While web content can be a valuable SEO tool for your business, the content itself is not just there to sit and look pretty. To be valuable to your business, you want your website content to encourage a desired action – whether that’s buying a product, filling out a contact form, writing a review, or something else. In saying that, you still want to achieve this response from your reader without turning them off with unattractive, salesy copy.
Writing content that genuinely engages audiences doesn’t have to be difficult. These five tips are a great start to writing web copy that converts.
1. Make it user friendly
Now more than ever, there’s a huge focus on user experience in every interaction businesses have with customers. For your content to be useful to your audience, it needs to be tailored towards their specific needs.
You wouldn’t write incredibly technical copy for customers of an online IT solutions company. They don’t want to know about the detail of how the system works – they just want to know how it will help them save time and effort.
Similarly, you wouldn’t write complex content for a young audience or include visual elements for vision-impaired audiences. Consider who you’re writing for, and make your web content as accessible as possible. It’s often worth creating audience personas and keeping your target audience at the front of mind whenever writing copy for your website.
2. Keep it simple
Great web copy uses straightforward and concise language. Online readers don’t have a huge attention span, and generally scan webpages rather than reading each individual word. For this reason, you should keep your language simple and to the point. Use lists and subheadings to cut down on length and highlight key points.
3. Make sure it fulfils a purpose
Web copy needs to be written with the user’s intent in mind. Consider this when crafting copy for a webpage. If they’re on your site looking for information, guide them to it as quickly as possible. Don’t distract them with pushing products or fluffy content – give them the answer they need. You can build long-tail keywords into your content to help guide you in answering the user’s question.
4. Include suitable calls to action
Copy that converts needs to have a clear call to action. This is the behaviour you want your reader to make after engaging with the content and is often made by clicking a button or hyperlink. Whether you want you reader to share the article on social media, get in touch with your team or purchase a product, make your call to action clear, attractive and a logical next step after reading the web copy.
5. Help people find it
So you’ve written a compelling piece of content perfectly tailored to your target audience, and you’ve got a killer call to action in there they can’t refuse. Great! Now think about how your audience is actually going to come across your web copy so they can be converted. You should make sure you’ve filled out quality, keyword-relevant metadata so readers can find your post on Google. You may also share your content piece in EDMs or on social media.
At Redline Digital, we know that compelling web copy is an important part of your digital strategy. We can help you craft killer content that converts by putting you in touch with one of our content partners, or by assisting your team with guidelines and tips. Get in touch with our expert team today.