Content Creation
Copywriting
Copywriting
Copywriting for your website
A website without high-quality copywriting will struggle to rank well in Google search engine results. With poor copywriting, your website will fail to engage your audience when they get there. That’s why copywriting is an important part of any website design, and why copywriting is an integral part of our Content Creation service offering. Many organisations struggle with either the time or skill set required to generate the necessary word count for their website. If you’re unsure where to start, take a look at our approach to copywriting below. Or if you’d rather we take care of it, you can bolt on this copywriting service as part of your next web design project, or your ongoing content creation efforts.
Copywriting Article: What is a website without content? →
How does Google get to know about your website? By reading the words on your pages! Copywriting is a critical element to your search engine ranking, so it pays to do a good job. In case Google’s search robot wasn’t a good enough reason to write well; the more articulate your copywriting is, the better your human visitors will engage with you too. That’s a proven fact.
While working on your copywriting, don’t get bogged down in how this is all going to look on your website; that’s our job as website designers. We’ll take your content and work a contemporary design around it, breaking it down and building it back up to a finished product. That’s the secret to successful website design: rather than forcing your copywriting to fit a certain design, we design to fit the content. The former is equivalent to forcing square pegs into round holes. The latter is efficient.
Start your copywriting project by sketching out a Sitemap so you get a feel for what you need to cover within your website. Arrange this so that the most important information comes first. Before you begin writing, set your head space to that of your average customer. It’s really important that you’re talking to them on their level using the terminology that they use. Brainstorm everything that you want to write about. You may find that you’ve mapped out a series of headings and subheadings – a great way to break down content into bite-sized pieces. Google reads your content in a hierarchical fashion. Keep this in mind as you write, so that the most important details come first. The finer detail can come later in the piece.
Provide copywriting to us in a Word document or use Google Drive to share what you’ve written. Apart from using clear headings and basic formatting such as bullet points, don’t go overboard with the formatting or layout. It’s not going to carry over to the website itself. And please do not embed images into your documents, unless you simply want to show where they go in relation to your written words. This is because images do not extract well out of Word or Google Docs. Please supply original images separately as we’ll size them accordingly as part of the website build.
Write a descriptive heading, e.g. “I.T. Services” is more meaningful than simply “Services”. And follow that up with a descriptive, keyword-dense introduction. Remember, you are copywriting for search bots as much as you are for human visitors. For example, the word “website” offers far more meaning and context than simply “site”, which could potentially mean “building site” to anything other than a human reader.
How much is too much? If you can get to 1,000 words per page then you’re doing well. You should target a minimum of 500 words for each service, or other important pages. A lesser word count will mean a lower impact with Google.
Remember – when copywriting, write using your customer’s language. Unless your audience is technically minded, avoid tech-speak.
I bet you don’t take shortcuts at work, so steer clear of them with your copywriting, too. After all, it’s what represents your work online. It is important that you don’t rip off another website’s copywriting. If Googlebot catches up with your shortcut, you’re going to be heavily penalised in terms of Google rankings.
Nobody likes plagiarism.
Home
Provide an introduction to WHAT you do, WHOM and WHERE you do this, and WHY people should care. Further down the page, you could include snippets (brief introductions) promoting your core products or services. Followed by a snippet introducing who you are.
Products / Service
Detailed pages describing each product and service. This information is of primary concern to your customers; it’s more important to them than who you are, so we present this info first.
Case Studies
Real-world examples that champion your successes offer compelling and meaningful insights into your products/services. Potential customers relate well to your existing customers. This is something that can continue to evolve over time as you grow with your website. We offer copywriting as part of our Mission Control service: what happens after a website is launched.
Technical Resources / FAQs
Providing useful online resources or answers to common questions helps to build credibility and strengthens values that potential customers can warm to.
Blog
Use a blog to talk about the challenges and solutions to everyday problems in your industry. As you build this up over time, it builds upon that credibility and those values we’ve just mentioned. Plus, regular, unique content feeds into your long-term SEO strategy.
About Us
Provide information about your company and its key personnel. While this is important, in your customer’s eyes this is secondary to the WHAT, WHY and HOW.
Contact Us
This detail needs to be found very easily. It’s customary to have this at the end of your navigation. Typically we would include an enquiry form and a Google map of your location(s).
Finished? Proofread your copywriting and remove any waffle; a concise read is a good read. Bullet points and subheadings can be useful. Check spelling (use UK English unless your main audience is North American) and grammar. We’ve all got spellcheck. But if you want to take editing to the next level, try Grammarly. It’s free and easy to use, and it will provide a professional edge to your copywriting.
Copywriting is a web design add-on service
Copywriting is a critical part of your search engine ranking success. Google gets to know about your website by reading the words on your pages, so it pays to do a good job. Luckily, as well as offering compelling website design, Hart Design can provide an in-house copywriting service to you too.