Users on your website simply haven’t landed on the product page they’re interested in and say ‘do you know what, I’ve found the holy grail to my particular problem’ out of the blue. They will have found you, usually through a search engine or recommendation, and as marketers, we are prepared for that.

It takes so much planning, writing, nurturing and contact with prospects to get to this stage. The product and service pages on your website are great; they have valuable information about the core elements of your business and can help nail a conversion. Which is why it can be pretty disheartening to see the majority of your visitors leave your site without making a purchase, downloading a brochure or requesting a call back.

Before we all go and drown our sorrows with the flavoured vodka left over from one of our Christmas parties, there are some tactics you can apply to optimise the pages in question.

Are you writing to the right person?

It’s part of the process to identify who your target audiences are and write content that is appropriate to them. However, this doesn’t take into consideration the fact that you may be writing to person A, who certainly finds your webpage useful, but the final say resides with person B, or a committee.

To solve this, you need to delve deeper into your audiences and really take extra measure to understand their concerns and understand what they need to hear from you, all before picking up a pen/scroll/keyboard.

You think you’re selling ice to eskimos

We’re well trained in conveying the benefits of a product or service; after all, this is a chance to sell your company in softer, less aggressive ways. Therefore, you need to know what benefits your product/service will deliver a prospect and convey them, right?

Well… Not quite. Selling your product or service’s benefits is crucial to conveying to the prospect why it’s worthwhile considering, but if you overkill it, you simultaneously bore your audience and…. you sound like everyone else out there. Sell what makes your offering uniquely yours. Is it your delivery times? Your after-sales support? The fact that your products arrive in a totally Instagrammable way?

You’re overselling your offering

Now, there is absolutely nothing wrong with a Persuasive Argument in content marketing, but that isn’t the same as being pushy. When devising content, rather than advertising or paid social copywriting, persuasive and conversational tones are key. Being pushy on a blog makes people a lot more suspicious, so tone things down and imagine that you’re conveying your products to your family and friends. They may not be interested in the businesses you’re writing for, but if they get what you’re saying, you’re onto a winner.

Running out of steam

Not ideal if you write copy for a kitchenware brand, but also not great if you’ve limped to the finish line before saying all you need to say. If that’s the case – are you sure you can say all you need to in one piece of content? Is it better as several different pieces?

If you find your copy starts off strong, progresses adequately but just gives up before you’ve finished what you’re saying, get someone else to check it over. The point of a strong closing argument is to whip your prospect into an emotional fury that they do not already employ your services or products, so why not close with a strong persuasive argument?

While it’s true that some visitors will just never buy from you or engage in your services, you need to do everything you can to prevent the lack of conversion being down to uncompelling content. Refreshing your content also keeps your brand style fresh, meaning that people who return to your site can see that you’re on top of your business.

If you’ve found any of these tips particularly useful or have a content conundrum you’d like us to take a further look at, contact us today. See? Totally not pushy.

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