Make Your Copy 100x More Compelling.

With all we’ve heard about shrinking attention spans, it would be tempting to think that nobody reads anything anymore, but it’s simply not the case (hey, you’re reading this!). While it’s true that people tend to scan web pages, what they're scanning for is information that speaks to a need. If you can give it to them, they’ll stick around for more.

Here are some tips on how to best to capture and retain your target audience’s attention:

1. Make your text headline driven

People should be able to understand what you do and how you're different without having to read a single word of body copy. So, like the best journalists, spend the majority of your time crafting a great headline.

Headlines should capture attention with a bold promise that your body copy delivers. The headline should be simple and succinct, summarizing the related content in a compelling, jargon free way, so that search engines are sending relevant traffic to your site.

2. Keep your headlines benefit driven

You've heard it before but it bears repeating: the prime focus of your message should be on the benefits of your product or service. At the end of the day, people really don’t care that much about who you are. They want to know what you can do for them.

Product features - what you do or how you do it - should be reserved for your body copy. Headlines should describe what the customer will experience once they’ve used your product or service. “Experience a new level of relaxation” is a lot more compelling than “Our Swedish massage procedures are administered by certified practitioners.”

3. Keep your copy simple, succinct and scan-able.

Nothing scares off unintiated readers faster than a large block of uninterupted text. By breaking your body copy down with subheadings you answer an underlying question every viewer has - is this page worth the time it's going to take to read it?

The guiding principle is to keep your copy simple, succinct and scan-able. To ths end, a hierarchical approach works best, allowing people to scan more easily and reach for details when they want them.

Short blocks of text organized in point form are powerful because they naturally break your ideas up into bite size pieces and encourage you to use succinct phrases. Whether or not you intend to develop your ideas into full sentence structures, bullet points are a great way to get your thoughts togetehr and begin writing.

4. Show, don’t tell

Let me tell you a story…if you want to demonstrate a point, stories and anecdotes are the best way to engage readers. Stories have a natural element of suspense built in to them – what’s going to happen next? - that will keep people reading to the end. They also have the benefit of adding credibility to your claim, since they are presumably based in truth. And, best of all, people are more likely to pass on a story about you product or service to illustrate its benefits than just list the features.

So, next time you are trying to explain the benefits of your product, use an example of how it worked for somone else. If you don't have a real life example, begin with "Picture yourself..." and do your best to describe the sensations and feelings that a user might experience.