Two of the most important
writing skills that makes your Web site successful are:
1. Maximizing your visibility
within search results to your ideal buying audience (being
easily found.)
2. The delivery of a message
that compels your visitors to respond to what they find.
(action is taken as a result.)
While we tend to spend many
hours fine tuning our SEO related skills to gain top
visibility, far to many people never grow their skills
enough in this second area. Writing words for the Web that
result in the desired action being taken is as equally
important as gaining top that top visibility for your
researched keyphrases.
Writing
for your readers is not less important than writing
for search engine friendliness. You absolutely need
both if you want to be profitable.
So for today's article I want
to give you some tips that you can apply in your practice of
optimization that will also help you learn to communicate
better or as I like to say, connect to the heart of your
readers. You need to be easily found by people searching but
you also must take that traffic and make use of it so that
your Web site becomes profitable. There are a variety of ways
you can write words and dialog that will help you hit home
every time.
Before we discuss a few of these, let's briefly identify a
few common errors in Web communications today. |
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Errors in Writing for the Web:
For the sake of this article - it not JUST about SEO
influences anymore and has not been for some time.
In my opinion, the most common error that people make when
they put their Web pages together, is the aspect of
"self focus." People are often not aware of how
much their Web copy may dialog about how they are the most
experienced, or they are the best, or they are going to sell
you something of exceptional value.
This type of dialog:
- We are the best
- Us
- Ours
- Our program
- Our service
- We have the
best...etc...etc.
Is not nearly as powerful as
focusing on words that speak to the reader:
- You can enjoy
- You will appreciate
- Your choice is all that
counts
- You're going to appreciate
etc..ect.
By working with dialog that
is "customer focused" you are creating content
that reads for voice, nearly like broadcasters write for
radio or TV. Your Web page needs to communicate and flow
smoothly with this type of customer focus, especially if you
hope to connect with your readers in a way to do business.
The next biggest error is
probably that people often fail write in a very compelling
call to action. If you want people to take action, you need
to communicate that call very well and never assume that
your readers will ever follow through to your objective
because they should just naturally do so. They won't, unless
your dialog makes your communication compelling. By
compelling, I don't mean pushy. You help them to understand
the genuine benefits and you educate them about the value of
the offer in such a way as to allow them to make a buying
decision.
Let's talk about some
different ways that you can write your words to communicate
and compel response.
Writing Words for the Web and
how to connect to your readers:
- Never make the error of
assuming that someone reading your offer will
automatically connect the features of your product or
your service to the benefits. They won't, unless you
dialog about it in such a way that will help them see
every benefit.
- When you write a page, try
and think in terms of writing to communicate, rather
than writing to impress. Many of us learned sentence
structure and the mechanics of putting together
sentences or paragraphs in the proper way back in
school. But how many of us were ever taught how to write
words to really communicate what we mean.
- Don't be a "sesquipedalian"
writer (or a writer who is given to the overuse of long
words)
Perhaps some people would feel that the best way to
impress their reader was to use overly complex
terminology (maybe to demonstrate how intelligent they
are) but unfortunately if you constantly write with the
overuse of long, multi-syllable words - it will not help
you connect to your readers.
- When you are writing your
content, try and keep it simple, customer focused dialog
that is written to help the reader understand what you
are saying.
- Give ample time to
developing the Title of your page (not just for
keywords, but to say something compelling.)
- Most writers of sales
related pages never offer nearly enough benefits. How
many benefits are best?
Let's put it this way, don't ever stop looking for new
benefits that you may have overlooked. Remember that
very often, it is as the reader is reviewing the value
of the benefits, that they make their decision that they
want to buy your product.
- Is there a place in your
Web copy where you can use phrasing with a little humor?
- Is there room in your
content to reflect a little story that demonstrates your
point?
Story telling can be very effective if it is well
written and flows to illustrate a point you are making.
- Can you think of a way to
tie your content into something metaphorical?
A metaphor
is a figure of speech that suggests a likeness or
similarity but offering a description that is not
literally applicable.
Examples of Metaphors:
- the heart of a lion
- time is money
- a blanket of snow
Remember the importance of a call to action.
General examples
of "calls to action:"
- "If you'll do me a favor of
filling in this form, I'll extend your 30 Day trial Offer by another
30 days. That means you can test the program for a full
60 days before you decide whether you'd like to keep it."
- Send for a copy right now and judge for yourself how much
is worth to you compared with the few tax deductible dollars it costs.
- Most people who have made money and become successful have done so because they took
action at the right time. If you're ready to take
action, it's your first step to getting this very
powerful new strategy to use as you please for your
business.
- Okay, if that makes sense,
then stop - walk over to the phone right now and give me
a call at 1-800-XXX-XXXX.
A call to action should
direct the reader to take what ever action you have
identified that will make the page you created successful in
meeting an objective. It may not always be about sales. It
is up to you to determine the objective of the page.
Other Types of Writing Tips
for the Web:
- Take you time in writing
your Web content.
Sometimes by writing over a period of 48 hours will give
you more times to digest exactly what you are trying to
communicate. You may even find yourself coming back to
restructure your content to add more value, after
sleeping on it for a bit.
- Remember that 2009 is the
"year of the writer" if you are making a
transition to the Web. There has never before been such
great opportunities for writers as there are this year.
The Web needs good copy writers who know how to
communicate well.
Try and make a habit of
writing consistently for the Web.
Article Marketing is
considerably different than writing general content or FAQs.
Writing for news is different again.
If you need some help, remember that we teach in depth
Workshops in these areas as well as several other high performance
SEO skills in our live Search
Engine Academies which are located in local communities around the
globe.
Our hands-on workshops go much deeper into these
areas of teaching if you need help to get your Web site
profitable.
Check out Workshop
dates and locations here in a community closest to you.
Coming up next:
Watch
for PART 2 - Conceptual Word Lab for Writing
Words for the Web
