Writing for the Web? Find out what makes great web copy.
If you are writing content for the Web, you want it to be read and shared by as many people as possible, right? Whether writing content for a static website, a blog or an online press-release, writing for the Web is different to writing for print media. Online copy needs to be compelling enough to engage readers within seconds, but it also needs to be easily crawled and by search bots. Getting your content standing out from hundreds of thousands other web pages that are likely to have been written on the same subject can be a challenge. Here are some top tips for writing great web copy:
- Make it Unique – It is so easy to use someone else’s content, give it some tweeks and then post as your own, but what are you really gaining from this? If you like someone else’s article, share it, but don’t copy it. You never know, they may reciprocate by sharing one of your articles! If you struggle to write unique content, then its best to pass the job to someone who can! Make your content unique and make it yours.
- Pick an Engaging Topic – what are current on-trend topics? Do some research and find out what people are sharing and talking about. If you make it relevant it will capture the attention of your readers and if the topic is trending on social channels, then your article could achieve a lot of exposure.
- Optimise for Search – for an article or web page to achieve visibility in search results indexes, search engines need to determine its relevance to the user search query. There are many algorithms that make this work, but sticking the Best Practice SEO Guidelines will give your web page the chance to achieve some visibility. Here are the main SEO considerations for optimised web copy:
- Make use of target keyword phrases in your page title and sub-headings (phrases that you want the page to be found for in Google).
- Use target keyword phrases in the body copy, but don’t overuse them.
- Include bullet points to make it easier to read
- Try to include images and/or video that are relevant to the content.
- Add internal and external web links to further resources.
- Give the reader an opportunity to share the article by adding social share icons.
- Check for accuracy – If you are not 100% sure of the facts you are presenting, then don’t include them. Check your copy before upload for misspellings and grammatical errors. Your credibility relies on the accuracy of your content.
Here are a few more resources on writing copy for the web:
10 Top Tips for Writing Great Content
http://whizzmarketing.co.uk/10-top-tips-for-writing-great-content/
Don’t be a Copy Cat, Get Copy Smart
http://whizzmarketing.co.uk/dont-be-a-copy-cat-get-copy-smart/
By Louise Cranstone, Whizz Marketing Services
Whizz Marketing is a leading SEO and Digital Marketing Outsource Agency. If you would like further information on the web copywriting service Whizz provides, please contact Louise on 01252 622129 or email louise@whizzmarketing.co.uk