Getting the most from your content
29th Jan 2010, 2:48 p.m.
Writing content for the web is never an easy task. You need to encourage your site's visitor to transition from a casual browser to a paying customer, so there's a lot you need to be thinking about. Luckily, unlike sending a leaflet to print, your website is dynamic. Mistakes can be fixed, and you can easily fine-tune your content at a later date.
Naturally the best way to get your content right is to hire a professional to help. Freelance writer Fiona Cullinan tells us more about professional copywriters.
'Because many agencies have a focus on design and development, the content often comes directly from clients. And unless that client has a web-savvy copywriter on their team, the resulting words may let the overall look and feel of the site down.
'Even if the writing looks good, it can be hard for a client to step out of their corporate shoes and put their customers' needs first - after all, they have messages they want to get across and their standard marketing copy may seem sufficient. But internet users will see straight through this kind of fluff, become annoyed, or even be plain confused about what they're going on about. Worst of all, they are likely to click away to somewhere that does speak their language and tells them what they need to know.
'A copywriter should be able to write to whatever the client/agency brief is. They will produce relevant and appropriately styled/toned content. Usually they are given brand guidelines and the marketing message that the client wants to get across. Often the client will then come back with amends/comments and the copywriter works towards sign-off so that the client is happy. It's usually a team effort.
'So what should you look for when hiring a writer? A good copywriter should be able to adapt their skills to the job at hand, unless it is particularly technical or specialist work. There are different skills for different media, however. For example, I wouldn't hire a print copywriter for a web job, or a web writer for broadcast work. Look for someone with a portfolio and CV that matches your project's content.
'The other consideration is that clients may need/want more than just a writer. They may need someone who can help them decide what type of content they need and how to structure/resource that in order to achieve their goals. This is a content strategist's role. Content strategy is a different set of skills and knowledge that forms a plan for your content, not just at the planning and creation stage but throughout its whole life cycle.
'So if you aren't sure what your digital strategy is, then look at hiring a content strategist. If you do know what you want, then all a copywriter needs is your brief.'
Of course there will be times when you find yourself without a copywriter, so here are the main points we discuss with our clients about writing content for their site.
The basics
Make sure your page titles describe what's on the page. If you are writing an About page, keep the information about you. Save the information on your products and services for the products or services page.
If you want to mention another topic, create a page for it and then link to it. Keep your pages short and to the point.
Make good use of bold and emphasised text. They have great benefits with search engines too.
About.com cover the basics very well, with one great piece of advice being simply to read. Take a look at your competitors and the websites you like. Try to think why their content works, and then apply that thinking to your site; does this content help my customers?
Your site doesn't need to be completely finished before you launch
In fact, we would argue a truly great website can never be finished...
We often find the biggest delay in launching sites is content. The advice we always give our clients is to focus on what's important to begin with, and then launch the site. Make sure the key information about your company, the contact details, information on your products and services are ready. But if you are planning on having a recruitment system on your site, or a web shop, and they're likely to take months to complete ditch them and just launch!
Its better to have a good solid site that's not necessarily as big as your planned from the go than no site at all. Few things look worse than content that was rushed just to get a site live.
At Amarus we try to work in phases. If we think a job is so big it may never even get ready for launch we'll plan out a staged deployment where we work in more manageable chunks, making it far easier for our clients to get content ready.
Visitors know how to click
One of our pet hates is "click here".
- Click here to contact us
- Click here to download our brochure
Assume the people visiting your site are familiar with the clicking on links. Focus instead on making your content more interesting. Make sure your web designer has made hyperlinks stand out from the rest of your content, and that your visitor can clearly see that something is a link.
- If you feel ready to take things forward, or simply want to know more, then please get in touch
- Our brochure features all of the latest products.
W3C's QA tips can tell you more about using links.
Don't invite people to read your website
Its very difficult to write a home page. When we design sites we try to provide a snappy homepage that links out to key content.
At all costs we avoid, "Welcome to our website, you can use the navigation on the right to browse our website. If you have any questions please click here to contact us."
Introductions like this waste valuable screen real estate that you could be using to entice your customer. Again, assume your visitor is familiar with the fundamentals of the web, never patronise them. Instead, give them what they want to see. There are lots of tips for making the best impressions using a land page.
How much can they see at once?
There's a finite amount of space on a computer screen. To fit more than can be shown at once on a page requires a user to scroll the page. If you need your visitor to scroll you need to give them a reason to. The homepage is key here. Make sure everything you want a visitor to see is in their view from the second they arrive. If you do require them to scroll (like to read this post) make sure you use headers so they (and the search engines) can find their way around.
We used a tool called Google Browser Size to ensure that 99% of the people who browse our website can see our introduction text, and 98% can see our services, without the need to scroll.
How can Amarus help?
As well as building websites we're always keen to help our clients produce professional content. After all, we like to show potential customers are past work. We'll be sure to point out any problems we see, and we also offer Search Engine Optimisation services. We can also put you in touch with professional web-editors and copywriters.
