Know Your Objectives Before Writing Your Copy
Before you get into actually writing your website copy, think about the main reasons why you’re spending your precious time on your website. What are your objectives? What makes your website so important to your business. Come up with something better than “every business should just have a website”.
This is why it’s important to think about your call-to-actions (CTAs). A call-to-action is defined as the specific desired action you want your customers to do. The reason why we use call-to-actions is to give our website visitors something to do if they are interested or something to entice them with. You can’t just expect your customers to understand what you want them to do.
Here are a few examples of call-to-actions:
- Contact Us
- Subscribe to our blog
- Get a free quote
- Donate now
- Download now
- Learn more
- Search now
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It’s About Your Customers, Not You
Believe it or not, you’re not the person engaging in your own product or service. In saying that, DON’T take on the following approach when creating your website copy content:
“my website content is great if I think it’s great.”
It’s so easy to get caught up with this mindset when writing your website copy and even different areas of your own organisation.
Try to remove yourself from the “Business Owner’s Bias” and start thinking about your customers rather than yourself.
If you haven’t clearly established who your target customer is think about:
- Who they are and what they do
- What do they want to achieve?
- What do they want to avoid?
- How are they motivated to find a solution and are they aware of your solution?
- What’s the best way to communicate to them?
- How do they usually buy?
If you can’t answer these questions yourself, try asking your paying customers so you can have a better understanding of your customers. Feedback is an excellent tool for improvement.
Don’t just write “good” website copy, try writing it so you’re actually doing your customers a favour.
Use Your Language Wisely
It’s all about understanding. There’s no reason to have content on your website if your audience doesn’t understand it. Make your website content educational, so make being clear and concise a priority.
Avoid industry jargon or terminology
You probably understand your industry’s terminology, but your customers might not, so avoid it. Remember it’s all about your customers understanding.
Use a style of language that appeals to your audience
Thinking back to your target customer – what kind of language style appeals to them. Think about your branding. Is it fun and quirky? Straight to the point? People often like you for your authenticity. But be careful how you use your language – If you’re trying to be fun and quirky, make sure it’s still understandable and clear.
Tips and Tricks
Now that we’ve gotten all the important fundamentals about writing website copy ticking in our brains, let’s talk about some tips and tricks when actually writing your copy.
Where to write your website copy
My favourite place to write any content is using Google Docs. I love this tool because it’s free and easy to use. All you need is a google account to get started. It’s also very simple to share documents with people, so you can work on the document at the same time and collaborate with multiple people.
Keep it simple stupid (KISS)
Writing website copy isn’t as complicated as publishing a book, so don’t be too frightened. Don’t get prepared to write a novel. You want to get your audience engaged in a short period of time. Complicated doesn’t mean better, so keep it simple.
The structure
The structure of writing a page on your website can be split up into two sections: Headings and Paragraphs. To get the most out of your content, start with a heading and then write a paragraph underneath it. It can also be good to use sub-headings to dive deeper into a bigger idea, while keeping your content structure organised.
Look at this part of the article as an example. “Tips and Tricks” is our main heading followed by the sub-heading “The Structure” which is also followed by the paragraph (what you’re reading at this very moment).
That’s it from me, I hope this article has helped! If you have any questions about your next website project, don’t hesitate to contact us.