Create Compelling, Engaging Content for Your Website

December 12th, 2006 by Pat

One of the most important, yet most overlooked, component of your website is your content…more specifically your copywriting.

In almost all of my projects it seems that copywriting is an afterthought, just the icing on the cake so to speak. Quality copywriting can make even a bad design effective, and poor copywriting can make a great design bomb.

Can the topic of creating quality content be covered in a single blog post…absolutely not. I have been working hard of late to gain more knowledge of this all important topic.

Some outstanding books include Waiting for Your Cat to Bark and Call to Action, both by Jefferey and Bryan Eisenberg. The core of these books is creating compelling content, relevant to the visitors persona using a technique which they call ‘Persuasion Architecture’. Highly recommended.

Some themes and important concepts to keep in mind when creating your website content.

Write with terms that your visitors use in describing your product of service
Ditch the jargon, acronyms and keep it simple and to the point
Chunk up your copy allowing for easy scanning…use quality, descriptive subheaders
Use hyperlinks effectively…moving visitors down the conversion pipeline
Empathize with your visitor, put yourself in their shoes in viewing your product or service
Go easy on superlatives
Create an emotional tie with the visitor, make them envision themselves using your product or service
Write in active voice as much as possible
Accentuate the benefits that will come from your service….not the features
Be concise
Understand the buying cycle and trigger words associated with each phase (See Call to Action)

This is just a short list of things which can make an immediate impact on the success of your website. Read a book, take a class and learn more about how you can create quality, relevant and highly effective copy for your webpages.

What are your thoughts on creating quality content and copywriting?

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