4 Tips on Writing Web Pages

When I started my business, I was told I’d need a website. I found a web designer who captured the essence of what I was doing, I hired a web developer to set it up, I learned about SEO and so on. However, the site wasn’t ready to launch until I wrote the content. Being a newbie, I wrote what I thought was really engaging stuff – full of facts, interesting tips, proving why I was the go-to person in my industry. I wish I could tell you that hordes of people found my site so irresistible that I was flooded with work offers. I waited as the weeks and months went by, wondering why no one clicked on. [caption id="attachment_389" align="alignnone" width="3000"] (Still waiting...)[/caption] My content was interesting (well, I thought so…) but it was irrelevant! A good friend told me how to organise my content better. Here are his 4 tips: Interrupt People trawl through the internet, looking at up to 10 or more sites a minute. Sometimes they are on the hunt for something specific, others are just getting ideas. Your content needs to interrupt their train of thinking with something unexpected, eye-catching, even shocking. For instance, when I wrote the content for my newsletter page, I could have devised a title focused on price packages, content or customer service. Instead, I headed it: Double your customer base in under 5 minutes a month! That revealed a ‘wow’ factor about newsletters that most business owners wouldn’t think of when looking for a newsletter writer, but which is an attractive proposition. Engage Here’s where you need to hook the reader. Forget the facts, tap into their emotions. Most of us don’t know who looks at our websites, so how do we know what people are feeling when they check us out? Simple – put yourself in their shoes. If you are a business owner wanting a newsletter, what problems do you think you would like someone else to solve? It’s usually time, expertise and money. That’s why I wrote the following: You don’t have enough time to write one. You don’t know what to write. It’s yet another task for overworked admin staff.   [caption id="attachment_390" align="aligncenter" width="3000"] Just what admin want - another job to do![/caption] Educate Great. So your reader, and hopefully by now a prospective customer, is reading on. What comes next? What do they want to know? You’ve heard of ‘features, not benefits’? Now you need to show how the features of your service will solve their problem. You don’t need to go into masses of details – you don’t need to convince yourself! Give hints as to what you can do, especially what marks you out from others in your profession. My newsletter page alludes to researching the internet for related articles, timely delivery and catering for specific requests. I also explain the title – if they hire me and allow me to add a link to own website, they will have my customers as well as their own, potentially doubling their customer base. Offer Make a defined and clear call to action at this point. At this point, I add my contact details and my pricing packages to show them what’s available within their budget. So, there you are – 4 tips for writing content. If you would like assistance with writing your own web content (or newsletters), feel free to contact me at susan@creativetext.com.au.