In our experience website projects often stall at the point of adding or creating content, so it’s a good idea to get a head start on it, even before you begin the web design process.
The best websites constantly evolve; changing their content and staying current. It’s worth remembering this when writing your content, especially if you’re stuck; website copy is not written in stone, it can be edited and changed as much as you want.
From the outset your web designer will need to understand the message you want your website to portray, so a bit of content can be useful at this stage.
Moving through the design phase, the page designs may require you to rejig your content. Designers often use ‘Lorum ipsum’ text as a placeholder, which can help you to gauge how much to write.
Once your site is developed you just need to add your content before you can launch – but this can often seem like a never ending task.
We’ve complied a list of some of the most important things we think you need to consider when creating your content. We hope these tips will ease the pain we all have when it comes to putting words together for the web.
1. Align content with strategy – think about what your users want to see when they arrive at your website. Your content should connect to your brand message and compliment the user journey. If you need help with this get in touch, we would be happy to offer advice. Likewise ask your own web provider, they will often know copywriters, UX designers or even have a team of them in house.
2. Every word matters – this is mainly to ensure that you focus content around key words and phrases to help Google find your site and improve “searchability”. It’s easy to get carried away with filling space and writing lots of content to share your valuable experience, knowledge and expertise, but remember, users generally have an attention span of 10-20 seconds and if you don’t grab them immediately they’ll leave. There are a few ways you can use content and copy to keep visitors for longer – here’s an article we found really useful.
3. Forget traditional methods of writing – your content should be brief, relevant and meaningful. Luckily most designers consider this when creating page designs. If your web designer has asked you the right questions they should fully understand the objectives for the website and will therefore think about what content should go where, and what that will ultimately bring in terms of measurable results. Trust the design when it comes to populating your site; write concisely and make sure you can justify exactly why that webpage exists.
4. It probably goes without saying, but is worth a reminder; keep the visitor in mind at all times. Are you telling them what they want to know? Provoking a response? Give them the information they need most to get them to buy into you and gain their trust. Think about having a call to action on each page (a button that allows the user to get in contact easily) and make sure you provide interesting and engaging content to encourage that interaction.
5. Stay on brand – most companies will follow a set of brand guidelines that outline a tone of voice – this is the way the company writes and presents itself. Some go for a more informal tone and others formal, either can work, the key is to make sure you stay consistent.
If you need help with content and writing copy for your website give us a call and we’ll be more than happy to point you in the right direction.
