In previous posts I’ve looked at why paying attention to your content makes sense, so this time i’m going to discuss all of the basics you will need to be aware of in order to write effective website content.
Don’t just write, lay your foundations and plan
Before you can write your content you need to plan it. Start by thinking about each of the individual content pages you want to have on your website and list them all, a basic bullet pointed list is generally sufficient for this if you don’t already have a fancy site map. If you are re-writing content for an existing website you just need to make a list of the pages you already have.
Plan key messaging and write around that
Next, you need to think about the information that people will need to enable them to make an informed decision about buying your services or products. As well as deciding what key information you need to get across, you’ll need to start thinking about the best way to present this information.
Nothing is quite as dull or off-putting as paragraph after paragraph of text
Hard facts and technical data are often entirely necessary but to present your service or products in a compelling way, it takes more than dry facts and text and this can be a tough one to get right. Too informal and familiar and you risk sounding unprofessional, too formal and factual and you risk boring your readers and losing potential leads.
Ooh pictures, we love a good picture!
Pictures are good, use them frequently to break up text and add interest, but keep them relevant. The pictures that you use need to add and not detract from your core messaging. Read more about the importance of images in web design here.
Quotes are a great way of highlighting key information and breaking up text; tables and graphs are a good way to display complex or comparison data and headlines are essential to the structure of your page. Using a mixture of content will ensure your content is fresh meaning that website visitors stay engaged, buying you more time to win them over.
Be clever, be intriguing and invite curiosity
Not only do headlines break up vast blocks of text, but they offer readers a quick, at-a-glance clue to what the following content is all about. A good headline is informative, relevant and entices a website visitor to continue reading, so it is critical to get this part right as strong headlines will help to elevate your copy, impacting on everything from your websites search engine ranking through to your conversion rates.
Information and facts are all well and good, but great copy needs to be engaging
The art of website copy writing rests upon the ability to present important information in a way that is interesting and engaging. Personality counts for a lot but that doesn’t mean you need to lapse into informal speech or become a hipster. You can still be entirely human, likeable and interesting whilst maintaining professional credibility.
Copy writing tips you can take away
- Highlight all of the benefits and/or problems your service or products can solve
- Include information on how to use your service or products
- Be sure to highlight your USPs, this will help give people a reason to choose you over your competitors
- Mix up your content so that you use pictures, graphics, text, quotes and headlines
- Include strong calls to action e.g. ‘contact us now for a free quote’
- Include detailed service and/or delivery information
- The point of all your copy is to inform, persuade and convert so keep those goals in mind
- Use attractive, high quality pictures wherever possible or video content which is even better
For more information on content marketing and how to produce strong content, see the blog post 10 crucial content marketing questions.
Shell Robshaw-Bryan is a marketing consultant at Surefire Media, the Cheshire based web design, eCommerce and marketing company. Shell specialises in organic search, content strategy and social media engagement for both B2C and B2B companies.
If you’d like to find out how Surefire Media can help your business, get in touch!
No comments:
Post a Comment