A copywriter can do wonders with your website in addition to providing content that's attention-getting and sales-oriented. They can also give you a fresh perspective on your company's image and provide helpful feedback about how they interact with your site.
If you're writing copy for your company's website, it's pretty hard to generate objectivity about your copy because you're steeped in your own rhetoric. However, if you must go it alone, don't fall prey to what I call "My Top 5 Copywriting Pet Peeves."
#1 - Your homepage looks like a content bomb went off. Words are everywhere, from the top navigation to way past the fold. Worst of all, you've got to read through everything to figure out where to go next. Instead of stuffing your homepage with keywords, do a little research into SEO, and ask yourself what you would want to see first when you visit your own site. This will give you a clue about what others want to see, too.
#2 - You use tons of exclamation points. Adding multiple exclamation points is unnecessary. Limit yourself to one exclamation point per sentence--if you use more, you run the risk of making your site look like a teenager's text message. And remember, exclamation points are used to call attention to something--if they're everywhere, you'll render important points meaningless.
#3 - You didn't bother reading through your work before publishing it. Big mistake. Even if you think you're perfect, you've got to read through what you've written before you publish it on your site. It's not cute when there's a mistake in your copy, especially when customers are considering buying your product or service. Mistakes make you look sloppy and unprofessional.
#4- You like to use the 'ellipsis', and stick four or five on sentences. Remember the "rule of three" when it comes to the ellipsis (singular) or ellipses (plural), those little dots after words or phrases that signal something has been omitted that the reader can infer. Most of the time, ellipses should only come in sets of three (not four, not ten). Most people writing web copy won't encounter a situation that requires a more complicated use of ellipses, but if you're interested, check this out.
#5 - You don't have any copy on your site. Yes, this is an obvious one, but still worth mentioning since I've seen some sites that attempt to sell a product, but don't provide copy to describe it. If you're going to have a website, you need to be able to update it with content to both help visitors and search engines find your website (for SEO). Don't write very well and have no idea what SEO is? Hire a copywriter. If not, do your best to at least provide simple, error-free information about your product or service.
Good news! You can finally buy "Chain Reaction," the song Carly Comando created for the Grasshopper video. It's now available for purchase on Amazon and should be up on iTunes soon, too. Carly created the track just for the Grasshopper video using only the script I wrote for inspiration. She is an amazingly talented musician. If you watched a basketball game at all in the last year, you probably heard Carly's song "Everyday" playing in the "NBA, Where Amazing Happens" commercials.
