Writing Web Copy
Writing for the web is different from writing other advertising copy. You need to use the language that your target audience usually uses, so you seem to speak directly to them. You need to use short, snappy sentences. This helps with scanning, and as most of your visitors will end up scanning your site, this is important. And you need to ensure that your keywords are distributed effectively for SEO purposes.
So, how do you write effective web copy?
The very first thing you need to do before you put pen to paper or fingers to keys is find out your target audience. Now, if you have an established business you probably know something about your target audience already. However, if this is your first or only attempt at marketing you will benefit from asking yourself these questions.
- Are the people you want to target easy to reach?
- Can they be converted easily?
- Do you have a ‘list’ of them? – An association, club, support group etc.
- Are there large enough numbers of them to make your efforts worthwhile?
- Can you solve their problems effectively
- Do enough of them want their problems solved
- Can they pay you for your services?
By answering these questions you will soon start to get a picture in your mind as to who your target audience is. You will start to understand how you can convert them into customers, and where to go to find them.
There are many books, websites and other information, about finding your target audience, so I would suggest you do a lot of more thorough research before you launch yourself into writing your copy.
So, once you have your target audience nailed you can begin writing. As mentioned above, you need to write specifically for your target audience. Use the kind of language they use. Find out about the kinds of places they go for information. Is there an industry governing body and how do they write or ‘speak’ to their members?
Keyword Research
Again, this is a massive subject that has been covered many times, in far more detail than I am going to cover here. We have written about keywords before, here, and here…
But to get to the point of it you need to choose effective keywords. These are the ones your target audience would use to search for your products or services. This is why it is important to know your target audience first. Once you have selected your keywords you will be ready to write your copy.
Use the Inverted Pyramid
This is a metaphor used to illustrate how your information should be presented within your copy.
The top of the inverted pyramid is the largest part of is, this is your most important and interesting information. Your least important information should be close to the end, but not quite at the very end… We’ll get to that later…
This is a good way of writing online because your readers can leave the story at anytime, and still understand what has been said. They can go back for further information if they need to.
Break Your Copy Up
Use effective headings to pull your audience in, and entice them to read further. This is really very important, as a huge block of text will probably put off your potential customers before they get a chance to read what you have to say.
For SEO, it is important to put your chosen keywords in headings, as search engines place more importance to words in headings. For your readers, it is also important because they have used those words to search for you.
Put your keywords in <strong> tags
This again, tells the search engine that you are putting more emphasis on these words. It makes them stand out, and your readers will home in on them as they scan the text. So, this will help them to know instantly what the page is about, without them having to read it. This will help them decide whether or not to read on.
Call to Arms!
Make sure you end your copy with a clear, compelling call to arms. Tell your readers exactly what you want them to do. This could be to download some information, call you for further information, buy something etc. The call to arms, is incredibly important for conversion, so never leave it out.
So there you are… Writing for the web is difficult, but highly rewarding. When you gain high positions in the search engines, it is usually down the the quality of your copy. When you convert your visitors into customers, it is largely due to the copy on your site.
