Writing effective web copy
30 July 2008
This article focuses primarily on the structure of copy – one of the most overlooked but nevertheless crucial aspects of web content production.
Audience expectations and objectives
When writing for the web it is important to bear in mind that:
- typically your target audience is looking for information with which to solve a particular problem
- readers expect to find information quickly and easily
- they are likely to go elsewhere the moment you fail to hold their attention
Below are ten techniques for structuring web copy that is findable, that holds readers' attention and that states "we can solve your problem because …".
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Front-load your copy
People scan web pages looking for interesting snippets rather than reading whole pages. If they don't find anything of interest quickly they will move on.
To make web copy easy to scan, start with the conclusion and keep detail to a minimum. This is known as front-loading your copy. It is standard practice for journalists but still surprisingly rare on the web.
Of course, this means avoiding opening with "Introduction" or "Background". Why? Because these seldom answer people’s questions or solve their problems. Solutions are much more likely to be found in conclusions or summaries.
Similarly, biographies should never be written in chronological order. What you do now is what will solve people’s problems, not where you went to school.
You can also front-load each paragraph to make scanning easier. Just get to the point – no preamble required.
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Use headings liberally
Another great way to make pages scannable is to use plenty of headings. These should be organised in a logical hierarchy with a heading 1 as the main page heading and with headings 2 through to 6 as sub headings.
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Use keyword-rich headings
Headings should be carefully crafted to include keyword phrases. These are the most important phrases from the section(s) they relate to. Not only do keyword-rich headings show at a glance what each section is about, they are also vital for achieving good search engine rankings (more on which below).
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Be objective
Provide facts and avoid fluffy marketing language. Everyone knows corporate-speak when they see or hear it, and filtering it out to get to the useful content is time consuming and annoying.
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Be concise
Cut, edit and cut again. And again.
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Include a clear call to action
Every page should have a clear and obvious call to action. This can range from a simple "call us for more information" to a "buy now with one click" button. The goal is to persuade readers to take a particular course of action: to buy something; to complete a questionnaire or to sign up for a newsletter. If you don’t ask people to act, the chances are, they won’t.
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Make pages findable
In order that search engine queries have the best chance of being directed to your site rather than to those of your competitors, your copy needs to include keyword phrases that correspond to users' search terms. It is particularly effective to build these into structural elements – headings, links and bullet lists, as well as the body copy. However, don’t overdo it. Writing for search engines (keyword stuffing) rather than for a human audience almost always produces poor results.
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Selecting keyword phrases
- Use keyword phrases rather than single keywords. Single words are usually too general and will have you competing against too many other pages to allow you to stand out from the crowd. There are exceptions of course, such as brand names. But if people know your brand name they will probably find you anyway. What we are primarily interested in here is reaching people who don’t already know who you are.
- Put yourself in your target audience's shoes. What search terms would you use to find a site like yours?
- Test your ideas in the major search engines. What kind of sites do various search terms return? Study these sites to determine what they have done to achieve their high rankings. Craft your keyword phrases accordingly.
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Active or passive voice?
Most English style guides advise against using the passive voice. This is generally good advice. However, when writing headings and link text the passive voice is often more effective for two reasons:
- It can have greater impact.
- People often read only the first two or three words of headings and links. The passive voice enables you to front-load.
Example: "Prince Charles bitten by stray dog" (passive voice) has greater impact than "Stray dog bites Prince Charles" (active voice). And the keyword phrase comes first.
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HTML title attribute
The HTML title attribute is the most important piece of content on the whole page as far as search engines are concerned (although humans seldom notice it). It appears in the blue bar at the very top of the browser window. It should contain a unique top level description of the page's content in no more than 150 characters. All of the above advice on keywords, front-loading and passive voice applies.
Although it is built into the HTML code behind the scenes, writing the text for an HTML title is very much an editorial function rather than a technical one. It's part of the page content.
Call to action
With a little practice anyone can implement the above techniques to pep up their web content. Of course you may also want to hire an experienced professional to write or edit your web copy, in which case we would be delighted to hear from you.
Ted Page Director PWS
PWS web editorial services
For further information on any issue raised in this article or on any aspect of our web editorial services please contact us on 01932 355 222 or 07918 952 874.
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