Writing webcopy in black and white

It’s not that I’m old fashioned, but there’s nothing like good old black and white – as long as the writing is black and the background is white.  However, reverse that combination and you have a problem.

When the background is darker than the text, the reader has to work much harder to read.  Whilst a sexy black page may be visually appealing, the eye/brain connection is bedazzled!  Lots of little thin white lines criss-crossing a dark background create a dazzle effect, making your subconscious work really hard to actually see what the words are.

If the information is not ‘received’ by your brain, there is an instinctive (and also subconscious) assumption that the information is ‘difficult’ and many people simply won’t make the effort to continue reading.

It’s not just black and white either – yellow writing on dark blue, forest green or burgundy backgrounds all do pretty much the same thing (all of which I have seen on web pages).  A good rule of thumb is to simply ensure that the background is lighter than the text and that the differential in tone between the two makes it easy for the eye to see the words.

When it comes to headlines in nice big bold text you can get away with reversed out writing, because the lines that make up the letters are not lines, but shapes.

Backgrounds don’t have to be white (although it does create a nice crisp look) – pastel shades such as very pale blue, cream or yellow all work well (and often aid reading for people with dyslexia).  Neither does the writing have to be black, but it does have to be dark enough to to stand out against the background – so dark blue on cream or pale yellow will work; so will very dark green.

Remember – the fewer obstacles you put in front of your reader getting the message, the better!

Is your website search optimised?

One of the jobs that I do regularly is write copy for search engine optimised pages.  This entails using a handful of key words intelligently in the copy so that search engines find the page when people put those words into their search.

Having spent hours and hours wrestling with online systems such as Word Tracker to work out what people might actually be searching for – I gave a huge sigh of relief when a SEO specialist friend of mine said “The best way to find out what people search for is to ask a few people you know what they would type into a search engine when they’re looking for the sort of services you offer.”

Wow – that means working with human beings rather than automated systems!  Much better – and, given that it’s a human being that types the search terms in, probably at least as reliable (and much less confusing).

Don’t go mad – you need just 2 or 3 terms and should use each one between 2-4 times in the copy – making sure that the copy flows naturally, otherwise people just won’t read it.

There are other terms that are lower down the list that could be introduced here and there, to reinforce the message.  For instance, if you are a coach specialising in career development, the search terms might be:

How to get promoted

Fast track promotion

Career development

So you’d need to use these terms 2-4 times in the main part of the text.

You might also try to knit in:

Getting promoted

Improve your career path

Become more successful

Promotion to manager

Promoted to manager

Career path improvement

… and, although you might not get all of these in, if you can add three or four of them at least once, it will help to add to the key word ‘cloud’ – all the words that are related to the subject.

Just remember that the copy must make sense and feel natural to read – or people simply stop reading and don’t get the message.

How does your website use ‘prime real estate’?

Take a look at your website pages – what is in ‘prime real estate’?

If you don’t know what prime real estate is – it’s the point at which the visitor’s eyes hit the screen and it’s usually somewhere around a third of the way down the screen.  That’s where you engage the reader and get them to start the journey through your website – or not!

So put yourself in the visitor’s shoes – or go and visit a few websites that the search engine says deliver a product or service that you are interested in.  What’s in their prime real estate?

What should NOT be in that extremely valuable spot:

• Welcome to our website
• A pretty graphic
• Part of your masthead
• A huge clunky menu bar
• Lots of little boxes encouraging you to ‘click here’ – no ‘click HERE’ – no ‘CLICK HERE’
• The name of the page – i.e. Home page

What you need is a message – in big letters (in other words, a headline) – that targets what you reader was looking for.  It’s usually related to either pain or gain; what they are suffering with or what they are looking for that will solve their problem.

This means you need to know your typical customers – and what they look for.  The very best way to find out what your typical customer is looking for is to ask a few people, “If you were trying to find what my company delivers, what words would you search on?” and “What is the biggest problem that you have that my product/service solves for you?”

That second question can also get you a few testimonials if you ask it right, too!

Once you have that information creating the words to put into your prime real estate is going to be easy!

If you’re still struggling get an expert to help – take a look at our services or just give us a call on +44 (0)1245 473296 or email us at info@insidenews.co.uk.

The site map

When you are creating a web site, the first thing you need is a site map.  This is the plan for the pages, how they connect with each other and how you arrange your information to lead your visitor through the site.

With a basic web site it’s pretty straight forward – home page with main pages on the menu for About us, Contact us, Services/products and maybe Case studies or testimonials.  Sub pages from the Services/products page with more in depth details on specific services or product ranges.

Bigger websites are more of a challenge – they are more complex, more pages with many routes through the site so that the visitor can always find what they want easily from several different entry points.  However, without the site map the developer can grow something that looks like the worst kind of bindweed leading the visitor up dead ends and wandering aimlessly until they leave the site in frustration.

So who creates the site map?  The web designer?  The web developer?  The search engine specialist?  The copy writer?  No – you should, it’s your web site!

By all means get some advice from the specialists, but try and see it from the user’s point of view.  Where would YOU want to go next if it was someone else’s website?  What would you want to know (and what would you not need to know)?

Keep it simple and straightforward and think about the user – then ask a few business friends or networking contacts to get some feedback on the journey they will take if they visit.  It’s an invaluable piece of research and it wlll help your site to be ’sticky’ when it’s up and running.

Focusing on the website message

I can’t say enough about being clear about the purpose of each page on your website.  Maybe it’s one of my ’soapboxes’, but so many people either don’t know what they want people to do when they visit the website – or have unrealistic expectations.

Don’t expect anyone to buy from your home page – they can be engaged, but not sold to.  They’ll need more in depth information before they take that step to part with money.  Even Amazon don’t get many sales from the home page – and don’t expect to.

By all means put your phone number and email contact on every page, but think about what you really want people to do – that might be to find out more on another page, or buy online (when they’ve seen your products/services page, or call/email for more information, or make an appointment to meet with you or your representative.

Do make sure that everything on each page of your website helps to get your message across and contributes to the purpose of the page.  That includes copy, graphics and images, information in columns on the right and left of the main text and every paragraph should lead the reader towards your purpose.

Marketing mailouts

Just recently I’ve had a few people who asked me about marketing email campaigns – and, indeed, hard copy letters too.  I thought sharing this with blog readers might be useful as well.

Firstly, you need to establish the purpose of the mailing – which may appear to be obvious – but when thought through may not be the ‘buy our product now’ message that many people hope for.  More realistic may be ‘visit our website’ (to a special page, of course), or ‘ring/email us for more information’.  If you simply want people not to forget you, a mailout is probably not the right media, a newsletter may be a better bet.

Brainstorm the benefits of your product or service and use one of these framed as a question or in an aspirational phrase – e.g. Are you always late leaving the office? or Finish work early – every day! (time management course).

The first paragraph builds on this – either leaning on the pain or developing the aspiration.

Second paragraph picks up on other benefits (or the problems associated with the issue that they resolve).

A bullet list is a great way to present what the reader will get (if they buy your product/service) – remember not the feature or the advantage (nice to have), but the emotional triggers.

Finally, the call to action – call us for more info, see how much more you can have on our web page – or, better still, follow up with a phone call (always much more effective).

Sounds simple – it can be, but you’ll need to be clever and creative with your benefit management to really make it work well.

Focus on the message

Every time I start working with a client on their website I ask the same questions:

Why do people buy you/your services/your products?

What would they be looking for when they search for what you’re offering?

What do you want them to do when they’ve finished reading each page?

Doesn’t sound like rocket-science, but I’m constantly amazed that people don’t know the answers to these questions.  These are absolutely critical – you need to not only ‘think’ you know the answers, you need to actually do some research to find out the answers to the first two – and then be realistic about the answer to the third one.

If you think people will ring you up and buy from the home page, that is probably somewhat ambitious.  Instead choose where you’d like them to go next to get more in depth information (usually your services/product overview page).  However, always have your phone number/email visible on each page, just in case.

Answer the questions for every page on your website and your copy will be much easier to focus and to connect with the reader.

Website graphics

Pictures on your website can be a big advantage or a huge drawback in helping you to get your message across.  Here are a few good rules to work by:

DON’T put picture in just to have a visual on a page – make sure that every picture works for its place.  It must help you to get your message across.

DO use pictures of real people (especially on your About us page – where YOU should appear); but beware of naff photos of people shaking hands, posing for the camera looking like ‘business people’ or other stock shots.  Ask your clients and customers if they are happy for you to take shots of them – or leave them out.  ‘Fakes’ look exactly what they are.

DO use diagrams, graphs, pie charts and so on to help to make your point, but make sure that the information is genuine, up-to-date, not copyright and is simply enough for anybody to understand.  One diagram or graph per page is enough – a whole series is confusing and puts people off.

DON’T use clip-art, holiday photos (unless you’re a travel site and they’re really good ones), nice pictures you like (but don’t add anything) or a bunch of graphics that don’t match.  It will simply brand you an amateur – and that subliminal message can leak over into your expertise.

Pictures are powerful – if they’re the right ones in the right place!

Descriptive copy

Everyone can write, but few people can write well.  The people who can’t string three words together are usually aware of their shortcomings and find the whole writing process a struggle.  Then there are the people who do write – using lots of descriptive prose and three adjectives to every noun.  This makes it really hard for the reader who will then have to pick out the pieces of information they want from all the excess verbiage.

Descriptive prose has a use – to set a scene, to create an atmosphere, to help the reader to see themselves in the situation being described – but, there is always a danger of ‘going over the top’.  When writing commercial copy you need to ensure the message is clear – so descriptive copy really isn’t appropriate, particularly on a home page.

When you get to a specific service or product there is a place for it.  For instance on the products page for a furniture company:

Imagine what it would be like to come home and be able to sink into a really comfortable sofa, that supports your back, but is just soooo relaxing. With a Supersofa this is exactly what you get – and more.

The image helps the reader visualise themselves and makes the sales message stronger.  But if the text had been:

You come home and push the door closed behind you with a huge sigh of relief.  It’s been a long hard day and you have been longing to just collapse and put your feet up.  You walk into your beautifully decorated lounge and glance into the mirror over the chimney breast – you definitely look tired.  The sofa beckons – you sink into it letting it wrap around you and feeling that firm pressure at the base of your spine, whilst the soft cushions allow you to totally and completely relax.  If this sounds like absolute luxury to you – then don’t wait a moment longer, order your sofa right away.

Now, whilst that certainly sets the scene – it’s far too much information for most people!

Good writing isn’t about lots of words – it’s about getting the message across.  Keep it short and simple and write for the reader, not yourself.

… and if it’s all too much of a struggle call in the experts!  www.insidenews.co.uk

Every web page has a purpose

It’s essential that you know the purpose of each of your web pages.  That might be:

• To take the visitor to another page,
• To get them to email or phone,
• To share an important piece of information with them, or
• To help them to understand a particular aspect of your service and how it applies to their business

But, if you don’t know what the purpose of the page is, it’s likely to be ‘woolly’!  That isn’t all – you will need to decide what information goes into each page to achieve that purpose.  This is where you will need to be ruthless.

We are all passionate about our businesses, we are excited about what we do and the danger is that we want to share it all with the visitor to our website.  Resist the temptation!

Every word must work for its place – if it doesn’t help to persuade someone to take action then leave it out.  Many people put far too much information on their websites and then visitors can’t find out what they want quickly and easily – and leave.

TIP:  Get someone outside your business to review or edit your copy, they’ll have a much better idea of what your potential customer wants.

Alternatively, email info@insidenews.co.uk and get a professional to do the job!