Resource Links for Internet Marketing

Web Copywriting

A brand new approach to website copywriting (and e-mails) is emerging - and it might well become the answer to the problem faced by most commercial websites. The problem is that websites are not generating enough customers -- and consequently, aren't making enough sales and profits.

People who do business online must either learn this new approach to web copywriting, or hire web writers who are competent in implementing the approach -- or their websites' sales and profits will always fall way below their potential.

Everyone knows that in the text-driven world of the Internet, it is the words - not stunning graphics or cool technology - that are the key to successful online sales. Understandably, the single most important ingredient in creating a profitable website is - web copy that sells.

What most online business people don't realize is that web copywriting is distinctly different from regular advertising copy and offline marketing communications.

Web copywriting that converts prospects into customers is a discipline all its own. It's a highly specialized genre of writing that combines marketing wherewithal with a deep understanding of the Internet's unique culture, mindset, psychology and "language." It is also quite different from web content writing.

Just because someone is a skilled ad copywriter for the offline markets doesn't mean his/her writing skills can translate into effective web copywriting. Even some of the best copywriters for the offline markets are not necessarily adept at writing effective copy for the Web.

One of the biggest mistakes online businesses make is that they take marketing principles that work well in the offline world -- and try to force them to work on the Web.

Many principles that are effective in direct mail, print ads, radio ads, and infomercials simply do not translate well on the Web - and in fact, they can even kill sales. Why? Because people online generally do not want to get "sold to." This is a proven fact documented by a recent study conducted by John Morkes and Jakob Nielsen. If web visitors ever do get "sold to," they first want to be finessed -- not bombarded by blatant advertising.

As such, expert web copywriters employ some "adroit maneuvering" to capture the attention - and the patronage - of the Web market. That adroit maneuvering has given birth to an ingenious approach to web copywriting that's fast becoming the new profit-building model for websites. It's called editorial marketing.

The strategy involves writing irresistible content that slides smoothly into a covert "sales pitch" for your product or service. This means your content must be expertly crafted for hidden selling. This is the "finessing" that the Web population is most often receptive to.

It bears repeating that your "sales pitch" shouldn't sound like an ad, but rather read like an editorial, testimonial, advice, case study, or endorsement. In the brick-and-mortar (i.e., offline) world, the closest kin of this kind of writing are the advertorial and the press release.

For an actual sample of editorial marketing in action, check out Web Copywriting University.

Many online businesspeople mistakenly regard the Internet as an advertising medium -- or one big shopping channel. As such, they create websites that are nothing but cyber-billboards that advertise their products or services. What they don't realize is that on an average day, each one of us is bombarded with 3,500 commercial messages -- from TV, billboards, radio, the Internet and practically everywhere we turn. The last thing we want to see when we land on a website is yet another ad.

The editorial style of online marketing gives your website an aura of credibility -- often referred to as the "halo effect." When you wrap your advertising message within the soft cushions of a good editorial piece, you position yourself as an expert, gain the trust of your audience, and increase the likelihood of a sale.

This kind of cyber-journalism (or editorial marketing) is the new model for the most successful websites on the Internet.

====================
Maria Veloso is widely acknowledged as the leading expert in web copywriting. She is the Director of Web Copywriting University, which specializes in teaching Internet entrepreneurs and writers how to write web copy that converts 15%, 25% -- even 50% of web visitors into customers. Go to Web Copywriting University.
====================