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5 Ways You Can Write Content that Converts

We know content is king, but how do you make sure you're maximizing its benefits? Check out this post to see how you can write content that will give your sales a boost.

You’ve heard it over and over again: Content is important to building up an online store. It can help you attract more visitors by building a solid SEO foundation, creating a cohesive brand and giving your site an established look.

But it doesn't stop there. Content can also be your best salesperson. In ecommerce businesses, you don’t have the same opportunity to answer customers’ questions like you would with a brick and mortar. But if you create compelling, helpful content for your shoppers, your content will drive sales for you.

How do you create that kind of content? First, you'll want to go back to the basics. Your marketing basics, that is.

Take your visitors through the AIDA funnel

If you’ll remember back to Marketing 101, there’s a well-known model for creating effective messaging that sells: AIDA, which stands for Attention, Interest, Desire and Action.

Attention: Get your visitors to focus on you.

There are a lot of distractions online, so it’s important to get their undivided attention. This means writing eye-catching content that makes them want to read more. Use headings that get people’s attention and prove that it’s worthwhile to read more.

Interest: You don’t have a long time to get your visitors interested in what you have to say — again, the Internet is full of distractions — so get to the interesting stuff quickly.

Do this by cutting down on needless introduction and focusing on your customers and their problems.

Desire: Tell your customers why they should want your products.

Will your products make their lives easier, more fun, safer? Explain how that happens. Give them a glimpse of what their future is like with your products.

Action: Close the sale with your customer by telling them exactly what to do next.

This might include buying now, calling for more information or even joining your social communities. Once you’ve told your visitors what to do, make it easy for them to do it.

Now, AIDA is important, but you don’t want to focus on it to the exclusion of other conversion tactics. There are plenty of other ways to use content to sell your products, and it’s important to find the right combination of these techniques for your customers.

Here are some other tactics for creating content that converts:

1. Speak directly to the customer

Think about the last time you were in a local brick-and-mortar store. The sales person probably greeted you, made you feel welcome and offered their assistance, right? Try to emulate that with your store’s content. Use headlines that make the customer feel important with the you-based headline tactic, such as:

“You Deserve the Best Cat Sweaters”

“Choose a Cat Sweater You’ll Love”

“Looking for a Cat Sweater that Will Look as Great as It Feels?”

The goal here is to get the visitor to agree with your headline and want to read more. Loading a headline with “you” (whether it’s stated or implied) helps your customers feel a more personal connection to your store and makes it more likely they’ll read on.

As you write more content on your category and product pages, find ways to work your customers’ needs, wants and goals into your copy and you’ll be able to drive more conversions in your store.

2. Make your content the expert

Chances are, the visitors to your store will have a question or two about your products. They’ll want to know the fabric your apparel is made from, or the different uses for the gadgets you sell. Whatever their questions, let your content be their expert source of information.

When you write content for category pages, think about the questions people might have as they look at that section. Give answers about which products might be best for their needs or which subcategory will help them narrow their search even further.

For product pages, focus on giving answers directly related to that product. You might want to tell visitors the best place to use that product, how long they can expect it to last, what materials were used, etc.

The goal here is to give them the information they need on the page they’re viewing so a hunt for information doesn’t interrupt the customer’s buying process. This means telling them about your policies for shipping and returns, as well as anything else relevant to that page.

3. Address your customers' concerns

Put yourself in your customers’ shoes and imagine what might be keeping them from converting in your store. Maybe visitors aren’t sure if they trust your store with their credit card information. Perhaps they’re not confident that this will be the product they need. It might be that they just don’t know if they’ve found the best price.

Whatever is standing in the way of you making the sale, address it. Whether it's in your site's FAQ, your product descriptions, or even in your store's own Knowledge Base, you want the right information in the place they're most likely to look. Tell the customer about your SSL certificate and any other signifiers of trust your store has earned. Discuss the appropriate uses of your products and point out the inappropriate uses. Tell them they’ve found a great price or a better value. Bottom line: You want to use your content to make them confident that buying from you is the best choice.

4. Use content to cross-sell and up-sell

The Volusion software already has some cross-selling and up-selling features built in — the Related Products feature, for example. However, content can take your store’s cross-selling and up-selling abilities to the next level.

Cross-selling your products should come pretty naturally. For example: If you’re in fashion, recommend accessories that go particularly well with each specific product. For technology stores, you can recommend complementary software and hardware. Know your products and help your customers understand which ones go well together.

Up-selling requires being a bit more delicate. A good tactic is to tell your customers about the features the more expensive product offers that the product they’re looking at doesn’t offer. Then, let your customers make their own decision. Giving your customers too hard of a sell for a different product might sour them to the whole purchase process, which isn’t worth it.

5. Go beyond on-page content

As you get more confident in writing, use these tips to help people who aren’t your customers yet. Through blogging, interacting in forums and building a community on social networks, you can turn information-seekers into customers by using many of the same strategies you used on your website.

By following these tips, you can add quality content to your store and convert more customers. So get started today!

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