Find Out The Secret To Killer Web Copywriting For The Web

Do You Need To Hire A Professional?

According to OzWeb, 95% of Australian businesses are connected to the Internet. Over 91% of all larger businesses have a website, and although the report showed only 51% of small businesses have a website that number has risen significantly since the report was published in 2003. Within your category there could easily be thousands of websites competing for your customer's attention. Make no mistake; quality web copy does more for your website then flashy images or clever technology.

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)

The best way to present information is through an editorial style of writing. The most important information needs to appear at the top of the page and all of the supporting information needs to appear below the fold - or below the first screen.

A professional web copywriter understands that readers surfing the web scan pages and rarely read every single word (if you have read every word, thus far, we are extremely chuffed). Because most people read web pages differently to printed pages the style of writing needs to be concise and adopt a point form style.

Web copy needs to be entertaining, and never include corporate jargon or repurposed offline content. This can be a novice's greatest challenge because it's natural to use what you already know - but how you sell offline is entirely different to selling online.

Compelling headlines can entice someone to read further (we've got you this far haven't we?) and poorly crafted headlines tend to send the reader packing in mere seconds. You don't need to be a professional to be a good writer. Writing is a skill and; like any skill, it requires practice to master. Each paragraph needs to generate ideas in the reader's mind. Most visitors to your website aren't going to buy anything the first time they visit. Find out more about web copy that sells.