Focusing Content

Two Masters

Core wording should be logical and readable, yet for pages to feature in search results, always helpful to consider search engine needs.

Where content for visitors allows, adopt words they use to look for your niche. Check search databases for popular terms:

They shouldn't dictate but can be used like a thesaurus and provide insight into how others think, along with growing trends.

Be Adaptive

More information can be gained when your site is active. Install analytical software, monitor terms visitors arrive by and adapt copy.

The same principle can be applied to other elements, page titles, alt text, anchor text on internal links.

Keep focusing on people, they are providing the data but gradual work to refine content can help search engines as well.

Find Targets

Your research will often bring up alternative phrases, not heavily used but worthwhile.

"Writing website copy" is more popular than "How to write good website content" but if this fits, the phrase could draw traffic.

You could decide to focus a page on secondary terms. The most popular not always optimal, particularly if terms can aim at high value.

Caption - write what people will link to
 

Creating Website Copy

Writing website copy is a chance to communicate, sell, share ideas, content should be for people not search engines. Improving visitor numbers is welcome but filling pages with unnatural text will not satisfy them, or help in search.

Relevant terms should be included but the days of heavy keywording are over. Major search engines have become adept at analysing content with a human eye.

Think from a visitor's point of view as they do, make website copy unique, useful, appealing, please readers and you please search engines. Both need to understand your intent but focus on quality.

Working With Visitors

In almost all measured cases, given identical text to read in a newspaper and on the web, visitors prefer to go through the website faster. Try not to be wordy, as in the second option below, with the same meaning as the first:

  • If you decide that you might want to write some website copy, I think you might enjoy doing that.
  • Writing website copy can be fun.

Give your views but avoid an "I" or "I think" approach. A politician's way out but not needed for websites, visitors know your copy is opinion. Neither are "this" "that" or similar pronouns ideal, useful at times but consider two alternatives:

  • Images can help, that might make your website more use to your business.
  • Images may help, adding visual appeal to a website can increase business.

Beyond nominal editing, "that" has been replaced with "adding visual appeal". This phrase also now joins with "to a website" forming the type of entry used as a search term. Certainly more likely than the word this replaced and informative, repeating the process throughout a site will bring traffic.

The Style Of A Website

With traffic comes user expectation and websites should adopt individual style to suit their readers, proportion of text to images and language need to be in context. Still no reason for an academic site to dispose of headline text, or a sales site to forsake good grammar.

A stylish concept can help but not in place of good content. Think of the web's top sites and you generally find they avoid flashy add ons, concentrating on the reason visitors came. They also tend to follow essential rules:

  • Be purposeful, make the theme of your pages clear and avoid padding.
  • Headlines must relate to content, to build trust with users and in search.
  • Keep layout similar throughout, consistency will make users comfortable.
  • Choose fonts well and not many, spraying fonts around is unprofessional.
  • Avoid attacking competitors, politics, religion, or being overly personal.

Popular website copy matches people's needs. Consider your composition from their point of view, read aloud to yourself to pick up areas that stick. You might also like to read more on improving source code to help users and search engines.