How to write website conent
Website copy: 3 ways to get it right.
If you are selling a product or service on a website (or even promoting yourself), do the following to get your website copy right!
Your potential customers need to be convinced in the first 5 seconds of landing on your site. There are several things that you can do to keep them there, improve readability and maximise SEO. If you are reading this sentence, you\’re over the 5 second limit 😉
Keep going, I promise you will learn something interesting.
1. Keep sentences short: no longer than 20 words each
Long sentences lose people.
Now that everyone stares at their phone walking down the street, you have to write short so you don\’t lose them. Break your paragraphs down as well, because no one likes a long paragraph unless you\’re reading a novel.
If you\’re using a CMS system like Wordpress, Magento or Typo 3, I would really recommend downloading the plugin Yoast SEO. It helps you with writing as you do it, giving you a readability score and offering suggestions.
2. Don\’t over use \”we\”. We don\’t like it
\”We\”, This is a word that people don\’t connect with (in most uses). Yet so many businesses make the mistake of repeating it over and over in their website copy.
We are the best Italian restaurant in London and we know what works for our customers.
No.
We doesn\’t work. It doesn\’t allow your potential customer to imagine being your customer or experiencing your service. Instead, get a testimonial from a previous customer:
Easily my favourite restaurant in London! – Katie, Brockley
Testimonials build trust, which is one of the most important things to achieve with your new customer.
3. Break your text up with headings
A long page of paragraphs looks like a long page of paragraphs.
However, a long page of paragraphs with large headings is easy to navigate, and allows the user to find what they need! You might have a vegan customer, and they definitely don\’t want to know about your amazing butter fried lamb…
Additionally, headings are fantastic for your SEO. Use keywords about each service in each heading, and additionally in the text below that heading.
4. One more thing…!
Be careful using exclamation marks!
Use them sparingly!
Otherwise your otherwise well written content will look silly!
Please bear in mind that this advice is suitable for most businesses and people. However, if you have a very specialised service or something that needs detail then it might not be for you.
If you have any questions about this, or want to some help with writing for your blog or website, get in touch!
Thanks,
Harry
