Whenever you write copy for your web page, an article for a directory, or even more importantly, sales copy, you must remember to target your audience.
Put another way, have a very clear picture in your mind about who you are writing to before you commence to write.
There are several aspects of targeting your audience that need to be considered.
Have a think about all those pages you've read that are just chock-a-block full of technical specifications that you don't even understand.
Did they target you as a prospective purchaser?No, they didn't, they targeted the technician.
This is often referred to as focusing on features instead of benefits.
Marketing to the sexes can probably be a good example as men and women respond to different stimuli.
Men have a terrible tendency to write in their own style, so it wouldn't be surprising that if you asked a man to write some copy on a cosmetics product that he would focus on the ingredients of the product and the price.
The reality however is that the market is women who like the touchy/feely stuff.
They want to know what it will do for their skin or their appearance and to a large degree don't care about the cost.
Do you see the difference?I'm sure you can think of many other examples where targeting your audience when writing your copy is relevant.
A mistake that many people make is focusing on features instead of benefits.
The easy way around this is to ask the question "so what?".
For example if you are singing the praises of an eight megapixel camera, that is a feature.
An eight megapixel camera, so what?That means you can take large images with remarkable clarity and definition.
The usual way of doing this is to state the feature and then say, "which means", where you state the benefit.
It is benefits that sell, not features.
Or to put it another way, "sell the sizzle and not the steak".
In summary then, prior to writing your copy, have a clear view of who it is that you are writing to.
Make sure you have a detailed list of the features of your product or service and a very clear idea of the benefits attached to each of them.
It goes without saying that you need to lay all this out in a logical sequence, make sure your grammar is flawless and that your spelling is perfect.
Combine all these things and you will target your audience properly.