These days, there's widespread acceptance that a website is an integral part of the marketing plan of any business. Likewise, it's commonly accepted that web copy is a vital component of any website. But how much web copy is enough?
The pure volume of information available on the Internet is daunting – often counterproductive. There are approximately 550 billion documents on the web, and every day another 7 million are added. According to an A.T. Kearney, Network Publishing study (April 2001), workers take so long trying to find information that it costs organizations $750 billion annually!
Yet people continue to use it. Information gathering is the most common use of the Internet (American Express survey, 2000). And it seems work-related searches are amongst the most common, with 48% of people using the Internet to find work-related information, as opposed to 7% who use magazines (Lyra Research, 2001).
Interestingly, however, the average person visits no more than 19 websites in the entire month in order to avoid information overload (Nielsen NetRatings in Jan 2001).
So how do you ensure your site is one of those 19? How do you make your content helpful without making it overwhelming? That's what this article is about…
I've written several articles on WHAT to write on your website in order to make it helpful. (See http://www.divinewrite.com/benefits.htm, http://www.divinewrite.com/webbenefitwriting.htm, and http://www.divinewrite.com/webwriting.htm.) But that's only half the battle… Businesses also need to know HOW MUCH to write. Here are 5 quick rules of thumb to help you decide how much is enough.
1) Know your audience (Reader or Search Engine?)
Think about whether you're targeting human readers (potential customers) or search engines. This must always be one of your very first questions, as the answer will determine your approach to content.
In general, human readers think less is more. Search engines, on the other hand, think more is more (well, more or less…). In many ways, it comes down to a question of quality versus quantity. Human readers are interested in quality, whereas search engines are interested quantity. Human readers want you to answer their questions and make it clear how you can benefit them. And they don't want to wade through volumes of text. Search engines want a high word count, full of relevant keywords, and short on diagrams. (See http://www.divinewrite.com/seocopy.htm for more information on writing for search engines. See http://www.divinewrite.com/SEOCEO.htm for an introductory article on search engine optimization.)
You need to think carefully about your audience. In most cases, it'll be a trade-off. A high search engine ranking is important (or at least beneficial) to most businesses, so a happy medium is required. The following tips will go some way toward providing this balance.
2) Make it concise
Say everything you need to say, but always ask, "Can I say it with fewer words?" The literary world may be impressed by complex writing, but visitors aren't. Keep it simple, and keep it brief. Your home page shouldn't be more than 1 screen long. In other words, visitors shouldn't have to scroll. Subsequent pages can be longer, but try to keep them to a maximum of about 300-400 words each (approximately 1 scroll). A lot of people will tell you that you also need 300-400 words or more on your home page for a good search engine ranking. You don't. If you focus on the right keywords and generate a lot of links to your site, you can achieve a high ranking without losing your readers' interest by padding
TIP: For most businesses, a good rule of thumb is to make it conversational. Old school writers and would-be writers oppose conversational copy; don't listen to them. Unless you're writing for an old-school audience, feel free to write as people talk.
3) One subject per page
On this, both readers and search engines agree. Don't try and squeeze too much information onto a single page. For example, instead of trying to detail all of your products on a single Products page, use the page to introduce and summarize your product suite, then link to a separate page per product. This way, your content will be easier to write, your readers won't be overwhelmed, and you'll be able to focus on fewer keywords (so the search engines will get a clearer picture of what you do).
4) Make it scannable
According to a 1998 Sun Microsystems study, reading from a monitor is 25% slower than reading from paper. As a result, 79% of users scan read when online. So make sure you accommodate scanning. Use headings and sub-headings. Highlight important words and sections. Use bulleted lists and numbered lists. Use tables. Use statistics. Use meaningful indenting. Use short sentences. Most importantly, be consistent in your usage. Oh… and follow rules 2 and 3 above.
5) Use a simple menu structure
Try to keep your high-level menu (Home, About Us, Contacts, Products, Services, etc.) to a maximum of about 10 items (5-8 is ideal). If you have too many options, your site will seem unstructured and your visitors won't know where to start. In order for a visitor to want to come back to your site, they need to feel comfortable when they're there. They need to know what to expect. If they can't identify any logic in your menu structure, they will always feel lost. What's more, this lack of structure will reflect badly on your business.
The Internet can be an incredibly cost-effective form of promotion because the cost per word to publish is so low. Don't be fooled into thinking more is more just because it costs less. Audiences – even search engines – don't want everything; they just want enough.
Happy writing!
Comparison shoppers are the mortal enemy of pay-per-click (PPC) advertisers. When you're paying each time someone clicks your AdWords (or other PPC) ad, the last thing you want is a person determined to visit every site to find the best price, the closest location or the most secure guarantee. But, with many categories of products or services, it's bound to happen. There is a way to eliminate many of the lookers, however.
When you qualify your AdWords leads, you can reduce the click-through rate (CTR) of browsers and help direct only those most interested in your offer to your site. How is it done? By inserting text that will purposely eliminate arbitrary visitors.
Qualifying Your PPC Leads
Purposely eliminating visitors sounds like an awful thing to do, doesn't it? Perhaps, until you consider the fact that - once these visitors got to your site and found out the details of your offer - they'd most likely leave anyway.
Why not save yourself a click (and the money associated with that click!) and prevent the visitor from running up your monthly AdWords bill? This is exactly what Steve Jackson of Conversion Chronicles and I discussed awhile back. Since that discussion, I've come up with a process that will allow you to easily write pre-qualifying ads when you use these simple steps.
Step One
Outline the specifications of your offer. Be precise. List all the details of the offer, the price, length of time, physical location, size, etc. For example, say you have luxury cruise packages available. You'd want to list the details such as: packages depart from New York City and go to several destinations in Mexico including Cozumel, Puerto Vallarta and Mazatlán from December 5-15 for a cost of $2500 per person.
Step Two
Go back and highlight anything that would be a deal breaker. This is a luxury cruise, so the cost of $2500 per person might be too much for most people. Quite often, cruisers are looking for the best deal possible.
Also, the cruise only leaves from New York City. The additional airfare cost might not be something your site visitors want to add to the cost of their trip. Or, it may be inconvenient to depart from New York City.
What about the dates? These cruises are only available on the dates of December 5-15. Your site visitors may not be able to take a holiday during that time.
Does the visitor want to sail to the locations on the itinerary? Maybe they've already been to Cozumel, Puerto Vallarta and Mazatlán and are looking for a cruise to Cabo San Lucas.
Are there other factors that might force shoppers to decline the offer and move to another site? If so, list them here.
Step Three
Now, decide which bits of information you want to include in your AdWords ads. You'll want to test and track to see which combination of details bring the lowest click-through rates along with the highest conversions. For example, your ad might read:
Luxury Mexico Cruise 12/5
Tour tropical Cozumel, Puerto
Vallarta & more. Leave NYC. $2500pp
www.whatever.com
That would give a lot of information that would keep unqualified visitors from clicking through to your site (and running up your AdWords bill). At the same time, the use of words like "luxury" and "tropical" help the searcher visualize their wonderful vacation.
Another example could be a special shipment of microwave ovens. Let's go through the steps once again.
Step One
The specifications include: convection/microwave combination, built-in with light and vent features, 1200 watts, white, $900, available on the Internet only.
Step Two
Any of these could be used to weed out visitors. Someone may not want the convection feature. They want a countertop microwave rather than a built-in model. Twelve-hundred watts may be more powerful (and larger) than the visitor needs. Their kitchen may have stainless steel or black appliances, not white. Lastly, $900 could be more than they have budgeted for a microwave.
Step Three
Again, you'll want to test and track to see which tidbits of information work best to bring qualified leads, reduce CTR and costs, and improve conversions.
Your ad might look like this:
Powerful Convec/Microwave
Special purchase. Attractive range
built-in with 1200w. Only $900.
www.whatever.com
Rather than using generic terms to describe high cost or frequently compared PPC items, get as specific as you can with "disqualifying" copy. By weeding out those who would likely take one look and leave, you can save yourself a lot of money in AdWords expenses while increasing conversions.
When it comes to making the most of your website or blog, you will need to have top notch content. The bottom line is that content brings visitors to your site, and visitors bring profits.
In order to increase traffic to your site, you will want to use a good mix of keyword articles. These will go a long way in increasing your traffic from search engines. Not to mention the fact that keyword articles can also be very educational.
When looking to choose a keyword article company to help you out, there are three important things that you should keep in mind. These details are as follows.
1. A good keyword article company should be devoted to helping you succeed through quality content. This means that you will want to find a service that offers quality content, not just fluff. After all, people are going to be reading what you put on your site. If your writers do not do a good job you will not be making your visitors happy.
2. Even though price is not everything, you will want to take it into consideration. Think of it this way. If you need 10 articles a week, and one service offers them for $6 an article and another $8, you will be saving $20 total every week. Over the course of a month this is $80; and during the year $960. Surely you could find something to do with an extra $960. Remember, costs can add up; shop for the best price without compromising quality.
3. Search for personal service. When you order any type of copywriting project chances are that you will need to be in touch with the writers you are working with. This means that you should do your best to choose a service that will walk you through the process, not one that simply completes the work and sends it back without communication.
Overall, there are several top quality keyword article companies that are available to work for you. As long as you do your research and follow the tips above you should be able to find the one that best suits your needs.
Writing and submitting articles is an effective marketing strategy to deliver targeted visitors, increase your rankings and boost sales. However, it is easy to equate article writing with onerous tasks such as writing high school or university essays. The memories of the pain involved in this form of writing can take time to fade away. The good news is that after learning a few simple steps, writing your own articles isn't as hard as it appears.
One of the biggest hurdles most new writers face is finding ideas to write about. The easiest way to begin is to write about things you are interested in and preferably passionate about. You already have knowledge in these areas which can be shared with others. It is easy to under-estimate your own abilities in areas you are experienced in. Talented people are often surprised by the level of questions novices ask (it is important to remember that there is no such thing as a stupid question - only stupid answers).
Once you have decided on a general area, a good way to narrow the topic down is to focus on the problems that people have. Typically, people read articles because they want to be entertained or they want information. Writing entertaining articles is a particular and more difficult skill. However, writing informative articles can be as simple as sharing tips that you have learnt. A guiding principle is to expect the readers to be looking for "What's in it for me".
You may already know the common problems that people have in the particular field, but if not, a good source of information is to look at related online forums and note the most common questions asked. If you don't have all the answers a small bit of research can assist. Often the answers are readily available with a Google search which the readers could do themselves. However, you are adding value and convenience by providing a range of answers in a single document.
Most people don't like to read large documents from the Web, so unlike long essays, articles tend to be around 400 words long. If you break the article into an introduction, a small number of sub-headings and a conclusion you may only have to write about 50 words in each section. The sub-headings may be for authoring purposes only, but if they are relevant they can be left in the final article.
The first draft should be for your eyes only. Don't try to produce a final copy as you write. It tends to be much quicker to get your thoughts down and come back to edit later. The final step in the writing process is to proofread your article making sure that the writing flows and would be interesting to the reader. Ask yourself, 'does the article provide information the potential reader is looking for?'. It can also be helpful to have someone else proofread the article. This is also the time to remove spelling and grammatical errors.
If you still have problems writing you may want to do a search for 'article writing software'. There are many packages around which can make the process easier. Similarly, there are numerous e-books available on the topic and many of them are available for free.
Once you have written your article you may want to add it to your own website as an item that search engines love - a piece of original content. If you add an 'About the Author' section with a link to your website, you can also submit it to article directories. As other websites publish your article you receive another thing that search engines look for, one-way back links. Article submission can be a tedious process, but software and websites that can submit to multiple directories in one go exist to make the job much easier.
After writing your first few articles you will find it is not as daunting as it first appears. You never know, you may even want to offer your services as a freelance writer on the Internet as a way to make some extra income.
