Writing for the web is simple. Anyone can do it. All you need is a keyboard and access to the internet. Then just type away. This is what bloggers will tell you who aren’t familiar with copywriting.
It is true, writing for the web is easy. I have started blogs before without any idea about copywriting. But, without SEO, no one will find your blog. SEO is a better option for a hands-off approach when it comes to traffic sourcing.
Albeit, you can use social media and paid traffic. Would you rather finish an article, forget about it and traffic comes? Or, keep reposting your article to Facebook, Linked in, Instagram, Twitter, Myspace, Friendster (yeh, I’m old)? Paid ad for an article? Unless it’s to profit like a sales page, you are wasting money.
Let’s just get straight to some tips to further impact your presence on the web.
Metadata
Before anything else, pay attention to your Metadata and your page description. These are the first two things that people see in their search results.
These are important not just for search engine optimization but also gives information and expectation to the reader before they click on the link.
This is also a chance for you to write an amazing headline to grab the reader’s attention. More about your ideal headline later.
- Page Title – The potential reader will see this first in their search results. It is imperative that you take your time coming up with a good page title.
- META Description – Second thing the visitor will see is the META description located just under the page title. A good description will almost always answer the reader’s question or provide enough information to tease the reader to click on your website.
Effective writing for the web does not only take into consideration SEO. It is also crucial you provide a good headline with an alluring body description to land that click.
Hence you need a good copywriter to drastically improve your CTR (click through rate).
I will not talk about keywords, backlinks, page speed in this post. SEO needs a whole new section.
Search engine optimization is essential to any content that you create for the web. Otherwise how else will your reader find you? Well actually…
There are other ways that visitors can find your site but it involves a bit of money and some are not reliable sources. SEO is still the number one way to get free traffic to your website.
Short And Sweet Or Long And Hard?
I am referring to the word count of your blog. What were you thinking?
There are many opinions on the internet on how many words a blog post should have.
Some love short and sweet, with an ideal word count of 400 – 600. While some believe that long blogs with 1000 or more words will rank better.
In my opinion, putting too much emphasis on the word count will just distract what you are trying to convey to the reader.
Give your visitors what they are looking for, answer their questions. Be concise, take their hand and walk them through step by step. By the time you are done, you would have clocked at least 500 words.
A 600 words blog, explaining how to cut an onion with pictures resulted in Google’s first page, outranked by 2 minutes how to videos with less than 200 words.
Headline So Enticing You Have To Click!
Stop thinking about how you should go about writing one, rather think of what it should say. It is better to just write your content first then go back to creating that catchy headline.
You might be thinking, “It is only a technical copy.” You have never been more wrong. Even a boring technical blog can make use of an exciting headline. Read the following headlines.
“Samsung S9 Specifications”
or…
“All You Need To Know About The Samsung S9”.
Out of those two headlines which one would you rather click on? You picked the latter I hope.
If you have an angle or something new, you can incorporate this to your headline to make it so tasty, they have no choice but to lick it.
“The Secret Of The Samsung S9 No Korean Want You To Know”
Now you got the audience intrigued. What is the secret? Why don’t the Koreans want me to know? Is there a micro nuke in my phone!?!
Before reading your headline, they were only after the specs of the Samsung S9. After you planted an itch they need to scratch, their only choice is to read your blog.
There is a caveat to this, you have to deliver. You need to answer their questions or your blog will not be relevant.
Start Strong Finish Strong
Always put your best material from the start and the finish. This is not always attainable but it is something you can think about while writing your copy.
Once you got your audience attention, keep them engaged to the body of your copy. Think of a movie, if a movie is great, you don’t want to miss any minute of it. Even if! You bust your bladder in the process.
So write like you are writing the script for the best movie in the world ever. Tell a story, make it action packed or a tear-jerker.
No matter what, you don’t want them to leave for a bathroom break. You want your audience to blow their bladder.
Never finish weak. The enticing headline, great intro, an informative body is all for naught if your finish is utterly anti-climax.
Your reader will walk away forgetting everything you diligently researched and wrote but only remember how the end of your blog was a letdown.
Pick A Voice And Stick To It
As a copywriter, you need to mimic your client’s tonality in writing. Otherwise, the content that you will write will feel disjointed.
You can either play the funny clown, a scorned angry woman, a devil, a cat or a Ken doll. Whatever you choose, be lively, vivid and consistent. You will need to find a voice and stick to it.
The World Wide Web is a competitive place. The landscape has changed. From a barren desert to a noisy, overpopulated metropolitan. A distinct voice will help you stand out from all that.
To Conclude
Always fill out your metadata with a compelling copy that will out click and blow your competition out of the water.
Properly convey your message in a very easy and digestible fashion. Answer all your reader’s questions in a concise manner.
After writing your copy, take some time to brainstorm enticing headlines that will turn browsers to your customers.
Write in a way that you can stand out from the crowd. You might think it is stupid but the web is saturated with millions if not billions of content.
Every minute, every second, your competitions are cranking out contents to steal your customers. In fact! There is a blog post being published right about… NOW!