Sitting down in front of your computer and writing can be a little scary to some of us. Maybe you get flashbacks from late nights in the library during college. Or maybe you just don’t like typing. Either way, creating great content for your website is a necessary step (or evil, depending on the person) in ensuring your success online.
To help get you started, we’ve put together a list of ten things you need to know to get the best content on your screen and in front of your users. Check it out below:
1. Don’t Write Crappy Stuff – If you’re writing copy just to fill the pages of your site, you aren’t doing anything for anyone. Except maybe wasting your own time. Either way, whatever you write and publish on your website needs to fulfill a purpose and speak to a specific audience. There are times when vague and general content may be the best fit, which is fine. But when your site is filled with stuff that you didn’t want to write and that no one wants to read, you’re in trouble.
2. Write for People, Not Robots – Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, is important, but writing for your readers is what makes or breaks your website. Don’t try and jam as many keywords as you can into your copy. That doesn’t work anymore. Google is really smart and they’ve caught on to just about every trick in the book.
What works now is quality content that people want to read. Google knows how to find the best information and give it to people who are searching for it. Instead of stuffing keywords onto a page, give people content that they actually want to read. Sure, do some research to find out what the most important keywords are. But don’t use said keywords in every other sentence. People don’t want to read repetitious babbling, and search engines don’t want to give it to them either.
3. Understand Your Ideal Reader – While honing my craft, this was the most important thing I learned. Getting into the head of the person you want to read what you’re writing is vital. You understand your business better than anyone else, since it’s your business after all. Getting outside of that scope and into the mind of your customers can be a difficult, yet extremely rewarding challenge. Learn what they’re looking for, what problems they need solved, and how they like to be spoken to; get to know what makes them tick. Then write to them.
4. Create the Best Headlines Ever – Sometimes, the only thing someone will read is a headline. They may base their entire judgment of you, your business, and your body of work on a few words at the top of a page. You better make the most out of those words.
The job of a headline is to create interest quickly, get them to read your sub-headlines and, eventually, your precious copy. The easiest way of creating a great headline is to include a benefit. Know what your customers need and tell them how you’ll improve their lives with the first line they read.
5. Break it Up – Give your words a little room to breathe. Web copy is different from print in a lot of ways; one of the most obvious is layout. It’s pretty easy to get carried away and write one long paragraph after another. Unfortunately, this often scares away readers who just want to know how the words they’re reading affect them without too much effort.
So, break up the paragraphs a little bit. It’s okay to have space on the page. You aren’t paying per column inch anymore.
6. Emphasize the Benefits – As we said before, a good headline includes a benefit or two. That’s because the benefits of your product, service, widget, etc. are the most important thing you can write about. People don’t buy because of features. They buy because they understand what the features can do for them. If you’re selling waterproof shoes, people aren’t buying them because they’re waterproof. They’re buying your shoes because they keep their feet dry and comfortable on rainy days.
Benefits should appeal to the emotions. Peace of mind. Comfort. Joy. Safety. All of these things are feelings people want to have. Tell them how your product or service gets them there.
7. Get Rid of ‘Dead Wood,’ But Don’t Be too Curt – It’s important to get across your message. It’s also important to make it digestible. Dead wood is stuff that you don’t need to say, but you still say it. With web copy, there should be a balance between conversational and informational content. While trimming the dead wood is extremely important, you don’t want to prune your words into something that reads like a technical manual.
8. Know What Type of Copy You Need – Knowing what type of copy goes where needs to be one of your first decisions in creating a content strategy for your site. Whether it’s plain copy that simply describes a product or storytelling copy that puts the product into the a readers hands and makes them feel the benefits, you need to have a plan for what goes where. Sit down with your sitemap and figure out what information people should be getting on each and every page, then tailor the copy.
9. PROOFREAD! – Once you’re all done writing your copy, it is of utmost importance to proofread it, edit it, proofread it again, proofread it one more time, then have someone else proofread it three more times. There’s nothing that will kill your credibility faster than poor spelling and grammar. It’s not a problem if writing isn’t your strong suit; just make sure you have another set of eyes to help catch any mistakes. While this may seem pretty obvious, it’s something that we see on a day-to-day basis and it can be easily avoided if you take the time to do it.
10. Know When to Hire a Pro – You may know more about your business than any other person alive. And that’s awesome. But sometimes you might need a little bit of help, and that’s fine too. Employing the services of a professional copywriter can take your business to the next level.
