12.10.2010

5 Tips for Writing Sales Copy for Your Small Business Website

The hardest subject to write well about is nearly always you. Similarly, writing about your small business and the products or services you sell can be very difficult. How do you write convincingly about something for which you obviously have such a bias? How do you make your enthusiasm contagious and convert readers into customers?

Here are five tips to help you get from blank page to hardworking copy without driving yourself crazy:

1. Tell a story: Your small business improves the lives of your community in some way. Make a point to tell the story of how what you offer fits into the lives of your potential customers. You don’t need to use strong language and certainly don’t lie. But you should tell a story instead of just rattling off what you’re offering.

2. Include clear calls to action: What do you want potential customers to do? Should they read something? Should they buy something online? Should they pick up a phone and call you? Figure out how you want your readers to become customers and make their steps easy and straightforward.

3. Play up your small business persona: Talking about your small business offerings takes a second seat to sharing your personalized story. Your future customers want to work with a real person, and this is your opportunity to tell them why you do what you do and how much you care about it. Note: Don’t worry about writing too much at first. Let yourself go and have a friend help you edit to the right length after.

4. Focus on your strengths: If you’re really good at something, let that be the focus of your writing. If you’re weak in an area, it’ll be difficult to try and sell that product or service convincingly. Stay focused on what you really do well as a small business and branch out to lesser offerings only once you’re convinced they’re worthwhile.

5. Test for results: A simple way to learn what works best for your business is to test different versions of your small business sales copy against each other. Google’s website optimizer (free) and Optimizely (small charge) offer straightforward version testing to help you quickly and easily learn what best turns your readers into customers.

If you’re especially proud of the copy on your website, leave a link in a comment so we can check it out!