12 WAYS TO
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CREATE GREAT WEB CONTENT
12 WAYS TO CREATE GREAT WEB CONTENT
QUESTION… Why is most web copy so damn awful? Honestly, if web content were a person it would be an overweight, self-important bore talking tediously and interminably about… himself. You’d chew your own arm off to avoid him at a party, so why do people put up with him in web content? Actually, they don’t. Your website visitor is hovering impatiently over that back arrow and is looking for any excuse to click it. If your content is self-centred, boring and devoid of benefits your visitor will be off, quicker than a gazelle at a lion festival. Now, we’re aware that we may be doing ourselves out of business here because we write website content for a living. But to hell with it, because we’re about to share the secrets of how to write attention-grabbing, search engine-friendly web content that engages your visitors, sticks them to your website and persuades them to become your customers.
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12 WAYS TO CREATE GREAT WEB CONTENT
CONTENTS
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12 ways to create great web content
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Get to the point
7. Use headings
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Use an F-shape
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Keep it short
9. Get your grammar and spelling right
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Tone of voice
10. Allow yourself time
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Be clever with keywords
11. Update it
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Forget the features, focus on the benefits
12. Consider hiring a professional
Calls to action
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12 WAYS TO CREATE GREAT WEB CONTENT
GET TO THE POINT
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GET TO THE POINT You have about three seconds to grab the attention of your site visitor and shake them by the shoulders. If someone has typed your service into a search engine, they want to buy it. The fact is, you’ll have wasted every penny of your web design costs if you start with “Welcome to our new website”. Your visitor will be off within a nanosecond. Get straight to the point with an attention-grabbing sentence that clearly explains what you do. Here’s an example of what not to write:
3 4 “Super Widgets Ltd provides a total solution to any customer and is thereby able to support all widgets and widget providers globally and nationally. The reputation, integrity and experience of the individuals within the Super Widgets Ltd family are the cornerstone of our business. Through the provision of a single source of accountability, each customer benefits from a streamlined process resulting in time and in budget cost savings, thereby allowing focused delivery of high quality, efficient and effective solutions to our client.”
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Have you any idea what this company does? Nope, we thought not. Your visitor will steer clear of the 'back' arrow if they can see, immediately, that your service or product is what they’re looking for. 4
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12 WAYS TO CREATE GREAT WEB CONTENT
USE AN F-SHAPE
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USE AN F-SHAPE
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It’s taken us a while to decide whether or not to include this bit of advice. Why? Because it is the single most important piece of information you need when writing web content – and as we said, we’re worried about losing business. Anyway, here goes.
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Back in 2006, Jacob Nielsen carried out an eye-tracking study on web users. He got 232 people to read thousands of websites to find out exactly how they scanned the pages, and tracked the results in a heatmap.
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This is what he found…
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If you squint a bit, and focus on the red areas, you’ll see that web content is read in an F-shape.
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Click on a website, any website, and try it for yourself. 5
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12 WAYS TO CREATE GREAT WEB CONTENT
USE AN F-SHAPE
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If you’ve chosen a normal website and you’re a normal person (and we’re going to make a leap of faith here and assume that you are) then your eyes will land on a “sweet spot” on the left-hand side. It’s about two inches down from the top of your monitor and one or two from the left.
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Now, this is where you put your most attention-grabbing, kick-ass piece of content. And it needs to be very. Very. Good. Unbeatable, in fact. This is because your website visitor is itching to buzz off to the second paragraph. They may read it, but to be honest, they’re far more likely to read the first paragraph. After that, they scan down the left hand side of the page looking for... • Something that grabs their attention • Headlines • Bullet points
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If you stick to that F-shape in your web copy, you’re bound to keep your visitor on-site. Put your most important content in the first two paragraphs, focus the other selling-points down the left hand side.
• Information • Benefits 6
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There. We’ve given it away.
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