Chapter 3| Online Copywriting

University of Cape Town 2 August 2011

What will I learn today? o  What is Online Copywriting?

o  Where do I find Online Copywriting?

o  Writing for the Web

o  General principles of good writing

o  Search Engine Optimisation

o  Tailoring your web copywriting

o  Writing for your Website

o  Writing for your Email newsletter

o  Writing for your Blog

Online Copywriting Promotional written communication published online. It explains, endorses, convinces, attracts & persuades.

Written word about your company on website, brochures, promotional articles, emails, social media, etc.

Where do I find it?

EVERYWHERE! e.g.

•  Websites

•  Blogs

•  Email promotions

•  Online adverts

•  Promotional articles •  Press releases

•  Social media (Facebook, twitter)

Writing for the web How it differs from normal article writing and why

Principles of good copywriting

•  Start with a plan – list, blog article, tables, images?

•  Keep it simple – short sentences, clear phrases

•  Be active, not passive

•  Write for readability

•  Be consistent

•  Be creative

•  Use correct spelling and grammar

•  Proof read your writing

Principles of writing for the web

•  Keep web copy short and simple

•  Be genuine and honest – be credible!

•  Focus on headlines, leads and captions

•  Have a clear call to action

•  Create value

What is the purpose of this platform?

Who is the audience?

What content do they want?

What action do you want them to take?

Tailoring your web copywriting

80% of users don’t read text on the Web. They SCAN

Make text SCANNABLE Highlight keywords, links, sub-headings, bulleted lists, one idea per paragraph

Credibility is important and can be increased by high-quality graphics, good writing & outbound hypertext links.

Avoid Promotional writing as site users detest “marketese”

Web Content Considerations

How do we engage readers to share our content / stories? Identify the target market with whom you can have an engaged conversation of a long period of time

Simple rules for reader engagement

"   Encourage comments

"   Turn questions into content – invite readers to ask questions & answer questions in public, e.g. Advice columns

"   Reader activities

"   Multimedia engagement

"   Pay attention to your headline

"   Pay attention to your conclusion - Wrap things up in a way that encourages conversation, comments and discussion. Get your readers involved. Learn about their experiences. Ask open-ended questions. Have them talk about themselves.

Tips for great headlines

•  Keep it short – under 10 words

•  Be specific

•  Use simple, unambiguous words

•  Make the reader curious, e.g. emotive words

•  Ask questions / make statements

•  Address reader directly – use “you”

•  Numbers work well, e.g. “5 tips for”

•  Benefit / rewards work well, e.g. “how to”

•  Honesty is key

Email newsletters Targeted at people who’ve taken action to connect with your brand. Main purpose is to keep customers engaging with your brand on a regular basis & update them on news.

•  Conversational & informative

•  Must be short & entertaining

•  Address current, relevant issues

•  Provide backlinks to website

•  Subject line = nb! Keep it consistent & clearly branded

Writing for your Blog A blog is an online journal or repository that’s updated regularly and focuses quite narrowly on a specific topic

Pointers to Blog Copywriting

"   Think about what your customers will be interested in

"   Focus on specific topic or angle & stick to it

"   Keep individual articles short (even if you have long articles)

"   Great way to improve website ranking through SEO

"   Personal stories & case studies make for good reading

"   Advice articles are very popular

"   Encourage audience interaction with your blog post

Writing for your Website Public face of your brand online

•  Content should be general & informative

•  Your product solves their problem

•  Provide valuable content for those familiar with your offerings

•  “What do people need to find & learn?”

•  Short copy written to encourage an action

•  Point visitors to best content

Website elements to consider

"   Your contact page – Keep it to a minimum, provide your details clearly & separately

"   Your navigation – must be clear & obvious

"   Your about page – include business credentials and history – quick summary of origins & services

"   Repetition – use same keywords & phrases to emphasise selling points of your business, be consistent

SEO & Copywriting Search Engine Optimisation (i.e. achieving higher rankings on Google) goes hand in hand with Online Copywriting

Writing for the web achieve many goals

"   Become a top ranked resource in major search engines where people are searching for words related to your industry, topic, or organisation.

Search engine credibility allows you to:

"   Increase exposure of your site on major search engines "   Attract customers actively looking for your services

"   Reach journalists and reporters to get more press coverage

"   Build brand awareness and improve your online credibility

A Guide to Optimised Web Pages

Important On-page SEO factors

Header counts

Combination is best – Intitle,

Inurl, Inanchor counts

ALT text counts

URL Structure –

Inurl counts

Title Tag – Intitle counts

Meta description

counts

Content – Search terms

count

Embedded links counts

Header tags The header tags in HTML (H1, H2, H3, etc.) indicate subject hierarchy in a web page. They tell the engines “this is what the page is about”.

§  An H1 tag might be considered the headline of the page as a whole, while H2 tags would serve as sub-headers, H3s as tertiary level headlines, etc.

§  The search engines have shown a preference for keywords appearing in header tags. It is generally best practice to use the title tag of a page, containing the important keywords, as the H1 tag.

§  This provides keyword relevance and delivers a great user experience.

H1 Launch of the Renault Koleos 4x4 Dynamique

The Renault Koleos, serious 4x4 fun H2

Title tags

Where it appears:

›  In the title bar of your web browser

› As the headline of most search snippets on search results pages

§  Search engines rank pages, not web sites. §  The title tag is the #1 on-page search ranking factor §  A good title tag will get your search ranking clicked. A

bad one will likely drive away potential visitors.

The Technical Bones and Guts and Stuff Ø  If you click 'View' and then 'Page Source' in Firefox, or View >> Source in Internet Explorer,

you'll see what the title tag looks like when the skin's off the skeleton

Image Titles & ALT text It is important to add ALT text to images when uploading images to your CMS

§  This makes indexing more effective and is an easy way to gain more targeted traffic without appearing to “keyword stuff” your pages.

§  The biggest benefit is that your pages will also appear in relevant image searches

The Technical Bones and Guts and Stuff

Renault Koleos Dynamique 4x4 2009 model

Embedded Links

§  Link between your site content and related articles and guides readers to related content on your site

§  Also link to external links (content sources) e.g. YouTube video of Behind the Music documentary

The Technical Bones and Guts and Stuff

& remember the #1 rule: Content is King “Ask yourself what creates value for your users” sayeth Google.

Golden nuggets to writing for Search An optimal page for the phrase “vw polo" would look something like:

Put your key phrases in headlines and sub-headlines

Use the key phrase often in your body (at least 3 times)

Make sure your meta description is SERP friendly (max 150 characters)

Link key phrases to related pages (link to at least 1 related article)

Make sure one of your key phrases is in bold

Put your key phrase into the image description and ALT tag

On-page copy | Best Practice Rules "   Use an optimised document structure - follow a journalistic format

wherein the document starts with a description of the content, then flows from broad discussion of the subject to narrow. In addition to SEO value, they provide the most readable and engaging informational document.

"   Make the text on-topic and high quality - Great writing can provide benefits to rankings, as well as visitors.

"   Be consistent - Once you've determined a good formula for your pages, stick to that regimen

"   Bold important key phrases – highlights importance of what you’re talking about

"   Target searcher intent - When you're writing titles for web pages, keep in mind the search terms your audience employed to reach your site.

SEO Best Practices for Articles "   Ideally a minimum of 250 words of copy per page

"   Include primary keyword / key phrase 5-7 times per page, with at least 1 mention in first 1,000 characters of text

"   Hyperlink 1st mention of primary keyword/key phrase to article/feature with similar topic

"   Repeat topic in the headline - Re-using the title tag of each page as the H1 header tag can be valuable from both a keyword targeting standpoint and a user experience improvement

"   Try to stick to one idea per paragraph

"   Use bullet point lists when talking about multiple topics

"   You can have an editorial title that’s still optimized: use a colon!

"   Feel the Burn: Hot Muscle-Building Exercises

Web Copywriting : Summary Website   Email   Blog  

Purpose   Inform  about  product/brand   Remind  subscribers  about  brand   Inform  &  entertain  readers  

Encourage  visitors  to  make  purchase   Inform  about  new  offers   Position  brand  as  expert  in  =ield  Engage  with  other  platforms  (email,  social  networks)   Keeps  customers  updated   Explain  need  for  product  

Audience   Anyone   Existing  customers   Members  of  brand  community  

People  interested  in  brand/  product  

Interested  people  who  can  be  converted  to  customers   People  in  industry  

People  looking  for  solution  to  problem  

New  contacts  to  introduce  to  brand  

Readers  not  interested  in  content  but  not  your  brand  

Content   Informative  &  detailed   Interesting  &  relevant   Informative,  useful,  valuable  &  

educational  Promotional   Value-­‐added  material   Indirectly  related  to  your  product  Highly  organised   Condensed  &  regular      

Action   Become  a  customer   Click  through  to  website   Comment  &  engage  with  material  

Engage  with  other  marketing  channels   Forward  to  friends  &  colleagues   Share  content  with  friends  &  colleagues           Convert  to  customers  

Style  

Open  &  honest   Brief  &  conversational   Conversational  &  engaging  General  &  explanatory   Entertaining  &  readable   Personal  &  friendly  Simple,  scannable  &  well  structured   Promotional   Open-­‐ended  Repetitive   Tailored  to  your  readers   In-­‐depth  &  informational  Conveys  brand  personality