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Copywriting: an often-underrated key skill for growing your business

Copywriting: you’ve heard the word before but never taken time to look into it, right? You get along fine with writing, another new skill doesn’t really seem necessary… Alas! Copywriting can have a huge impact on how attractive your sales pages are, no matter the sector. Copywriting, when well mastered and implemented, can be one of the keys to your company’s success. And I’m not just saying that because it’s the topic of today’s article!

This realization is what convinced me to put pen to paper and answer the FAQs about copywriting we get most at nyuko. Here we go!

Just what is copywriting?

I first wrote this article in français and hoped to open with the Wikipedia definition… but the page wasn’t translated to French. Proof the francophone world has yet to take any significant interest in the field!

So that being said, let’s start from the beginning. In entrepreneurship, copywriting is the art of effectively presenting a product or service with the aim of generating more sales.

It can be used on any medium (website, Facebook page, presentations, brochures, etc.) and within any framework. Copywriting consists of a set of writing techniques for improving the presentation of a given product or service in order to convert more visitors into buyers.

Would it actually be useful to my company?

Copywriting is the art of writing to sell effectively (in the broad sense of the term sell, even free services require “selling”). So yes, if you have something to sell, copywriting would be useful to you without a shadow of a doubt.

Generally speaking, for your business to be profitable, you always need to have an eye on:

  • Optimizing the visibility of your website
  • Increasing the visitor conversion rate
  • Reducing the cost of your ads

And usually all three at once!

Your product, service and business must be memorable! The best way to achieve memorability is to build a relationship with your customer, tell them a story, awe and inspire them, make them want to buy from you and not elsewhere. Do you agree? If so, if you can relate to this, then copywriting is for you.

I’ve already worked on my SEO, is it compatible?

Good question! The short answer is yes, but it takes careful balancing between the two and a bit of compromising.

In other words, texts that have a layer of SEO (Search English Optimization) can be harder to chew but are likely to have greater long-term effectiveness. What I recommend is first working on copywriting for your sales pages, then going back through to add a relevant touch of SEO. In any case, having researched the best keywords for your product or service will come in handy for both steps!

Can I do it myself?

I’ll warn you up front: there’s more to it than being a “good writer.” Yes, it helps! But it’s not enough. Copywriting is a specialized skill, and although it’s hard to match the work of an expert, familiarizing yourself with some of the basic techniques and best practices, and using some of the major benchmarks can improve your results significantly. It will cost you nothing more than some focus, time and practice.

I’m not used to writing, what should I do?

Copywriting is not literature. And you do not need to write impeccably to copywrite. What you need to do is focus in on the best way to get the right message through to the right person in order to spark an action from them. If it makes you feel more comfortable, try at least part of your text on a few people from your target group before you post it definitively and see how they react. It will give you the chance to adjust your pitch as required.

Do the same techniques work in all areas?

Essentially, yes. There are of course more or less subtle differences depending on the product, the target, the medium, etc. But the foundations are the same. All you have to do is adapt them to the context of use.

How can I improve my skills?

To become a first-rate copywriter, you need to learn the fundamentals that work in any area, then search and analyze lots of websites and sales pages to get a grasp of how the fundamentals are applied in different situations. With all your acquired knowledge, you’ll be able to put the techniques to use on your own communications media.

How do I know if it’s working?

The great thing is that it doesn’t take long to see whether or not your efforts are paying off. Simply check your stats:

  • For email: open, click and response rates
  • For a sales page: purchases made
  • For a landing page: number of email addresses acquired
  • For posts on social networks: number of interactions (likes, shares, comments)

Evidence-based indicators like these will tell you if “it’s working.”

Where do I start ?

By learning the basics!

Are you now convinced copywriting is a skill to pursue? Wonderful! In Part 2 of this article, I will be sharing the keys and best practices you need to succeed in it. It’s a great place to start. A Google search with your sector or specific situation would be a good second step. You can usually find some fine examples of effective copywriting on successful crowdfunding campaign pages, too.

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