In just a few steps you can create the perfect web text? Does it sound utopian? But it is not.
We provide you with useful tips on copywriting and reveal how to create good website copy so that your website stands out from the competition.
How to write good web copy?
In order to answer this question, we must first clarify the question of what constitutes a web text in the first place.
There are many people who are talented at writing. These people are mostly surprised that their texts are virtually ignored by search engines like Google.
This is mainly due to the fact that Google aligns the ranking of entries according to the needs of the user. And these needs are predominantly different when searching on the Internet than when searching for a book or a magazine.
Characteristics of good web texts What makes a good text on the Internet?
Although certain principles apply to any good text (regardless of whether it is published on the web or in analog form), there are also significant differences.
Good content is one of the most important Google ranking factors and plays an important role in search engine optimization (SEO). The following basic tips will surely help you write good text for the website. And if you are not successful even with these tips, there is always the possibility of hiring text professionals and writing good texts for the website.
Define target group
Before you sit down in front of a blank sheet of paper, you should think about who you are writing the text for. Is the target group younger or older? Are your visitors women or men? Is the target group employed or students? All of these questions influence not only the language but also the choice of words, the content and the structure of the website.
Text is king
It goes without saying that a good text must be grammatically correct. You should also pay attention to spelling and typos, as common mistakes can significantly disrupt the reading flow.
Exciting start
The beginning is crucial to any good text. Because this is where most readers get lost. Good introductions are scenic, convey an image, arouse curiosity or challenge the reader.
Correct text length
Are long texts with a high word count bad? Clear answer: no. Long texts are only bad if they are uninformative and boring to read. You probably already see where this is going: good writing is entertaining, engaging, inspiring and tempting for readers to read to the end.
But even the most exciting online article can be too long. A semi-professional study found that the optimal reading time for an online text is about seven minutes. This is, of course, a very vague indication, because reading speed is very individual (which brings us back to the target group analysis).
Stick to the rules for SEO writing
It has probably been widely known that all texts are written primarily for readers. However, you should always keep in mind that these texts are published on a website on the Internet. Therefore, different rules apply to texts in the online world than to a book or newspaper.
A good website text is not only written to entertain readers, but also to provide them with useful information, which users have been actively searching for. It is also about writing a search engine-optimized text, the so-called SEO text, so that it can be found.
The term SEO text is often frowned upon, but only because most people have the wrong idea. In the past, SEO texts were only prepared for search engines, had an extremely high keyword density of the main keyword, and were therefore unreadable and of little use to users.
Today, on the other hand, it has become almost impossible to write articles that rank well without providing the reader with a certain added value.
However, there are some basic SEO concepts that distinguish a good online text from an article with good content in offline media:
- The search term (main keyword) for which you want to be found should appear in the headings.
- Titles should not be incredibly creative or abstract, but should be understandable and have a clear connection to the following paragraph.
- Thematically relevant secondary keywords (e.g. technical terms) should be present in the text.
- Technical terms that may be unfamiliar are not explained in parentheses or with a footnote, but are linked to a detailed explanation.
- Important terms or text passages are highlighted in bold or italics.
- Sentences are fairly short and understandable.
- The search intent should always be met, so unnecessary digressions should be avoided.
- Bullets, lists and graphics break up the text optically and make it easier to scan by eye.
Invest time in titles
If your main goal is to get your site to rank higher on Google with a good article, then you should use important keywords (key terms that are frequently searched for) in all titles. For search engines like Google, titles provide an important clue about the topic of the text.
There are also numerous studies on titles that are worth mentioning at least.:
- Readers typically only register the first 3 and last 3 words of a headline.
- Adjectives arouse emotions and increase click-through rates.
- Odd-numbered headlines get 20% more clicks than even-numbered headlines.
- Headlines that contain a question attract more attention
And there are many more of them. Because it is no wonder that reputable newspapers hire text professionals who only deal with the formulation of headlines. The heading (H1) of your web text should always stand out and attract attention.
As early as the 1960s, scientists addressed the question of which factors make a news story relevant to the recipient. Just this: If your main headline does not meet even one of the so-called news factors, then you have done something wrong, whether you want it or not.
Subheadings, on the other hand, are primarily used in web texts to improve the structure of the text and make it more comprehensible.
Consider structure, layout and linking
The next important point on the agenda is a clear structure and layout. Good web text should be meaningful, logically structured and ideally comprehensible. In online texts, structure and layout are of particular importance, because classic online users tend to skim through continuous text.
Good web texts have links
A classic quality feature of good web texts are external and internal links. The fact that you can link to further information in online texts is also a great advantage over printed texts. This fact should always be kept in mind when writing a text for a website.
So if you find good content while doing keyword research, don't be afraid to link to it in your text as well. The same applies, of course, to your own articles already published on the website, as long as they fit thematically with the content.
Subtitles for good website text
Eye-catching headings are suitable for the structure. Longer text blocks should have subheadings so that the content is structured in an even more comprehensible way (which also pleases Google and improves Google ranking). It is also recommended that you make a paragraph after five lines at most. Enumerations (bullets) as well as images and graphics considerably enhance the text of a website.
If you are concerned about the design, do not forget that you are seeing the result in both the mobile and desktop versions. Because more than 60% of Internet users surf the World Wide Web with their smartphone or tablet. Therefore, the mobile view is of particular importance. The basic requirement for a successful design is a website with so-called responsive web design.
Creative approach
When you write online copy, you have to differentiate yourself from the competition in some way. While you don't have to completely reinvent the wheel, a creative or fun approach can definitely help. Try to stand out from the crowd in some way.
Concern about the end
You should also think carefully about the end of your text. Summarize the most important points in a conclusion, because many people expect a short summary at the end of Internet texts.
