An important issue for any web copywriter to keep on top of is the audience you’re writing too. Copy on a webpage has to speak to the customer and motivate them to take the next step, usually by either signing up for a service or purchasing a product.
But too often, someone producing content for a website doesn’t consider this and only focuses on achieving high search engine rankings. Read the following statement from this FutureNow post:
“We specialize in custom ties, custom bow ties, bowtie / cummerbund / handkerchief sets, custom cufflinks, matching gift boxes, women ’s scarves, and much more. We can custom make your neckwear any way you desire. We have both standard ties and clip on ties as well as extra long ties for your custom ties. We even have custom ties for boys as young as 6 months. Our products are great for corporations, organizations, churches, choirs, schools, uniforms, athletic teams, fraternities, formal and special events, and many more.”
Whoever wrote this decided to write this unique value proposition in what’s called a “we-we” format. It is apparently stuffed with keywords to drive rankings for this site to the top.
First, this type of copy can get you in trouble with Google. Even if the site made it to the top of Google’s rankings, it most likely would not stay there long. Even if it did, it would hardly matter since this statement really only speaks to itself, not to any prospective customers.
FutureNow has a free We We Calculator you can try out to see if copy on your page focuses too much on yourself and not your customers. For the page that includes the above statement, it only included 3 customer-focused words for a pathetic customer focus rate of 37.5% while its self focus rate is 62.5%.
Perhaps this is why the site is not bringing in customers.
Check out your site and make sure you’re speaking to your customers and not excessively talking about yourself. Most of us don’t care for people who endlessly talk about themselves. We should expect the same from the websites we choose to visit as well.
Tags: ecommerce, keyword research, search engine optimization, SEO copywriting
