Ten tips for effective web copy – part 1
When you’re planning a new website, getting to grips with the internet-specific issues such as domain names, hosting packages, email addresses, SEO and so on is quite a preoccupation. And that’s natural. For most clients, these represent a no-go area, best left to technical specialists.
However, if you’re serious about your web presence, one thing that really does deserve your attention is your web copy. After all, what can be more important than the words and messages your site portrays? And what does the way in which you say them say about you?
Copywriters grapple with this challenge every day, which is why many clients outsource the crafting of their message. Not only does this save them time and energy to deploy more profitably elsewhere, it assures them that their copy is optimised for both their target audience and, crucially, the search engines.
However, if you decide to create your copy yourself, here are the first five of ten tips to help you prepare your online marketing:
1 Research keywords
One of the ways in which search engines measure the relevance of your site to search queries is keyword density. This is the number of times that a keyword or phrase entered by a user into a search engine appears in your webcopy. So a good place to start – before you even start writing – is to find out what words and phrases people are using when searching for a business like yours. Enter ‘keyword tool’ into the search engine of your choice to begin your research.
2 Break your copy up
Unless they’re browsing for recreation, internet users are impatient. If your site doesn’t tell visitors what they want to know, they’ll very quickly find a site that does. Use headlines and sub-headers that sum up the text that follows so that people know what your page is all about. Ideally a reader should simply be able to skim the headline and sub-headers to get the gist of the page – with the paragraphs providing the essential detail. For even better results get those keywords into your headlines and sub-headers.
3 Keep it simple
Never overcomplicate a message. Short simple ones are not only easier to read – they are remembered for longer. Try to keep sentences short and prefer short words to long ones.
4 Be friendly
Write as you would speak – but without those filler words and phrases that we sometimes use to keep our conversation flowing or to buy thinking time. Use active sentences (we will provide you with everything you need) as opposed to passive sentences (everything needed will be provided). Imagine you are writing to an individual rather than a vague, unseen mass. This will help keep it personal.
5 Be consistent
Consistency of style is really important to your brand and overall image. If you adopt a formal communication style on your webpages then take a racy approach to your direct mail or sales letters, people will wonder which is the real you. Decide early on what sort of personality you want to project through your written communications and brief everyone involved in producing it. This applies to web pages, email campaigns, advertising – even blog entries.
In part 2 of this entry, to follow shortly, I’ll be looking at five mistakes to avoid when writing your webcopy.
