Recently many of my small business clients have been asking me about how to write their website content which is why I am writing this post. Web content is just as important as the design and functionality of your website. Content is king which is why I am arming you with ten tips on how to write killer web content.
You should plan each page by putting yourself in the shoes of your target market and imagining what they would search for to stumble on your website. You should pick a topic or keyword search term that is general enough to get you some traffic but specific enough that it narrows your visitors down to prospects who are most likely to buy. After all, you want to generate high quality leads not just any ol’ traffic.
With so much information overload these days, no one wants to reams and reams of text. I hate to use cliches here, but I really believe in short and sweet and less is more. You should plan every page so that there is minimal scrolling. If longer pages are necessary to get the point across then break up your content with subheadings, bulleted lists, shorter paragraphs and / or fast-loading images. Nothing is more discouraging than a never-ending page of text all clumped into one paragraph.
Once you have lured in the right visitors, you have to keep them engaged with relevant content. Ask yourself, what are their pain points and motivations that will make them purchase your product or service? In addition, use language that your prospects understand. If your service or product is complex, don’t bombard them with technical jargon unless they know what you are talking about.
Don’t make your visitors search the underlying meaning. State your case upfront and provide the appropriate supporting data. Don’t ramble on about meaningless stuff.
It is much easier to win over visitors if you are trying to convince them into something that you know everything about just like I am doing now =) If you do not know enough about what you are selling then get someone who knows what they are talking about to write the web content.
Although this is more of a website design issue, you should consider it when determining the length of your content to include on each page. Optimum length in the body is 50-60 characters per line including spaces (Typography, E. Ruder). If your lines are too short, your readers won’t get to read to finish your full thought. If your lines are too long, their eyes will wander making it difficult to retain content and concentrate. I also believe in making airy body copy which means that I style it with more line height (space between lines) than usual. Studies show that following these guidelines about line length and line height greatly improve text legibility.
Unless you are writing about a very serious topic, spice up your web content with some personal experiences, wittiness and humor. No one wants to read just the facts.
If you are mentioning a topic that is discussed more thoroughly on another page, link to it. One big faux paux is the use and abuse of the term, “click here” especially with underline. It is general knowledge these days that a link will appear in another color or be styled differently so I would just link to the related page with a keyword search term that best describes it. Search engines love this. I cringe when my clients force me to use “click here” or worse yet with underline on their websites. Know that when you see this in my portfolio, it was definitely not my idea.
If there is one thing I learned from my Marketing work experience, that is the importance of having a call-to-action to conclude every page. After you spent all that time and effort writing, you should boldly state what you want your visitors to do. Typical call-to-action statements including asking your visitors to learn more by going to another page, getting a demo, or buying your product or service. Again, I strongly discourage the use of “click here” as a call-to-action.
I know this sounds obvious but few people take the time to grammar and spell check everything including myself =) Web content is like an online resume for your company so just like you would get turned down for an interview if you had a spelling error, your company will be discredited, if the web copy doesn’t read right. Everyone has a blog these days so publishing content is as easy as clicking “publish” in WordPress but I caution those who do.
Get help with your web content
Jeanette Kwok Web Design
San Francisco Bay Area, CA
San Jose, CA
New York, New York
(925) 548-0716
jeanette (at) jeanettekwok.com
Refer a new website client to us, and we will pay you 10% of the first invoiced amount we receive from them. New clients must mention who referred them during their initial consultation.
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