Behind every good (and bad) website is a copywriter working diligently to research, organize, write, edit, and rewrite a carefully worded and masterfully crafted explanation of the history and personality of a brand. This, in combination with the additional value provided to a company’s current and potential customers through the creation of content like informational blog posts, is the duty and power of a copywriter.
Copywriting isn’t always easy, we find ourselves writing about almost everything: agricultural services, ethical towing practices, and even addiction treatments. Despite the difficulties that may come with such disparity, those fortunate enough to name copywriting as their profession are able to learn a lot about, well, a lot! Moreover, even though we’re challenged with studying and writing about a variety of unfamiliar topics, we must remain focused on the bigger picture—the brand.
Writing website copy from scratch can be an intimidating process, so below we’ve listed a few points to keep in mind when you find yourself taking on the task of creating website copy.
The Copy Should be Relevant
When viewers don’t find exactly what they’re searching for on a website, they’ll quickly move on to the next competitor listed on Google until they do. The website copy that you’re creating needs to speak to the customer by answering any questions you anticipate they may have while making the presentation of the company’s brand relatable. It is also important that business owners are aware that in order to maintain a website’s relevance, it requires up-to-date content that reflect changes in the market and audience. This also provides the added benefit of improving your search engine rankings!
To ensure that you’re attracting and keeping the attention of your target audience, remain focused on your brand identity and do the research. By utilizing tools such as a competitive analysis and Google AdWords: Keyword Planner, you’ll be able to boost search engine optimization (SEO) organically.
The Copy Should be Easy to Scan for Key Information
Let’s face it, most people aren’t going to stick around very long if they don’t find what they want in about, oh, three seconds. Human nature is to optimize our time by skimming, scanning, and skipping ahead for short, easy details when doing research, so consider this when writing your website content. This is especially true for blog posts that highlight a particular event, service, or product.
To keep your content short and sweet, you should:
- Write the most important information first, and then elaborate.
- Summarize your key thoughts in your headlines.
- Organize your content using bullet points, numbers, or reasonably sized paragraphs.
- Consider using colors and distinct type styles like bold or italics. This can do one of two things: draw focus to particularly important text or mark a new section.
Visual organization and proper labeling of text will help your readers find what they need quickly and effortlessly.
The Copy Should be Free of Grammar and Spelling Mistakes
Grammar and spelling mistakes made within a company’s website copy and additional content will cast doubt on both the writer’s and the company’s credibility. Therefore, it’s imperative that you double, triple, and quadruple check your copy before it’s published.
Despite our best efforts, sometimes we get so enveloped in a project that we become blind to our own mistakes. To ensure the copy is free from error, recruit a trusted coworker or friend to proofread it for you. In the event that a mistake does escape your notice in the editing stage, fix it on the website as soon as possible so that it doesn’t cause harm to the company’s reputation.
The Copy Should Utilize Related Images
Images are the most eye-catching element on most websites, so make sure the ones you’re utilizing throughout the site, or within blog posts and ads, are high quality and relevant to the topic being discussed. Also, when choosing images to include on any website, you must have legal rights to the image(s) you decide to use, meaning: Do not simply download any image you find on Google!
In order to use a particular image on a website or within online marketing content, you have to do one of two things:
- Purchase the image from a reputable stock site, like iStock.com Photo, OR
- Get permission directly from the artist to use the image
The Copy Shouldn’t Be Too Deep
Not everyone who comes across a website is looking for the delicate flare of writing techniques like puns and metaphors, so don’t waste your time and energy forcing what doesn’t come naturally. As long as you get your major points across in a way that connects with your reader, the resulting copy will be successful.
Optimizing your use of keywords in the copy you create that are familiar and commonly searched for (i.e. “cheap flights” versus “low air fare”) will not only broaden a website’s audience, but also increase the website’s SEO.
Using these simple strategies will help take your copywriting to the next level, no matter what your topic. If your business needs help writing the copy for your website, blogs, social media, or other marketing efforts, call Green Group Studio at (561)594-7336 to discuss our professional copywriting services.
