When it comes to writing better website copy, there is a range of tricks and tips that you can consider implementing. And the good news is, they’re all relatively easy to achieve!
Writing better website copy isn’t about being the best writer in the world and producing copy that the Bronte sisters would be proud of.
Instead, it’s about focusing on your audience and their wants and needs while simultaneously ensuring that your website gives an accurate and authentic representation of your business through the words on the pages.
Here are our top tips for getting your website copy right:
Top Tips for Writing Better Website Copy
1. Know your audience
It may seem obvious, but the more you know your audience, the better your website copy will be. Far too often, we see website copy regurgitated from template to template, with copy that says what we think the audience might want to hear, but without solid proof that this is the case.
In order to write copy that really connects with your potential customers, you need to know as much about them as possible.
Who are they?
What are their problems and pain points?
What excites them and makes them tick?
What kind of language do they use, and what kind of language will they best respond to?
What kind of tone will they be expecting you to use?
What motivates them to make purchasing decisions?
When you compile this information, you have a complete, ready-made guide to writing copy that will appeal to them. From your tone of voice to the information you include, right down to the kind of words you use, you’ll eliminate the guesswork and ensure that your website copy is designed specifically with your customers in mind.Copy that doesn’t have the customer at its core can feel generic and may fail to connect – so get researching! Absorb as much information about your customers as possible, create customer personas to refer back to and we guarantee your website copy will be better for it.
2. Less is More
Your website is the storefront of your business, which means we often feel the urge to fill it with anything and everything our audience could ever need to know about it.
Lengthy founder stories and business journeys can often be found on About pages, going to great lengths to ensure they haven’t missed out any small details from the last 2, 5, or 10 years
And that’s great! It gives an excellent, in-depth look into your business. But put yourself in your customer’s shoes.
You have a problem, you find a business with a website that you think might be able to provide you with a solution. You click on the About page just to confirm you feel comfortable purchasing from them.
You’re suddenly faced with an essay that details their business journey from beginning to end. What do you do?
Stick around to read it or click off to find another website that provides you with clear, succinct and, most importantly, relevant information that tells you what you need to know?
We know what we’d be doing!
When it comes to your website copy, less is definitely more. Aim for around 300 words per page (for SEO purposes) and only include information that is going to be relevant to your audience. If you provide specialist cleaning services in their local area, tell them that. If you started your business on a sunny day in July 30 years ago, you can probably leave that bit out.
By refining your copy in this way, you’re giving yourself a much higher chance of converting.
3. Optimise for SEO
There’s always a collective groan when we mention SEO to our clients (trust us, we’re groaning too!) – it seems impersonal and inauthentic to be writing to please a search engine, but it doesn’t have to be that way!
Optimising your content simply means ensuring your website shows up for the right people in the right places. By no means do you have to get overly technical with it – it just requires a bit of research to ensure the keywords you’re using are the ones your clients are looking for.
For example, you may be a local business and therefore want to optimise for your local area. All this means is that instead of using keywords like UK or England, you narrow your horizons and include towns or cities in your local area. Nothing too technical or scary about that! It just ensures that the people your website copy is intended for actually get to see it.
Choose your keywords wisely and your website copy will be instantly better.
4. Make it Authentic
When it comes to writing better website copy, authenticity is key.
There’s sometimes a misconception that website copy has to be overly formal and stuffy to make your business appear credible. And, while a level of professionalism is required, it doesn’t have to be formal at all!
In fact, website copy packed full of personality is far better at representing your business than something overly formal and serious. Allow your unique brand voice to shine through, use humour or colloquialisms if it fits your business, and don’t be afraid to allow your website copy to sound a bit more human.
It’s really hard to convey a personality over the internet but remembering that your website copy is an overview of you and the people behind your business is a great way to keep it feeling real.
If your website copy doesn’t currently sound like ‘you’, consider sprinkling in some personality for that authentic feel.
5. Focus on Benefits, Not Features
The online world is a selfish one.
When we’re looking for information on a website, it’s usually for selfish reasons. We need advice on something we need to do, we need instructions for a task we need to complete, we need to make a purchasing decision on a product we’ve been after.
Your website copy should appeal to this selfishness. Your audience is only interested in the benefits your product or service can provide for them, not the specific features of the product itself.
While you may mention these features, it’s important to not let the be the focus of the copy. Instead, highlight how those features are going to have a positive impact on the lives of your audience. Not only will this meet their needs, but it’ll also paint you as a business that cares more about its customers than anything else.
If your website copy is currently features-focused, consider swapping it out for an abundance of benefits to instantly improve your copy and chances of converting.
Implementing these simple steps is a great place to start if you want to write better website copy. Combined, they allow you to produce copy that is authentic, customer-focused and valuable – give it a go!
Copywriting with The Edwards Company
Here at The Edwards Company, we write copy for businesses like yours. If you feel like your website copy could do with a bit of a refresh, we can help. Please do not hesitate to get in touch with our copywriting team.