6 top tips for good web copy writing

1. Write for your visitor, with their needs in mind, not for yourself. This may sound boringly obvious but as an SEO copywriter I see so many writing their web copy in a highly pompous style that convinces no-one. What do you mean by ‘offering a comprehensive service’? Why should people believe you are ‘efficient, courteous and care about your customers’? Does your copy sound as if it has been lifted straight from the page of a brochure, or an advertorial?
2. Write in an engaging style that creates welcome. To write as if you are having a friendly conversation with your visitor isn’t going to work by stuffing keywords in all over the place. SEO copywriting is a skill, pleasing your visitors, whilst winning favour from the search engines. Your web content needs top quality writing, tempting the visitor to pick up the phone, write an e-mail or go to the check out. This has to be done without overstatement or force feeding.
3. Do you really know what sort of people your potential customers are? Visitors looking for their ideal plumber may be the same people searching for an accountant; they will be attracted by styles of writing, individual to each profession. Think about your market and then write for them: people first, search engines second. Algorithms may change but people remain largely the same: wanting a solution to their problem.
4. Why are you writing, what are you writing, what is the purpose of writing it? What is the overriding need of the majority of your visitors? What would you like them to understand and what is important to them? It’s amazing how many business owners miss this in their web copy. You may have inserted all the right keywords, with due regard for frequency and density but what’s the point of them landing on your page if you haven’t really addressed them as reasonably intelligent people?
5. Write in a simple, easy to understand style but keep professional and clear. Avoid writing with dramatic language. Keep your sentences logical with an easy flow and professional slant that reflects your standard. Avoid clichés, jargon, ambiguity and unusual quotations; some of your visitors could be foreigners and may not speak or read English fluently. Use everyday speech without any colloquial stuff. Your visitors will be looking for one clear point, not several jumbled together.
6. Use headings, sub headings and bullets and links. Create attractive SEO copy, avoiding repetition or different ways of saying the same thing. Help your words look presentable and easy to digest with clear headings which you can optimize. Long, unbroken paragraphs look cluttered and are tiring to read. However brilliantly written or well optimized with the right anchor text and links, it’s not going to invite social media bookmarking or sharing if the writing is plain dull.