Seven Simple Steps To Better Copy On Your Site
Websites are dynamic, ever-changing sources of information and if you want to keep people coming back, and staying there once they’ve found you, you need fresh, readable copy. Whether you are a one-person shop with a thriving online store or a member of a team striving for professional search engine optimization across a range of corporate Web sites, you need to be constantly working at updating and improving the copy on your sites.
- Keep It Simple: An old cliché, but one that applies to virtually everything. Get to the point, don't be verbose. You only have seconds before your reader will make the decision to stay or go elsewhere.
- Keep It Clear: Similar to, but not the same as, the above. Don't use industry jargon orbuzzwords.
- Keep It Short: Readers on the Web are scanners, they’re looking for chunks of information, not essays.
- Talk to the Customer: Write for and about the customer and his/her needs and desires, not about yourself, your company and how great you think you are. Use You rather than I, We, or They.
- Call to Action: Once you've persuaded the customer that you have what they need or want, let them know how easy it is to purchase it and then actually make it easy.
- Use Keywords, Don;t Abuse Them: Repeatedly stringing together lists of keywords sounds and looks awkward. Work the keywords into your copy in a natural, readable and sensible manner.
- Proof and Rewrite: We've all read copy on sites that are riddled with misspellings, poor word choices and sentences that are virtually unintelligible. Use your spell checker, but realize they are not perfect. Read what you've written and read it again. A good practice is to read it aloud. Sentences that don't flow sound clumsy when read aloud. Edit and rewrite, always remembering less is usually better.
Mike Greenan is a writer for Pole Position Marketing, a results-oriented website marketing and search engine optimization firm providing quality results and improved conversions to clients all over the northern hemisphere since 1998.
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