Website content is critical to all businesses that want to connect with both current and potential customers.
In order to turn the web copy tides and keep all eyes on your site, here are five keys to producing better website content:
1. Snippets Are Better Than Novels
Being clear, concise, and engaging is important, but if all that quality content is delivered in bulky, Hemingway-style sentences, nobody’s going to read it.
Why? Well, nothing against great American authors, but the attention spans of Internet users are geared toward the short-and-sweet side of things.
Long form sentences are pretty daunting for people looking to gather bursts of information and then move on. So, help your audience get what they’re looking for by providing the goods within a reasonable amount of words.
2. Don’t Be A Rocket Scientist
Unless you’re actually writing copy that specifically pertains to rocket science, leave the complexities out of your content. Considering your company’s content is meant for the widest audience possible, use language that corresponds with your readers.
This isn’t to say you should dumb down the eloquence behind your words, but rather find different, more general terms to express yourself, your products, your services, and anything else you’re trying to get across.
Besides, if readers need a thesaurus from one sentence to the next, they’re simply going to look for content that doesn’t require a companion text.
3. Take a Different Approach
The sooner you realize you’re not an authority on whatever content you’re about to throw into the Internet melting pot, the better. Chances are that whatever you’re about to post already exists in one form or another on the web.
This is a good thing because it’s a chance to make your content shine in a different way. So, instead of writing the same “How To” article that ten other authors already wrote, try writing a “How Not To” article.
Likewise, if every article that pops up in search engines is “The Benefits of,” try taking a “Pros and Cons” approach. By including what others forgot to mention, you’ll actually be adding something more to what’s already on the Internet.
4. A Little Humor Goes a Long Way
Two copywriters walk into a bar… Granted, this isn’t necessarily the type of humor you should be aiming for, but a little wit here and there will put your website content above the rest.
Think about it, would your rather read a cut and dry article or a lively, snappy article bursting with witty insight? If your answer is cut and dry, then it’s amazing you’ve read this far.
On that note, it’s also important to use humor sparingly and only when appropriate. If your content doesn’t call for irony, satire, or anything remotely considered humorous, then it’s best to save the stand-up comedy routine for another day.
5. Be Inspired
In the spirit of saving the best for last, the information above goes without saying that everything you write must be inspired in some way.
If you don’t feel at least slightly passionate about the subject you’re writing on, then your time is better spent finding different subject matter. Believe it or not, the way you feel about your website’s content truly does come across in the writing.
By following just a few of the tips above, your company’s content will jump off the webpage as opposed to getting lost in the online shuffle.
After all, you made it through this article, didn’t you?