Could you sell Cornwall with your copy?
Mar 9, 2015Finding your own style when writing
Mar 13, 2015If you?ve spent a lot of time and effort setting up your business you don?t want it to fall at the final fence. Which it might well do if you?ve neglected one of the important factors in making it a success. Writing effective website content. As it?s what you?ll be judged on it has to be right.
Apart from the obvious explanations of what you?re offering, copy also has to appeal to those reading it. You know yourself how easy it is to give up and move on if you?re bored with what?s in front of you.
Here are a few tips to make sure that doesn?t happen to your readers;
Imagine you?re down the pub and someone?s droning on in a monologue of tedious proportions. Do you a; walk away or b; find your eyes glazing over with boredom as you effectively tune out and think of something else? Either way the speaker has obviously wasted his breath.
If you?re writing in the way of that hapless bore you?ve lost people before you?ve hardly begun. Keeping sentences short and simple makes it much easier for them to read and digest.
No one likes someone who?s self centred to the point of arrogance. Or want to read self indulgent waffle. Forget the ?I? and ?me? words for a while and concentrate on ?you?. It?ll feel like you?re making an effort to talk to them rather than at them. Especially if you keep it informal. You?re supposed to be having a conversation not giving a lecture.
While you?re about it ditch the jargon and corporate mumbo jumbo. It?s the equivalent of watching paint dry to most people. It means nothing to them or their circumstances. Your writing should be straightforward and to the point. As most of your customers are likely to be.
Make your site easy to use by ensuring everything is clearly laid out. And every step of the process is signposted. If someone doesn?t know where to go or what to do next, they?ll wander off in search of something easier.
Don?t let yourself turn into that person propping up the bar while all those around give him a wide berth. Your website content should be fresh and interesting not stale and tiresome. It?s up to you to keep it that way.