Improve your opportunity to sell by writing effective website copy

By David Lakins, Managing Director of Key Multimedia

The primary goal of all advertising, including website content is to be remembered. No matter what other marketing goal you want to achieve, if your audience doesn't remember your content, it is a wasted effort and lost opportunity.

All the money spent on attracting people to your web pages goes right down the drain if your content is instantly forgettable. With that in mind it is worth spending a little time focusing on the general principles of writing effective website copy.

Writing for the web is different!

Writing for the web is not the same as writing for a print, in the same way that web design is different to page design.

There are a number of important differences to remember and issues to bear in mind.

• According to research carried out by Jakob Nielsen, people rarely read web pages word by word. Instead, they scan the page, picking out individual words and sentences.
  
  
• As most people scan web pages it is very important that the information contained in a document is presented correctly. The correct use of bullet points, headings and summary paragraphs throughout a publication will ensure that the maximum number of readers will gain the information you wish to impart.
  
  
• Every page should be written as if the user has not seen the rest of the site. Many visitors will access your web pages direct from Internet search engines, or through links from other web sites.

You can double the usability of your web pages by following the guidelines below. For two sample sites studied in Sun Microsystem's Science Office, they improved measured usability by 159% and 124% by rewriting the content according to the guidelines.

In order to make your copy easy to read, try structuring your document in a consistent way. For example think how a newspaper article is structured :-

• Start with a strong compelling headline e.g. rather than “Product X” try using “Have you ever wondered why Product X is a number one seller?”
  
  
• Write a précis – a short introductory text of about 150 words that explains what the article is all about
  
  
• A picture speaks a thousand words – so if you have an image make sure it is relevant to the content and add a caption that adds to the story being told
  
  
• Use meaningful sub-headings to introduce the themes and think about splitting the article up into four or five bite-size paragraphs
  
  
• Introduce scannable text by:-
  • highlighted keywords using, for example, hypertext links, bold text or colour contrast
  • start paragraphs with meaningful sub-headings;
  • use bulleted lists;
  • try and incorporate one idea per paragraph – your visitors might miss additional ideas if they are not caught by the first few words in a paragraph;
  • half the word count (or less) than conventional writing;
    
    
• Wrap it up - complete the article with a “wrapping-up” paragraph brings the article full circle and reiterates the benefits, features and unique selling points.

Good luck with your writing!