Good Copy, Bad Copy

Posted 1 year, 4 months ago at 4:43 pm. 0 comments

How web copywriting is different

On the face of it, you may think that copywriting is well, copywriting.

Is there really much difference between writing for magazines and newspapers and writing for the web? The simple answer is yes.

What’s right for offline media will very rarely be effective online.

Does your web copy do all of the following?

• Attract attention – People read differently online from reading a newspaper or magazine. Internet users have a very short attention span and if you can’t get their attention within a few seconds then they’ll lose interest and go to another site.
• Get to the point – Once you’ve grabbed someone’s attention you need to get your message across simply and effectively. Bullet points are a good way to do this as people won’t read through large paragraphs of text online.
• Scan well – Like it or not, a lot of the copy on your website won’t actually be read in great detail. It’s therefore crucial that you use headings and sub headings well because people scan through web pages quickly to find relevant information.
• Ask for the sale – Advertising in magazines and newspapers often consists of an image with a catchy slogan and not much else. If you’re selling online then you have your potential customer right where you want them.
  Simple calls to action such as “Order yours online now” with a link to the relevant page can improve your online conversion rates.
• Mention relevant keywords – Shopping online for goods and services is all about relevance. Are people searching for what you’re selling? If so, have you mentioned the most popular keywords and phrases in your content?

Unlike more traditional advertising methods, keyword research is critical when it comes to selling online; it’s all about being found by people who are searching for what you’re offering.

Here’s the technical bit

In addition to the points above, there are a few more technical areas involved in web copywriting that don’t apply to offline selling.

Here’s a brief summary of just some of these important areas;

• Meta titles: Sometimes known as browser titles, these are the first thing people will see in their search engine results so they need to be relevant.
• Meta descriptions: The two lines of text that appear under your Meta title in the search engine rankings. This is your chance to persuade people to click through to your site.
• Internal linking: Using descriptive and keyword rich links between the pages on your site will benefit users and improve your search engine ranking.

Our experienced web copywriters will focus on all of the above and more to transform your online sales.