One statistic shows that over 80% of all buying decisions are emotional. That means your copywriting should be, too. This is something I firmly believe in and have preached for most of my copywriting career. However, all too often, I find people skipping the vital step of making an emotional connection with their customers. That can be a tragic, and costly, mistake.
Thats why I was excited when I had the opportunity to rewrite the homepage copy for a vacation cruise service. While the copy they used previously gave all the details and got them a good number of bookings, it just didnt have what it takes to make me start daydreaming about my next cruise. It didnt but it was about to!
The Problems
The previous copy on the Cruise Vacation Center home page faced a couple of challenges. (You can view the original copy at this link: http://www.copywritingcourse.com/CruiseVacationCenter-Original.pdf.) The copy was very company-oriented instead of customer-oriented. It talked about who Cruise Vacation Center (CVC) is, why the visitor should buy from them, and some wonderful benefits CVC offers its clients including excellent bargain rates and extra discounts. However, all the verbiage was geared toward the company. The customer was left out.
The home page copy also lacked emotion. It was very matter-of-fact. In addition to making visitors aware of the wonderful prices and deals CVC offered, I wanted to create a vision for the site visitors. I wanted to give them what they needed in order to float off into a daydream about fabulous ports-of-call; warm, gentle breezes; and thrilling adventures.
While I was painting a picture of the vacation of a lifetime, I also had to be sure to include a vital fact. CVCs business plan was set up to be most affordable for the customer when s/he booked online. Without sounding rude, I had to do everything in my power to get the site visitor to book their cruise vacation while at the site. This was an extremely important issue and a point that needed to be woven throughout the copy.
Lastly, the page had to uphold Cruise Vacation Centers excellent search engine rankings. They were ranked at the top of several major engines, and the rewritten copy couldnt jeopardize their positioning.
The Solutions
The first step was, without question, to woo the site visitors with delightful fantasies about their next vacation. My goal was to conjure up all sorts of visions in the minds of Cruise Vacation Centers visitors. I wanted the visitors to be dreaming of exotic places with lots of fun things to do, interesting sights to see, and 24/7 access to gourmet meals that rival any five-star restaurant. I wanted their blood pressure to drop 10 points just from reading about the onboard staff of hundreds who would pamper them with VIP treatment. After reading this copy, I wanted them ready to leave on vacation today! However, I also had to persuade them to book online rather than calling CVCs office.
During the rewrite, I had to carefully plan the use of their primary keyphrase, cruise vacation, so as not to disrupt their most reliable source of business the search engines. After all, there is a delicate balance between pleasing the search engines and appealing to site visitors.
If I leaned too much toward the search engine side of the equation, the conversion ratio of the home page would suffer. In other words, Cruise Vacation Center would get lots of visitors, but few of them would book cruises.
If I leaned too much toward the customer side of the equation, CVCs rankings would plummet, and they would need to find a new way to drive qualified traffic to their site. As is normally the case with SEO copywriting, balance was going to be vital.
In the conclusion to this two-part series, youll see how I handled the rewrite and what the end results of all the work were. Curious to see the new copy? Youll find it on CVCs site: You can see the new copy on CVCs site at http://www.cruisevacationcenter.com.
Karon Thackston © 2004
About The Author
Copy not getting results? Learn to write SEO copy that impresses the engines and your visitors at http://www.copywritingcourse.com. Be sure to also check out Karons latest e-report How To Increase Keyword Saturation (Without Destroying the Flow of Your Copy) at http://www.copywritingcourse.com/keyword.
IF PUBLISHING ON A WEBSITE, USE THIS RESOURCE BOX:
Copy not getting results? Learn to write SEO copy that impresses the engines and your visitors with The Step-by-Step Copywriting Course. Be sure to check out Karons latest e-report How To Increase Keyword Saturation (Without Destroying the Flow of Your Copy), too!
Lets start with copyright infringement.It is easily explained as copying... Read More
When one is in a creative state, rarely can one... Read More
Did you ever wish you could afford to hire one... Read More
New to tech-writing, or thinking about starting? The key to... Read More
Did you know that jobs writing about food are available?... Read More
Just as great fiction is an art, so is great... Read More
1) Don't just hire a good designer. Hire someone who... Read More
The field of proofreading is not as easy to get... Read More
Have you ever wondered how your copy sounds to your... Read More
The huge demand for writers online is really for ghostwriters.... Read More
Many of the solo professionals whom I coach are people... Read More
Headlines are, without a doubt, one of the most important... Read More
Your sales letter is the most important component in your... Read More
All the world's a story. Video games have storylines; newspapers... Read More
Writing a killer headline for your copy is simple! You... Read More
Not everyone is a writer. Good copy writing is a... Read More
If you own a shop in the middle of the... Read More
Pretty or elegant? Good or scrumptious? Nice or delightful? There... Read More
Have you heard of Brian Keith Voiles? Probably not, but... Read More
I like to use power phrases when writing sales material.... Read More
Where can you find out about freelance technical writing pay?... Read More
So many copywriters think that it's enough to be a... Read More
Here's a fundamental difference between copywriting offline and copywriting for... Read More
My wife and I recently bought a house.It's currently being... Read More
When you receive a sales letter with typos or grammar... Read More
How does this sound?Today, I'm going to show you how... Read More
Your sales copy is the life source of your business.... Read More
About 50 years ago, movie serials kept theater crowds coming... Read More
Perhaps the most important benefit in the material that follows... Read More
Ripped content: well the term itself is self explanatory. Content... Read More
Knowing how to write, and write well, is a skill... Read More
Personalizing your headlines to your target audience can significantly improve... Read More
People tend to read your ads and sales letters in... Read More
Writing copy has sometimes been compared to an "art." While... Read More
Putting out a high quality product is a given these... Read More
Headlines are, without a doubt, one of the most important... Read More
It is important in this new paradigm of political correctness... Read More
I know, I know. Times are tough. You have to... Read More
In order to get ahead in your copy writing business,... Read More
Effective headlines make all the difference in whether your prospect... Read More
Many people feel uncertain when dealing with copywriters. Like any... Read More
When it comes to search engine optimization, copywriting plays a... Read More
Whether you run a home-based business or Microsoft, one thing... Read More
Only about 20% of your copy is going to get... Read More
The art of writing profitable classified adsEverybody wants to make... Read More
You only have an instant to capture your prospect's attention.... Read More
A letter or postcard allows you to "talk" one-on-one to... Read More
1. Use a hand written letter on your ad copy... Read More
Just as great fiction is an art, so is great... Read More
How can you gain credibility and exposure for you and... Read More
COPYWRITINGAfter determining what we are going to sell, the next... Read More
Freelance writers are a strange group of people when it... Read More
Copy is all about words. Or is it?Copy is about... Read More
Why Some People's Ads Almost Always Make MoneyDiscover the Master... Read More
As with any of the performing arts, an effective voiceover... Read More
Yes indeed, that's all you've got, 30 seconds to make... Read More
Pretty or elegant? Good or scrumptious? Nice or delightful? There... Read More
It's a common approach to writing copy. You begin by... Read More
Did you ever wish you could afford to hire one... Read More
People tend to read your ads and sales letters in... Read More
"Shallow men believe in luck. Strong men believe in cause... Read More
A significant reason behind websites that fail is the lack... Read More
If you write copy you need a swipe file. A... Read More
According to Branding and Advertising legend, David Ogilvy: 5 times... Read More
If you are interested in creating information products, you will... Read More
Persuasive copywriting is what draws the attention of prospective customers.... Read More
Copywriting |