Writing for the Web: How To

Want a (very) mini masterclass in how to write for the web?

Oh, you don’t? Okay, no bother…I’ll see you back here next month when I’ll be sharing something that’s a bit more to your liking.

For now, though, pop and read the first post in my new ‘Good News Guide’ series, this piece on becoming a copywriter (if that’s what you so wish), or this article which delves into the myths people believe about what it’s like to be a freelancer.

Everyone else…stick around - and make yourself a brew before you dive right into my top tips.

Writing for the web, then: what are my top tips?

In a nutshell…

1. Know Your Audience

Made a bad ‘Dad Joke’ in a room full of teens? Or perhaps you heckled someone with poor presentation skills at a funeral. In either case, your attempt at ‘wit’ probably didn’t go down well, did it?

Knowing your audience is less of a skill and more of a given - especially if you’re in business.

You’ve probably heard the expression ‘Read the room’ - and it’s a phrase that’s been coined for good reason. Wherever you are and whatever you’re doing (writing marketing messages being one), knowing your audience is essential. So, if you haven’t already, take some time to get to know them - and what makes them tick.

2.Less is (Usually) More

I should take a leaf out out of my own book - as that last point dragged on a bit, didn’t it?! If you’re still here, remember this: people’s attention spans aren’t what they used to be, with so much info coming at us from all angles. Keep your online messages concise to grab your customers’ attention, then.

3. Use Keywords

Now, there’s nothing very ‘s*xy’ about using keywords, is there? In fact, litter your content with them too freely and Google (it’s a clever so and so!) will know - and maybe even penalise you for it by not showing it to as many people. Pah.

Use keywords ‘naturally’ though, weaving them into your marketing messages with ease, and you’re onto a winner if you want more site visitors. I’m always keen to bring more people to my freelance Yorkshire copywriter site, which is why I add key words into my site cleverly (and some may even say, sneakily). You’ve got to do what you’ve got to do.

4. Don’t Overthink It

Comedians often write from experience. So do novelists. So, see if you can resonate with your customers by just being ‘real’ and sharing stuff people can relate to. Don’t overthink it by trying too hard to make everything you post online solely about making a sale.

5. Know Your Platform

I’ve mentioned getting to know your audience; you should also know a little about the platform you’re posting your content on - whether it’s your Squarespace or WordPress website; Facebook; Twitter or LinkedIn.

Some sites have a character count limit and others are designed for longer-form content like blogs. Get an understanding of who’s using the platform - and what for - and write your content with those two things in mind.

6.Use Headings

Break up long-form text - in bullet point form, with headings or images. Trust me; it’ll please those (i.e. most of us) with a short attention span and, well, it’s just easier on the eye.

7. Pay Attention to Spelling and Grammar

Trust me when I say you could lose a reader or two if your content is littered with errors. Check, check and check again.

8. Have Fun

When you enjoy putting your content together - and coming up with fun ideas regarding what to post - it’ll shine through. You may be a business owner but you don’t always have to be so ‘corporate’. Not if you don’t want to be, that is.

9. Try Something New

Tried and trusted content not working? Now’s the time to give something completely new a go. A silly poll, a ‘blast from the past’ type post to appeal to your customers’ sense of nostalgia, or even a cheeky giveaway.

10. Get Some Help

If you feel your time is better spent elsewhere because writing content just isn’t for you, outsource it to a professional. A professional like ‘meeeee’.

Yep, you knew where I was going with this post, didn’t you? Joking aside, though, as a business owner, you probably enjoy the fact that you don’t always have to do what you don’t want to do. That’s the beauty of being self-employed.

So, get in touch and let me see if I can take a task or two off your to-do list.

Until next time…

5 Quick Ways To Improve Your Website Today

Websites are vital to business, but we all know how time-consuming their upkeep can be.

That’s why I’ve come up with five things you can do today to improve your website. Not tomorrow at 9am; today. Even if it’s 3pm now. You can achieve these small tasks.

Consider this a collection of easy wins. Let’s get to it.

1. Check Your Contact Page

Can your customers reach you if they want to?

You’d be surprised.

Take a look through your contage page and see if all the information is correct and visible. Here’s a checklist for you:

●      Is the phone number right?

●      Can you highlight the phone number on mobile so someone can easily pick up the phone and call you?

●      Is the email address right?

●      Can the email address be clicked on or tapped to send a message immediately?

●      Does the contact form go anywhere?

●      Is your address and postcode visible?

●      If you have a map here, is it working?

Some of these might be issues for IT to deal with, but at least you know now that your customers can contact you without any trouble – or they will be able to soon.

2. Plan Some Blog Posts

You might not have time to write them today, but you can definitely come up with five blog post ideas for your website’s blog.

Blog posts are one of the best ways to improve and update your website’s content and bring new visitors to your website. Taking fifteen minutes to research some compelling blog post titles and then planning out some time to complete and upload them will improve your website by 100%.

Stuck? Try this blog post generator by Hubspot.

3. Update Your Imagery

You’re bound to have some images on your website that are out of date. Times change, things move on and inevitably, websites get a little tired.

Take a look at some of the stock imagery on your website’s main pages and think about photography you could replace it with instead.

Your customers and website visitors find original photography much more engaging than obvious stock photos, but don’t worry. If you have no photos and can’t organise a photoshoot (or take a few new ones yourself), stock imagery can work as long as:

●      It looks natural

●      It works in context

●      It matches the tone and feel of your website.

4. Check Your Links

Are your pages full of hyperlinks?

Well, they should be.

Google loves links that aid the reader to research more, and using links in context is a great way to boost your Google ranking.

However, broken links bring your site right back down again and not only that, they frustrate your visitors too.

Click through your links to make sure they aren’t leading to dead ends, and replace any that do.

5. Check Your Comments

Bots love to leave nonsense comments on blog posts. It’s just robot nature.

While there are very good, very useful spam detectors available for website developers to install, some comments just slip through the net and onto your website.

Take a few minutes to scan through your comment sections (doing this via the back end will be the easiest way) and nip off any of those weird, nonsensical comments that make your site feel a little overgrown and unloved.

I really hope these tips help motivate you to get improving your website. If you think you need a little more help, or would like to talk to me about the website content support I can offer you and your business, let’s chat.

Until next time…

The Best Tools for Creating Better Web Content

Have you ever looked at your web content and thought that it could be even better? But you can’t work out how?

Sitting down and looking at your content after reading through it hundreds of times can be a fool’s errand, especially if you wrote it in the first place. It’s easy to start glancing over parts you really should be paying attention to - and before you know it, you’ve made very few amends and the whole afternoon’s gone. We’ve all been there.

Web content is difficult to tackle. The fact that you’ve already got a website packed with up-to-date information and written content is a credit to your planning and motivational skills. Plenty of businesses haven’t looked at theirs since their website was created in 2016. While that might work for them (although spoiler alert - it almost definitely isn’t) you know you need to up your content game.

Luckily for you, there are a few trusty tools you can use to help you create attention-grabbing web content. Grab a notepad, or open up a Word doc, and let’s get started.

Get Some Fresh Ideas!

Thinking of great ideas for web content can be a time-drain if you’re not in the right headspace for it. These apps are perfect for brainstorming when it’s just you, yourself and you at the keyboard.

Ideaflip is an ideas machine that helps you sort out your buzzwords into valuable concepts. Think of it like an interactive doodle pad, where your scribbles can be shared by your whole team.

Get to know Hubspot’s Blog Topic Generator. You’re not too good for it. Even the greats use this amazing little tool to fashion blog posts out of thin air. Whether you’re having a low-motivation day or you’re just struggling to see how a topic could be flipped a couple more times, this app is a really handy way to quickly get back on track.

Improve Your Style and Sentence Structure with ProWritingAid

If you’d like a bit more feedback on your writing than what Yoast can give you, ProWritingAid is the perfect app for you.

It takes a good look at your writing and suggests improvements, just like your favourite teacher. Unlike your favourite teacher though, instead of using a red Papermate to correct your work, the ProWritingAid app flags errors and suggests improvements that you can instantly change in your document.

 Sort Your Tabs Out With OneTab

Do you ever feel like you’ve got ten thousand tabs open while you search for relevant content online, and you don’t want to let any of them go? But it’s affecting your computer’s performance? And you’re terrified it’ll crash before you’ve had time to take what you need from each of them?

Get started with OneTab and all that terror and glitchy wonkiness goes away.

This useful little app turns all your open tabs into a list of URLs, so you’ve got a workable list to go through and your computer gets to cool down. Everyone’s a winner.

Have you got some different tools you use everyday to help you create sparkling content? I want to hear about them - why not ping me a message?