Editing a video project for my YouTube series, Everyday Affairs Made Fantastical
Bagel-lover? Adventurer? Storyteller? I looked at my list with dread.
Describing yourself is hard. In this project, give you a framework for describing what you do on your personal or small business website.
I have a video editing and motion design business. The goal of this project was to make it easier to book a call with me if you have a video editing or motion design need once you’ve visited the site.
In order to do that, I needed to: one, more clearly define the business, and, two, add “book a Zoom meeting” buttons. I’d also need to revamp the portfolio, writing, and about me sections. People don’t want to book a call with anyone, they want to book a call with someone who has successfully solved similar problems to theirs. I’ll show how I accomplished this by learning about copywriting, figuring out what pieces of copy I needed, writing the copy strategically, and putting the copy and “book a Zoom meeting” buttons into my Squarespace site.
My final product isn’t perfect. You can go to any business’s website and see the finished result of their copywriting process. Instead, the purpose of this piece is to give you a snapshot of where I was at this point in the process. What I was thinking about. The hypotheses I had on how to move forward.
There were two ways I approached research for this project. First, copywriting, or the text that goes into advertising or publicity material.
I didn’t even know what copywriting was at first, so I started with a primer.
An called Copywriting 101: 6 Traits of Excellent Copy Readers Will Remember.
Here’s an excerpt from the notes I took while reading the article. I wanted a general idea of what to focus on.
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/09RpQuouuo0oykHK6HIBIT2Mbl-_kAG3sOXSdP9kEK4oPsQ9Y4kHwDlcGJp24SzUPI0FB0auIOQ0gEBw0Q-VhsghVueSc4iIED_LLAYVfv_xyGc0cq5s-uVY1PB41YA-QPXlY3IT
Notes I took based on an intro to copywriting article. The article studied Nike’s enticing sneaker ad.
I also noted advice about how to start when writing a piece of copy. For example, I wrote down this quote about an exercise for when you first sit down to write: “Don't take the topic head on. Instead, ask yourself why it matters. Each time you write down an answer, challenge yourself to push it further. Find the larger story happening behind your message.”
I did this with five more introduction to copywriting resources. After that, I had a better idea of what copywriting was. I also knew a few best practices. Strong lead. Cut out hyperbole. Cut out jargon.
Next, what pieces of copy did I need? How do other, similar businesses make clear what problems they solve?
I looked through motion design and video editing-related websites that had stood out to me in the past. My “mood-board” bookmark folder was finally coming in handy! What information did they have and how did they organize it? Some I looked at were individual portfolios, like motion designer Emma Kumer’s. Others were studio’s websites, like Giant Ant’s.
I kept an eye out for clever stuff. For example, I liked the way Emma packaged her work from her time at Adobe. I liked the formatting of the page, with the circular, left-aligned thumbnails.
I decided I needed the following pieces of copy: