Writing Great Content

It’s time to walk through the various bits of content that make up your website. But first, a few basics to go over.

What is copy?

When you’re working on a website project, you’ll likely come across the word copy a lot. If you’ve never heard the term before, copy is the written content that appears on your website. This can be anything from the big headline in your Home page hero to the paragraph about how you started your business to the words that appear on any buttons throughout your website. 

There are a lot of different professionals who work with copy, but if you’re looking for help with your website copy, here are a few folks you might run into:

  • Copywriters (🙋🏼) create polished and effective copy for clients. 
  • Copyeditors take written copy and edit or adjust it to be more impactful. 
  • Proofreaders check copy for spelling and grammar mistakes but don’t make substantive changes.

Great copy is…

So what makes for effective copy? Here are a couple of things you should always be aiming for:

Succinct  

You always want your copy to get right to the point. Flowery language and beating around the bush reallydon’t work on websites. People have incredibly short attention spans, and they get even shorter when they’re looking at a computer or phone screen. 🫣

The 3-second rule is a test in web design that states that website visitors should be able to know what you’re about and feel compelled to learn more within 3 seconds and without having to scroll. (The kicker? The 3 seconds includes your website’s load time, so if your website is taking 2 seconds to load, chances are you’re failing this test. ⏱️)

Compelling

Once a website visitor navigates away from your website, they’re not likely to come back. This means that your copy can’t leave someone feeling lukewarm about your product/service/etc. 

All your copy should work together to keep folks on your site, but more importantly, it should all work together to drive someone to engage in whatever way you desire. (See the last lesson for a deeper look into what ways you might want folks to engage.)

Polished

Many people visit a website long before they ever engage with anyone from that business/organization. This means that your website is your first impression in a lot of cases. 🤝 Copy that is full of errors and mistakes will make you seem untrustworthy or unprofessional and people may not ever give you the chance to change their minds.

Your website copy should accurately portray the kind of business or organization you are. If it seems sloppy or thrown together, that doesn’t set great expectations around everything else. Take the time on your copy; it will pay off. 

Engaging

Remember all that nonsense about storytelling? 😉 Well, here’s where it really comes into play. To get people on board, you have to show them where they fit. In our approach, that means you’re casting them as the heroic main character. To make this convincing, you’ll need to prove to them that you understand their journey, as well as what’s getting in their way. Then you have to offer them your wise guidance which will put them on the road to success! 🏆

All of your copy—every little bit—should work together to tell this story. As you write content for all the different parts of your website, you’ll need to always keep that story in mind and let it guide how you express every last piece of information.

Knowing your website size

If you’re working on website copy, it’s crucial to know how much space your website will have for copy. Is your website a one-page site or does it have extensive navigation with a lot of different pages? Although the approach to content doesn’t shift, the way you arrange it and how much space you have for each item does. 

If you’re building a one-page website

While you’ll cover the same information, it will all go on a single page.

  • Introduction to your business/organization
  • Information about your company, staff, values, etc.
  • What folks can buy or expect from you
  • A way for folks to contact you
  • Anything else you need or want to include

If you’re building a bigger site

You may have pages beyond the ones listed, but these are the most common pages for websites.

  • Home page: introduces everything and gives an overview
  • About pageinformation about the company, staff, values, etc.
  • Product/Services/Process page: describes what you offer, benefits and differences between options, or your specific approach
  • Contact page: where folks will be able to get in touch with you

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