Don’t make it an afterthought…

When designing and building a site where would you put site content in your hierarchy of importance?
A reoccurring problem many designers / developers face is that although many realise the importance of web content it is not something which they are in control of. The content is either supplied by the client in bit part format (i.e. An old brochure pdf or hastily gathered word documents) or it is supplied by a copywriter. This means that often the copy is supplied towards the latter end of the process and therefore assumes the role of afterthought. So because of this we as designers are forced to use the dreaded Lorem ipsum greek text (dummy text used to fill a space)  which just acts as a placeholder until the final copy is dropped into place. The problem with using greek text is that it creates a fragmented method in that the copy has no influence on the layout; when in fact the copy should be a key component in shaping the design of the website. Content is vital in ensuring your voice is heard and your message listened to.

The power of Personas…

Another great idea I recently heard about is to create a persona for your site. Essentially if your website was a person, what sort of person would it be? Would it be trendy with an open neck or wearing a polished suit and tie? Formal or informal? Considered and reliable or edgy and vibrant?  This may at first seem a hard question to answer but there are a variety of factors which should influence your decision when it comes to adopting a persona:

Graphic style – The graphic style and tone of voice should reflect each other and be seamless. See what the existing graphic style of your brand is…use this as a pointer for your perona.

Target Audience – Even if this is diverse your personality should remain the same. You who you are so don’t try to tweak your personality to accommodate everyone.

Tone of voice - Take guidance from existing promotional pieces. How do you want your company to be perceived? Is there a face to your site…i.e. authority figure who promotes the company in there own image. If so this figures persona should be used.

Regardless of what sort of persona you decide to adopt I believe it is imperative to have personality within your voice and not hide behind your corporation’s identity…in essence the idea is not to be a faceless organisation. A unique person who the user warms to is far more likely to get results…whilst it is important to keep your content informative / expert it is equally important not to make your content complex and hard to understand.

Techniques to write gold medal copy
Okay so you want some tips and techniques to write the copy that wins? Here are my tips that will bring home the gold.

Write specific / unique content

In other words don’t take copy from other material include keywords in your copy and tailor it for the web.

Give your voice personality

Yes you can phrase things how you would in everyday life…as long as you can be understood don’t feel you have to use the queens English.

Use headings and subheadings

Break up your copy into bite sized chunks this will make it easy for your reader to scan and pick out the parts which they are most interested in; remember often your content won’t be read in its entirety.

Use Short sentences

Make your content unique and relevant …to cater for a large audience you need to make sure the majority of your audience understands you, so make your sentences short and your vocabulary as basic as possible. This style of writing will also save your users time in finding the information they want.

Wording of sentences

Try and make the reader feel involved instead of relating to yourself in sentences (using ‘I’). Use words like we and us…essentially make your language inclusive! I need to reiterate as well don’t be afraid to be informal…show compassion. if people like you they are far more likely to want to work with you or purchase your product.

When wording your sentences using certain combinations of words are proven to convert; Successful words I have found are: NEW, FREE, EXCLUSIVE, EXPERT etc.

A perfect example can be found in my messenger status:

“Email me today for expert advice on creative web design.”

The first word in this sentence is call to action led (email me) and also include a mixture of keywords relating to your service (creative web design) and words which show you are amongst the best (expert, premium, elite etc)

Optimised text

Basic principles for a well optimised page apply here…make sure you include keywords in headings / subheadings etc. There is another reason why you should include headings and sub headings; they help build a hierarchy which in turn helps optimise your site for search engines.

WARNING – Be careful not to overload with keywords, you sentences should sound natural and flow rather than be overloaded with keywords (search engines could even penalise you for this).

Fresh content
Want repeat traffic? Write about a diverse range of topics. Conduct interviews with relevant figures in your industry. Use a blog…set up a twitter feed and make your voice heard.

So a few comments to summarise before I leave:

Designers: Make the importance of copy known to the client in the initial meeting and tell them it is fundamental to the design

Clients / Copywriters: Write unique, relevant and informative copy with personality! Don’t treat your sites content as an afterthought.

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