$1,000 for a page of content? If you don’t have a lot of money to hire a copywriter there are some quick and easy ways you can write quality content for you new web design. Don’t be fooled as web designers you’re going to have to write some content every once in awhile.
Titles
Your titles are the most important thing on your page. They should tell the reader everything they need to know about your website. Your titles should use one or more of these techniques.
-Important information
-Quick and easy Information
-Call-to-action
-Time sensitive information
-Effective imagery
-Short, concise, to the point
-Original
-Quirky, abstract titles create interest & curiosity
Taglines
A tagline is like a slogan. Usually your tagline comes after your main site title. (e.x. The X-Files – The truth is out there) taglines are important because a catchy tagline will be one of the first things a visitor will remember. You tagline should be:
-Short
-Catchy
-Clever
-Relevant
-Memorable
-Simple
Body
Some would consider the body the least important part of a website. Quite often readers skip over any large body of text as it appears ominous. But an effectively written body can draw readers in. Your body text should be written with as few big words as necessary and as small of paragraphs as possible. While grammar and spelling is extremely important, some things do not matter. Such as paragraph structure, sentence fragments and references. Some things to remember:
-Create a proposition of value (what’s in it for me?)
-Answer the 5 W’s, Who, What, Why, Where, When
-Use short paragraphs and space them out
-Fulfill all promises or don’t make them
-Do not use inflated claims
-Exaggerate provable claims
Wording
The words you use are very important be it the title or the most unimportant piece of text on the page. When choosing your wording consider this.
-Use words that create imagery (imagery is more memorable)
-Big words are hard to understand
-Although common big words can improve image
-Incorrect grammar & spelling reduces credibility
-If writing repetitive content use a thesaurus for word variety
-Understand any word you use
For further exploration of copywriting visit Copy Blogger’s Copywriting 101.
May 25th, 2007 at 1:44 pm
Great article, i rarely write any content but this will help me when I do.
July 31st, 2007 at 10:18 am
[...] In order for you to have any credibility you need to stay consistent. This means your design, text and color use have to be the same throughout the site. Think of it like a movie, if there no continuity it’s not going to make any sense. If your site doesn’t make any sense people are going to become disenfranchised and you’re going to lose customers. So make sure your layout, copy writing and color usage has the same theme on every page of your site. [...]