Round up of web copy posts
Posted in Site content on: Friday, May 29, 2009 by Paul Boag
Our copy is probably the most important aspect of our websites and yet we give it nowhere near the prominence we do design. That has to change.
I have found myself increasingly frustrated by the lack of attention copywriting gets on the web. As a result, it is a subject I find myself constantly returning to. In fact by looking back through this sites archive I can see it is a subject I have written about regularly almost since day one.
I have continually tried to encourage others to take their copy more seriously and tried to provide basic advice about writing for the web.
I therefore it was about time I brought the best of my posts on the subject into one easy to access place. I hope you find it useful…
Effective website copy
This post is essentially a list of copywriting tips. Advice includes; avoiding jargon, keeping it short, avoid marketing talk and much more.
Managing site content
This posts asks; is a CMS really the answer to all our site management woes and why are so many organisations unhappy with the way they manage content?
Advice for CMS users
A more detailed breakdown of best practice when writing for the web. This post is an ideal guide for those who have to use content management systems regularly and contains advice not just on copywriting but accessibility too.
How much to blog?
This addresses some of the questions surrounding blogging. Questions such as, is it regularity or frequency that matters and is quality or quantity more important?
The 4 essential web writing tips
This guest post provides a professional copywriters perspective on the subject. The four tips include; write specifically for the web, break it up, make it about the reader and relax.
Copy with personality
Dovetailing nicely with my recent article about site personas this post showcases three excellent examples of copy stuffed with personality.
Your feedback?
But what about you? What are your thoughts on the state of website copy? Do you pay for a professional copywriter and if not why? Do you find website owners unwilling to invest in this area? Finally, are there some great articles that should be included in this list?
Share your thoughts in the comments.
For even more posts check out the site content section of this website.
4 Comments
Comments are for the discussion of this post. If you have other questions / comments then post them to the forum or send me an email
You should take your copy seriously.
“I have continually tried to encourage others to take their copy more seriously and tried to provide basic advice about writing f0r the web.”
Instead of f0r it should be for!!!
Thanks for the great post don’t mind what I wrote above. Just playing!
- Efrain
Fair comment :-) Fixed now!
It’s good to see this type of article, but it barely scratches the surface of web copy. Scanability etc are a must, and clients should be educated so that they become aware that they cannot just use the copy from a brochure. It has to be written specifically for the web.
I have to say that I would also avoid many marketing types (I am one of those I’ afraid), most have no concept of why the web is different to traditional brochure copy. This is changing, but very slowly.
It is worth reading some of Jakob Nielsen’s post on copy, as things like front loading keywords are useful. They help both scannability and search engines correctly characterise the information. For example this article might have been titled “Web Copy – a roundup of recent posts”. The critical information is therefore in the eye path of the reader rather than them having to read the whole title, which many of them will not.
BBC news is also a great example of how to write a good headlines. Their few words manage to convey all the necessary information into a short space that conveys what the person will read in an article.
If you are wondering why this is important, remember the story of the $30M button. That was essentially a copy change. Even a well designed site you can often double or more click through rates by optimising the copy. That makes a huge difference to a companies bottom line and that is really hard to ignore.
btw – Still love this podcast! I have been listening since episode 1 and have learned a lot from it. Can’t believe you are passed episode 150 and I am still listening. Well done!
I also wrote a (deliberately) brief post on writing for the web on my blog: http://petewilliams.info/blog/2009/02/the-less-you-say-the-more-we-listen/