Every business needs compelling written content on their website—and the ultimate purpose of that content is always to facilitate conversions. Simply put, you want the people who are reading your website to buy whatever it is you’re selling—and your written copy can help seal the deal.
Different companies face different challenges in their copywriting, however. Writing copy for products is one thing; writing copy for services is altogether different. In this post, we’re going to focus on the latter, offering some guidelines for writing service-oriented pages that ultimately get people calling, emailing, or stopping by your place of business to learn more.
General Principles for Writing Service Pages
There are a few big-picture concepts to keep in mind while generating content for your service pages.
1. First, note that trust is the underlying issue here. A faulty product can always be returned for a replacement or a refund, but with services, customers may feel like they are “stuck” with whatever it is you’re offering. In short, they really have to trust you before they hire you to complete the service in question—and your written content can either cultivate or undermine that trust.
2. Because of this, your level of qualification and experience is vitally important. Simply put, the customer has to know that you are capable of performing the service, and performing it to a high standard. They need to know that you have a proven track record and all the necessary credentials.
3. Finally, remember that hiring someone to do a service can be highly personal—especially if the service is conducted in the individual’s home. This takes us back to trust: You need to prove that you’re someone the customer can comfortably invite into their house or apartment.
Tips for Writing Service Pages That Convert
With that foundation laid, here are some specific tips and pointers for writing compelling service pages.
Start with your elevator pitch. It’s likely that the person who’s reading your service page has a limited understanding of what you do or what your company stands for; as such, you don’t necessarily want to start with a deep-dive into how your service works. That can come later. At the beginning, you just need to provide a big-picture overview—an elevator pitch to let people know basically what your company does.
Always focus on benefits. The key question your customers will be asking is: What’s in it for me? While writing your service page, you should be asking roughly the same question: What’s in it for your customer? What benefits can they expect from choosing your service? Your service pages shouldn’t be all about you; they should be all about the end user.
Aim for brevity. This is somewhat subjective, but most of the time, you’ll want your service descriptions to be on the short side—100 to 250 words or so. You don’t want it to take longer for someone to read your service page than it does for you to provide the service! Keeping it benefits-focused is a good way to ensure that you just get to the point.
Structure your service pages for easy reading and skimming. The structure of your service page should provide an easy and natural flow—which might mean sub-headings, bulleted points, or numbered lists. Again, start with the high-level overview, then get into the details as much as you need to.
Tell people why they should trust you to perform this service. Chances are, you aren’t the only plumber, house painter, or consultant in town—so why should the buyer choose you over the competition? This is something you can discuss in greater detail on your About page. For your service pages, it’s often prudent to simply remind readers of your credentials, your depth of experience, or whatever else your specific value proposition happens to be.
Keep SEO in mind. You don’t want to shoehorn in a bunch of unnatural-sounding keywords, but do be mindful of the fact that your service pages offer some robust opportunities for search engine discovery—so when possible, incorporate keywords that reflect how a real customer might be seeking information about what your company does.
Always close with a call to action. Finally, remember the online marketing rule of thumb: Every page of your website should have a call to action, concisely and clearly telling the reader how they should proceed! You’ll want to include your contact information, as well.
Is Your Website Getting Results?
To step back for a minute, we’d ask you to consider this simple question: Is your website doing everything it should to generate sales? If not, it could be because of issues with the copy, but it could also be a design problem. Either way, we’d love to take a look and to propose solutions. Reach out to enCOMPASS if you’re ready to chat.
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