Tweet

Website Copywriting Tips

Guest post by: Karen Scharf

Article Overview: With the advent of the internet, things have changed in the world of copywriting. Though some techniques, like short sentence structures, have always been important to journalism and copywriting, other things are relatively new. The web has brought about a change to the way people read, and therefore we have to change the way we write if we want our small business marketing programs to be successful.

Website Copywriting Tips

With the advent of the internet, things have changed in the world of copywriting. Though some techniques, like short sentence structures, have always been important to journalism and copywriting, other things are relatively new. The web has brought about a change to the way people read, and therefore we have to change the way we write if we want our small business marketing programs to be successful. Here are some website copywriting tips to keep in mind before you begin your next project:

Brevity

When writing for the web, you have to take into account that your readers have short attention spans. They do not want to read through a lot of unnecessary information. The internet has helped create the era of immediate gratification - your readers want to know what's in it for them, an they want to know immediately. You can skip long introductory paragraphs and much of the added information you're probably used to using. Keep your writing as short, simple, and to the point as possible.

Active vs. Passive

It is vital that you know the difference between active and passive voice. Passive voice really has no place in non-fiction writing. It slows down your text and makes things harder to grasp for your reader.

An example of passive voice would be to say "Steven is loved by Elizabeth"; an example of the same sentence in active form would be "Elizabeth loves Steven". New copywriters often use passive voice because they think it makes their sentences sound more authoritative. In fact, it simply makes the writing dull and boring.

Short Sentences

This website copywriting tip relates back to brevity. Long, wordy sentences have no place in today's writing. You have to cut out the unnecessary adjectives and run on sentences. Short sentences are easier on the eyes and can be read quicker. Keep in mind that your website visitors aren't actually reading your web pages word for word. Using short sentences helps your reaers skim your web pages and absorb more information.

Be Informal

Even if you're in a business to business niche and trying to appear extremely professional, it's important to speak informally to your readers. Keep in mind, informal does necessarily mean misspelled words and grammatically incorrect sentences. But in general, you want to write just as you would speak when sitting across the table with a prospect. This conversational tone also makes your writing more interesting and easier to follow while it helps create a relationship with your website visitors and prospects.

Do Your Research

I wouldn't say that this is necessarily a website copywriting tip per se, but it is definitely relevant to every copywriting project you will undertake. Before you set out to write your copy, you need to know everything you can about the topic and your target audience. By getting all your research out of the way ahead of time, your thoughts will be more organized and your words will flow more naturally when you do begin to write. And as a side bonus, you'll feel much more confident about your product or service while you're writing, and this will certainly come across in your copywriting and it will make your product more attractive to your prospects.

They key to website copywriting is to keep things as short and simple as possible. You want your writing to be clear and easy to understand, especially for the skimmer. It should only take a few minutes for your reader to get your point. Following these simple copywriting tips will help improve your website conversions and increase your bottom line.

Related Articles
  The Art of Copywriting Tips - What it Can Do For You
  Make Your SEO Copywriting Count
  4 Hallmarks of Quality Website Copywriting
  Copywriting - what a waste of time
  SEO Copywriting - Six Successful Secrets to Successful SEO Results
  ••••••>SEO Tips for Conducting Outstanding Keyword Research
  Internet Marketing: Copywriting
  Top Home Business Opportunity – What the Guru’s will not tell you!
  Copywriting Is Essential For Multilevel Marketing Success
  How to Write to Communicate: 6 Tricks to Better Copywriting
  Copywriting Secrets:How To Become The Best Internet Network Marketer
  Selecting Keywords & Keyword Phrases for Best SEO Rankings
  Why You Need to Learn How to Copy Write if You’re Online Doing Business
  Seven Benefits of having good SEO Web Content
  If WordPress Is Good Enough For Jeff Johnson Then It Must Be Good
  3 Quick Copy Tips to Boost Web Sales
  Copywriting Class 101 - How to Sniff Out What Your Target Audience Really Wants
  POWER Points to Ask BEFORE You Write a Single Word of Copy
  These 3 Classified Ad Writing Tips Will Get People To Act
  Article Titles That Get Noticed

Article Tags: website copywriting tips, writing for the web



Related Forum Posts
Business Tips - How about: Tips for managers to handle employees more effectively? Tips on how to deal with difficult customers? Tips on how to deal more effectively with suppliers? The only three I have in mind right now, but will try to come up with something else. Chris
Re: what position to request? - Hi Michael, Great suggestion from David, or you could try something around a design consultancy, How about Website Design Consultant, Design and Development Manager, Website Support and Development Manager or maybe Internet Business Development Consultant. Ultimately whatever you are comfortable with and good luck for the future, Mal.
Re: How can I promote my site? - There are various useful techniques for promoting a website. In SEO the techniques could be "white hat" and "black hat" techniques. White hat techniques includes following techniques to promote website as per the search engine rules. - Search Engine Friendly Tags - Website submission to Search Engines - Website Submission to Social Sites (Like twitter, Facebook) - Articles Promotion & Press Release Promotion - Quality Directories promotion - Contribution to Blogs, Forums Black hat techniques can reduce website strength in the search engine and can treat site as spam that could be following. - Keywords Stuffing. - Hidden Links - Maximum Links of unknown sites.
Re: Top 5 Magazines For SEO - Hi, Thanks for the links GT, I already subscribe to Website Magazine but must admit that is the only one. Maybe I shoud cast my net a bit wider to see what the others have to offer, regards, Mal.
Re: Using Craigslist SEO to Promote Your Website - Great Craiglist Tips for driving traffic. I can definitely use these to drive traffic to my blog.


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

When Your Smiling

Why Your Own Internet Marketing Website Is A Must

WHAT IS MANAGEMENT CONSULTING

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.