6 replies to this topic

[don1]

No really, that is the question. You see, I 've got two people heading me in different directions. One is a person who has been writing for years and is looking to do something different in retirement so is looking into doing this copywriting thing. He is all excited about it and wants me to be one, if not his first customer. The other is a well respected business owner who has been building businesses in the internet realm for years. He is very sceptical about content writers and says he gets placement mainly with keywords (I have to admit that his clients provide their content and that they might actually have someone write it for them). I have taken the second person advise and for some time we ranked in the top ten on some search engines but have since dropped (I spend to much time doing this anyway).

The main problem of course is "conversion". Our conversion rate is very poor and I intend to make it better. Besides redesigning our website what is the best course of action?

Understanding that this is a forum of copywriters I can understand there will be some biased responses. :doh:

[dragonlady7]

Neither of these people's motivations seem to be in your best interests.
The first just wants to do a job for you, regardless of what you need.
The second considers it irrelevant because most of his clients have already hired copywriters.
So, this is a decision you need to make without consulting either of them, because they're not making the decision on your behalf, they're making a decision for themselves.
You have to figure out what's best for you. If you think hiring a pro copywriter could improve your sales figures, then you do it. If you don't think it'll help at all, don't. Only you know the specifics of your business. If you can't figure it out, get a website critique here or at any forum that offers them, and ask people why they wouldn't buy from your site. It might be the copy, it might be the layout, it might be that the design is unappealing to your target market.
Just because I'm a copywriter doesn't mean I think that better copy is The Single Answer To Any Problem. No. I don't know what your problem is, so I don't know what the solution is either, and throwing more copy at it isn't necessarily a good failsafe.

[copywriter]

Hi Don1,

Without seeing the copy it would be impossible for me to give an opinion. It could very well be the copy that's causing low conversions. That is often the case.

However, if your site navigation is hard to follow, if your design looks "homemade" and untrustworthy, if your ordering process is complicated or unsecure... all of those could also be the blame.

I don't think I'd leave the decision of hiring a professional copywriter up to you simply because you already know everything there is to know about whatever it is you're selling. I'd find out from people who visit your site... from those who don't know everything. As Dragon said, you can visit the Web site review section of our forum and see what members here have to say.

You can also use a tool called SurveyMonkey.com to poll those who actually visit your site. Get the opinions of people who were thinking of buying from you and didn't.

All the best,
Karon

[Jill]

Good answers so far!

The problem could also be that although you're getting traffic, you may be getting it for keywords that really aren't all that targeted and therefore it's bringing untargeted visitors.

You can change your copy forever, but if the visitors aren't targeted, they will never buy.

Of course, changing your copy to target the most appropriate keywords AND write it to sell could solve both of those problems (if that is indeed the problem).

Jill

[sheriw]

I think these answers ahere ddress a common problem that I've seen: "I'm not selling enough. Fix the copy."

The words on a web site are only one part of a picture. An important one, and if the copy is poor, certainly sales will go down.
But site architecture, its quality, its logicality are also important as others here have noted.
-Are customer questions answered?
-Are links there for a good reason? And easy to navigate?
-Does the site encourage a progression towards the final goal for your site? And if so, how?
-Is it credible and does it inspire confidence? (good design, professional layout)
-If you're advertising, does your landing page integrate well with, and follow up on the promise in the ad?
These all go hand in glove with good optimization, in my opinion. The question should be, "I'm not selling enough. Let's find out why..."

I only wish more people asked that question FIRST...

[Jill]

That's very true, Sheri! Probably one of the reasons why my in-depth site analysis reports are selling like hotcakes.

You can look at just the copy, but you really have to look at the site as a whole in order to get to the root of whatever might be the problem. Most sites have many, many things that could be "fixed" to help their users and the search engines.



Jill

[bwelford]

.. and perhaps right up front is the question, "Have I a clearly stated Unique Selling Proposition?" Hopefully you have clearly targeted the visitors who will come to your website. When they get there, will they find something that knocks the competition out of the water?