Website Copywriting Checklist

= End Result Customer Wants + Specific Period Of Time + Address The Objections

Example: "Recruit 2 Top Producing Agents Each Week Without Cold Calling Or Rejection" or "Hot fresh pizza delivered to your door in 30 minutes or its free."

Your sole purpose of this headline is to get your customer to read the second line. Be clear and concise.

This is not a sales pitch. It simply gets at the core of what you do. Write directly to the user, not to a group of users.

This isn't a line about your product or service, it's a line about your customer. What is going to jump off the page and get them intrigued enough to look at the rest of your website?

Explain the problem from your customer’s perspective. What words would they use if they were describing their problem to you?

You’re looking for the customer to agree with your statement. You want them to know that you understand them. Get them saying “yes yes, that is so true! I hate that!”

Examples: Sendgrid = “On average 20% of email never reaches the inbox”

Skin care website = “Does every skin care product you use create oily skin?

Formula = Product or service Name Helps You Do [Task]. Say Goodbye To [Frustration] And Hello To [Benefit]. You Get [Top 3 Features + Benefits For Each Feature]

Guess what this is? An elevator pitch.

I recommend strictly following this formula the first time in order to brainstorm, and then you can begin altering it from there. You don’t necessarily need to have this word for word, but it should be short, concise, and pack a punch.

Example:

Surveytool.com – “Surveytool helps you quickly create and distribute surveys with just a few clicks.”

Harvest – “Easily track time, send invoices and run your business.”

Tip: Think of your product or service in terms of benefit, not features. Every feature on a website should give the client a benefit, not just be a useless feature.

Link your company with trusted brands and symbols. Make your customers feel like you are trusted by these services. It brings you credibility that you most likely do not have.

Often times, you have to get very creative here, especially if you’re a smaller company.

Example: Surveytool mentions that Domino’s and other top brands use surveys to grow their business, but they never say if they actually use surveytool.com.

You can borrow credibility from just about anywhere. There is a large business that has something to do with your product or service. Benefit from their reach.

Please list the businesses that you can borrow credibility. And please state the connection we can make:

Nobody wants to look like they got handled or taken advantage of. What if they use your product and get scammed? They are skeptical. If they find anything that could potentially make them look dumb or uneducated for using you or your product, they will run away as fast as they possibly can.

When someone buys a product or service, they aren’t just thinking of themselves. They are also thinking about what their friends, family, and co-workers will think about them for buying it.

Did you know that big brands even advertise to children for a specific reason? If parents buy the off-brand potato chips or the off-brand soda for their child's birthday party, the kid might throw a fit because they want to be perceived as being "cool." And to impressionable kids, brand names are cool.

TV commercials do such a good job of forming an impression in young minds that kids will beg for brand named things!

The reality is, many of us never grow up and are that way even as adults!

So we need to reduce the risk of someone feeling "uncool" for using your product or service.

Formula = “If you don’t love [product], call or email us and we’ll refund every penny immediately.

You’re essentially giving them a guarantee. It decreases their risk. If they hate your product, they’ll get their money back.

“But what if I can’t afford to give them their money back” –

Only 5% of people actually return things. It’s too big of a hassle. How many times have you looked on the back of a container of dish soap that says “money-back guaranteed?”

Think anyone actually returns that? Nope.

The bigger the refund, the better. “We’ll not only give you your money back, we’ll double it!”

A good guarantee can sometimes sell the product alone with nothing else.

Example: “30 day money back guarantee”

Please write out your risk reversal statement:

The art of making your price seem like a great deal. Have it appear as a bargain.

Let’s look at Robert Cialdini’s “Contrast Principle” – If you put your hand in warm water, then put it in cold water, the cold water feels much colder than if you just put your hand in the cold water to begin with. The principle affects the way we perceive the difference between two things when they are presented one after another.

This works like magic when it comes to presenting your pricing model.

The idea is to link or tie your price to a physical product in a similar category.

Example: “For the price of a Frappuccino, you can automate your monthly budget on our app.”

Please list ways to price anchor your product or service. This must fit within your product's price range.