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Simple SEO and Marketing, Business Growth, Organic Marketing, Copywriting, Online Business, Blogging, Content Creation
Ep 214 // 10 Critical Jobs Your Website Copy Must Do for Maximum Conversions
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Faith Hannon
All right, y'all, so today we are chatting websites. Yes. That part of your business that if you're honest, maybe you're a little bit embarrassed to send people to, or maybe you've put a lot of hard work into it, but you don't know if your work is working. I get it. Websites can feel really complicated and hard to really gauge if they're doing their job, especially when in today's society, you can throw up an Instagram post and get nearly instant feedback. But as y'all probably know, I'm all about your website being the hub of your online business, but what should your website be doing for you? Right? Like, what is the job of your website copy, and is it doing its job? Okay, so I've got 10 things for y'all today that your website should be doing for your business. So you're going to want to make a little checklist. And then after this podcast is over, you can go back and be like, is my website really doing what it's supposed to do? Yes or no. Okay. And then you can proceed from there however you deem fit. But we're going to jump right on in. I put a lot of heart and soul into this podcast, so don't skip it. Okay? Okay. Hey there, fellow entrepreneur. Welcome to simple SEO and marketing. Do you want to grow your business with sustainable traffic sources? Have you heard about the power of search engine optimization? And you want to take advantage of it to get more traffic, more eyeballs on your business. But when it comes down to it, does SEO feel complicated and hard to implement? Are you tired of wondering what in the heck to do with your website to get more traffic and more leads knocking on your door? What if I could tell you that there was a simple, proven system for using SEO, blogging, and copywriting to get leads from your website? And not just any leads. Hi. Converting lead. Hey. I'm Faith Hannon, wife, mama, copywriter, SEO strategist, and barrel racer. And for the last eight years, I've been figuring out what works and what doesn't work in the world of online marketing to get organic traffic? And now I'm here to share all the things I'm learning in the trenches of SEO, copywriting, and content marketing. How does 300%, 500%, or even 12,000% market more traffic in a year sound? What could your business do with that kind of traffic increase? How many more people could you help? So listen in and prepare to take note. I'm about to drop simple, actionable SEO, marketing and copywriting tips. All With a heavy dose of Jesus loving encouragement. Let's get you more traffic and more leads so you can help more people with your God given gifts. So I remember my very first website. I could not even tell you honestly how much time and effort I put into that. And I poured my heart and soul into it. I like designed my own logo and picked my own colors and got stock photos off of like unsplash or something like that. And I was so proud of myself for not stealing photos. Right? So I get that your website is a lot of work and especially if you've done it yourself and you're not necessarily a website guru or a website designer. Like, it feels like a lot of work. I've heard some people describe their website as like, you know, birthing a whole nother child. And in some regards I can, I can understand that. And so sometimes we put so much work into our websites that we're like, oh my gosh, it's done. I never want to look at it again, I never want to touch it again. Or we put so much work into it that we're like, honestly scared to evaluate if it's doing our doing its job, because then we might have to change it. Come on, come on. I'm not the only one that felt that feeling. But the fact of the matter is your website has a job. It really does. It has a job to be doing for your business. And if it's not doing your job, doing its job, then your business is not serving all of the people that you could be serving. Right? And that's why we're in business, is to serve people. Okay? Now I've been in the online business world for a while now. Like eight years, maybe longer. I have to think about dates, but at least eight years of trying to figure out how to make money online. Online marketing. The best ways to get traffic. The best ways to not sell my soul to get traffic, like how to keep sustainable traffic. Like, I've been around the block a few times as far as online marketing goes, right? And what I have found time and time and time and time again is that often there are really great businesses, really great products, courses, et cetera, but their website copy just doesn't do them justice. In fact, it actually costs them dearly in some cases, like sometimes to the point of losing their business entirely or never getting off the ground at all. And honestly, I think part of that is that a lot of business owners and entrepreneurs tend to think of copywriting or marketing in general, like at the end of the whole process. Right? We make the thing, build the thing, refine the thing, take the pictures of the thing, and maybe even create a course about the thing. But then they forget how to really think about how they're going to market the thing or write copy, which are is just words designed to sell about the thing. They forget about the marketing aspect of the thing until it's either go time or two, they have no brain power left. And then they're like, oh, snap, I'm just gonna throw some words on a page. And they usually end up being like really generic words or really fluff words and then just hopefully that no one notices. Sadly, though, the copy, the marketing words about your thing that you're trying to sell can literally make or break your sales. It can make or break your launch, it can make or break your brand, right? So your copy, your website copy cannot be an afterthought. Okay? Now obviously I believe in great branding. I've had my brand designer, Emma on this podcast. I believe in that. But today we're going to focus on your copy, your website copy, and what it should be doing for your business. Okay? So 10 things today, 10 simple words that are going to make sense to everybody's brain, mine included, 10 things that your website copy should be doing for your business. All right? Now step number one, thing number one, that your website has to, has to, has to do for your website copy, has to do for your business is it has to let your ideal client, your customer, know how you can solve their problem. Now, I have tooted Donald Miller's horn about his book story brand, probably to the point that y'all are tired of hearing about it. But in that book, he breaks down the hero customer relationship and the copy that needs to be on the top of your website. So, well, your website copy needs to be about your customer and how you can help them solve their problem. Okay? Now it has to focus on how you help them, not just on who they are. Okay? Now let me explain. So for an example, a bad example would be I help work at home. I help work at home moms. If that's you, right, you say, I help work at home moms. And me as a work at home mom, I'm like, well, that's Precious. I got 99 problems. Which one are you going to help me with? Right? Gone, Right? What you help your person with needs to be measurable, like a quantifiable problem. Your person has to know it's a problem or it has to at least feel like the problem to them. And you have to clearly communicate that you can help them solve it. Okay, so let me. Let me shore this up a little bit for you. Sometimes in my business and in my coaching, I have seen. I have seen people, business owners, that they're like, well, I help them with this deeper root issue that's causing the surface issue. And while I love that if what you help them with and what you're talking about doesn't actually resonate with where your person is in their journey, they're not going to buy. So, for example, let's say that you're a food relationship coach. I don't know if that's an actual thing. I just made it up to avoid offending people. Okay, let's say you're a food relationship coach. You don't want to talk about diet and exercise because, quote, that's not the root problem. Well, that's cute, Clara. But your ideal client thinks that weight loss is her problem, so that's where you have to meet her. Yes, obviously. Let's help her get to the deeper problem, the food relationship, the emotional issues, the whatever, whatever, whatever. But you can't start there. If you're going to catch her attention and ultimately book her as a client and be able to help her, does that make sense? Okay, so thing number one, numero one, that your website copy needs to do is you have to let your ideal client or customer know how you can solve their problem. Okay? Job number two of your website is this. It has to be clear. It has to be so crystal clear. Like, write it as clear as you can and then write it again, and then write it again, and then write it again. Like, you are not going to make your website overly clear. I can almost promise you that. And the reason is we live in information overload extreme. Right? If I asked you the last five websites that you looked at or the last five, you know, podcasts you listen to, if I asked you to summarize those things, could you summarize them? Probably not, because we digest so much information every day. Okay? So if you're gonna stand out in today's marketing culture, you have to stand out with clarity. Do not make people's brain work hard to understand what in the heck you do. Okay? Okay. All right, now, job number three of your website copy. Your copy should move your reader down the page, take them on a journey that they want to go on. Okay? I want you to ask this these questions of your copy. Is it interesting? Is it interesting? Or did you write boring copy? Now, we've all written boring things. In our lives. No offense here, right? But is your website copy interesting? Even if you have a more formal, you know, suit and tie type of business, you can still have your website copywritten in such a way that it's interesting, okay? That it speaks to your ideal customer, you know, fits your brand, all of that, but isn't a snooze fest. Okay? Now here's another thing that your website copy needs to be able to do is it. You need to be able to highlight and bold and, like, really focus on the things that are poignant, because not everything is poignant. To quote one of my favorite worship leaders, Brooke Ledgerwood, she says, if everything is poignant, nothing is poignant. So. So in your website copy process, you need to figure out, okay, what are the most poignant things that I want my reader to notice? And those things need to be strategically put into your website copy and your website overall. Okay? Another thing that your website copy should do is you should open and close story loops, right? You can't just ask a bunch of. A bunch of questions and then never answer those questions, right? You should be constantly moving your reader's eyes down the page, keeping them interested, right? Letting them, like, take a breath, so to speak. In reading, not everything needs to be shouted at them. Okay? And then open and close those story loops. All right? Number four, you need to show them how to work with you. I know this sounds super simple, but there are some websites that I've evaluated, some people that I've helped their. Helped with website copy, that there was not a simple way to work with them on the page. Like, they weren't getting clients. But a big part of it is because there was no clear call to action with a result, a clear. Even a clear button on how to work with them on their homepage or sprinkled throughout their service page, right? Like, make it easy for people to pay you, and it's more likely that they'll pay you. Okay? Okay? Now job number five is this. Show them what it's like to work with you. Your website copy should show them what it's like to work with you. Are you fun? Are you fast? Are you formal? Like, this is a great place to use testimonials. And I love when clients come to me with a boatload of testimonials because then we can showcase what it's like to work with them. Okay, well, hey there, friend. Question for you. Are you ready to have your website ranking and converting? Are you ready to get more traffic, more leads, and more sales without another cringeworthy social media post? Are you tired of writing blog posts that never rank frustrated with website copy that doesn't convert lookers into buyers? And are you absolutely over spending hours trying to DIY your SEO strategy with little to no results to show for it? Well, I have a sad but true statistic for you. 60% of websites will never rank on the first page of Google. Why? Well, because their SEO and copywriting strategies are poop. Having an SEO and copywriting strategy that work together matters now more than ever. Sure, you can hire a generic copywriter who's good at pretty words, but if they don't understand SEO, it won't matter. Those words will never get seen. On the flip side, you could outsource work to an SEO agency that understands the technical side of things. But if they don't understand buyer behavior and don't know how to write like your brand sounds, what good will it do? You need a cohesive SEO and copywriting strategy that works together to get you the right website traffic and more conversions. Book a free call with me to see if this is the best fit for your business. No obligation, no pushy sales tactics. I just want to help you help more of your people with your God given gifts. Book your call now. Spots are limited. Go to faithhannon.com booking and I'm looking forward to chatting with you. Alright. The number six job that your website copy has is you need to make the transition from point A to point B easy on your customer's brain. Like, they don't need to know every step of onboarding. They don't care. They just want to know, if I work with you, can I get the result I want? Okay. People buy the results. They don't buy the, the all of the teeny tiny little steps in between. Right. They buy the process. Yes. Because they want to know that you can get them somewhere. They buy the framework, if you will, but make the transition easy on their brains. And one of the exercises I often have copy clients, website copy clients go through for this is I'll have them, you know, list off the steps that somebody has to go through between finding them and, you know, clear results done by have a nice life. Right. And often they will list off like 15 steps and I'm like, cool, break that, like lump those into three, maybe four if you're feeling frisky. Okay. But let's make it easy on their brains to, to work with you in how we speak about the transition from point A to point B. All right, now job number seven of that website Copy is to quickly attract or repel. Quickly attract or repel. Now I know that sounds weird because you'd be like, faith, I don't want to repel people from buying from me. Well, I get that. But also, you don't really want to work with the wrong people. Okay? Now this can be done in a, in a myriad of ways. Like you can just in how you phrase things, just in the language that you use, just in your brand voice. You can very quickly put off the wrong people and attract the right people. Now, I am not a little cusser, right? I hope you all know that by now. I'm not a little cusser. And so when I am looking at maybe a service provider or coach or something, somebody like that, and I see a bunch of F bombs on their website copy or whatever, like I'm automatically leaving because that's not really somebody I want speaking into my business, which is fine, right? Like I have that, that right as the one spending the dollars. And your customer has that right as well, right? So to the person that I'm not their ideal client, they probably don't really want to work with me, and that's fine, right? And the person who's your ideal client, you probably don't really want to work with them either. And that is okay. All right? We don't have to make our website copy fit everybody. You don't have to be everybody's cup of tea. You need to serve the people that God has given you to serve and serve them well. And your website copy should quickly attract or repel. Now when I say quickly attract or repel, I just got to, got to thinking, it's been a while since I really dug into how long somebody spends on a website, right? And it just honestly digging into the research, it varies greatly how long somebody spends on a website based on industry, right? And where your custom, where in their journey somebody finds you, what page they land on, what they're looking for, blah, blah, blah, blah. Like for example, somebody trying to learn about the intricacies of, of a hawk joint on a horse is going to be a lot more vested and willing to read more on a page and, and have a longer attention span than somebody who just wants to know what's the super bowl score and is Taylor Swift's team winning. I have to laugh at myself. Anyway, so how long should you're above the full text be? Right? Because if we're trying to quickly answer somebody's question, if we can help them, okay. If we're trying to quickly attract or Repel. How long should that take? Right? How many letters do I get? How many words do I get? Right? How. How long can I take? Okay, so recent research shows that the average attention span. Are you ready for this? Is less than 10 seconds. Actually 8.25 seconds. And that's terrifying. Actually terrifying. But I'm not trying to change that with this podcast necessarily. I'm just going to use that math. Okay? So here's some fun math. I looked at the eighth grade reading level, like an eighth grade reading level, because on average, most industries, you want your copy and your content to be at about an eighth grade, maybe a ninth grade reading level. Obviously, if you're a medical doctor writing for a medical journey, like, or medical journal, write for your audience, bro, like you do you, right? But for most audiences with our current attention span and how vested people are, we need to write at like an eighth grade level. Okay? So the average eighth grader reads at about 200 words per minute. 200 words per minute, okay. At the end of their eighth grade year. So if you have 10 seconds, if you. After somebody comes to your website, if you have 10 seconds of attention span and the average person reads at a rate of 200 words per minute, you have 33 words to capture their attention. And if you only have 8.2 seconds to capture their attention, that's 27.5 words. So that's some fun math for y'all. And if nothing else, that should help you, like, I need to fix my copy. Because if you take longer than 33 words to tell somebody what in the heck you do and how in the heck you can help them, they gone, baby. They gone. All right? And job number eight, y'all, number eight. Number eight, your website should be converting. Converting. Like it's not just there to look pretty and take up space on the Internet, right? Like, you don't just need this thing sitting on your business asset shelf, right? Your website should be converting, okay? You should be getting email list subscribers from your website. You should be getting discovery calls from your website. You should be getting sales from your website. Okay? It should be converting. Okay? Okay. And job number nine, you ready? Your website and the copy on it should be getting organic traffic. Too often I see people relegate traffic to only being the work of their content, either via blog, social media, podcasts, YouTube, et cetera. But when you set it up right, your homepage services page, even your about page, can get you organic traffic, okay? And job number 10 of your website, it should convey your brand and personality throughout. Like One of the saddest things for me as a website copywriter is when I see somebody that is just, they're so fun and they're so full of life or they're just so smart or funny or whatever. They have such a big personality, but it doesn't come through in their website. Okay? I want your personality, your brand's personality, your brand's mission to come through in your website copy. And it should, when you write your website copy correctly or hire the right website copywriter to work for you. So I'm going to recap those 10 things for y'all. The 10 jobs that your website copy has ready numero uno. It needs to tell your person how you can solve their problem. Be customer centric all the way. Right. Number two, it has to be clear. Clear wins over cute every day of the week that ends and why. Number three, your copy should move the reader down the page and take them on a journey that they want to go on. Number four, it should show them how to work with you. Number five, your website copy should show somebody what it's like to work with you. Right. Use those testimonials. Number six, it should make the transition from point A to point B easy on their brains. Number seven, it should quickly attract or repel. You only have like a 10 second attention Spanish, which is like 33 words, yo. Okay? Number eight, your website should be converting. It should be converting. Number nine, your website and the copy on it should be getting organic traffic, not just your content. Okay? And number 10, it should convey your brand and personality throughout. All right, y'all. And if you are even remotely wondering if your website copy is actually doing its job, go ahead and book a 30 minute chat with me. I'll give you a website audit over our call if you would like. And let you know, hey, you could do this, do this, do this better. Here's my recommendation because my heart is for you as a business owner to get more traffic and more sales from the right people so that you can help the people that God has for you to help using the gifts that he gave you. Okay? So go to faith hannon.com booking and grab a website copy call and we'll just see if I'm a good fit to help you if it meets your needs and if this is the right move for your. Because I am very limited on my website copy calls because it's very or my website copy packages because it's very hands on, a lot of my time and effort. And y'all, I have three littles so I don't spend all day every day working. So we'll chat with you next week and I pray that this blesses you and helps you just really figure out if your website copy is doing its job. Then you can prayerfully decide the next best step for your business. If it's not. All right y'all, chat with you next week. Bye. Foreign thank you so much for listening in today. Hopefully this episode gave you some really tangible tips for better SEO and marketing to get more leads and more sales from your website. If it did, can I ask you a quick favor? Would you please share this episode with a friend and then just take 10 seconds and go leave a written review on Apple Podcasts. That is the very best way to help more Jesus loving entrepreneurs scale their businesses so that they can help more people with their gifts and make an even bigger impact for the Kingdom of God. And guess what? We now have a Facebook community where we can learn, hang out and laugh. Go join the Facebook group now it's linked in the show notes and all the other things, courses, coaching and copywriting can be found at my website faith hannon.com until next time. God bless and I'll talk to you soon.