How to write great website copy
Last time we discussed some of the reasons why creating content often runs behind schedule, and as a result how the quality can suffer. In this article I'm going to go into more detail, listing some of the things that you need to watch out for when writing your copy.
Where to start
The starting point for all great copy is obvious: make sure that both the spelling and grammar are correct. Whenever your potential visitors notice elementary mistakes such as these, they are immediately going to question whether you are deserving of their time and attention; they may not be willing to trust you to provide the information, goods or services they came to your site looking for. As a result, many potential visitors will simply leave and go to a competitor’s website. Either way, there is a good chance of losing the “sale” that provides your website’s reason for being.
However, spelling and grammar alone do not good copy make - there are the matters of style and consistency to consider. Everything you write for the website, with the notable exception of legalese, needs to be written in a consistent style. What do I mean by that? In writing, ‘style’ refers to the overall feel of the text as it is read, from the way sentences are structured and the flow of text between paragraphs, to the conventions used for headings, punctuation and spelling. The style you normally use for writing your copy will dictate aspects such as the use of first person versus third person, using passive or active voice, and whether to include unusual grammatical constructs such as the first sentence of this paragraph (which is known as hyperbaton).
Write for your Target Audience
Some of the writing style you use will be influenced by your websites target audience; a site written to target university educated adults in their thirties will be written differently than a site whose main target is 15-16 year olds. This can quickly become quite complicated, as whilst an average site may need to allow for basic variances such the average reading age, typical education level and likely occupations, larger international sites will have cultural and political implications as well. The trick is finding a balance in your copy between successfully targeting your main audience, providing relevant copy for your secondary and tertiary audiences, and not alienating casual visitors.
The result you are aiming for is for all of the copy to look and read as if all of it was written by the same person, regardless of whether or not that is true. The exceptions are for legalese, as mentioned above, and for sections like the Base Creative blog which deliberately expose the fact that there are multiple authors; these should expose the personality and writing style of the author, but still maintain some level of consistency with the main site. Larger organisations will have existing style guides to follow which help enforce this; since many of these are publicly accessible, you can use one as a way of helping you to write consistently formed copy.
How can you achieve this?
The answer is actually fairly straightforward, but unfortunately it cannot be done quickly: you need to start proof-reading. Everything you write must be proof-read at least once, ideally by someone other than yourself. Reading through your copy, and making changes as needed, is the only way to ensure that all of the above has been taken into account. There are a number of reasons to get someone else to proof your work; the main one is that since you know what you intended to write, you will tend not to notice basic errors such as spelling mistakes, or even poor sentence structure. Having said that, it is perfectly possible to proof your own work – common methods are to wait a couple of days before starting your proof, or to simply read the text out loud; both of these are great ways to identify any obvious flaws in the structure.
If all else fails, you can always fall back on hiring a copywriter to create any copy you need, however it is still important to proof what they provide. Whilst a good copywriter will have already done this for you, it is always possible that they might have missed something – and your readers are going to assume that you were responsible.