Tips for writing great web content
Starting to write the copy for your new website can feel overwhelming to begin with, but there are some tried and tested methodologies you can apply, to help you create great web content.
1. Understand your site’s purpose
If you know what you need your website to achieve, you can craft your content to encourage your visitors towards this purpose.
Ask yourself – Is the main objective of my website to:
Sell products
Get enquiries from potential customers
Encourage interaction from the community
Showcase my business
Get people to visit my shop?
It may be a couple of these things. If it is, prioritise these objectives, until you know which one is the most important. Once you understand your website’s main reason for existing, you can make sure each piece of copy you create connects to this purpose.
2. Keep things snappy
Very few people enjoy reading scrolls of chunky copy. Keep it snappy by:
keeping paragraphs short
using titles so that your reader can easily scan the page.
Using bullet points, numbers, icons and images to break up blocks of text.
Using white space to make content look easier to read.
And put the most important information at the top of the page.
3. Write for your audience
Keep your ideal customer in mind and write as though you were speaking directly to them.
Use words they are likely to use and explain things in a way that they are likely to understand.
Use photos that would appeal to them, and headings that would capture their attention.
4. Don’t get hung up
Remember that web content evolves.
When you publish web copy, it’s not printed on paper. Your online pages can be updated, quickly and easily, whenever you like so you don’t have to get it perfect the first time, and that really takes the pressure off!
In fact, Search Engines favour websites that are updated regularly, so you should be reviewing and refining your content on a regular basis.
5. Remember, you are the expert!
You are the most qualified person to create your web content. No one knows your brand as well as you do, and no one is as passionate about it as you.
And while it can be hard to find the right words and communicate clearly, your enthusiasm will come across in your writing and it will make your readers excited about it too.
So just go for it! You can always ask a friend to check over it for you to make sure it is clear and concise.
