Creating Web Copy That Brings In Customers
Online Writing Advice
Posted by Adam Hayes
The content on your website should always help pull in your visitors, not push them away.
So, you've optimized your website for search engines, but have you optimized it for visitors as well? When a user arrives at your website from a search engine, they have typed in specific words that they are hoping to find on the page they land on. If they can't find it soon, they may just leave.
If you know what kind of keywords your visitors are searching for, you can make them obvious in your web copy. Place them near the beginning of your copy, or bold them to make them stand out. If you don't yet know what they will be searching for, follow some simple rules to help them find what they are looking for.
- Keep paragraphs short and to the point. If each paragraph has its own focus, users can skim them easily and find what they are looking for.
- Put the most important part of your text at the beginning. If they are interested in it, you want them to know you have it right away.
- Take time to learn what your customers are looking for. Find out what they are searching for on your in-site search, or even look at what they are typing in to search engines to find you.
Personalize your message to your visitors. They don't want to hear you drone on about things they don't care about. Know your customers and how they speak, then put that kind of language to work in your website. People love to hear things that sound the way they speak. Try to make it personal—one-on-one. Develop relationships with your customers through the way you speak to them.
People are often told to keep copy on the web short because visitors just can't be bothered with reading it if it's too long. However, don't short-change your content by making it too brief. Take the time to cover your topic; if it goes longer than expected, that's just fine. But, be sure to break your copy into paragraphs so visitors aren't faced with huge blocks of text, and you should be fine.
Last, but not least, be sure to use correct spelling and grammar. Visitors don't like to see glaring errors in online copy. It lowers your credibility and often irritates customers. Check and check again to be sure that you haven't made mistakes. If you are able to follow these rules, it will help keep visitors on your site, as well as keep them coming back.
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