Writing content for a webpage: keep it simple, clear and concise

Every webpage should have its own message to tell. Here’s how to write good copy for every webpage on your website.

1. Write the headline (title of page) that says what the page is about. Don’t get cute or fancy or try to write ‘newspaper smart’ headlines.
2. Put the most important information at the top of the page and/or in sub-headings that signpost important aspects of the subject. This is a publishing standard when writing chapters and headings of chapters. The structure is important for readability so write an outline of your structure first
3. Stay on message for each webpage – this helps improve your search engine optimisation and it also helps real people find what they are looking for. If you go off message and stray onto topics not related to the webpage title, chances are your web visitor will stray off your website too.
4. Write in plain English. Write to your audience. How do they talk, think, listen? What do they want to know? How will they best understand what you are saying? Use informal active language. Don’t use jargon or complicated three-syllable words.
5. Use effective images on your webpage. The Internet is visual so let’s not forget that. Make use of images that can tell the story more effectively than works. When using images, make sure that images are named properly. Underscore between words. Use .jpg. Make sure they are the right size for the page (under 800 pizels for the widest side is maximum) and make sure you have alt text that explains the image. See how to use images on your website.
6. Be concise. Sentences and paragraphs. Short and sweet. I’ll say no more about this.
7. 

   Choose a couple of related keywords per webpage and don't overuse them

   Don’t jam your writing with key words to get ‘more’ out of your search optimisation. You won’t. However, stay on message with keywords. If this article is about how to write good content on webpages, you might use variations of keywords such as writing webpages, webpage content writing, good writing for webpages in each paragraph. Do not overdo key word placement. The writing must scan well for your human readers, make sense and be interesting. Overdoing keywords can be extremely off-putting.

8. Add links to every webpage to other relevant webpages on your website. Linking pages that could be of interest helps your readers find other information that they may also want to read – and it’s very good for search engine optimisation.
9. Get your writing edited and proofread. Not always easy (and hand up, I’m guilty for not doing this for all my web writing for personal blogs). However, it is so important not to have errors.
10. Before you post your webpage, go through the text once more and cut any superfluous words, sentences or even paragraphs.

Other articles that may interest

Stories about website content and getting the best SEO results

10 tips for writing website content

What must businesses do to keep their Facebook page looking good?

The first thing to do is to create a cover image that can tell the story in an image or images about what your business does.

The dimensions for the cover image are 852 pixels x 315 pixels. You may wish to make the original jpg bigger (more height) so that you can move the image around on the page to get the best results.

What to use as a cover image?

Think about who your audience is and how you can convey to them what you offer. You can always use product iamges but often what we are really selling is emotion. People want to feel good, look good, feel happier, smarter, be more successful and so forth. So you might want to get your creative brain cells working and come up with something lighthearted and fun – that still sells your message.

For the Ski The World Facebook page that Bold Type manages, we found one of our images of people in brighly-coloured ski clothes at the top of a mountain. Where they are is not relevant – but it’s obvious that they are all having fun on a blue-sky ski day. That’s what Ski The World is all about: getting the most out of your next ski holiday.

Here’s the link for Ski The World Facebook Fan Page (if you are on Facebook).

Cover image for new Timeline format on Facebook for Ski The World

What wording can you include?

You can just upload an image without words or if you want wording, be careful to keep the message short and clear. Your logo with a short message is one way to go.

According to Facebook Help (which you can access from your Business Facebook page before you start, cover images must be at least 399 pixels wide (dimensions are in fact 852 x 315). Here’s some DO NOTs.

• Do not include price or purchase information, such as ‘20% off’ or ‘10% discount for our Facebook fans’.
• Do not include any contact information – web address, email, mailing address or other information intended for your Facebook pages ‘About’ section. This is where you can add information for people to contact you.
• Do not add words ‘Like’ or ‘Share’ or any other Facebook site features or icons.
• Do not use calls to action, such as ‘Get it now’ or ‘Tell your friends’ or ‘Download from our website’.
• Do not use cover images that are false, misleading or otherwise offensive.
• Do not infringe on third parties’ intellectual property (get permission of the photographer or owner of the image).

In addition, the Facebook guide says that you ‘may not encourage or incentivize people to upload your cover image to their personal timelines’.

So there you have it: that’s the cover image covered!

Read more news about getting the most out of social media.

What elso does it mean for businesses? Watch this space!

Design your website for your visitors

Your site needs to look professional and give your visitor confidence that you know what you’re doing.

Good design allows your web visitors to find what they want quickly

That’s why good website design is essential – not just how pretty it is but getting the right information to the visitor that they want immediately. Design is about functionality, logical navigation and useability. Make it easy for your visitors to see what they want from you. And it does need to look good and reflect your target market values.

Make sure your visitors know where they are

Consistency of content across your website is vital.

When your web visitors land on any page (and with great SEO, the first page is often a product or service page, blog article or other page), they need to know within seconds where they are and what that page is about.

For example, if you have product pages, they should all look like your product pages. You’d be surprised how many websites do not follow this rule – and pay the price with visitors going elsewhere.

Be specific with your call to action

If you want your web visitors to call, make it easy for them

What is it you want your web visitors to do? Buy your product, request a quote, call you, sign up for enews, request a brochure – these are just some of the calls to action that businesses need to include on their websites.

Sometimes it is strategic to give visitors options: ask for a brochure, request a quote, email or call. It can be beneficial to have your main call to action on your header so that no matter what page the visitor is on, they can easily find what you want them to do.

In the case of purchasing services or products online, the buy button needs to be on the product pages and be easily found.

Include secondary calls to action

This may be as simple as including ‘Request a quote’ or adding a Facebook ‘Like’ icon. In the case of ecommerce, a wish list button will enable visitors to come back and purchase items they like.

Make it easy to contact or buy

If the goal is for visitors to email you, give them the option on every page

Whether you have an ecommerce website and you want your visitors to buy product or you want your web visitors to take the next step and contact you, make it easy for them to do so.

Simple checkout systems with one page completion before buying is ideal. The checkout page has a high abandonment rate (this is known). Simplicity is the key as is security. Make sure your checkout is secure and give purchase options such as a credit card gateway and PayPal as the minimum.

Add a value proposition

What’s in it for the web visitor? This is a question that your website needs to address.

Get a free download of ‘something that your visitors want’. Test reducing the prices of your products. Add a free bonus gift with a purchase.

All these things can add value and help to convince your visitors that you are the business they want to use.

Give visitors something free such as a free download

Help, help, sell is a good proposition to keep in mind for your website. Don’t be afraid to give some things away.

It’s a moveable feast

Your website is never finished so be prepared to keep working at improving your website. Use Google Analytics to find out which pages are working. Find out how to write good quality, key word content to improve your search engine optimization. Add an interactive element. Change the homepage content.

Revise, refine and rewrite if you have to. Be patient and listen to your visitors/customers.

Last Tip:

Add Facebook's Like and other social icons on your website

Don’t forget social media that allows your web visitors to stay in contact with you even when they don’t come to your website. With millions of people using Facebook every day and checking in on their Facebook page, make sure they like your website so you can stay in touch with them and convert to your customers.

Follow these steps to successfully converting web visitors to web customers.

Bold Type can help design and develop a truly excellent website that will deliver more visitors and more conversions to customers.

We can also help build your search engine optimisation, write web copy and ensure your website is seen by your targeted audience.

Contact Bold Type today for a free quote.

Call Sue Stevens today on 0410 037 635.

Keep improving your website to maintain your success converting visitors to customers

Captivations sports apparel business Facebook page: it's simple and it works! Bold Type work with Captivations to develop content for their website and social media pages.

According to some IT gurus, one in eight minutes spent on the Internet is spent on Facebook. It’s the second highest ranked website after Google with 750 million active users.

That’s why businesses can’t afford to ignore Facebook as part of their marketing strategy. Facebook allows businesses to connect directly to their potential and active client base.

Here are 10 ways to make Facebook work for your business

1. Create your business Facebook page then put some effort into branding your Facebook page to enhance usage and direct visitors to your services or products.
2. Introduce new products on Facebook first and offer some incentive to your Facebook fans.
3. Build your email marketing list with Facebook and likewise build your Facebook fan base through your email marketing campaigns.
4. Post meaningful content on Facebook. What are your fans interested in? Not just your products but get to the core of what your people are interested in. If you have an online clothes business, ‘looking good’ and everything to do with looking good is meaningful to your fans.
5. Keep it light, keep it bright, keep it fun to encourage comments. Write engaging posts that ‘start a conversation’ with your fans. Getting feedback about posts is a good sign that you are on the right track.
6. Video is big – post your YouTube videos directly to your Facebook page to keep your fans on your page rather than sending them off to YouTube.
   

   Virgin Australia has a customised welcome page with 'Like' prominent to encourage people to like the page

7. Get interactive. Run a competition, a quiz or conduct a poll. Add info about it on your website blog and tell people via your enews. It’s all about getting people to communicate with you via your Facebook page.
8. Like other business pages on Facebook. Find other Facebook pages that relate to your business: customers’ Facebook pages, suppliers and other stakeholders. You like them, they may like you and this is good for both!
9. Welcome visitors with a customised ‘welcome’ page. Make your Facebook page yours!
10. If all else fails, there’s always Facebook advertising to build traffic to your Facebook page.

Read more about:

• making social media work for your business
• creating a successful online business.

Steve Jobs with the iPhone – can't live without mine!

It was sad to hear about the death of Steve Jobs. I’m one of millions who admired his work. I’m an Apple girl – have been since first buying my Mac Classic some time last century.

So, with his passing, what can we learn from the man, Steve Jobs?

There is no doubt, the man was inspiring. For business people and just people generally, some of his speeches are worth listening to more than once.

Here’s a few famous Steve Job’s quotes

Things don’t have to change the world to be important.

Stop trying to change the world. Just get on and do it. It’s in the doing that we can find some sense of pride in ourselves and our work.

It’s really hard to design products by focus groups. A lot of times, people don’t know what they want until you show it to them.

I wish some of our politicians would take this on board. True leaders lead and create environments, ways of thinking, products even, that we come to embrace. If you think you have a good idea, you don’t need to get sign off by every person. If you try, you probably end up doing nothing at all.

Loved my Mac Classic – it was so innovative at the time!

I think if you do something and it turns out pretty good, then you should go do something else wonderful, not dwell on it for too long. Just figure out what’s next.

A follow-up to the last quote, keep going. Keep doing. Keep learning. And remember, we learn most from our failures. This is the big message from Steve Jobs. He was removed from Apple in the 90s and came back after time in other businesses, to transform Apple into what it is today.

At the risk of going to far, some of the words that come to mind:  innovative, creative, outstanding.

Here’s two more Steve Jobs’ quotes to finish with

Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know of avoiding the trap of thinking you have something to lose.

And … Stay hungry, stay foolish.

His speech at Stanford University in 2005 is magical: truly wonderful.

What's new in Internetland? Plenty!

It’s worthwhile making the effort to go to conferences particularly if the speakers are giving you the latest, greatest information and not just selling their wares.

The Internet Show today had some very good speakers willing to part with their knowledge. We’re all learning just some are at different stages of the learning curve – nothing is static or not for long in Internetland.

Here are some of the memorable things I learned at the Internet Show – at Darling Harbour, Sydney, 27 October 2011.

1. Mobile is predicted to outstrip computers for searching the Internet in 2013. Australian businesses are slow to take up mobile technology for websites, but it’s going to be essential.
2. Optimized mobile or iPad versions of a website can reduce the bounce rate dramatically. 
   
3. Twitter can be used more effectively than I thought. At the seminar on ‘unleashing the power of social media’, the presenter was speaking to 60 people but he had 36000 tweets about it during his 45-minute presentation.
4. Whatever we do, the end goal is to get people to take the action we want them to take. To do this we need to build trust on our websites: customer ratings and recommendations are believed by 90% of web users. Get ratings and recommendations features on our websites!
5. People love good video content that informs, educates, entertains, explains, is interesting and succinct – it improves a website ranking on Google, is good for adding to social media pages, and people love it.
6. Free shipping of goods is one of the best incentives to give to people buying on the Internet.

Read more about how to have your website (and other online media) work for you 24/7.

If potential clients can't find your business on the Internet, your website is not really working for you

It’s all about SEO – search engine optimization for your website. And it’s not rocket science. It does however require knowledge about how SEO works, how to maximize keywords on webpages, metatagging of pages and so forth.

It also helps if small to medium businesses set up their websites so that they can manage their own SEO. That’s what Bold Type can do for small business owners whose websites are not ranking highly on Google; websites that don’t have good SEO. We can improve business!

27000 page views and rising

One Bold Type client has blitzed the competition with his new Bold Type built website. From about 3000 page views a month (with their old website that we replaced), in 12 months they have gone to 27000 page views for the month of August and they’re expecting September to be higher again.

What has increased web visitors and page views?

Bold Type built the new website for this small business using WordPress, a content management system that allows anyone to keep their website up to date. It went live in August 2010 and immediately there was an increase in traffic to the website. Great metatagging and navigation, increased number of pages all helped. Not only new traffic but very targetted traffic so that business immediately picked up.

New product? No problem. It’s so easy to use that, if you can use type on a keyboard and hit ‘Publish’, then you can use this system. So the company, a small business, can post their own new products, change information as required and make sure that their website is completely up to date. Oh yes, and we supplied a manual on how to metatag new webpages and how to improve SEO.

Because the business is generating so much more new business, and because the owner realises the value of keeping the SEO going strongly, he contracts Bold Type to look after his monthly SEO management. For a minimal cost of around $1000, his business generates up to $30000 more – each month (than it did with the old website). Not only is our SEO management working to increase visitors, we are making sure that the right visitors – potential clients that turn into clients – are targetted. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to work out that that’s got to be good for the business.

If you want your business to be more visible on the Internet, i.e. generate more business from your website, contact Sue Stevens at Bold Type.

Read more about SEO on our website.

See some WordPress websites we have built in our website portfolio.

What is search engine ranking?

Google is the biggest search engine so it's important to aim for a high Google page ranking

Search engine ranking is the value that the big search engines, Google, Yahoo and Bing, ascribe to a website.

Search engines constantly index websites on the Internet so that when someone types in a search term, the search engine can find the most appropriate websites and put them on page one of the search list or SERP (search engine results page).

What do search engines look for when ranking your website?

There are two primary elements to indexing pages:

1. content on your website
2. who is linking to your site.

Indexing content on your website

Search engine ‘bots‘ are constantly trawling the Internet (and your website) looking for relevant information for any search term. The bots look at topics on your website and read the back-end code for title tags, description tags and other clues as to what each webpage on your website is about.

It might be considered a cliche, but content is king when it comes to search engine ranking

This means how you write your content and how you write your metatags to match that content is vital. Each webpage should have its own topic and focus with some keywords that give ‘bots’ the clue to what the page is about.

Be specific and write for a human audience. If you write only to improve SEO (search engine optimization), chances are you will overshoot the optimum keyword density.

Adding content regularly is also important – at least one webpage a week. Having a blog or news section on your website enables you to write one story or webpage about a particular topic relevant to your business, products or services.

Make sure each article has a clear topic and stay focused on that topic. There are no easy shortcuts to improving your ranking. Good content that is clear, concise and stays on topic is a sure winner.

Read more about how to write content for your website.

Who is linking to your website?

Inbound links are a clear indicator to the search engine ‘bots’ of the authority of your website in a particular field. It is not just the number of inbound links, it’s the significance of the website that is linking to you.

Build the number of websites linking to your website to improve your search engine ranking

Another issue is the anchor text used on the other website. Do not link your URL, your website name. Rather, use some relevant keywords that are the anchor for the link.

‘Web Development Sydney’ is excellent anchor text if this is what you do and where your office is. Create the link to a particular webpage on your website that is about web development rather than to your homepage.

Note: internal links on your webpages to other webpages on your website should also link from relevant anchor text. This shows search engines that the page you are linking to is about the keyword or phrase you used as your anchor text.

At Bold Type, we help business people to understand how to optimize their websites, how to write appropriate content, build inbound links and network with social media.

Our aim is to empower people so that they can improve their Google ranking, get more targetted web visitors and build their businesses.

Check your inbound web links free @ W3C, the web standards organisation.

How is your website ranking?

Here’s a simple test. Search for the keywords that best describes your business. Type in the geographic location if this is relevant. Is your website showing on page one of Google? You can get there and Bold Type can help you.

Contact Bold Type today for a free evaluation of your website.

One of the ways to encourage incoming links is to add a ‘Link to us’ page on your website to show how easy it is to create a link. Make it easy for the web person who will be putting the link on their website by adding some options of different image sizes with the code so that all they need to do is copy and paste the code in the appropriate place.

Here’s an example that we did for one of our clients, Captivations.

The image is coded with keywords specifically for netball clubs, organisations and businesses who want to tell their members or customers about Captivations for custom netball uniforms.

Link your logo or another image from a website

Having your logo on the website with the incoming link is easy. When a business adds the code below to their website, this is what appears:

Looks great and a click on the image takes the person to the Captivations website. Because we used ‘custom netball uniforms’ and other keywords, Google can read the alt text and see that Captivations makes ‘custom netball uniforms’.

This is the code that the web person added to upload the image.

<a href=”http://www.captivations.com.au”><img title=”Captivations for Custom Netball Uniforms” src=”http://www.captivations.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Captivations_custom_sportswear-e1313994502447.jpg” border=”0″ alt=”Captivations – Custom Netball Uniforms” /></a>

What if a website only wants to link text from their webpage?

Not a problem. If a website prefers to link text, it is best to provide both the text you want linked and the HTML code as well.

This is what the link would look like on the website with the link to Captivations:

Captivations: for all your custom netball uniforms, netball bodysuits and dresses.

If the web person wants to copy the code, this is what they would use.

<a href=”http://www.captivations.com.au”>Captivations, for all your custom netball uniforms, netball bodysuits and dresses.</a>

Ask for incoming links in an email

Another way to get incoming links is to email targeted websites and simply request a link from their website. Reciprocal links, that is, both websites have links to each other is beneficial for both websites. Avoid programs that promise a world of links as Google will blacklist websites that they perceive as scamming the system.

Incoming links can make a huge difference for attracting new customers. Bold Type can help you to develop your link-building strategy. Contact Bold Type today.

A feature of Linda Magson's new website is the background image which is a part of the business' branding

The latest website built by the Bold Type team was in fact taking an existing website from one content management system (CMS) to another. We moved Linda Magson Counselling from Joomla to WordPress.

In effect, it was a rebuild. Moving files across was not an option as Linda wanted to improve her search engine optimization, add pages such as a blog and improve the navigation with a two-tier drop down menu (DDM).

Our first step was to modify the existing design that Linda wanted to maintain. With the redesign of the homepage, web visitors can access different webpages such as the latest blog posts, the three service areas: counselling, consulting and coaching. We also improved the top header including these key services to allow people to know immediately what services Linda provides.

We also included many features that radically improve search engine optimization: adding meta titles and meta tags on all pages, all-in-one SEO plug in and improving the structure of content on each page with highly-searched keywords.

The best part is that Linda finds it very easy to add content and to change content if she needs to. WordPress is a brilliant website platform that has an easy-to-use content management system.

Linda loves her new website and we know it will work for her to build her business – this, after all, is what an effective website is all about.

Website makeovers can transform your business

Top tips for building search engine optimization

Seven great strategies to turn your website into a money-making machine

Grow your business