Writing Copy That Your Customer Wants To Read

Use Your Blog as a Business Tool

Do you like getting personal on social media and sharing your life with your followers? That’s great if you’re talking about your Facebook page or daily tweets, but when it comes to your business profile, it’s important to keep a professional appearance. This applies to the copy you create for your website’s blog as well. We all know that SEO content marketing should tell a story, but that story should be about your customer’s lives, not yours. Small, personal details are okay occasionally, but your focus should be on client experience and opinion. This is especially true if you’re tempted to write anything negative on the page. Keep things positive and uplifting and you’ll be more likely to keep your customers coming back for more.

Write to the Customer

You’ve determined who to market to and picked your target audience, but now what? Creating an imaginary customer profile is one thing, but you need to be sure you write for the customer. Picture yourself talking face-to-face with them and see if what you’re saying to each potential client seems like something that would convince them to stay and buy or encourage them to move on to the next site.

Implement the Buying Phases

Why is Jane Doe of Ohio, USA, looking at your blog today? Is she searching for this exact product and thrilled she found it? Is she just skimming the web and stumbled upon your site? Did she see an ad on another website and click out of curiosity? Most likely you’ll have visitors from each category. Any potential client you may have will go through five phases before they’ll commit to buying a product from you and may be in any one of these mindsets when they reach your site.

1. The customers must recognize that there is a need they cannot meet.
2. They then begin researching possible solutions to their problem.
3. Once they have dissected opinions from online reviews, they will begin evaluating their options.
4. Finally, the customer is ready and makes a purchase.

As you write your content, consider which phase your potential client may be in. Those in the early phases will likely be more interested in learning about your product and how to use it. Guides and how-to posts can be beneficial at this point. Be sure that you are providing direct answers to the questions potential clients will likely have. Videos of the content should be used in all phases too, since some customers like to see rather than read what you’re saying.

The next phase of buyers will be conducting research about available options to prepare to make a decision. At this point, you should bring in past buyers’ testimonials and reviews. Emphasize the strong points of your product that make it superior to the competition. If your product is not as high-quality as other options may be, emphasize its low price point. If you have a much more expensive product, push the facts of how well-made it is and what types of materials are used.  While you don’t want to be deceitful, it’s okay to downplay weak points and focus on strengths.

Buyers in the final phase are ready to order. Content directed toward this group will include landing, sales and product pages. You may not see your product pages as part of your SEO content marketing, but carefully-designed pages can be. For many customers who found your site while in the finals stages of the buying process, the sales or product page may be the first exposure they have to your company. While they aren’t going to want to hear your entire sales pitch as this point, you will still want to emphasize the strong points of your product, whether it’s the fact that it is the best deal around or the highest-quality product on the market. This content will also include reviews and more direct sales language.

Here is an example of what your content marketing SEO strategy may look like if you were selling high-end chocolates.

Intent to learn:

• Blog Post – the ingredients you use and where they come from
• Video – showing different types of chocolates
• Blog Post – the health benefits of chocolate
• Blog Post – your company’s story of getting started in chocolates
• Blog Post – why chocolate makes the perfect gift

Intent to compare:

• Blog Post – growth of your company
• Study/Video – blind taste test of different brands of chocolate
• Blog Post – reviews from past customers
• Blog Post – why using high-quality ingredients is better for you
• Blog Post – Q&A: how to tell between quality chocolate and cheap versions

Intent to buy:

• List of all available flavors of chocolate
• Instructions on how to order
• Product pages
• Video – guide through the ordering process

You should have a good mix of each type of content created on a regular basis so that you always have something new to attract the attention of potential customers.

Back it Up

One of the best ways to show potential clients that your claims are legitimate is to convince them with information besides your own opinion. Use scientific research to back your claims up. Most customers will need additional opinions to back up their decisions before making a purchase, so use credible sources for opinions. Linking to authoritative sites will not only increase your credibility with customers, but also with Google.

By getting inside the buyer’s mind, you’ll be able to implement SEO content writing that emphasizes what a customer wants to buy as opposed to what you’re trying to sell. This difference will make your content more likely to stand out in the vast sea of internet marketing.