In an ideal world everyone’s website design/development budgets would stretch to include professional copywriting services but we know that just isn’t ‘real’ world. So, to help you out, Website Design Centre’s copywriting team have put together their top tips to help small/medium businesses through the processes of writing, editing and how it works with your website design.
Writing
Use ‘you’
Using the word ‘you’ throughout the content ensures that you begin to establish a relationship with the reader straight away and bring them into the story you are telling. The use of ‘you’ makes the content personal and easily allows the reader to put themselves in the scene or circumstance you are writing about.
Don’t have the focus all on you
Content that engages and sells is content that focuses on the benefits and solutions offered by your product or service rather than the features. Tell the reader about how your product, service or business will solve their current problem, will provide a solution. You know that your product is fantastic but going on about it won’t engage a reader. Think from their point of view– what would you want to know and discover about how the product will make your life easier, better.
Don’t be overly clever or smart
Using big words might make you feel better or cleverer but it probably will serve to just alienate your reader. The exception is technical documentation aimed at a very narrow market. For the general population you should aim for copy that can be read and understood by a grade five student. This certainly doesn’t mean you should ‘dumb down’ your copy but make it easy to read. It is pointless having copy that no one understands or connects with, or worse still, copy that requires a dictionary to decipher.
Editing
Read aloud
This is the number one editing technique used by professional copy-editors and proofreaders. Reading your content aloud will allow you to determine any sentences that don’t read or flow well, or are simply too long. This technique will also ensure that you pick up on any missing little words that detract from your message.
Be brutal with your editing
Some editors suggest cutting 50% of the copy each stage of the editing process and while that may not be a practical approach, we do suggest being somewhat brutal in your editing. Take out ambiguous statements and anything that detracts from or doesn’t add value to your messaging; no more and no less.
Know the difference
There is a huge difference between writing and editing. Ideally the processes will be conducted by two separate team members. It’s often tricky to editing work that you have written yourself and a fresh set of eyes will provide objectivity and can easily see any errors that the writer misses being too close to the subject. If your project does not offer the advantage of two different people to view the copy then you can write the copy and then leave it for a while. Go away and work on something completely different. Come back to the copy with refreshed eyes for the editing process.
Working with your Website Design
Here are our top tips for crafting copy that works with, not against your website design:
- Portray your message through clear and attention grabbing headings and banner text.
- Embed links in descriptive and relevant language – ensure that the reader knows exactly where that link is going to take them. Talk to your website designer if you need to learn more about this.
- Think about how much content works with the design or if the design needs to be altered to suit the content. If the product or service is familiar to the market then less content often works and this is when the design itself will aid in selling the brand.
If writing all isn’t your strong suit and the copy you are creating is pulling down the quality of your website then it may make more sense to engage the services of a professional copywriter. Website Design Centre has their own in-house copywriters ready and willing to help you to create engaging copy for your website. Contact the team today to learn more.
