Gone are the days of the pithy headline and the smarmy phrase. Your artfully crafted lines are lost on weary, time-starved eyes. Online, writers have to use scientific formulas that drive traffic to their advantage. It doesn’t mean you have to give up your creativity altogether. Writing for the web just means you have to tweak your work to include a little less Shakespeare and a little more Einstein.
Don’t think for a minute that you have to sacrifice creativity for conversion. There is still plenty of room for the symbolic comparison or the telling gesture. You can still dig deep and grab your audience by the heart. You just have to dress your inspired prose with a few formulated strategies. Here’s how you can fit formulated SEO strategies into your writing without offending your artistic sensibilities.
The Science of Headlines
You’ll have to give up that cute and coy headline, but you’ll be repaid in readership. Your headlines should be written in proven formulas that make people want to read your articles. Headlines should always state what the article is actually about without trying to be clever. People are reading online to get a job done, not for pleasure. Below are some formulas that will double your readership when you start using them:
- Be Direct – This headline technique is best used in promotional writing as in, “On Sale Now: Laptops.”
- How To – Everyone wants to know how. Just start your headline with those two magical words like, “How to Write Headlines.”
- Ask a question that piques curiosity such as, “Are You Making These Three Writing Mistakes?”
- Numbers – The previous example brings us to the importance of numbers in headlines. If at all possible, include them! Some examples are, “Five Proven Investment Strategies” and “Increase Conversions by 14.5%.” The greater your specificity, the greater the response.
- Enthusiasm – Shout out how much you love it with headlines like, “The Best Blender, Hands Down!”
- Combination Headlines – You can of course combine these techniques as in “How to Get 5,00 Subscribers in a Month” or “Have You Tried These Three Great Coffees?” “Five Laptops On Sale Now,” or “The Three Greatest TVs of All Time.” You get the picture.
If you are just dying to write some witty remark or title in your piece, you can still use your catchy phrase in the sub-headline. Even if the content management system you use has no space for a sub-headline, you can always insert one in italics above the beginning of your article. This way you can apply both the art and science of good Internet copywriting to your article.
Go Easy on the Intro
Sometimes we are so passionate about a subject that we go overboard on the introduction. Keep it straightforward and to the point. Avoid lavish descriptions and imagery at the start of your article. Just go for the topic and get on with it. Stick to the point and save waxing poetic for a spot in the article where you’ve already hooked your reader.
Keywords
Keywords are part of the science of Internet copywriting that you must attend to if you want people to read your work. This is not about spamming, going commercial or selling your soul for a buck. The fact is that people find your articles through search engines, so you simply must use them. Insert keywords tactfully by tagging five keywords that are in your article and best represent the subject matter. This will help get more eyes on your work that were actually looking for what you have to say. Why five? More than that can be seen as a little “spammy.”
The Body
Here’s where your writing can shine. Be yourself, go with the flow and set out those glowing, charming and captivating turns of phrase to delight and enchant your readers. Just be sure there is enough useful, insightful or original content to keep them interested.
Conclusion
No writing teacher is going to tell you to omit the conclusion in an article. Good thing I’m just an Internet copywriter and not a teacher. I’m not telling you to always omit your conclusion, but on how-to and informative articles, conclusions are unnecessary. In sales writing, your conclusion needs to be a call to action. For editorial and opinion pieces, it’s a good idea to have a conclusion to sum up your point.
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