The article Web copy motivators notes fear is a powerful influential factor on and off the Web. But, as Yes!: 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive notes, it can also be counter-productive.

Research has demonstrated that fear-arousing communications usually stimulate the audience to take action to reduce the threat. However, Author Robert Cialdini explained, “When the fear producing message describes danger but the audience is not told a clear, specific, effective means of reducing the danger, they may deal with the fear by ‘blocking out’ the message or denying it applies to them.”

As a result, they may be paralyzed into taking no action at all.

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Marketing intelligence is important, but so is practical intelligence.

Marketing intelligence comes from gathering information on business and competition. This intelligence helps businesses understand a market, so it can develop sound strategies and develop customer relationships.

You’ve gained valuable knowledge. You’ve got a high IQ. Fantastic! But what you do with it relies on practical intelligence.

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Different visitors invest in products and services for different reasons. Hitting these ‘trigger points’ translates to higher conversion rates.

It’s integral to consider who you are communicating to, and why you’re communicating to them.

To sell effectively, you need to pinpoint why visitors buy things. Here are a few possible motivators.

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Good web copy layers details via links to help visitors easily access information relevant to their needs.

Links help visitors scan pages. Properly developed links stand out from normal text, and provide strong cues as to what the page is about.

When naming links, the more specific, the more useful. Don’t just give visitors a hint — give them the necessary information they require to act, right then and there.

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Business owners frequently ask our web content writers, “How long should a web page be?” The answer is, it depends.

Short web pages allow the majority of material to be above the fold, allowing website visitors to click on relevant links to drill down for additional details.

Long web pages provide a steady flow of information, eliminating the need for website visitors to click links.

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Websites should be focused on customers’ multichannel experiences, reported Forrester Research. Why, then, is email customer service trapped in a silo?

“Email customer service habitually drives customers further — sometime irreparably — from their online objectives,” stated Forrester’s Diane Clarkson.

In a recent Forrester evaluation of retail websites, websites commonly missed opportunities to use email customer service to encourage web interactions or provide seamless transitions to other channels.

“eBusiness professionals must re-address how their customer service email strategies can keep consumers satisfied,” noted Clarkson, “by re-engaging them with online content, facilitating online purchases, and providing seamless cross-channel customer service.”

What is an SEO writer? That was a question at a recent web writing workshop, and one that gets asked frequently by business owners learning about the Web.

An SEO writer, or SEO copywriter, is basically a writer who develops keyword-rich website content.

Well-researched, keyword-rich content is a highly effective online marketing tool savvy businesses use to gain high search engine rankings, and generate leads and sales.

Accordingly, it’s the job of the SEO writer to effectively optimize website content with keywords that align with popular search terms.

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Copywriters, designers, developers — they all have a part to play in building a successful website.

Like life, there are sequential stages of progression. A child learns to lift his head, turn over, sit up, crawl and finally walk and run.

As Stephen Covey points out in his best seller, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, he states: “Each step is important and each one takes time. No step can be skipped.”

This hold true for websites as well. The planning, copywriting, design and development take time, too, and need to be a part of the process.

Otherwise, skipping any of these steps cause websites to fall flat on their faces.

English novelist and journalist George Orwell, one of the finer writers in the English language through such novels as 1984 and Animal Farm, was passionate about good writing. Hence, copywriters — for both print and websites — can learn a lot from him.

Reportedly, in every sentence he wrote, he asked himself at least four questions:

1. What am I trying to say?
2. What words will express it?
3. What image or idiom will make it clearer?
4. Is this image fresh enough to have an effect?

Plus, he had fundamental rules for effective writing, which decades later, still apply:

1. Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech, which you are used to seeing in print.
2. Never us a long word where a short one will do.
3. If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.
4. Never use the passive where you can use the active.
5. Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.
6. Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.

Since 80% of people scan web copy, versus reading word for word, copywriters need to start with the most important information.

Present unnecessary web copy in the form of filler or cute intros and you risk promoting high bounce rates, where visitors leave a website without going to a second page.

The sad thing is the desired information might be elsewhere on the page. But if it’s hard to find, visitors won’t hesitate to click the back button and check out the competition.

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