Do you wonder how your fellow holistic health practitioners get those landing pages that resonate so well?
You know, the ones with the quirky words...
But at the same time, answering all your questions as and when you think of them.
It’s like they’re psychic.
They could be... But there’s a little more to it than that.
In this article, I’ll introduce 5 essential skills that you need to write well. As well as 10 copywriting tips with formulas to help you use them, so your copy will speak to your clients intuitively.
But first up…
What is copywriting? And how can it help my business?
Copywriting is a method of writing specifically your website, emails, and socials.
It helps you to plant the first seeds of trust. By using a variety of techniques — like the ones detailed below — copywriting helps you to tell your potential clients exactly what you do, and how you can help them.
You in? Keep reading...
What are the 5 core copywriting skills?
A copywriter’s job is to present an idea — simply. And there are a few skills that you can master to do that.
The trick is to have a good balance of all 5!
1. Research
As an expert in your field, knowing the ins and outs of your industry gives you a level-up when writing.
But, it also puts you at risk of using phases that you understand… but your clients have no idea!
To avoid that, research what your customers are saying about your line of work.
How do they talk about it?
What words are they using?
What are the common problems that they are encountering?
What is their experience?
This is the kind of research that will help you to address issues like a psychic.
It helps you to approach from a place of love — by caring about what they say and think. And therefore, building trust that you can help them with their problems.
2. Understanding
Trends change like the wind.
Whether it’s getting the latest gratitude journal or following the latest “remake” of yoga — following trends can seem far from what you actually want to do with your business.
And you don’t have to engage.
But it is useful to know what questions, myths and beliefs that your customers are exposed to. And approach those in a consciously.
Could you provide helpful alternatives in a non-critical way?
With an authentic “you” twist?
Doing so, will separate you from the crowd.
3. Be Human
Do you speak to your gran in the same way you speak to your friends?
Unless she’s really cool — probs not.
When writing, it’s easy to slip into a formal tone. You become so focused on the words — you forget there’s gonna be a real human on the other side.
But there is.
To access them, embody the you that speaks to your clients face-to-face… Think of how their presence and needs change your tone of voice.
It’s intuitive. Present. Supportive. Trusting.
This is the person your client wants to hear from.
4. Clarity
In holistic health, explanations can get scientific — really fast!
Unless your customers are Drs, they’re going to feel lost.
What is “parasympathetic”...?
How can you present those same ideas, but in simple terms?
Where can you offer a definition to get them up to speed fast?
Presenting with clarity helps you to connect in a way that is supportive and understanding — while still showing your expertise 😉
5. Engagement
How often do you read something, get bored, and start scrolling?
At least until you find another part you’re interested in 🙂
As a writer, it's you job to make them STOP.
And, there is one question that will help you:
“Why should anyone care?”
Ask yourself this as you're brainstorming, writing, reading, editing — and you'll stay on topic.
This can really help if you’re prone to overwriting!
Copywriting Tips to Help You Create Your Website
It's easy to get overwhelmed by all the copywriting advice out there.
So, I’ve narrowed down my 10 favourite copywriting tips and formulas to help you create engaging copy by yourself.
Ready to write like a psychic?
1. Use Persuasive Formatting
Persuasive formatting is used in marketing to get someone to take a specific action.
It’s a space to present your product, explain why it’s so great, and how someone’s life will improve with it.
It gives your writing the “I want this in my life” that you’re looking for.
Of course, they’re still capable of making their own decisions.
But by arranging things in this format, they will quickly know if what you offer aligns.
My favourite formula to make something persuasive is AIDA.
I credit Neville Medhora for this one — ‘cos that’s who I learned it from!
AIDA is
Attention — something that hooks them in
Interest — a fact about your product
Desire — make them want it
Action — how they get it
You can apply this to just about anything — sales letters, landing pages, emails, socials… to generate excitement about what you’re doing.
It allows you to present an idea while putting your potential client and their interests first.
This brings us on to top tip number 2!
2. Write About Them
As holistic health practitioners, you’re facilitating self-care.
So one of the best copywriting tips you can get is to make copy about them.
Explain how you can help them
Tell them how they’ll feel after your product or service
Paint the picture and get into specific real-life deets of the experience
Use the 2nd-person narrative.
“YOU will feel clarity. YOU will feel the long-term benefits of investing in yourself.”
Try to avoid talking in the 3rd person…
“Eilidh is a copywriter, she spent 5 years learning the ropes.”
— it makes you sound like you’re a dead robot.
3. Highlight the Problem and Solution
Your purpose is to help people.
But WHAT exactly are you helping people with? And how do you fix it?
This is the problem and solution.
To get to the core of the problem that your audience has — ask the 3 why’s.
For example, as an acupuncturist, a common problem is overwhelm.
Now ask 3 why’s:
- Why? Their nervous system is shot.
- Why? They have a high-stress job.
- Why? They put too much pressure on themselves to perform well.
This formula helps you to dig below the surface-level problems that they immediately think of, and get to something that resonates deeply.
4. Power Words
Power words activate strong emotions.
They’re used in writing to keep a reader engaged, by getting them emotionally involved in what is being said.
It takes your content from being same-samey to hooking people in, and activating their desire to learn more.
Think — how can I say this more powerfully?
The trick is to identify your emotive words and make them stronger! And Plutchik’s wheel of emotions is a great inspiration to do this.
Credit to www.feelingswheel.com
Emotions are complex. And we don’t always have the words for them. The wheel of emotions is a tool that helps us to learn the language of emotions by offering word prompts and colours.
Let’s take a look at how to apply this to writing,
I want to power up the sentence,
“You’ll experience happiness.”
So the emotion word here is “happy”.
The colour wheel offers me lots of options the ones I think are fitting are
Content - Free - Joyful
Free feels super strong here.
“You’ll experience freedom”
Damn! That's much more specific than plain ‘ole, happy, isn’t it?
5. Use Short Sentences
Want to attract people’s attention? Keep it short and simple.
This goes for paragraphs AND sentences.
There are two written rules here:
Keep your paragraphs down to 3 lines — MAX four
Have no more than 15 words per sentence… less is best
If I wrote a super long paragraph explaining all of the reasons that you should not write like this, you would start to browse right on over it. The long paragraph becomes what is called, the dreaded “wall of text”. You don’t want to read it because its appearance is so uninviting. Yes, I am explaining this by showing you a great wall of text in the paragraph.
But, when your writing is short and snappy. Your reader can see the information — quickly ;).
6. Address Any Objections
An objection is a reason you get for someone to NOT use your service.
More often than not, you run into them when talking with potential clients.
For example, a common objection is,
“This seems a little expensive. I’ve already paid so much.”
To address this,
write the response into your content
Repeat it
Give examples of why it’s true
“Tired of paying for treatments that are not actually easing your symptoms? This is where that stops… ”
The more objections you address in the copy that you write — the less obstacles your potential clients will run into when deciding to purchase your product or service.
7. Detail Benefits and Features
A benefit is how your potential client’s life will change after receiving your service.
A feature is part of what you offer.
Sounds simple, right?
This is a copywriting tip favourite because 90% of the time, what you think is a benefit… is actually a feature.
Everyone gets this wrong — even copywriters.
If you’re just listing features, your potential clients are not going to see what’s in it for them.
But the good news is, every feature HAS a benefit.
So let’s find them.
- List out the benefits of your service
- Ask yourself, is this a benefit or a feature?
- If it’s a feature add the phase “helps you to…” and keep writing.
- Do this several times, if you’re struggling
By the end, you’ll have a real benefit!
8. Think Sentence Structure
One of my pet hates is sentences that sound like they came straight from Yoda.
“Patience you must have, my young Padawan.”
No one talks like this!
To get people to keep reading — you’ve got to write like you.
And sentence structure helps you to do this.
“Padawan, you gotta have patience.”
Some tips to keep your sentence structure real,
Put the benefit first
Write complete sentences
Address one thing per sentence
To make your sentences resonate — keep it simple.
9. Storytelling
Stories have been told to hook people in since humans walked the Earth.
And they still have the power that they do today.
As you might have guessed by now, there are some formulas and tools that you can use to make your story work its magic for you.
Here are the two formulas I like best:
You — Them
Before - After - Bridge (BAB)
Stories are used to bring your reader into the picture. But how can you do that if you’re only talking about yourself?
First, talk about your experience. Then, talk about how they can learn from it.
Easy 😉
Another way to bring the reader into the story is through BAB.
With this approach, you bring the reader into the picture by telling them what your life was like before.
Explain how much more epic it was after you did the thing.
And then tell them how they can do the same and avoid that mistake with the bridge.
10. Edit with Your Customer's Mindset
Editing is both a writer's best friend and their worst nightmare.
No writing piece is perfect the first time around. To get it there, you need to edit with a scrupulous eye.
To speed up the process — read through the eyes of ideal customer. Embody them!
To get into this mindset, ask yourself
- What are they going through when they get to your website?
- What is their biggest problem as they read this?
- What can you do to make them feel better at this moment?
If you edit with this mindset, you’ll quickly be able to notice what parts aren’t resonating.
And make the right adjustments to speak to your audience’s needs.
Time to Start Writing!
Remember, your writing is not going to be perfect in the first draft.
But, by taking on these tips — you’ll get there 😉
If you need assistance in your words is infused with psychic powers — follow the link to contact me, and we can chat :).
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