The art of copywriting includes a lot of skills you need to master. In order to create a compelling, engaging content your writing must be clear, direct, with the right tone of voice for your targeted audience. Most of all, you need to understand the value of persuasive writing.

In fact, people are reading lots and lots of content on the internet everyday, so how can you convince them to read and respond to yours? Here we will teach you some persuasive writing techniques and how to apply them to your SEO strategy.

What is persuasive writing?

When you or your web marketing specialist create content, you usually write it SEO-oriented, right? That means that you want a search engine such as Google to find and value your content above all else.

But the thing is, you can’t write for Google only. In fact, you should always remember that you are writing to real people. The numbers you see going up and down on your insight page are not just numbers. They are, actually, real people.

So they can and they will leave your website if they don’t find your content interesting enough.

Persuasion is the ability of your copy to drive people to action. 

Neil Patel, SEO copywriting specialist

In other words, persuasive writing is the art of creating engaging content that will keep users on your webpage and drive them to respond on your call to action.

How persuasion works

Actually, this particular branch of communication has been known since ages ago. It was called rhetoric and Greek philosopher Empedocles was its first master. It’s a set of techniques and strategies you use to convince other through words.

What does it mean for SEO and digital advertising? Well, it’s everything. The very goal of digital copywriting is to convince people. Whether you want them to subscribe to your newsletter; buy your product; follow you on social media and such. The thing is, you want something.

Every form of communication is a form of persuasion. So you need to apply some persuasive writing strategies if you want your digital adv campaign to succeed.

Where do you use persuasive writing?

The most common use of persuasive writing techniques is in web content writing. When creating a text for a webpage you want to hook people into your storytelling. You want them to trust you, love you and find you reliable. At last, you want them to buy whatever you are selling.

Whether it’s a product, a service or your own status as influencer and leader, you want to convince them you are the perfect guy. Everything can be turned into topics for persuasive writing, if you are a good enough storyteller. And if you aren’t, we are here to help.

How to write complelling texts for your website

As we already said, every one of us is bombarded by informations and inputs on the web. Every way we turn, we see advertising, op-eds, essays, articles, posts saying completely different things. So how to convince someone to read yours? Most importantly, how to make them agree with you?

Essentially, what you need is to master persuasive writing. You need to craft your texts and messages in the perfect way to make users feel seen, valued, understood. They will love you and instantly agree with you. That way, everything you suggest they will do.

3 basic principles of persuasive writing

If you want to write an engaging and persuasive text, these the first 3 things you need to know:

1. Authority and persuasive writing are linked. People will tend to find you more persuasive if you show them your authority in a specific field. This can be build over time, curating a perfect online presence and a reliable brand reputation.
2. Lean on mutual exchanges. For instance, if you want to sell a product, you need to convince customers that it’s worth their money. If they will give you their money, they will receive an incredibly valuable product, service or experience.
3. Remember people are stubborn. One of the most important principles of persuasive writing (and communication in general) is deeply linked with the psychological idea of cognitive bias. Users will be most likely to believe you if you say something they already believe.

So, what should you do?

Firstly, you should know your audience inside and out. Everything about your target user is crucial information for your persuasive writing techniques. In fact, if you know your audience’s habits, beliefs and values, you can lean on them in order to convince them.

For example, let’s say you want to sell a digital service for people who spend too much time on their phone. It’s an app to tell them that they’ve been on their smartphone too much. So, start by studying your potential customers.

Then, target people who spend more than 5 hours a day on the phone and create a specific campaign for them. Since they already know what their problem is, and they probably know it’s a problem, you will more likely convince them to download your app.

Some examples of persuasive writing

To sum it up, what words, phrases and sentences you should use in order to apply persuasive writing to your everyday content? Here are some basic examples and stategies to use:

• Use bullet points. See what we did here? Use bullet points, lists and a clear paragraph layout to highlight the most important parts of your text. No matter how long it is, people need just some effective sentences to be convinced.
• Create killer headlines. Above all, your users need to know exactly what you are talking about, but try to be mysterious about your position on the topic. So that this will intrigue them to go on reading.
• Use numbers (intelligently). As psychologists have found out, the human eye is drawn to numbers more than letters. So if you start your headline with a number or use a list, they will be immediately hooked.
• Play the scarcity angle. When trying to sell something, you should use FOMO as a powerful tool. The fear of missing out is real and it’s a great way to persuade people to buy or download something.
• Stay connected. Actually, this is the way to make your users be real people. Talk to them, ask for their opinions, make them feel part of your community. Usually, the most charismatic people are always leaders. And that’s real for persuasive writers, too.
• Use rhymes. We know, it sounds silly but it’s not. Actually, this is related to a psychology idea known as a “fluency heuristic”. Because rhymes are easy to remember, they will remain stuck in the customers’ heads and add value to your statement.

Persuasive writing strategies

Here are some examples of actual phrases and sentences to use. In order to make them feel real and authentic, switch between them and don’t use always the same sentence pattern.

• “I believe that…” will give your sentence authority.
• “I feel strongly about this topic” creates a deep emotional connection.
• “Only a fool would think that…“. Certainly, users don’t want to perceive themselves as fools, so they will be more likely to agree with you.
• “The real truth is…“. Again, real adds authority to your text.
• “Don’t miss this opportunity“. For instance, this is an example of playing with scarcity in persuasive writing.

Other little tricks

In order to hook your reader into the story, try to write mostly in active form. This will create a more vivid image in their mind. Play some storytelling trick by using emotions and feelings as a tool.

Don’t be afraid to use repetition: in the right amount, it’s great to plant an idea in the reader’s mind. Also, don’t be offensive or irrelevant in order to catch people’s attention. You can use strong emotions like anger without offending anyone.

Don’t shy away from talking about the negatives. A perfect product or service doesn’t exist. So, if you write your content in an over enthusiastic way, people won’t find it believable. Instead, talk about pros and cons and show your competence with a detailed and argumentative text.

In conclusion

Now you know what’s persuasive writing and how it can be crucial for your SEO copywriting and advertising campaigns. First, try some of these techinques yourself on your blog or website.

Then create a larger campaign by involving professional writers and SEO specialists. As a result, your sellings will sky-rocket! If you need something, contact Mailsenpai and talk to our team of marketing geniuses.