A few reasons to get your copy right

It might be low on your list of priorities if you?re setting up a business. There?re a million and one other things to think about after all. If it?s an online business it could well be one of the most important things you could do.

Here are a few reasons why:

To start with ask yourself how else people will know you?re there. Unlike the high street where shops and businesses are visible, you have to announce your presence. It?s unlikely people doing the online equivalent of window shopping will find you by chance.

Or if they do, they?ll probably pass you by without stopping to find out if you?re worth bothering with. Unless they know you have something they?re interested in, why would they? It?s all very well a shop having a fancy name, but if the windows are blacked out it?s defeating the object. The same with your website.

Of course the title or headline is important to attract interest. But that?s just the beginning. Although there are many advantages to doing business online, there are also drawbacks. For the customers anyway. Without being able to see you or your product in the flesh, they have to rely on your descriptions. Not an area you can afford to skimp on.

Without copy to guide them, customers might as well be blindfolded. Which isn?t something they?ll allow to happen. Images and photos are all very well, but they?re not enough on their own.

You have to be the eyes and ears of your customers. They?re relying on you to tell them how it works, looks, and of course the benefits to them. Not forgetting the possible drawbacks of course. You?re not being negative by doing that. Just honest. Another thing customers will rely on you for.

It won?t be enough to come up with a bland slogan and hope for the best. That kind of advertising is not as effective as it might once have been. Customers expect far more than that these days. Nor is it enough to simply sit behind a cash desk and wait for it to come rolling in. People want interaction. They don?t want to deal with a dummy.

It?s especially important for them to know you?re there for them. Not just gone off somewhere and left them to it. Copy is where you communicate with them, and let them know you?re serious about their needs. How else will they know who or what they?re dealing with?