I?ve recently seen many articles emphasising the importance of your website copy being ?written for your customers not for search engines?.  If, like most people, you haven?t got the time to research the very latest advice, how do you decide what should you be writing and how you can optimise your web pages?

There are 2 main objectives to consider when writing your web pages, especially your landing page:

1)       Create a compelling writing style which reflects your company and your services.  You need to build a landing page that contains content to enlighten and inform the people who just clicked over to your site from the search engine, and persuade them to progress through your sales cycle.

2)       Get your site ranked well by search engines in order for people to find you – create a search engine optimisation (SEO) strategy.

We?ll focus today on the first objective in this blog with some condensed research findings and simple tips to help you write your landing page.

• Users don?t actually read web copy, they scan it, very quickly.  This is why focusing on the words you use is so important.  Ensure your copy is easy to read – online readers are impatient, they want simple, clear, concise and obvious information straight up.  Less is more is key here.
• Use words in your headings and copy that are relevant to your services. The information is scanned so quickly you also have to carefully consider where you place your persuasive information on the page.
•  Recent research has shown that people read websites in the style of an ?F?:

1. Headings across the top of the page are scanned first.  These must be relevant to your services.
2. Sub-headings below are then read, but need to be short as the scanning is already moving to the main copy body – where 1 or 2 sentences are read and retained – this area must contain the concise information about what your company offers and why you should choose them.  This needs to be relevant and persuasive in order for users to continue reading.
3. Finally the user scans down the left of the page in a list format – this area should contain reassuring and compelling information about why the user should trust you – such as testimonials, newsletters and blogs.

• Write as ?you? – it?s a way of speaking directly with your target market.  People are very quick these days to identify ?professional keyword writers? and will not trust sites that are full of keywords.  Search engines will also punish sites that are written for SEO purposes only.
• Always write sentences with information-carrying text first.  Research shows that people generally read the first 11 characters of a sentence before subconsciously deciding whether to continue reading or not.
• If you are offering a service to people or businesses, you are writing to educate them about your service, and to persuade them to take the next step in the sales cycle.  Don?t use boastful self-promotion words about your company, again readers will switch off very quickly if they don?t trust the content.  You can use different styles of information to promote yourself as the sector leader, such as statistics or testimonials.

That?s the writing sorted, now you need to create a search engine optimisation strategy.  This is vital in order to ensure your site is found by people searching for your services.  For more information about creating an effective writing and SEO strategy contact us.