A copywriter's guide to website copy: By Jemma Mrdak
Often, the importance of good quality website copy is severely underestimated.
A good website consists of two things; quality design and quality copy; without these elements playing equal importance, you won't provide a fantastic user experience.
First things first, what is website copy, and what role does it play?
Website copy is all of the text that makes up a website and tells customers who you are and what you do. Your web copy is a customer's guide around your website, helping them find the information they're after and getting it to them quickly and effectively.
It's the messages that greet your customer when they first land on the website, the call to actions that drive their response, and of course; the information about your services or products.
Web copy compliments the website design and assists in a user's navigation of the site.
Good copy also takes on the tone of your brand and connects with your target audience to make them feel comfortable interacting with your website. It should take on the role of welcoming, informing and selling your business.
How important is it, really?
Web copy can make or break your website.
It needs to resonate with your business, connect with your target audience and pitch your services or products all in one. Your web copy could be the first thing a potential customer reads about your business, so you want to ensure it nails exactly what your business is about and why they need you.
Without good copy, a website doesn't function to its full potential no matter how well designed it is. Your copy should flow with the design and take customers on a journey from the home page to a sale with ease.
DIY vs a professional copywriter
You've reached the point where you know you need quality website copy, and you understand why you need it, so what now?
This is where you need to decide whether you're going to take on the challenge yourself or outsource the work to a copywriter.
Yes, you can be your own copywriter and write it all yourself. However, is the copy you write compelling enough?
Writing good copy takes time and experience and is not as easy as you might think. You need to condense all of the information about your business and highlight the critical value-adding points while complimenting the website's design.
It also means you need to edit your own work and view it from a customer's perspective, a feat that can be difficult for many business owners.
Engaging a copywriter takes away the stress and difficulty.
They will be able to align your information and content with the design of the website and your overall strategy. They'll also bring in a fresh set of eyes.
The best part of engaging a copywriter is that they've done this before; they know what works and what doesn't and can provide valuable insight into structuring your content to create a powerful user experience.
Top 3 Dos and Don'ts
Do:
Have a plan of action;
Focus on the customer journey; and
Get a second (or third, or fourth) opinion.
Having a plan of action allows you to work on the copy in chunks instead of all in one go. A great way to break it up is to focus on one page at a time. Refer to the wireframes you and the web designer agreed upon and start writing your copy based on these pages.
Focusing on the customer journey allows you to view the copy from a different perspective and create a path that makes sense for customers to follow. Remember, your website isn't about you; it's about your product or service and marketing it to a potential customer.
Getting a second opinion is of incredible value for any piece of writing but especially web copy. What might make sense to you could be difficult for someone without your level of knowledge of the business to understand.
Don't:
Get caught up on tiny details;
Forget to edit your copy; and
Be hard on yourself.
If you're writing your own copy, it can be easy to get stuck on tiny details and get frustrated. Our best advice is to skip over it and keep going; you can always come back to it later and fill in the blanks!
It might seem obvious, but you need to edit your work and check your spelling and punctuation. There's nothing worse than seeing a typo or sentence that doesn't make sense. Write it, take a break, then revisit it with fresh eyes.
Our Best Copywriting Tip
When writing good quality web copy, we recommend writing the words for your homepage last!
The homepage ties everything in together and should be a cohesive representation of the rest of the website.
Written by Jemma Mrdak | Dak & Co
