Writing by Nick Stamoulis on Thursday, 27 of March , 2008 at 9:57 am
Website copywriting and Search Engine Optimization is not easy to do. But if you decide that you are up to the task be careful of the following things they are a dead turn off for prospects. Missing these things will make your visitor a prospect for your competition versus a covert for your site!
1. Double-check for errors-nothing is more embarrassing than finding a typo in your copy after its been published and viewed by the public. Worse still is the transposing of numbers. We all do both but double check and make sure that they stay in the email to your friend not in your sales copy.
2. Avoid overselling – assume your audience is hesitant, they have read other sites and direct mail campaigns. Pitch your messages in more modest and honest ways. Give readers enough credit to make up their own minds.
3. Don’t be bland - keep the copy engaging, invite your readers to continue down the page.
4. Turn negatives to positives - we all know that bleaching products for teeth will remove the age from teeth. Saying that teeth look older is not going to keep the reader engaged, but if you instead remark that the product will make them look years younger….they are intrigued.
5. Remember the medium - four out of five web users will scan rather than read pages. All this means that applying special writing disciplines to the Web will pay off.
Following up in making sure that all of these items are carefully monitored will give you a leg up in the marketing arena. While they take out the typical marketeze, they bring the visitor in and will entice them to read more.
When you start to think about Search Engine Optimization during this process, please always think to write your content for humans first and search engines second!
Category: Website Copywriting
Writing by Nick Stamoulis on Sunday, 30 of December , 2007 at 12:16 pm
When you get caught up in your website copywriting, never forget that the goal of your writing is to sell products or services. Getting people onto a website is only half of the equation, it would be nice if the website copy that you spent time and effort making, could help to push some sales. It is possible to make good web copy that also serves as sales copy. You do not have to change your writing approach a great deal, just ensure that the sales points of the product are covered, include a good hook and if appropriate a link to a purchasing page. The writing side of things is much the same with a greater sales orientation than pure SEO focus.
With website sales copy, I always close with a bang. A really good reason why someone should buy the product or use the service that your company is offering. Last impressions count as much as first impressions and who knows, it could be just the thing to turn a site visitor into a lead.
Category: Website Copywriting
Writing by Nick Stamoulis on Saturday, 29 of December , 2007 at 10:10 am
Website copywriting can be a tedious task, but with the right approach, things can go quite smoothly and quickly.
- Prepare a task list - this sounds basic, but it really makes a difference if you have an actual schedule to work to.
- Make an outline - plan the course of each article that you are going to write, picking a sub-theme for each paragraph. If you have a particular wordcount that you are aiming for, allow 50-100 words per paragraph.
- End with a hook - End with a catchy sentence inviting people to buy a product, visit a website or whatever else they are supposed to do.
- Don’t overdo the keywords - It just looks spammy.
- Write for humans, optimize for robots - Keyword might be good for search engines, but robots don’t buy products. Make sure that your content is readable for human visitors too.
Category: Website Copywriting
Writing by Nick Stamoulis on Thursday, 20 of December , 2007 at 9:44 am
What is the most important ingredient to good website copy? Is it keywords? Is it repetition of those keywords? Links? Good meta tags?
Answer: None of the above.
The key to good website copywriting is to write copy that gets people interested. The first thing that attracts readers’ attention is the headline. Does your headline shout, “Read me?” If not then you likely won’t find many readers. Learn to write good headlines and people will read what you write.
Next, you must have a good lead-in paragraph. That first paragraph, first sentence, and first image are what will hook your readers. The headline gets them to click on your post or search engine listing. The first paragraph will determine whether they read the rest of your content.
Here are some tips to help you write better website copy:
• Write short sentences
• Write short paragraphs
• Use bullet statements
• Don’t just regurgitate what you find elsewhere - make it original!
• use h1, h2, and h3 tags
• Enhance your copywriting with dynamite graphics
These tips should help you write better website copy. Hope it helps.
Category: Website Copywriting
Writing by Nick Stamoulis on Monday, 17 of December , 2007 at 8:48 am
In your website copywriting, are you using emotional trigger words? This is the one thing that I see more often on website copy - copywriters not using the trigger words.
Trigger keywords are words that trigger an emotional response. You want that response to be an appropriate response for your product or service - one that inspires action. It doesn’t necessarily have to mean a positive response. Trigger words could be words that provoke fear, love, greed, self-confidence, lust … and it must be appropriate to your product or service. In other words, if your website is about food then you want people to get hungry, not greedy for money.
Website copywriting is all about getting people to respond. End your website copy with a call to action with a strong trigger word. Then watch the dollars roll in.
Category: Content Development, Website Copywriting
Writing by Nick Stamoulis on Thursday, 13 of December , 2007 at 11:12 am
While website copywriting and print copywriting share a few similarities, there are just as many differences. The biggest and most obvious difference is in the writing style. Print copy is read primarily by human eyes. As such, print copy is written for people. The style tends to be active, lively and simply written.
Website copywriting is different in that it needs to be written for both humans and search robots. Search robots are programs that scour the web for new pages, index their keywords and return the data to their respective search engines. In order to make website copywriting better adhere to search engine optimization guidelines, the following steps are recommended:
Never refer to your product as it - Avoid the use of indefinite articles when keywords can be used.
Optimize your pictures – Make sure that every picture includes size and title tags.
Keep it simple – Keep your sentences short and clear in meaning.
Stay positive – Don’t focus on the shortcomings of your competitors, focus on the benefits of your product instead.
Don’t get spammy – Dumping your keyword in the article every other word reads terribly and will only hurt your relevance. A keyword once or twice per paragraph is plenty.
Always research – Search engine optimization trends change by the day. Make sure that you keep abreast of what is going on. Read SEOJ for the latest information.
As you can see, website copywriting and print copywriting share a lot of similarities. The primary difference is the optimization. Following the above steps will help you to produce better website copywriting. If you do need to outsource your work to writers that are experienced in the latest techniques, please contact us at Website customer management.
Category: Website Copywriting
Writing by Nick Stamoulis on Friday, 30 of November , 2007 at 10:23 am
In your website copywriting, are you using emotional trigger words? This is the one thing that I see more often on website copy - copywriters not using the trigger words.
Trigger words are words that trigger an emotional response. You want that response to be an appropriate response for your product or service - one that inspires action. It doesn’t necessarily have to mean a positive response. Trigger words could be words that provoke fear, love, greed, self-confidence, lust … and it must be appropriate to your product or service. In other words, if your website is about food then you want people to get hungry, not greedy for money.
Website copywriting is all about getting people to respond. End your website copy with a call to action with a strong trigger word. Then watch the dollars roll in.
Category: Website Copywriting
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