Market your Web
Copy Considerations
You have a brand, you've got your marketing plan, you've created your web site "Look and Feel". So how do you create Copy to achieve your marketing plan and other web site goals?
1. Does the copy fit the format?
As we've said, developing copy for a web site is not the same as writing it for a brochure.-
a) When people read a brochure, they will most likely read a paragraph at a time. On the web people only scan, they need to be attracted to KEY WORDS and
Phrases,
- and Presentation.
b) Your web site can serve multiple purposes - corporate marketing, online product marketing, marketing offline business, online store. Try putting all that on a brochure!
There are too many options available on the web to presume that the Surfer is going to spend time looking for something. It should be right in front of them. They only need to go to a search engine and find all your competitors in a matter of seconds. This might even be faster than reading the rest of your product page!
So how are you going to structure your copy to catch their attention? Your copy and navigation need to work in conjunction to a) get the User's what they want and b) the User's to go and see what you want them to.
So each part of your web site will have it's own focus. How are you going to achieve the above 2 goals? Do you use some type of formula, like "What's this page about", "What we can do for you", "Other sources of information". Sound familiar? Do you provide your Users with information, luring them to your "Buy Me" pages.
If you were the Surfer, how would you want it laid out on that web page to make it easy and useful for you? As the web site owner, you naturally are after the Sale. As a Surfer, if you are presented with "Buy Me" before you are sold on the product, a ) your interest in/opinion of the web site decreases and b) you still can't find the information you were looking for.
Yes, this is part of how you structure navigation, and how you use marketing within your site, but you need well thought out and formatted copy for these elements to work effectively.
2. Is the tone of the copy appropriate for your target market?
You've developed your web site Look and Feel based on your brand image, worked out the demographics of your markets, you know what the message is, that you want to get across. So how will your potential customers be most receptive to your message?For example, are you pitching to a corporate clientele who expect a crisp professional style - no mincing of words, get straight to the point. Or perhaps they are teenagers who are new to your product and technology - so you avoid technical terms and ensure that you aren't using outdated ???? in your attempt to capture the youth market. And they have an attention span even shorter than the average Surfer.
3. Are the Search Engines attracted to your copy?
You're pitching to them too. You need to consider the search engines not just as a means of reaching your market, but as its own target market. The search engines are looking for certain things in your website, (not just within the copy). Different search engines are looking for different things. How do you keep them all happy? A sample of some things to consider . .- Make sure you include your Meta tags in the copy.
- Use Alt tags with your graphics
- Where appropriate, use Bold for keywords.
- Use Bullet Points.
- Make sure the copy is relevant to what you want the search engine to list you under.
4. Does your text have a professional presentation?
It is a fact of web life that web users scan rather than read, so you need to have important information easily available. Where appropriate, repeat it. Spelling and grammar counts. Don't just rely on programs like "SpellChecker", they won't catch mistakes where the 'sense' of the sentence is wrong.Make sure you get everything proof read. One small spelling mistake, or a grammatical error will totally change people's opinions about your site. Be consistent with naming and syntax. Don't do "Market your Web" one time and then "Market Your Web" another. This may appear petty, but inconsistencies will reflect poorly on your web site and brand.
5. Is there really enough copy? On the Web, Content is King.
Users come to your site for information. Search engines come to your site checking you have information. You'd be surprised by how many pages of copy some web sites have, even relatively simple ones, for example www.marketyourweb.com - 100 pages.Let's consider Users first. Often you won't realise how much copy you need until you've started to write it, so start on it as soon as possible. You aren't just selling your product: you don't have a storefront explaining who you are; they haven't seen one of your printed brochures to get an idea what else you do; they can't physically see your company; and they can't just ask you a question.
All very obvious points, but each element requires copy. All of a sudden you realise you can help your customer by providing some background information on your product and then maybe some links to other resources. Next you realise that you aren't limited to a small 4x9 brochure to explain your range of products. You can create a whole series of pages devoted to your other products, features/advantages/benefits etc. And now you have to add the same type of resource information you did for the first product. It just keeps expanding and over time a well maintained web site will continue to grow and develop.
Search engines are looking for lots of content and relevant content. By relevant, that means the content on your pages is relevant to the title and keywords of your website. One way of getting around creating lots of original content is to find free sources of content, such as news feeds. You choose relevant feeds that provide content that compliments your website, look at Search Engine Dos and Donts for more.
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