A Writer's Guide to Good Web Copy

I remember when reading as a child, it was important to have colorful graphics and intriguing pictures to look at to supplement the text. As I grew older, I was disheartened to graduate to books which did not supply my eyes with much to look at other than words strung together. I placed a high value in the ‘fluff,’ the aesthetic pleasures of books. Now that I am much older and wiser, my sense of value has shifted. I do not want to be confronted with a lot of ‘fluff’ and colorful pictures; I want information. The search engines place high value on information as well. How are you constructing the copy on your Web site? ‘Content is king’ has become a repetitive mantra in the Web-o-sphere. The following article addresses a series of tips to aid you in comprising your Web copy.

- Plan ahead before writing. What are your keywords going to be? Think of two to three keywords per page. Place the keywords in the title, headers, and key paragraphs of the page.

- Stay away from industry jargon. You are writing the copy for consumers, not others in your industry. Consumers will not respect or understand your copy better if you use terminology they are not familiar with.

- Do not strictly relate the facts. Write engaging copy that will keep the reader’s attention. Yes, you are marketing your products and services, but it is also okay to entertain the reader.

- Include links to other helpful information or to sites which are pertinent to the data presented. It is fine to insert links in the body of the copy, but you ideally want the reader to get all the way through the information and not leave the page until they are through the copy.

- Compose the copy into small bits of information. It is intimidating to view a huge block of text. Use bullets, headings, and subheadings.

- Be engaging, but also be succinct; if you can say it in fewer words, then do it.

- Use grammar and spell check when writing. When you are through writing, read over the copy to catch the mistakes not spotted by the tools. When available, have someone else edit the copy.

- Implement ‘calls to action.’ Ultimately, you want your visitor to purchase your goods and services; remind them of why they are there.

- Give the search engines a few weeks to index your page. Conduct research in regards to audience response and conversions made. If your page is not doing what you wanted it to do, then consider revising or deleting it and start again.