How to Write Website Copy (The Ultimate Guide)

When I first started learning how to write website copy in one of my first marketing roles, I had no idea of all it involved. I learned pretty quickly that writing for the web is not the same as writing for print. For starters, there’s a lot of competition out there from other websites. So not only do you have to attract people to your website, you need to keep them on your page. There’s also so many things to consider as a copywriter for the web. From making your copy engaging, readable and accessible to readers, to making it attractive to search engines through SEO (search engine optimisation).

Now when a client wants to know what’s involved in writing a website page or blog post, I can tell them A LOT! I thought I would pass on some useful website copywriting tips that I’ve learned over the years.

Here’s how to write website copy that works for your audience and Google.

Make it scannable.

People don’t read every word on a web page. Instead they scan it, looking for relevant information. If they don’t find what they need, they move onto the next search result and the next website. It seems so obvious, but I remember being blown away the first time I learned about writing web copy that’s easy to scan.

So, the first thing you should do when writing web content is to make it easy for users to skim read and scan. Help your audience find the information they’re searching for quickly and easily.

How?

• Put the most important information at the top to ‘hook’ your readers
• Break up large chunks of text by using sub-headings
• Use bullet points
• Break up text with images or video content
• Use bolding
• Select text to use as pull-out quotes
• Format text in different colours
• Use short sentences and vary paragraph length
• Make the most of white space

Write a click-worthy headline.

I could write a whole series of blog posts on writing headlines. Headlines are so important for search engine optimisation (SEO) and to get people to click through to your website in the first place. If you have a bland headline, chances are people will pass your website by.

There are many tried and true headline formulas that work time and time again. Examples include:

• How to (achieve a desired result). E.g. How to gain 1,000 Instagram followers in a month
• Using numbers in the headline – especially odd numbers. E.g. 17 Thoughts I had While Watching Season 3 of Stranger Things
• Are you (Controversial Question)? E.g. Are you still eating Gluten?
• (Odd Number) Secrets to (Desired Outcome) . E.g. 9 Secrets to Getting Published.

Neil Patel has written a very detailed step-by-step guide to writing powerful headlines if you want to explore this subject more.

Write web content with your target audience in mind.

Nothing gets older faster than visiting a website where every sentence starts with ‘I’ or ‘we’. If you really want to know how to write web copy that works – you need to start with your ideal client/customer/audience in mind. Make your content about them, not about you.

First you need to identify your target audience. Are they pet owners in your local area? Solopreneur females working in the beauty industry? Retirees who love golf?

Then you need to research who you are talking to. Find out where they hang out online. What kind of language do they use? What are their problems/pain points that your product or service can help to address?

Ask questions like:

• How can my products/services help my ideal customer?
• How can I solve their problems?
• In what ways do my products or services benefit my ideal audience? Does it bring them peace of mind or save them time?
• Does the content I’m writing have a purpose? What do I want my ideal audience to do after reading this content?
• Does this content address a problem or pain point of my ideal audience?

Address the pain points and questions of your ideal client and create your web content around that.

Have a content marketing strategy.

What is the purpose of your content? Is it to try and sell something? Or is it to inform, educate or entertain your target audience? Do you want to make people click through to your contact page? Sign up to your eNewsletter? Leave a comment? Register their interest in an upcoming course? Buy your product? Enquire about your service? Or view you as a thought leader in your field who they might one day purchase a product or service from?

Is the purpose of the content to show your experience or knowledge about your subject matter? Is it to show the personal side of your business? Or reassure potential clients that you know your stuff?

Are you trying to makes sales? Or get enquiries?

Don’t sit down to write your web copy without first knowing why you’re writing it.

Remember readability.

If you’re writing copy for your business website, readability should be a factor. Readability refers to how easy the website copy is for your audience to understand. It’s also an important factor in SEO. But remember to always write for people first.

One way to measure readability is the Flesch Reading Ease score. This works by checking word length and sentence length. Higher scores mean your text is more readable. Lower scores mean your copy is more difficult to read. Editing apps like Hemingway Editor and Grammarly can help you calculate the readability for your content. According to Yoast, “A reading ease score of 60-70 is believed to be acceptable/normal for web copy.”

But how do you make your web content more readable?

• Use a conversational tone. Write like you speak!
• Break down overly long sentences
• Cut out jargon
• Use active sentences and cut down on passive voice
• Use transitional words to link sentences together and improve the flow of words
• Break up long sections of text with sub-headings

Don’t forget to include images when writing web copy.

They say a picture tells a thousand words, so it’s vital to add them to the mix. No one wants to read a wall of words. It’s also great to break up website copy with imagery. Just make sure it fits in with your content and branding. As well as being a high-quality image that helps to tell your story.

And you don’t have to only use imagery like stock photos. You can use your own professional photos, infographics and fun gifs to engage your reader. Or embed YouTube videos and tweets.

Images are also great for SEO purposes because you can include keywords in the image filename and alt text, so they will show up in a Google image search. Yet another way of bringing people to your website.

Always make sure you have the right to use an image or that you credit the creator of the image. Just tagging something as source: Pinterest is not the best practice. Personally, I love using Canva and Unsplash to source free high res images and create my own graphics. Or I just take the photos myself.

Always write for people but don’t forget SEO.

SEO (search engine optimisation) is a way of getting organic traffic to your website from the search results on search engines like Google and Bing. If it were easy to do, everyone’s website would be on page one of Google. But there’s a lot involved. I won’t go into a detailed explanation of SEO in this article. But as a website copywriter, it’s knowledge I need to know and use.

Here are a few things to consider when writing SEO-friendly web content:

• Page loading speed matters to your website users and Google! Make sure your pages don’t take too long to load or users will click away to the next website
• Links are important! Try to link to outside, authoritative website content. Also, try to get linked to by authoritative sites. Use internal links to other pages on your website. It takes time but is well worth the effort
• Title and meta descriptions are vital to SEO. If you’re using a WordPress site like this one, install the Yoast plug-in. Using this plug-in, you can write your own title and meta descriptions for each page
• Make user friendly URLs that tell the user what your page is about at a glance. Avoid URLs like this https://www.examplewebsite.com/article/22453
• Include images in your website content and don’t forget to name them by using keywords
• Do keyword research. What words might a user google to find your website or blog post? Use Google’s AdWords keyword planner to help you
• Write and publish fresh website content regularly to improve your Google rankings. That’s where having a business blog comes in handy

Accessibility matters.

SEO isn’t the only thing you need to consider when writing content for your website, accessibility is so important as well. Is your website content written with WCAG 3.0 in mind? What’s that you say? Web Content Accessibility Guidelines define how to make web content accessible to people with disabilities. That could mean people who are blind or have partial sight. Or people with dyslexia and other cognitive and learning disabilities.

Also people who are deaf or have hearing loss (this is especially important to consider if you have a lot of audio files on your website). And people with neurological or physical disabilities which make accessing web content difficult. Even people without disabilities can benefit from these guidelines. Such as the elderly, people who live in remote communities or places with slow Internet, or people with limited data on their devices.

I first learned about these guidelines when content managing an Australian government website. And it changed the way I write web content. It’s so important to keep these guidelines in mind when writing web copy.

Accessibility in action:

Not everyone accesses web content in the same way. People with sight impairment use screen readers to read text. Alt text on images isn’t just important for SEO, it tells people who can’t see an image what the image is. Is the font on your website legible? Can your content be zoomed? Do you use flashing graphics which may be harmful to someone with epilepsy?

Avoid using ‘click here’ or ‘read more’ in links on your website. This confuses people who are listening to content as it doesn’t tell them the context of the link. Instead describe the link. E.g. 2018 Annual Report.

Also, if a link leads to a PDF or another document, include the file size and document type in the link. Listing the file size gives users a choice if they want to download a file or not. This is especially important for people with slow internet connection.

People with hearing impairment need captions on all video content. As well as transcripts for content like podcasts.

These are just some of the ways to make your web content accessible to all users.

Keep your content ideas fresh.

It can be tough to maintain a regular content schedule for your business blog. In a recent post, I outlined 10 easy ways to come up with content marketing ideas for your business. This includes:

• Reading a lot about your industry and following key movers and shakers on social to get content ideas
• Writing down content ideas when they happen so you always have a list of ideas to refer to
• Keeping up-to-date with changes in your industry and how they might affect your target customers and clients
• Sharing your personal stories and business milestones so your clients can see the human side of your business

Read the full article – 10 Easy Content Marketing Ideas for Small Business.

Don’t forget to finish with a Call-to-Action.

So, you’ve got someone to your website and you’ve published interesting, scannable content. What do you want your website visitor to do next? Don’t forget to tell them what the next step is. It could be to sign up for your email list, book a discovery call, or enquire about one of your services. Don’t be afraid to ask people what you want from them. They aren’t mind readers!

Conclusion…

As you can see, learning how to write website copy that’s effective and connects with your target audience involves many considerations. Such as writing web content that is easy to scan, visually appealing and addresses your target audience’s concerns directly. As well as more technical aspects such as SEO, accessibility and readability. I hope my tips, honed from my years of working as a website copywriter, help you the next time you sit down to write web content for your business.

But… if it all seems a bit too hard, or you simply don’t have time to write website copy for your business, you can check out my website copywriting services or my content writing services.

I offer various packages tailored to your needs. Feel free to get in touch if you want more information on how I can help you and your business.