Of all the SEO techniques employed to get a good ranking, first and foremost is the need of ample text. When the words on the page are related to a search query your site is likely to reach the first page of a search listing. Of course one of the important considerations of any website is the way the text is used since you need to keep someone on your pages to rank well with the engines, and of course you want people to become familiar with your product/services and trust you enough to consider purchase or to utilize your services.
Firstly, if you want people to stay on your site, read your copy and take an action, the copy has to be very easy to read on a computer screen. The key to successfully formatting your web copy is to make it as easy as possible for people to scan and skim through your text. People skim text online, so the more you break it up and make the important stuff stand out, the better. The important consideration here is to provide enough room (white space) between columns of text for quick assessment. Just think about how newspapers and magazines provide content. They have spent untold dollars assessing how people most readily digest content, and the long and short is that we are more likely to read columnar text in short experts. Text is most effective when paragraphs are short, sub-headings are utilized, key words bolded, lists and bullets are used, and boxes and banners are used. Anything in a box will get read, and it’s a great way to effectively employ white space and differentiate important content; though over use of boxes, especially ads, will have the opposite effect.
The next primary consideration is your target audience. Always remember who you are writing for. Choose words in a way that speaks directly to each reader as if you’re just having a conversation with them alone. Write like you talk.
A few important things to remember
- Use the word ‘You’. Don’t write too much about yourself or your organization.
- Use an active voice, not passive. Use action verbs often and well.
- Appeal to people’s emotions.
- Appeal to as many of the senses as possible.
- Where possible “Show, don’t tell”, examples/samples are always best.
- Use stories to illustrate your message.
- Describe how you can make your reader’s life easier or better.
- Ask visitors to purchase (or fill out the form) in your sales copy.
- Always describe the benefits and not just the features.
- Edit your work at the end to ensure it says what you want in the simplest and briefest way.
The better you write in general, the better that copy will get ranked in the search engines anyway, all other things being equal. It is important to note that a web page with lots of spelling and grammar errors will be ranked lower, and keep in mind that a large part of what makes a page rank well is made up of off-page factors, meaning the links and anchor text that point to your website have a big part in determining your site’s rank.
In summation, when writing text copy for your pages I suggest keeping in mind the following:
First, write so as to please the engines. Include those important “keywords” that are likely going to be queried in a search. For each page you need unique content, with unique metatags that reflect the content on a given page. And while pages should not be bloated with text, provide enough to represent the content on the page effectively.
Secondly, write clearly and effectively about your product/services. The more engaging you are, and the easier your copy is to read the more time will be spent digesting it. Use spell and grammar check, and then get constructive criticism about how easy to read it is and if your “message” was clearly evident. And be original in your copy where possible.
And finally, use typography effectively. San-serif fonts are most easily read on the web, and consistency in styling is important. For example, don’t use different fonts for the body text or headings unnecessarily. Sure, sometimes it can be very effective to have the body text in one font, and the headings in another, but what some “designers” will do is use a different font style, or color for each heading, and in most cases such techniques just look garish. A well designed page will “feel” right on an emotional level, if it doesn’t, well, it has missed its purpose.
