How To Write Website Copy That Attracts Customers And Makes Them Want to Buy

The key to writing effective copy for your homepage is to put yourself in your customer’s shoes. Your customer comes to your website looking for something. It takes them an average of three seconds to decide whether or not to stay on your website. It doesn’t matter how beautiful, clever or fancy your web page is, if it doesn’t immediately give the customer what they are looking for, they will leave.
Think about your own mindset when you look for something online. Usually when you go to a web site you have a question in mind. It might be “who can help me get out of debt” or “where can I buy a replacement part for my broken lawn mower” or “what’s the best seed mixture for a new lawn?” Visitors to your website will also have a very specific question in mind, and will want to find the answer within a few seconds. If they have to search too much to figure out if you have what they are looking for, they’ll leave.
How do you figure out exactly what problem your customers want solved? You to do some market research. Don’t be intimidated by the term “market research”: it’s just a fancy term for “asking people what they want.” This can be as simple as talking with people to find out what problems they have that you can address in your business. Take lots of notes, and then pull out the specific types of problems that people talked about. And write your home page copy using the exact language they used to describe their problem.
Note that I said “the exact language.” This means precisely what it says: the exact same language. The will probably be much more down-to-earth and colloquial than what you would come up with on your own. That’s good. Down-to-earth and colorful will catch your potential customer’s attention amid all the flowery language and hyperbole on the Internet.
For example, if you’re a career coach and in your market research you found a trend of people saying “I don’t know what to do, I hate my job but I’m afraid to take the leap” – use those exact words on your website. For instance, you might say “I provide workshops that give practical techniques to help people who hate their job but are afraid to take the leap.” This is much more effective than saying something flowery like “I empower people to live to their greatest potential.”