People who have tried copywriting will testify: it is much tougher than it seems. Copywriting is more than simply writing down a couple of words on a webpage and hoping for the best. So whether its enhancing a headline on a blog or article or the call-to-action on a landing page, below are a few simple-yet-effective methods for a greater, clearer copy.
- Do ask why
Look at a site’s content. Might it be useful? Why is it there? Deciding the ‘why’ in content production is the first step of producing a business content plan. There’s absolutely no use posting posts which don’t encourage visitors to remain on your site and make them interested in your company, services or products. Just how do you assess if your web copy is functioning? A high bounce rate (a bounce is when an individual clicks on your website but then leaves immediately) could be brought on by a poor copy.
- Do not duplicatecontent
Duplicated content may cause canonical problems, which happens every time a search engine tries to get to a poorly redirected site using multiple URLs. Additionally, duplicated content may leave a site not as authoritative. Search engines such as Google have the capability to blacklist a website and tag content as spam.
- Do your research
Human error is sometimes inevitable, but site errors may cost a company dearly. To steer clear of site errors, allocate the time to editing all of page content correctly. Fact-checking, spelling and grammar checking and link-checking are integral areas of the writing and publishing phases. In a universe where newsrooms are downsizing and editors are getting to be more and more obsolete, it’s more important now more than ever before to triple-check your site’s content.
- Do not be wordy
Common phrases and cringe-worthy clichés are usually over-used and may pollute a page. Writing best practice avoids wordiness.
- Do be consistent
Webpage consistency means page structure and fashion. Uniformity in titles, subtitles, headings, body paragraphs, hyperlinks as well as complete quotations can be part of a great content strategy. Additionally, look at spelling tastes, a site should conform to either a UK or US dictionary. Your copy could be good, but if it’s difficult or onerous to browse or scroll through, users won’t stick around.
- Do use the active voice
Writing in the active voice rather than reneging into the passive voice can be complicated if you don’t know what to look for. Without becoming overly grammatical, the active voice refers to a sentence in which the topic of the sentence performs the actions stated by the verb. The subject has to come before the verb in the sentence.
Example:
Before (passive)
“A present is going to be offered to clients.”
After (active)
“We are offering customers a present.”
In the aforementioned example, the active voice has enhanced the clarity and specificity of this sentence. When using an active voice, your articles will seem more authoritative – an important part of persuasive copywriting.
- Do not use jargon
Jargon refers to special phrases or expressions used by a specific industries. Digital marketing companies, for example, may use phrases and words which refer to particular search engine optimisation phrases and other similar modes of communicating. Even though this could be okay for people ‘in the know’, for many others, knowing these phrases and words is unlikely. Thus, when writing for your site, think about the understanding of the reader. It is dangerous to assume that your readers will know everything that you write.
Last thoughts
Good content generation is a very important part of a website content strategy and shouldn’t be dismissed. When it comes to searching for small companies, it could be worth consulting a professional digital copywriter. Site content requires effort and time, so do your very best to make it count.
