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Get Back to AIDA and the Basics of Copywriting

Copywriting is a creative process that involves conceptualising and creating sales and marketing content to promote products and services. The art of copywriting commenced as a medium on the print platform and has since evolved to the online world. However, the principles of good copywriting never changed. Good old AIDA, (this is no woman) always did the trick. So let’s use the AIDA (Attention, Interest, Desire, Action) formula to teach a new dog, the web world some old tricks.

Grab Attention -What’s in it for him?

We live in an instant gratification world, it’s now or never most of the time. The moment a visitor reaches your landing page, you have 3 seconds to clear his mind about what you are offering. Your USP needs to come out upfront and hold him riveted. If your headline or visual confuses him, your prospect will move on. Don’t make the mistake of simply tom-toming your products or services; you’ll have lost your prospect in the blink of an eye. Instead, your homepage should appeal to his emotions and instantly tell him how your product or service can benefit him by providing solutions to his pain areas.

Even as your headline grabs his attention, it should be strong enough to keep his interest pinned to your website.

Spur on Interest – Tell a compelling story

You’ve got to build your visitor’s interest and keep him hooked to your website. How do you do it? Enthral them by painting a visual picture of how exactly your product or service will fulfil the promise you made to them when you attracted their attention. However, you must be factual while being unique, emotional and persuasive in telling your story. Remember, you can’t sell on a false premise – it’ll backfire on you later and you stand to lose more than you gained. Don’t use high-sounding words and phrases, it may turn-off some of your visitors. Use simple, straightforward language, as if you are having an honest and pleasant conversation with a friend. While you may want to wax eloquent on the tech specs or salient features of your offerings, be warned that even the most fanatic gizmo freak will want to know how your cutting edge technology translates into benefits or advantages for him. By all means, flaunt your tech specs, but in relation to how it will be of use to the user.

Desire to gain confidence – provide the proof

Now you can add more grist to the mill of your story. Egg on his desire with living proof in the form of customer testimonials, people who are more than satisfied with their purchase of your product. You need to gain your visitors confidence; prospects must buy into what you’re saying before they buy into your products. In addition, bring out your unique points in terms of expertise, success and experience that justify your qualifications as the preferred source. You can further spur on his desire by smartly providing a limited-period bonus offer, a free trial, limited edition product; anything that makes him want to take action.

Action Packed Engagement – bring in the bucks

Now that you’ve convinced your visitor of the many benefits he stands to gain by purchasing your product, you need to clinch in the deal. Give him directions as to how he can take action and purchase your products or services. There’s no time to waste – if it is available through your website, you need to tell him so with a quick directive. Click here and Save! Buy Now!  If he cannot purchase it through your website and shipping is involved, give him all the relevant details, from credit facilities to payment options delivery modes and timeframe. In short exclude any risk on the part of the customer in the purchase of your product.

Finally, it’s always about ‘what’s in it for me’, for your target audience. Commence your website content on that premise with the AIDA formula and you’re sure headed in the right direction.

I’ve noticed that most writers who’ve been writing good copy for a long time don’t consciously follow the AIDA formula. It’s something that they imbibe unconsciously and incorporate automatically into their copy. Something akin to learning to drive a car, one gets better at it and masters it over a period of time, so the process just happens naturally.

Have you tried any interesting website copywriting tips that have worked in your favour? Do let me know.

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