Tips That Will Make You a Better Writer

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Is your web content working for you, or could it do a better job? Be honest. Are you getting the traffic conversion rate you were looking for or is it lacking? These tips on writing effective site content could make you a better writer and turn things around for you, so make sure you read them all.

One of the most common things you’ll find if you start looking at websites is that they come in all different sizes, designs, shapes, colors, and fonts. So what does that say?

Well, it says that there isn’t one way that works. However, if you look a little closer, you will see that there are some common elements on those sites that are successful. So let’s have a look.

1. A Welcoming Approach – you want your visitors to feel welcome when they land on your home page. Be upfront – say “Welcome to ….”
2. Establish your credibility – your page(s) need to establish that you are an excellent resource for the products/services that you offer. Tell them what it is you do and what you offer. “Your source for…”
3. Help your visitor get oriented – tell your visitor about your site, what they can find where, and always remember to answer the #1 question going through their head, “What’s in it for me?”
4. Easy navigation – nothing will have a visitor hitting the back button faster than a navigation system that is hard to follow or understand. So make sure when you are creating your website to keep it easy to find and use.
5. Contact information – It is important for your contact information to be readily available. If you don’t share your contact information, there are legal ramifications, but it is also difficult for visitors to build any trust if they don’t know who you are or how to contact you.
6. Easy process for contact – make it easy for the visitor to email you or access live help. Yes, they can phone, but many people (like myself) prefer email.
7. Privacy statement – make sure that your visitors know what your privacy statement is. You can use a standardized one if there is nothing complicated about what you do. There are also programs available online that for a fee will help you create your privacy statement. People want to know that you are not selling their information and so you need to tell them what your policies are.
8. Copyright – too often this is completely forgotten. But to protect yourself, it should really be on your home page. “Copyright (c) [insert year] [Insert Name of Your Business]. All Rights Reserved.”

There you have it. If you are creating web copy for a client, make sure that you utilize these simple tips listed above to create copy that’s more appealing and engaging.

Writing Stages

When you create your site content, think of it as a staged process:  1) Preparation, 2) Planning and Writing,  3)Preview and Enhancement and then 4) Marketing Tasks.

1.  Preparation for writing

This first stage is where you set your goal for what you want to do with your new post. Is the purpose of this post to generate more traffic, capture leads with your autoresponder, promote a product for sale or to achieve more authority for your site.

2.  Planning and Writing

Finalize the topic or subject of your post will be and create an outline, that will determine the detail or depth you will go into while covering the topic. Your outline should include the following components:

a.  Introduction

This is basically a brief summary of the post, explaining what the blog post will cover and what solution or help it provides for your audience.  This should get the attention of your visitors and give them a desire to find out the details in your post  Creating eye-catching titles and sub-titles will keep your visitor reading to the end.

b.  Body

Your body will contain the points or subtopics that you want to use to provide the “help” or “solution” to your audience; where you provide information and detail in serving out facts from your research and the solution you are offering.

c.  Conclusion and Wrapup

Your conclusion should wrap up the post and reiterate what solution or help you have provided in the body of the post.

3.  Preview and Enhancement

This is where you proof your writing, make sure your grammar and spelling is correct, add pertinent images and basically make sure your keywords and phrases and your SEO is optimized and polished and any internal and external links are properly included.

3.  Marketing tasks

Finally, you will need to take care of marketing tasks, include sharing on your different social media networks, submitting the URL for inspection in Google Webmaster Tools and requesting comments.

Conclusion

As you have learned, each stage of the blog post or article writing process has its own purpose in creating an article that will draw and entice your audience to read it and to provide a solution or answer a question they might have regarding the subject of your website.

Comments

I love to hear from my site visitors with their comments and questions.  You may leave yours below.  Please share this post with others you think may be interested -Shirley