Top Web Writing Strategies
Everything is online. From shopping and reading to entertainment and even school, a substantial chunk of our lives is spent on the Internet. This makes your company’s website even more important. Not only does your website serve your current customers, but it also brings in new ones. In order to make your website successful, your written content needs to be top-notch. If your writing is not, your brand image and company overall will suffer. Here are five of the top web writing strategies to improve your content.
Know Your Audience
How will audience analysis enhance my web writing strategies?
Audience analysis continues to pop up in almost every conversation about marketing, public relations, and writing. Why is this? In order to best communicate to your target publics, you need to understand them. This applies to web writing as well. Both your current and potential customers come to your website for information. While this seems like a broad audience, remember that there is no general public. Figure out what the common characteristics and values your customers tend to have, and then market towards those values. Your customers want to feel seen and important, so, if your communication is catered to them, they will be more likely to continue with your company. If you fail to do so, you risk customers feeling alienated from your company.
To analyze your audience, consider creating personas or running focus groups. Personas are great tools to use when writing as you create a whole personality that you can write to. Focus groups can also be helpful when evaluating your company and branding. Receiving live feedback from actual customers is one of the most efficient ways to understand where your audience stands and what they want.
Have Something to Say
How can I best portray my content to communicate effectively?
Now, you’re probably thinking, “if I’m writing content, of course, I’m saying something.” However, this is not always the case. Your writing needs to have a purpose. If it doesn’t, your audience will be confused as to what you are trying to communicate. Your content also needs to stand out from the competition. What are you adding to the conversation? What makes your company different, and therefore, better? These are questions to ask yourself when writing web content. Meaningless words will get you nowhere. In order to effectively communicate, you need to have something to say.
Organize Content Logically
Why is organization important in web writing strategies?
Organization is key to effective web writing strategies. If your content is organized poorly, you’ll only leave your customers confused. Make sure your content is organized logically so that both loyal and new customers can navigate your site. Utilize headings and subheadings to make your writing easy to skim. Big blocks of text are intimidating and time-consuming to read, so structure your writing concisely. Good websites have good organization. If customers cannot find the information they want, they will go somewhere else. Therefore, make sure you logically organize your content to best serve your target audience.
Maintain Your Brand Voice
Why do I need to maintain my brand voice when writing for the web?
Every time you write for your company you need to maintain your brand voice. Now, this can be challenging as every writer writes differently. We all have our own voices and habits in writing, so keeping a consistent style across different content writers can be challenging. How, then, can you maintain your brand voice? Maintaining your brand voice does not mean throwing out any writing style you have. Content writers always leave pieces of their own style in everything they write, however, they just adapt their style to coincide with the voice of the brand. Without this consistency of voice and tone, your audience will be confused with the method of communication.
Utilize SEO
How can SEO boost my web writing strategies?
Don’t forget SEO when writing for the web. Integrating your keywords into your content is an effective tactic to improve your overall ranking. You also need to make sure you have meta descriptions (the descriptions that appear in web browser searches) and alt text (descriptions of images). Not only are these parts needed on your website, but they also work to boost your ranking. Check out Cooper Hollmaier’s article, “SEO and Accessibility: Content” [Series Part 2], at Moz to learn more about using SEO in your content.
By understanding your audience, having something to say, organizing your content logically, maintaining your brand voice, and utilizing SEO, you will be able to boost your web writing strategies. Want to learn more about the top web writing strategies? RedMoxy is here to help! Contact us here to learn more.