You want your website to make you money, right? Of course, you do! Even as a more significant business with a sales process in place, you need to be able to bring in revenue online. If you want your website to bring in revenue, then it needs to be set up to convert.
How do you do that?
You have compelling copy that leads them to some kind of action.
One of the best ways to write copy that converts is to focus on accessibility and inclusion. When your copy speaks to everyone, you can reach your entire audience.
Let’s look at how you can improve your copy and increase your conversions.
The Power of Inclusive Content
Have you ever seen an article title that you were excited about but didn’t understand most of when you tried to read it? Even worse, have you ever felt excluded by what was otherwise a great piece of content?
If your answer is no, you’re lucky. All too often, businesses create content without thinking about their actual readers. They include a bunch of technical jargon and ideas, talk over your head, and then wonder why no one is buying from them.
For individuals with dyslexia and other reading disabilities, this can be an everyday struggle. Writing inclusive copy isn’t just to help those with reading disabilities either. This applies to a variety of individuals.
When we focus on creating inclusive, accessible content, we reach more people. Our conversion rates naturally increase because we’ve made it simple to understand what we do, how we help, and how to work with us.
Crafting Converting Content with Accessibility in Mind
The good news is that you may already be doing a decent job of this. Let’s break down some simple steps to writing more inclusive content.
Headings and Structure
For most businesses, we only have a few seconds to get our dream clients’ attention. Whether it’s your homepage, sales page, or blog post, clear structure is crucial. Headings are your secret weapon—they inform readers of what’s important and guide them through your content, ensuring they focus on the key takeaways you want them to remember.
Using headings and subheadings throughout your writing will allow your users to skim through your content to get to what they need or want (and yes, they all skim).
When those headings are written using keyphrases you’re trying to target and problems you’re solving, you send your readers signals that you can help. You’re making it easy for them to see how you help quickly.
Headings also signal the structure of your webpage. The largest heading (your H1) is the most important thing on the page. Your next heading (H2) should introduce new thoughts down the page. Then, you can use subheadings throughout that section to break up more content.
Think of your webpage like a term paper. You have to signal when you head to a new point so your customer can follow along with that train of thought. In addition to your headings, you can also use design elements like background colors, images, and even dividing lines so they understand what content and thoughts go together.
Provide Alternatives for Visuals
A good infographic or chart can be a great way to hammer your point home. However, not everyone can read that graphic.
Add alternatives to those visuals to better connect with your visually impaired users.
You can add simple ALT tag descriptions to every image you include on your webpage. This ALT description should literally describe the image and provide some context for its use. It also should be succinct because that entire description will be read to someone using a screen reader.
For more complex visuals and infographics, I like to add a description of the image below. I use this description to highlight essential statistics or takeaways I don’t want them to miss.
Will everyone be able to see this description? Yes. But that won’t annoy them. Instead, it will help all of your readers understand the visual. Even without having a visual disability, some people just prefer to read vs. skim through a large infographic.
By being accessible to your visually impaired customers, you’re inclusive.
Avoid Complex Language
The quickest way to turn off a potential customer? Talking over them.
I’ve had so many clients express how grateful they were that I didn’t talk over or down to them while explaining complex website issues (a problem they’ve had with multiple developers over the years). That’s because I understand that while I’m the expert in websites, they’re the expert in their business, so I try to make it easy for them to know what I’m doing.
This same concept applies to your website copy.
It’s so easy for marketers to forget that their customers aren’t experts in the services they’re buying. Frankly, your customers care that you can help them, not how you will do that.
To increase your conversions, remove the technical jargon. Focus on the benefits of your services and what you do rather than all the features they’ll get when they work with or buy from you.
And an essential part of this? Write at a lower reading level. I prefer to stay within the lower secondary, so 6th-9th grade.
Why do we do this? Because it ensures that everyone reading our copy can understand what we’re saying.
Do I struggle with this? Absolutely! Thankfully, great AI tools like Grammarly and Hemingway can help you find complex sentences and ideas and simplify them.
Enhance Conversions with Inclusive Content
Accessibility and inclusiveness aren’t just a checklist of items you must complete. It’s about creating content that can resonate with a variety of people.
Right now you’re probably wondering how you do that when you worked so hard to create buyer personas of one specific person.
We’re not trying to reach everyone, just everyone that fits our ideal customer.
How to Create Inclusive Buyer Personas
One of the first things I tell my students at Wichita State is to remember that the basic demographics of a persona doesn’t really matter. What does matter is what your customer needs and is looking for.
No matter what you sell, you’re selling solutions to problems. When creating a buyer persona, you should focus more on your customers’ needs and wants.
You can and should also create multiple personas considering diverse abilities and backgrounds. This will help you remember to consider different needs, language, and cultures in your marketing content.
With those in mind, you can better avoid stereotypes and other things that might cut off a portion of your audience.
Use Clear Calls to Action
What do you want your users to do when they get to the bottom of a webpage? You have to tell them!
We do this by using a call to action, letting our users know that to work with us or get more information, they need to fill out a form, give us a call, or send an email.
This call to action needs to be clear and accessible. To ensure that everyone can use it, you’ll use clear button text such as “Learn More,” “Schedule a Call,” or “Contact Us” instead of “Click Here.”
This call to action must also be useable by a mouse or keyboard so everyone can interact with it.
Accessibility, Inclusivity, and SEO
To generate sales from your website, you need visitors. While some customers will visit your website directly, many visitors should find it organically through search.
Want to know a great thing about creating copy that is accessible and inclusive? It’s going to help your SEO!
When writing inclusive content, you focus most on your customers’ problems. That’s what they’re already searching for in Google. You’ll naturally use your relevant keywords and keyphrases.
And when writing with accessibility in mind, you’re making it easier for Google to understand your content and what matters most on your page.
There is literally nothing to lose and everything to gain by creating accessible content.
Tools and Resources
Want to make it easier to create content that converts? You don’t have to do it all on your own!
Make this a seamless part of your content creation process with my favorite tools for creating accessible and inclusive content.
- My free Buyer Persona Template—Grab this free Canva template to create inclusive buyer personas! It’s easy and helps you consider the psychographics of your ideal customers.
- Hemingway – The free version helps to show you what reading level your content is and identifies complex sentences you should adjust. Upgrade to the premium to get their AI to help you rewrite it.
- Grammarly – I also love using Grammarly. It works like an in-browser editor to help you improve your content on the fly.
Accessible Content Drives Conversions
There’s no real secret to writing compelling copy that converts. The best way to increase your conversions is to create content that’s accessible and inclusive for your entire audience.
When you use proper structure in your content, your audience can move through it with a greater understanding. Alternatives for visuals help everyone understand your points, and simplifying your lingo allows your customers to connect with you better.
By using inclusive buyer personas to guide your marketing, you can enhance your conversions by appealing to more of your audience.
And, even better – every change you make for the better will help your SEO, too.
It’s time to make accessibility and inclusivity a part of your writing. It’s the best way to write compelling copy that converts.
