A website is ultimately about a conversation – with clients, employees and potential customers. And while a team of skilled designers and programmers can build you an interactive website based on tested brand strategies and innovative design, it’s all for nought if the copy, or content, doesn’t engage your customers and fulfil their needs.

Today’s blog post is a guest piece by our mate Frank Gibson.  

I asked Frank to contribute because holes exist in the commerical strength of numerous websites due to poor content (sadly, many of those we’ve made too).  Thanks from all at FM for shedding some professional light on the issues…

Glen Johnson

Frank continues…:

As they say in the classics, “content is king”.

Potential customers might enjoy the impressive graphics and ease of navigation of your website but they have to find it first!

The right combination of words will not only help sell your product, but will help optimise what the search engine sees. When the impressively named Googlebot crawls your site to determine its ranking it looks at the content of your pages – which is why the actual copy is so important.

Keys to effective copy

Writing effective web copy is the art of integrating succinct, informative content with intelligent and tested keywords, while channeling prospects to make a purchase or to respond in some way.

Content

While you may have a lot to say about your company or product, nobody really wants to read it all online. Customers want concise information grabs that lead them on to the next important point. As in any conversation, your copy needs to be a logical journey without all the waffle.

Bullet points and highlights are very effective as they:

• Focus on the key points
• Are easy to read
• Stand out on the page
• But don’t make them too long… or they won’t get read!

Provide high-quality content on your pages, especially your homepage, and update the content regularly. This is a vital part of any SEO and will deliver a greater site ranking and increased traffic. Just throwing in keywords will do you more harm than good.

The more useful information your pages contain, the more visitors they will attract which will entice webmasters to link to your site.

Structure

Your copy has to be concise, but it has to make sense and always be going somewhere. If you want to go into depth about a particular point, add a link to another page.

Establish your structure early so you and your reader know where you are and where you are going. Start wide, then focus down to an end point. Each page should lead you to the same end point, whatever that may be.

Conversion

Whether you are seeking a donation, making a sale or just gathering names for a database, you want an outcome (or your website is just a very expensive notice board).

Direct marketing perfected the “call to action” years ago.

Act Now! is a powerful motivator. Don’t be afraid to tell your customers what you want them to do next. Register today! Just make it easy for them to take the next step. Click here!

If you have the right content and structure in place, and you gently lead your customer to the checkout, the final outcome, or conversion, should be a breeze.

Conclusion

When developing a website, the content has to be a major priority –  so you should consider the SEO implications from the very beginning. They should inform your keywords and your copy, all of which will help you create a logical flow that leads more customers to your site and increases your conversion uptake.

A word of warning: While nobody knows your business better than you, it doesn’t mean you should write your own website. That’s what specialists are for.