Where does a conversion copywriter begin compared to an SEO consultant? Can the two roles be combined?
One difference is that they each have a different starting point.
That is because a conversion copywriter optimizes for humans, while an SEO consultant optimizes for Google’s algorithm.
So, where does a conversion copywriter begin when redesigning a website?
Lately, when redesigning websites, I typically begin with three key elements:
- usertesting.com
- Thank you page surveys.
- Obstacle interview methods.
In this scenario, you will have to assume that I am wearing the hat of a conversion copywriter.
What insights do these tools provide?
Let’s move on to usertesting.com and thank you page surveys. These tools are crucial for gathering insights. While they may not be the first choice for conversion consultants, digital marketing leads, or SEO consultants, each has its preferred starting point. And that’s perfectly fine. Everyone has a unique approach to research and data collection.
Even though our starting points may differ, they are all valid. As conversion copywriters, we focus on answering questions that are different from those addressed by SEO specialists.
We want to first identify broken.
Based on these messages, we analyze and identify the components that need to be revised. We then make attempts to correct the message based on our hypotheses regarding what needs to be fixed.
That’s why I started with usertesting.com and thank you page surveys.
UserTesting.com reveals which messages on the site are effective or ineffective in achieving the site’s main goal.
Thank you page surveys reveal exactly what people are looking for when they visit the site. I get to know about their persona and their use cases.
These tools provide insights in two key areas:
- the effectiveness of existing messaging
- and customer expectations.
In the subsequent blogs, I will share what to do, why to do it, and exactly how to do it.
I’m going to walk you through two techniques that will help you endlessly.
Consider research in two parts: on-page and off-page. On-page research focuses on crafting effective messages based on what’s important. Off-page research guides on which pages to work on. This approach helps supplement your findings and improve your overall strategy.
On-page research is the core of what a conversion copywriter works on in order to execute the how.
As in, how will we express X message.
Whereas page research is the research that guides the pages to work on. It also informs what message do visitors to this site or this page need to see.
For example, OnPage research methods include message mining.
Yes, you can use messages to help shape yours. Mining is definitely the best approach for this.”
Yes. You can message mine to shape “what” in the message.
Let me present an example.
How can customer reviews and feedback shape your message?
When you’re creating service or product pages, such as for a freight forwarder, start by gathering customer reviews and feedback from online sources. This will help you understand the specific issues people have and what they are looking for.
Why do they love using a specific service provider, use cases, etc.?
On-page research directly impacts the words you put on the page.
An example of off-page research is using Google Analytics to better identify which pages people are touching but bouncing on. For pages with the highest visitor drop-off rates, that research will point you toward the page that needs optimizing, but it won’t tell you what to put on the page. Off-page research will better tell you what to put on the page.
So if Google Analytics shows you or your team that visitors are dropping off on your service page, that would be cool. You then want to do further research to identify what may be broken on that page. Yeah.
Types of research you do will be on-page research here. You might run a series of user tests on that page or on the flow of pages that lead up to drop-offs.
Let’s say you experience drop-off on a service page.
What is the role of on-page research in developing hypotheses?
You’d then want to further research to find out what may be broken on that page.
The types of research you do will be on-page research.
You might run a series of user tests here on that page or on the flow of pages that Google Analytics shows you that lead up to drop-offs.
This helps you to get inside the head of what people are going through leading up to that page.
Thus, what’s happening on that page is causing people to click out of the site without converting.
What is a heuristic analysis, and how can it be used?
You could conduct a heuristic analysis, which means comparing your current approach to best practices. Specifically, review your copy and service pages and compare them with the best practices. From this, develop a list of ideas. Shortlist these into a hypothesis for a split test or page revision.
Alternatively, you could take that list of ideas, implement them all on the page, and see if the drop-off rate improves.
Now, the second option is obviously not as desirable from an experimental purist perspective, but here’s the reality.
The reason is that testing everything would make you super slow.
Test everything as nice as that idea is sometimes you just have to try to diagnose the problem and throw every possible cure at it in the hopes that one will work or that all of them will work together.
Okay.
Off-page research is actually quantitative. It’s a series of hard data points that you and your team can use to triangulate, to a point of developing hypotheses for what might be broken and where it might be broken.
Most OnPage research is qualitative. You’ll use it to figure out what might be broken in messaging, like in a headline, and how you might fix those broken messages.
Of course, we’ll talk about OnPage research, the qualitative stuff. You need to know what to do. And how to do it.
How should businesses start from scratch with no existing data?
Now, if you’re starting from scratch, like you’re writing a brand new website with no data to turn to, you’ll need to depend more heavily on research, like content audits on competitor’s sites message mining, to see what people think and say about businesses that are similar to yours.
And you’ll have essentially no access to hard data about your site because it doesn’t exist.
Now, that doesn’t mean you should feel like your hands are tied.
There are countless businesses, basically all businesses, that have to start from a point of zero when they’re writing a page or a website. So, if you’re reading this and feeling discouraged that everyone else has more data to work with, then you should let that worry go.
Everyone with a website today had to start where they were without anything to work with.