By Judy Vorfeld
INTRODUCTION
Thinking of building your own website? And writing the copy as well?
Fair enough. Before I offer a few tips, I have a question. Did you
know that you may have only 8-to-10 seconds to persuade your visitors
to remain on your website? They must--in a heartbeat--understand what
your website is about, and that you have what they've been looking for.
Customize your words to fit your visitors' wants, needs, and
expectations. Bring them into the site and move them along. Your
words must capture their attention and keep them interested from the
moment they first see your site until the moment they leave.
While you want an attractive website with superb navigation, graphics,
and colors to reflect your product(s) or services, you must consider
your target audience. Then write just for these people. Don't fall
into the trap of speaking at them. Let them know you understand their
needs, and that you have the means to fill those needs. It's up to you
to understand your visitors' feelings and provide emotionally powerful
information.
MAKE EVERY WORD COUNT
Write tightly, just as reporters and authors do. Generally, begin an
important paragraph with a question or other writing tool that "hooks"
the reader's interest. Visitors are usually there because they have a
NEED or a WANT. Address those needs and wants clearly. And use words
that contain energy (verbs).
If visitors want to buy purple widgets, how quickly can you send them
to the page that sells them? And once they get there, can you motivate
them to buy the product? Can you persuade them that your wonderful
widget will enhance their lives?
Vary short and long sentences and paragraphs throughout your website.
Stand back and look at it from a design perspective. Long, heavy
sentences and paragraphs can intimidate. Another way to break up
monotony: use bulleted and numbered lists as well as pull quotes
throughout the site.
Hyperlink keyword-rich text rather than just hyperlinking the phrase
"click here." Example: "Want to learn more about proximity marketing?
Click here." Keyword-rich text is comprised of words and phrases that
will interest visitors and attract search engines.
Write beautifully for all pages, even your shopping cart and contact
pages. Make every page sing with descriptive words. Weave in calls to
action.
FONTS AND WHITE SPACE
Readability is key. Refrain from using decorative fonts on your site
except very, very rarely. They weren't designed for readability. Make
text easy to read by using dark text on a light background. And white
space is a powerful tool when used properly. Give your visitors an
attractive setting. For more on fonts, white space, and presentation,
see http://www.ossweb.com/presentations.html.
HEADINGS
Use headings to help break the text into manageable portions. Write
keyword-rich headings. Headings also give your visitors a quick way
to measure your tone and style. Find tips for writing headings at:
http://www.ossweb.com/ez-ezine-titles.html.
SUMMARY
Your words must persuade and motivate your visitors. Your product or
service offers solutions; let people know you can help, and encourage
them to buy. Difficult? Yep.
From this moment forward, make it your goal to spot good copywriting.
It's everywhere. Emulate it. Strive to equal it. If you're motivated,
you can probably do it! And if you simply don't have the time or
ability to write good copy, hire a copywriter.
ADDITIONAL TIPS
*You're writing to one person at a time. Don't address your audience
in the plural.
* Major companies that publish catalogs provide a great tool for
learning about good sales copy. Their websites aren't shabby either.
Like Avon: http://www.avon.com, Crane: http://www.crane.com, and
Harry and David: http://www.harryanddavid.com.
* Never assume that visitors will click on your website pages in any
given order. Let each page stand on its own.
* Find ways to say, "Welcome to my site," without actually saying
it. Please.
* You probably need at least 250 words of text to convince visitors
to stay on your site and to satisfy the appetite of search engines.
You may need more, but definitely not less.
* It's okay to break writing rules. Use sentence fragments for effect.
Like this. But it's not okay to brake spelling rules and yews the
wrong homonyms (see resources).
* Have the same menu items on every page of your site, and in the same
order. Don't make your visitors search for things like About Us,
Contact Us, FAQ, Home, etc. And if you have graphic links, make sure
you also put text links on the page. Perhaps at the bottom of each
page. Better for people and for search engines.
* When you're finished, you're not. Consider hiring a professional
proofreader (like Terence Kierans) to do a final check on spelling,
capitalization, punctuation, formatting, word spacing, etc.
Proofreading is different than editing, although editors can proofread.
Proofreading is the very last correction that's made before a document
is published.
| QUALITIES GOOD WRITERS NEED |
| * Ability to move the reader forward, using transitional words/phrases |
| * Ability to build trust | * Ability to write calls to action |
| * Brevity | * Clarity of purpose |
| * Color (enthusiasm) | * Freshness |
| * Honesty | * Knowledge of visitor expectations |
| * Personalization | * Warmth |
| TOOLS NEEDED FOR GOOD WRITING |
| * A style guide. Best general guide: The Gregg Reference Manual |
| * An understanding of homonyms | * A good dictionary |
| * An online writing support site | * A good thesaurus |
RESOURCES
* Article: Content is King: Writing Good Web Copy
http://www.atartec.co.il/articles/jan04.shtml
* Article: When Bad Copy Attacks
http://www.efuse.com/Design/copy-attacks.html
* Article: The Importance of Writing Good Web Site Sales Copy
http://tinyurl.com/7zszm
* Homonyms
http://www.editingandwritingservices.com/homonyms.html
* The Writing Center
http://www.editingandwritingservices.com/writingcenter.html
* To Up Sales, Up Words!
http://michelfortin.com/archives/2005/08/to_up_sales_up
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