In today’s day and age, communication is faster than ever. To that end, we’ve seen significant changes in the way that even our colloquial styles of speech and writing are used. Thanks to BlackBerries, the iPhone and social networking sites everyone is texting, poking, LOL’ing, or friending a new digital face at some point throughout their day. So, where does this new way of speaking to one another leave us web marketers? What’s the best way to successfully reach the audiences we target via the web? With so much to consider, like catchy headlines, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and the latest marketing fads, well; how do we write superstar copy for websites? The biggest conundrum we encounter when writing for the web is whether to take the old school copywriting approach or the SEO approach to copywriting. Obviously, the answer is both. The hard part, however, is finding a balance between the two to make sure you’ve got the attention of both your readers and those search engines. As a freelance copywriter, I will always argue that good prose should be your primary focus. My partner and SEO extraordinaire, on the other hand, will always tell you otherwise. That said, we’re going to explore good prose first (sorry Lex). Maybe it’s similar to the chicken or the egg argument, but, in my opinion, SEO is useless if your site doesn’t compel visitors enough to stick around. As web marketers, we do this in two ways - we sound interesting and we sound smart. I’ve designed my own little ABC approach to writing good web copy based on the key ideas that are out there. A is for Attention. This is the #1 rule of thumb for writing great copy. Whether it’s for a website or for print, you have got to get your reader’s attention. This is done mostly in the headline and sub-headline. How you go about sounding interesting is really up to you. I’ve heard of doing everything from picking randomly worded flashcards out of a hat. B is for the Basics. When writing for the web, readability is key. In order to achieve readability your prose need to stick to the basics. Remember to use short sentences and clear, everyday language. Brevity is of the utmost importance. Making use of bullet points is a great way to implement this (it will also help with SEO). C is for a Call-to-Action. In print, this is the line that starts with, “Call today” or “Fill out the attached …”. On the web, these are the “Click Here” links that bring us to the next page or location on the web – whether it’s to check out a new product or actually buy something, we’re taking an action that increases our involvement with the brand. Now that you know the ABC’s of writing good copy for the web lets take a look at SEO. Our goal with SEO is to include key words and phrases that apply to our target audience so search engines will notice our website. The hard part is using enough of these words/phrases in the right spots on the page without interrupting the message or degrading your prose. This can be achieved using a few simple steps. 1. Place key phrases in the title tag of the html header of the page. 2. Avoid interrupting the flow of your writing by including key terms and phrases in the headers and sub headers wherever possible, preferably within html header tags (<h1> & <h2> tags). 3. Put key words and phrases in bulleted lists in specially formatted text (like bold or italic) and in hyperlinks and image titles or alt tags. 4. Include 2-3 key terms or phrases per paragraph - but make sure it still reads well! Bottom line – there needs to be a balance when it comes to copywriting for websites and for SEO. Moving up on Google’s rankings list is like walking down the red carpet. You can work hard focusing solely on SEO to get recognized, but if you look like crap when everyone’s finally looking at you, you’re site will go from rank to stank faster than you can twitter or text the news to your boss.

Creating a website is not the easiest task. Yes it may seem easy, but if you want the best results there are a lot of things you must put into perspective.   The following are the top 10 things one worries about while creating a site: 1 - Design - Your design is the most important aspect of your entire website.  If visitors can’t look at your Home page and determine what your site’s about within the first 10 seconds of their visit, then you’ve failed at establishing yourself and your message.   Format and structure (while they might not be the most exciting pieces of the puzzle), are an extremely important contribution to the site’s design.  They organize information and images to properly target your market.   You should decide what your target market is and then figure out if a flash design or an html design is where you want to go.  Format and structure also play a role in your site’s SEO (search engine optimization). 2 - Content - The reason why people come to your website is to get information. Your content has to be readable and your site’s information must be easy to find. Bullets and short paragraphs are the best way to display content.  Content eventually will play a role in SEO.  Make sure that all your content is relevant, legitimate, and grammatically correct. You want people to bookmark and recommend your site. This happens when your content is good and makes people want to come back. 3 - Graphics & Load Time - Graphics are a very important feature on a website. Having attractive designs and graphics can determine if someone wants to return to your site. You don’t want your site to be visually displeasing or plain.  Even if your content is good, visitors might be deterred by the lack of an entertaining or appealing user-interface.  As a web designer you have to worry about load time, which is another thing that plays a major role in creating a great website. Too many graphics and hover images can cause your website to load extremely slow, which can be a negative for customers/visitors and for SEO.  4 - Links - You want to create links to connect content, however, you don’t want too many main links.  Sub-links are a  very popular thing and a good web site will not have all the links across the Home page. The most links a website should have is 8.  Too many links on a page can create confusion and clutter within your site.   Keeping a consistent 8 links is the way to go.  One alternative to multiple and separate links for various things is to have one link that goes to products (for example) and then have sub-links that go deeper into your product line. This allows customers to easily find things, rather than search through all the links on the top of your page. 5 - SEO - Search Engine Optimization is one of the most important web marketing tools for your website.  In order to take advantage of SEO, you must create a design that is easily navigable (no tables use divs!), and you must utilize the right content, keywords, descriptions, etc.  There are so many different aspects of SEO I could write a book!  In fact, many people do write books about it.  If you have the time, I suggest picking one up.  One thing to remember is that you need to have a good title, keyword, description, and content in order to help you on Google, Yahoo, and MSN search engines. 6 - Email - It is important to look professional and keep your email with the @yourcompanyname.com - For instance my email is adagostino@blackrhinosolutions.com - It looks professional, unifrom and it’s convenient because people will remember it rather then alexadagostino@gmail.com. 7 - Consistency - You want your website to stay consistent throughout. You want all your links to be in the same spot and you want your content to be in the exact same place on each page.  This promotes consistency, which allows visitors to navigate through your site much quicker and easier.    8 - Maintenance - Maintaining your website is the most important thing. You don’t want old - outdated, content on your site. You also don’t want your designs to be out of date. They say that 80% of people’s web marketing funds go to Maintaining their websites. 9 - User-Friendliness - Make sure that every link has a destination.  You do not want people to get lost in your site or leave your site because they hit a 404 error.  You also want visitors to easily find the info they need from your website. 10 - Stand Out - You want to look at competitor’s websites and figure out a way to make your site unique and different from theirs. You want to give your customers a reason to choose your website or remember your website over your competitors. The above is just a guideline for the very basic things one must consider before starting a website.  As a web designer, I see the endless amounts of new information that develop each day surrounding these topics.  If you feel your ready to tackle your own designs and web creation that’s great.  But if your looking for up-to-date, quality work, my personal recommendation is to go with the professionals who have made what they love doing and what they have an aptitude for their life.  Hire a web designer so you  can leave worries like the ones above (in addition to so much more) up to the people who make these types of worries into works of art. If you have any questions please feel free to comment on this article and I’ll be glad to help you!