Write Your Content When you’ve defined your website structure, use this template to write the copy, list your style requirements and develop any other materials needed for the site.
TRACK YOUR PROGRESS
First, are you developing any materials beyond standard copy for the page – for example, Flash graphics, photography, diagrams, sales literature PDFs, etc? If so, keep track of their status. TYPE (TEXT, GRAPHIC, PERSON SPECIAL CONTENT DUE DATE STATUS DOCUMENT, ETC) RESPONSIBLE Use the same process for tracking the copywriting process for each page. NEXT PAGE # PAGE NAME WRITER DUE STATUS DATE If you’re creating a sophisticated site and used any of exercise 311 to generate a list of pages, 311-‐O provides a full list of the pages, what’s on each page, the keywords, the writer and status – you can use it instead of this list.
STYLE GUIDE Provide your writer(s) with a style guide to help them write the copy in a consistent format that meets your goals. You can paste the relevant instructions into a separate sheet to give your writers; if they have a lot of web writing experience, just give them the basic information about your desired tone, voice, terminology, etc. Websites Write Your Content
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AUDIENCE Your writing should speak to your users. Describe the main audience groups for your site: Audience/User group
Describe a typical member of this group
TONE Vocabulary and style help convey your attitude toward the reader. What attitude do you want to convey? Professional Engaging Warm Authoritative Friendly Funny Serious Intelligent Hip Technical/scientific Insightful Make sure your tone is consistent with your branding, but writing for the web should be more succinct and friendly than you may typically use. It also needs to be compelling.
Notes: Will you use contractions? They convey a friendly, less formal tone. Yes, use contractions consistently No, do not use contractions at all Use them sporadically How will you refer to your employees? By the first name Salutation and last name (Mr. Smith, Ms. Caputo)
VOICE
Use a consistent voice throughout the site and make sure it’s consistent with your tone. Which voice will you use? First person (I, we, ours) is personal and very appropriate for the web. If you refer to your company in the first person, you would normally refer to your reader in the second person. Websites Write Your Content
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Second person (you, yours) is the person spoken to. It’s very personal. Third person – refers to the company and customers as “it, they, theirs”. Third person is formal. Don’t combine third person with any other voice – use it consistently through the site. Notes:
COMPANY TERMINOLOGY List any company terminology or product/service names that need to be used consistently throughout the site. For example, some names may need a trademark or service mark; others may need to be capitalized, hyphenated, all caps, bold, italic, etc. TERM
USAGE
Don’t capitalize words unless they’re truly proper names. While some writers believe it lends weight to the word, it’s not grammatically correct and can appear unprofessional or egotistical.
GENERAL WRITING INSTRUCTIONS (Cut this portion if you’re using a highly experienced web copywriter.) Writing for the web is much different than writing for a brochure or other sales material. BEHAVIOR
WHAT TO DO
Visitors don’t read, they scan
Use informative headlines Use subheadings to break copy into scannable chunks surrounded by white space Write in short sentences with few adjectives and adverbs Focus on what the visitor wants: to understand features and benefits and then take the next step in your sales process. Be careful about using vague, broad statements that confuse the reader. Don’t try to optimize every page for every keyword – it will dilute your
Visitors want specific information
Focus each page on only
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BEHAVIOR
WHAT TO DO
a few keywords
impact. Instead, optimize different pages for keywords that match the content. When you’re creating your page list, assign the keywords to the page that best fits. Aim for a “keyword density” of 2-‐8% per chosen keyword per page. (This topic is addressed later in this exercise.) For example, “we sell trees, shrubs and landscaping services in St. Louis” is specific and understandable; “your one-‐stop-‐shop for outdoor living” is vague and may not be understood by search engines or visitors. General priority: 1. Include keywords in the navigation and page name whenever possible so they’ll be in the URL string 2. Page title 3. Headline of the page 4. Subheadings on the page 5. First few paragraphs of body copy, bold body copy, links to other pages, bullets, graphic tags 6. Rest of body copy Graphics can be very effective at communicating your message, but it’s the text that the search engines read. You can always include the text at the bottom of the page, or use a combination of graphics and body copy to get your message across.
Use specific keywords in the content – avoid vagueness Use keywords in the most important spots; make sure they are repeated throughout the page
Remember that engines can’t read keywords in graphics or Flash pieces
ORGANIC SEARCH WRITING REQUIREMENTS If you’re optimizing your site for search, here are the suggestions for writing each section of copy for each page. TYPE
SUGGESTIONS
Page Title/Title Tag (displayed at top of browser window)
This tag is very important for search engines and should contain your targeted keywords for that page plus your company name. Use no more than 10 words, 50-‐60 characters. Put the keywords first, then your company name. It doesn’t need to be a complete statement. For example, write “Customer relationship management, Small Business CRM, ABC Company” instead of “ABC Company | Home Page” or “ABC Company develops relationship management software for small businesses” Keyword order makes a difference; prioritize them and write them in that order Use unique page titles for each page that the search engines can read; you’ll target different keywords for each page as well.
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TYPE Description tag
Headline
Body copy
SUGGESTIONS This tag is included in the HTML code for the page – it isn’t actually displayed on the page. General opinion says that this tag doesn’t help in your search rankings, but it may be displayed when your site appears in organic search engine results. Think about what you would want a search user to see when your site appears for the keywords you’ve chosen – you’ll want to reinforce the reason they should visit your site instead of the others in the list. Write a compelling description of the page in under 30 words. The headline is the most important text on the page (other than the page title) It needs to tell readers and search engines what the page is about – it should contain the same keywords you used in the page title (without the company name). Make it descriptive, simple and clear – no jargon or sales verbiage. Don’t sacrifice clarity to pack it with keywords – write with the search engines in mind, but your main goal is to deliver a strong presentation to your visitors. Follow the style guide for the section and write for the specific visitor who will come to this page. Immediately get to the point – give your visitors the info they want at the top of the page. Put the details at the bottom or on a different page. Make sure you include the important keywords/phrases near the top of the page, but don’t sacrifice readability just to look good to the search engines. Use subheadings (preferably with keywords) and short bulleted phrases to let readers scan Write in very short sentences – no complicated terms, extra adjectives, redundant info. Use active tense (“We lowered our prices” vs “Our prices were lowered in an attempt…”) Put important ideas in bold; search engines will also notice those words. Text links should contain keywords and tell the visitor what happens next – instead of “more information,” use “printing prices”.
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TYPE
Image tags
SUGGESTIONS Use an engaging style – even if it’s formal, you still need to grab the reader’s interest! The ALT tag is displayed when a visitor is using a text-‐only browser, has turned the graphics off or is using a speech program for the vision impaired. List any images that will be used on this page and include a description (a.k.a. an “ALT TAG”) for each. Use keywords in the tags if possible.
In 471 you identified pages that contain specific content that will work in search marketing campaigns -‐-‐ “landing pages.” Treat the content differently on a landing page: 1. These visitors arrived directly from a search engine, so you need to make sure they know why they’re on your page and they want to go to the next page. 2. Keep the content focused to what the visitors are looking for. If you’re using a variety of SEO campaigns, you should create landing pages that speak to the visitors needs in each campaign. 3. Minimize the number of links on the page – you want your visitors to focus on the message and move forward to the next step – don’t let them get sidetracked navigating the rest of your site.
HOME PAGE TIPS
Your objective is to quickly get your visitors to the right page in your site, so make your home page clear and concise. Include your 25 or 50 word positioning statement so that visitors know what your company does, but make sure you take the visitor to the right information within your site. If a visitor doesn’t understand what your company does, you stand a good chance of losing them at the homepage. Use the most important keywords on your home page.
FORMS
If you can capture information from your visitors, you can follow up with them. Unfortunately, most visitors dislike forms, so balance your need for information and the visitor’s desire to get it quickly or abandon in the process.
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If you have a form, improve your conversion rate by making sure you absolutely need every piece of information at this point in the relationship. For example: If you have an email address and phone number, do you really need a physical address or a fax number? If you have a URL, do you need to ask the industry or size of the company? Also, use a “submit” button but don’t bother with an obsolete “reset” button.
COPY TEMPLATE
Here is a template to guide the writer as s/he develops each page. Start by filling out the first portion of the form for each page – describe what the page should accomplish and keywords. That way the writer can use the information to focus the copy to meet your goals.
INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE PAGE
* = only necessary if you’re optimizing for search Page # Page Name (internal) Writer
Copy due date URL
*Number of clicks from the home page (the closer to the home page, the more important it is to search engines)
*Is this a static page or dynamically generated? (If you have to log in to access the page, check “dynamic”)
*If it’s a static page, will it be used to drive specific search traffic? (Landing page)
Static: Search spiders will be able to read it Dynamic: Search spiders can’t read this page. Don’t worry about keywords; however, if you think it would be valuable for search marketing, consider creating a static version of the page as well – talk with your programmer Yes (see “Landing pages” above for tips on the content of this page) No
What does the visitor want on this page? What do we want them to do next? *Keywords to target on this page: Choose three words or phrases to focus on for each page. If you have more keywords to target than pages, add pages and develop more content to target those words.
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Page #
COPY TEMPLATE Use this form to write, review and approve the copy for each page. As you’re writing, refer to the “Analyze Keyword Density” section that follows – it will help you make sure you’re including your preferred keywords often enough for the search engines to notice. Page Title/Title Tag (displayed at top of browser window) (No more than 10 words, 50-‐60 characters) Description tag: Write a compelling description of the page in under 30 words. Headline: Tell readers and search engines what the page is about – it should contain the same keywords you used in the page title (without the company name). Body Copy: Follow the style guide for the section and write for the specific visitor who will come to this page. Use an engaging style – even if it’s formal, you still need to grab the reader’s interest! Image tags: List the images and the description for the tag
Proofreading Checklist
Keyword density for important keywords is between 2-‐8% (see next section) The important keywords for the page are used in the page title and headline plus subheads, text links, body copy, and image descriptions The headline is descriptive and tells visitors where they are in the site Text is broken into scannable chunks with white space and subheadings All sentences are in the active tense It’s concise – as few words as possible It’s interesting, engaging, informative Page meets its goals – it will drive the visitor forward, inspire the right action, etc.
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Approval status
Reviewer’s comments
Next due date
ANALYZE YOUR KEYWORD DENSITY As you write the copy for each page that you’re optimizing, test it for “keyword density”. Keyword density: The percentage of a page’s text that consists of a particular keyword. For example, if you have 100 words and use a keyword 3 times, your keyword density for that keyword is 3%.
Aim for a keyword density of 2-‐8% for your chosen keywords. To reach this goal, you’ll probably need to write and rewrite and hone many times to hit your overall goals. How do you measure density? There are many free online tools – here’s one: http://www.live-‐keyword-‐analysis.com/ Enter your page copy into the box and then choose three keywords. You’ll see the keyword density percentage for each one. If you’re between 2-‐8%, you’re good; if you’re low or high, refine your copy until your terms are in the range. KEYWORD DENSITY FOR DIFFERENT COPY VERSIONS KEYWORDS
TRY #1
2
3
4
5
6
You’ll find that it’s very difficult to hit your goal when you have a long list of keywords. It’s far better to optimize a page for a very small group of keywords, then optimize another page for another very small list. When you try to stuff too many keywords into a page, they dilute the impact of the others. While it’s important to write for the spiders, don’t sabotage your efforts with your human visitors. Copy should always feel natural and crisp; don’t write to the point of awkwardness. Writing for search engines takes practice; if you’re really struggling, consider hiring an SEO copywriter to craft your copy so it’s attractive to humans and spiders.
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