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Writing content for a website is time consuming but critical
to your online success. The article Web writing for people and search engines
highlights why you may find it difficult to create web content.
To help you in your quest to find the best keywords to
promote your website, I have included links to four useful
free tools to test your
keywords.
Lastly, if you have no spare time and no writing
aspirations, you will be pleased to know that we have now Web Copywriting services for you. More
information below.
Hope you enjoy this newsletter,
Henriette
Web writing for people and search engines
The mindset of the online reader is ruled by convenience, speed and ‘what’s in
it for me’. In a flash, people want current, useful and relevant information to
fulfil their needs and to do so, they have adopted new reading habits:
- They skim read to seek broad knowledge looking for contextual cues from
headings and labels.
- They scan text to find detailed information
looking for
keywords.
Web writing is very different from writing for print. You have to write for
people and search engines and also take into account web technology.
Here comes the juggling act…
Writing Style
You have to be an effective communicator to deliver valuable information in a
user-friendly way and create a favourable first impression in a matter of
seconds.
How to communicate
- Talk with your reader using ‘you’ and refer to familiar examples.
- Think globally and use plain English. If jargon is used, make sure you provide
an explanation for the uninitiated.
- Write concisely using
half the word count of conventional writing.
- Use short sentences.
- Be objective and factual. Steer clear from marketing fluff and verbosity.
Content Layout & Structure
You must help people access and sift through information as quickly as possible
otherwise they will leave your site before discovering the ‘what’s in it for
me’.
How to structure information
- Organise information from broad to detailed as newspapers do. This hierarchical
model prevents clutter on a page and enables people to be selective and bypass
data irrelevant to their needs.
- Use descriptive menu labels, headlines, links and highlighted keywords to help
skimming and scanning.
- Support reading online with appropriate font size and text layout.
- Chunk text with one idea per short paragraph.
- Arrange information by categories or other grouping techniques.
- Facilitate comparisons with tables and charts.
- Be consistent. Use same layout, fonts and colours throughout your site to avoid
distraction and let people focus on your message.
Web technology
You must offer interactivity. It is expected.
How to use web technology
- Empower people by letting them select from multiple-choice menus and fill in web
forms.
- Add value to your site with hyperlinked interactivity e.g. inbound links for
cross-reference or outbound links for additional information.
- Engage people with surveys, forums and online tools.
Keywords & Search engines
Although you write for people, you cannot dismiss opportunities to boost your
search engine rankings organically (without paying) and help people to find you.
How to achieve better ranking
- Select keywords or keyword phrases used by your target market. Your choice of
words is critical.
- Strategically position keywords on your web page e.g. in your page title, link
labels, meta tags, headlines and body of your page.
- Repeat intentionally your keywords in the website content to emphasize the
relevancy of your page to those keywords.
Web writing looks easy but effective web writing to meet the needs of online
readers can be challenging.
© 2005 Henriette Martel-Lawson.
Free Keyword Tools
Here are great tools to test the popularity of the keywords you intend to use
for promoting your website.
Good Keywords
Good Keywords is a free Windows software for finding the best keywords for
your web pages. Use it to find profitable products and ideas, analyse your
competition and check the progress of your web marketing and advertising efforts
to ensure the best return on your investments (ROI). The software contains
several tools:
- keyword suggestions
- misspelled words
- web page explorer
- keyword phrase builder
- site & link popularity meter
- keyword organiser.
Good Keywords can be downloaded from
http://www.goodkeywords.com/products/gkw/
Get ideas for new keywords. Enter one keyword or phrase and you will find
- Popular queries that include
your keyword.
- Additional keywords: Users who
searched for your keyword(s) also searched for the terms listed. You may
wish to add any relevant terms to your keyword list or combine
them with your current keywords to refine your targeting.
Google AdWords Keyword Tool is located at
https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordSandbox
Google Duel for
Writers
When you're writing, sometimes you think of several ways to say the same thing,
and you want to know which way sounds better. Take any group of synonyms or
similar phrases, and type them into the GoogleDuel to find out how they
rank in popular usage on the web.
GoogleDuel is located at
http://cgi.sfu.ca/~gpeters/cgi-bin/pear/writers.php
Keyword Suggestion Tool
This handy little tool will show you the results of your query from both Wordtracker and Overture.
Enter a search phrase to see how often it is searched for and
get suggestions for alternate (but similar) keywords.
You will find that results from Wordtracker and Overture differ greatly:
Overture's data is based on more searches, so the values
are going to be higher than Wordtracker's. This does not mean Wordtracker's data is less valuable (keep in mind that they are relative to each
other). Also, Wordtracker differentiates between plural and singular forms
(which Overture does not).
Keyword Suggestion Tool is located at
http://www.digitalpoint.com/tools/suggestion/
New service: Web copywriting
Are you struggling to write
content
for your website ?
Does writing come easily to you?
Is your time better spent writing web content than running your business?
If the answer is ‘ no’ to either of these questions,
then delegate or outsource.
Writing for the web is a specialist skill. Both the
quality and structure of your web content are critical to convey your
message effectively and to be indexed by search engines.
Benefits of high-quality and well-organised
web content
-
Maximise your chances to rank highly on search
engine results.
-
Entice people to visit your site (search engine
listings).
-
Build your credibility and trustworthiness.
-
Retain people on your site and encourage repeat
visits.
-
Drive people to action e.g. order product or
subscribe to newsletter.
Marketing Cues now provides
Web Copywriting services to help you
with website content. Our
team of experienced writers will:
-
Advise you on appropriate content to achieve your
specific web objectives.
-
Add value to your website with customer-focused
content.
-
Research information to develop new web content.
-
Repurpose your existing printed material for web
publishing.
-
Structure content according to best web-writing
practices.
-
Optimise each web page for search engines.
-
Develop linking strategies to maximise your site
potential.
-
Deliver the finished content in HTML format ready
for publishing on your website.
Web writing is very different from writing for printed matter.
You have to think about people, search engines and web technology.
Do you have the skills and time to write your own web content? If
not, consider trying us.
To discuss your needs and request a quote, contact
Feedback and suggestions
are most welcome. Send to
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