I know from personal experience that writing product descriptions for your ecommerce business is a daunting task. It can be overwhelming to look at all of your products and realize that each one needs its own well-written paragraph of sales copy. This is especially intimidating if you're not really comfortable writing, or just don't think you're the best writer in the world (hey, we all have our strengths ;)).
My goal in this episode is to give you some practical strategies and tools to help you write effective product copy. In addition to the 8 strategies I discuss in the episode, I've also put together a free worksheet that you can download to help you begin crafting your own product descriptions. The worksheet breaks up the complicated tasks of brainstorming product features and benefits, telling a story, and engaging the reader into small, easy-to-tackle steps. Download the worksheet below.
Here's a preview of what we discuss in this episode:
- Why you shouldn't use the descriptions provided by your product manufacturer
- An update on the progress of my own ecommerce business (SurvivalKnifeExperts.com)
- 8 tips for writing ecommerce product descriptions that engage the reader and result in sales (even if you're not a writer)
Links referenced during the show:
- The Ecommerce Entrepreneur’s Toolkit (free PDF download)
-
The Art of Non-Conformity: Set Your Own Rules, Live the Life You Want, and Change the World
FREE worksheet download
I put together this worksheet to walk you through the process of writing an effective and well-written product description. Even if you're not a great writer, this worksheet will give you some easy steps to walk through to craft product copy that sells.- Download Product Description Worksheet as a PDF
- Download Product Description Worksheet as a Microsoft Word document
Blog posts and resources used to research this episode (that you just might benefit from reading)
- 9 Simple Ways to Write Product Descriptions that Sell - by Henneke Duistermaat of EnchantingMarketing.com
- How to Write eCommerce Product Descriptions that Sell Like Hotcakes - VisualWebsiteOptimizer.com
- How to Avoid the Destructive Power of Adjectives in Your Marketing Copy - KissMetrics.com
Quote of the week:
“Most remarkable people are not remarkable by nature. Instead, they made a few key choices along the way that helped them overcome their fears.” ~ Chris Gillebeau
9 comments
Hey Leighton,
Thanks for the worksheet – it’s going to be really helpful. I’ve got so many similar products on my site, I’m pretty sure I’ve used really vague adjectives everywhere. Time to get back in the trenches and start again!
I’ve made a spreadsheet of whichever product keywords get the most searches, and am using that to prioritize the order in which I would re-write.
Enjoyed this episode as always!
Hey Leighton
Thanks for the tips I’m are currently writing product descriptions for my first online store so this will come in handy for sure.
I’d already read the shopify article but will check out the others you mentioned as well.
Also whats the link to your knife store I couldn’t remember the name.
Cheers
Coran
Hey Coran,
Definitely! Thanks for listening. Your wedding bands site is looking nice! My site is http://www.SurvivalKnifeExperts.com.
Cheers,
Leighton
Thanks mate, it’s a work in progress :-) I really like your store too. The buying guides are great!
Something else I’m trying is adding the generic product pages to my robot.txt file by excluding /zzz I add this in front of the URL then as we release awesome descriptions remove the zzz. This way customers can find the extra products without coping the google penalty.
I’ll let you know how it goes.
Hey Leighton, this has been my favorite podcast thus far…great stuff! And thanks for putting together the worksheet, it’ll certainly come in handy…