Saturday 26 March 2016

The value of website copywriting and other mysteries of the Universe


The Bermuda Triangle. The riddle of Atlantis. Who was Jack the Ripper? Is the whole of reality merely a hologram projected onto the eleven-dimensional surface of a Euclidean rhomboid? Why would anyone voluntarily watch 'The Only Way is Essex'? 

These are the great unsolved mysteries of our time - pondered over by intellectual giants, such as Plato, Professor Stephen Hawking and Danny Dyer from Eastenders.

But there still remains one question that towers above all these. The question which has vexed copywriters from the dawn of time:

Why do so few businesses understand the value of website copywriting?

Whilst the critical importance of having a smart website is taken as being blindingly obvious to anyone possessing an IQ higher than a glass of dirty water - the equally vital element of having good quality written content is seen more as an optional add-on. 

Imagine if we applied this logic to buying a new car. 

Having spent a modest sum you take collection of your shiny, new vehicle...and the first thing you do is fill the tank with homemade petrol you've distilled in the garden shed from old paint thinner and supermarket value-brand vodka.

Unsurprisingly, the result would be to turn your costly investment from something designed to convey you from A to B in style, comfort and safety, to a rather expensive lump of scrap metal. 

So why do so many businesses do exactly this by insisting on filling their brand new, beautifully designed company website with content which they've written themselves?

The answer, of course, is money. An amazing number of businesses pour their entire budget into website design without a single thought about the written content. Faced with an urgent need to produce 2000 words of SEO friendly, professionally written sales copy which actively engages their potential customer's interest they will:

a) Panic. Copy a competitor's website text, alter a few words and then wonder why they are not attracting customers because the search engines have penalised them for duplicate content (Possibly followed by a nice big lawsuit for copyright infringement &/or plagiarism)

b) Ask their Web Designer to 'cobble some content together'. Said web designer realises that their strength lies in website design and not copywriting but manages to write something vaguely OK which, although it fills the pages with words, provides no real benefit to the client in terms of sales or SEO.

c) Contact a website copywriter. The copywriter listens carefully to their needs and produces a quote for writing smart, targeted copy which will be loved by both search engines and their chosen audience. However, despite spending £2000 on their website the business balks at spending less than half that on decent copy - They resort to either a) or b)

ProfessionalSEO website copywriting is a long term investment in your business - helping you not only get found on Google but persuading customers that you have the solution to their needs.

Forget that and it's likely that your expensive website might well disappear into the Bermuda Triangle of internet obscurity...

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