Steve Kellas teaches web copywriting to businesses across the UK

As a web copywriter, I make an effort to keep up with usability research and design trends. I was recently reading The Long & Short of Writing for the Web on 52 Weeks of UX (which is amazing, and you should definitely check it out (now at week 42)). The post discusses something I’ve blogged about here before and it got me thinking about how I approach writing web copy.

After I’ve taken a brief, I spend some time getting to know the big picture of the website, how all the sections are divided, and understanding what types of content go where. Then I put on my copywriter hat and I start to map out what will go on each page, often by making outlines for each page of content.

While I am doing this, I am making notes about reader needs and answering questions like: which information do they need to know, which do they want to know about, what should they know about. I focus each page of copy to support 3 goals so that I understand what it is that I am going to point the reader towards.

Being the visitor’s guide

The post on 52 Weeks of UX reminded me that not only do I need to be a good copywriter, ultimately I need to be a good guide for the visitors of the website.

I need to show them the way. Not in a way is manipulative, but in a way that points them in the direction they want to go in.

So what makes a good guide? Let’s imagine a museum guide. Here’s a list of what I think makes a good museum experience:

• The guide is smiling and friendly
• Greets you (possibly in your own language)
• Gives you an overview (of the tour)
• Answers questions confidently
• (At each exhibit) gives you more information (often interesting) that expands on the topic (what you can see within the display)
• Entices you to explore more on your own
• Helps move you on (to the next exhibit)
• Thanks you (for taking the tour)

Is your web copy being a good guide?

I am hearing a lot lately about ‘content curation’ and how brands need to curate content on the social web, and so on. That choice of verbiage is interesting, because in museums, the guides and curators work together to give the best information to their audience.

Your copywriter, and you (or your ‘curator’), should work together too. Your audience will be much happier.

Steve Kellas teaches web copywriting to businesses across the UK

Copywriters know there is only one place in your website copywriting that should be all about you, and that’s your About Us page.

Why? It’s simple.

Your audience cares about themselves, and their reasons for being on your website. They need to do something, or find something, or read something. They are not motivated by how great you say you are, but by how well they believe you have what they need.

You can easily tell a good copywriter from a poor one. Good copywriters do not list out reasons to believe. No. That’s what is in the brief. (Belief is not rational – there are no reasons.) Rather, good copywriters focuses on the needs of the person reading the page. We confirm their needs, and let them know that your service or product can help them with that need.

Conversation isn’t one-sided

And nor should your web copy be one-sided. In my copywriter courses, I use a particular quote by Crawford Killian, author of Writing for the Web which sums it up beautifully:

Every Webtext is really just half a dialogue, with the reader providing the other half.

And that is what you need to achieve in your web copywriting. Like most good conversationalists, you cannot rely on asking a series of questions. That would be off-putting. You need to tell people things too. It is give-and-take.

Now, there’s another little nuance to better copywriting. It’s an old copywriter technique, but it really works. Instead of focussing on the features of your product, write your copy to focus on what your reader will get out of the deal.

Speak of your advantages

Unless you are the first to market with your product or service, you share a lot of features with your competitors. And, the benefits of those features will also be similar. So why focus on what is the same for all of you?

Instead, focus on the advantages of your service or product offer. This is a subtle difference, I know, but it is a powerful tool in your copywriter’s arsenal. In part, this means that you’ll need to know your brand story to tease out the real key advantages to your brand. But, you’ll also need to have a keen understanding of what it is your audience really wants to achieve.

There is a real art to being a conversational copywriter that goes beyond writing in the first person and using a casual tone. It is much more akin to having a real conversation with real people.

Like my grandpa used to say

“You have two ears and one mouth. Use them in that proportion.”