Free

MORE:17 Best Practices for Crazy-Effective CTA Buttons