Why Agatha Christie would have been good at writing for the web

Writing a great mystery novel requires incredible structural and technical skill. In fact, all good writing takes great skill. And writing for the web is no different. We'll look at the Dos and Don'ts in a bit more detail soon. First, let's unravel the structural mystery of writing for the web.

A great mystery writer knows what the end result of the story is (who dunnit). A great web copywriter knows what the end result of their copy must be (a conversion or sale).

A great mystery writer works backwards from this result to create path that leads the reader in the right direction. So does a great web copywriter.

A great mystery writer stays one step ahead of the reader, BUT allows the reader to feel that they are one step ahead. You're starting to get the picture.

A great mystery novel, above all else, is fun, riveting and engaging to read. It must be a page turner. If no-one's taking that action - your novel is a flop.

Whether you are writing for the web yourself or you outsource to an expert web copywriter, your content must:

• Lead to sales or conversions
• Be well structured
• Give the reader what they want
• Be engaging
• Compel a visitor to take action

I know my business inside out - isn't that enough?

Ironically, the better you know your business the harder writing for the web can be. Business owners find they fall into one of three traps:

• Treating web copy like an old-fashioned business profile (dry and boring)
• Talking too much about their business, their expertise, their skills (arrogant and boring)
• Assuming too much knowledge on the part of the reader (uninformative or obscure)
• Please note! None of these faults make you a bad business owner or diminish the quality of your product or service. They are normal obstacles business owners face when writing for the web (especially if you don't have much experience writing full stop).

You can write great web copy if you follow these tips

DO:

• Speak directly to your reader in a language they understand
• Solve problems for your reader (ease their pain)
• Provide content of genuine value that makes their life better (give them gain)
• Use active words that compel people to engage and take action
• Research relevant and powerful keywords and include these in your copy
• Be passionate - let your personality and love for what you do shine through
• Break up your copy with subheadings, dot points, thumbnail images
• Make it easy and obvious for visitors to take the opt-in actions you require
• Let others speak for you - testimonials make powerful web copy

You can avoid web failure if you steer clear from these web writing sins

DON'T:

• Talk about yourself and the achievements of your business (except on the About Us page - that's the place to tell readers who you are)
• Use too much Flash (or other technology that takes a long time to load)
• Forget that search engines only read HTML - so all content and meta data should be in this form
• Skimp on detail - offer overviews where appropriate and detailed information to back it up (ideal page length when writing for the web is about 400 words)

If you're up for the challenge, you can definitely improve the quality and outcomes of your web copy. If you'd like to know more about how we can help you in this area, please do get in touch.