The Turner Ink blog contains rants, bloopers, observations and opinions. It also has handy tips on grammar and punctuation such as colons: semicolons; and full stops. As well as some very useful ‘how tos’. Feel free to leave comments. Be nice though.

Turner Ink

Copywriting Services London

Archive for the 'Website & SEO copywriting' category

How to write successful website copy. A beginner’s guide

17th
Mar
by Sarah Turner

You’ve decided you need a website. You’ve briefed a whizz-bang designer and you’ve found yourself agreeing to write the copy. It can’t be that difficult right? Wrong!

Writing successful website copy can be tough. But here are a few tips to get you started. 

Who’s calling?
Have a clear idea of who will be visiting your website. Will they already know about your product or service? What are they looking for? Are they going to order from your site? Know your visitor – and write punchy copy that will appeal to them.

Look at me!
Headlines and sub headings should grab your visitor’s attention. Once you’ve got ‘em hooked – keeping them on your site should be easy.

Size matters
Visitors will scan a page rather than read every word. Keep your sentences and paragraphs short and snappy.
• And use
• bullet points
• where you can.

What’s in it for me?
The history of your company may be of interest to you but your visitor just wants to know the benefits. Remember to tell them on the first page.

And………action!
Get your visitor involved by including Calls to Action: ‘download free information’, ‘call us now’ and ‘click here for more details’.

Eeeek! Be spider friendly
Use relevant keywords or phrases to ensure the search engine spiders know exactly what you site is all about. Don’t forget spiders also love clear, relevant copy so don’t drown your copy in search terms.

That’s so last year
Keep your website copy fresh and current by updating it regularly. Have a news page with company news, employee achievements or new product information. If you don’t care about your site – why will your visitor?

Don’t want to try this yourself? Call Turner Ink


Don’t be a website bore. It’s all about conversations not speeches

6th
Mar
by Sarah Turner

Imagine yourself at a party; glass of warm punch in one hand, cold sausage roll in the other. And you’re trapped with the party bore. He’s giving you a speech about his latest achievements; the speed of his car; his golf handicap; and his plans for world domination. You can’t get a word in edgeways and he doesn’t ask you anything about yourself. It’s a drag isn’t it?   

Now take a look at your website. Is it the online equivalent of the party bore? Is it talking about how great your company is; what it’s achieved; how long it’s been going; and what it sells?

Your website should talk with your customers not at them.

Have you got a problem with something? We think our product or service can help.
What else would you like to know? We’re waiting for your call.
How can we help you? Drop us a mail.

In fact, your website should be the ultimate party host: entertaining, attentive and helpful. 

Now pass me a glass of champers.


Keeping it real on the web

15th
Oct
by Sarah Turner

When you’re trying to optimise your website and get it to appear higher up the search engine rankings, it’s tempting to stuff your site with lots of juicy keywords and search terms. But be careful. If you overdo it you’ll have the search engines scoffing at your attempt to outsmart them, and your readers saying eh? I found this last week:  

If you’re looking for a luxury hotel in France then take a look at the luxury hotels in French Alps that we feature. The French Alps luxury hotels listing are perfect for the luxury traveller. Also look out for luxury villas in French Alps. A luxury villa vacation can be a great alternative to a luxury hotel in France. Read luxury hotel reviews in French Alps from the luxury hotels in French Alps page.

Yuk. There’s a fine balance between including relevant keywords and keeping the copy readable. As Stephen Pratley of Shine Marketing said to me last week ‘good search engine optimisation is like a good boob job: you should do enough to get noticed, but not so much that it’s an obvious fake’.

I couldn’t agree more. 


On the home front

9th
Sep
by Sarah Turner

I spent most of the summer looking at website home pages. And do you know what? Some are pretty darn awful. Remember, you have just a few seconds to grab your visitor’s attention – so get to the point as quickly as possible. Tell them you understand their problem; explain the benefits of your product or service; and keep the sentences short and sweet. Here are a couple of corkers I found. Don’t try this at home. 

“X company offers solutions for businesses involved in offshore fiduciary management and funds administration activities. Our products allow us to offer our clients an enterprise wide solution that assists in streamlining their operations and achieving seamless “straight through processing”.”

“At a time when people are receiving ever increasing amounts of direct communication via all media, you need to know that when you send out a communication, the management of the whole operation will be carried out efficiently and you will be sure of achieving the desired results.”

Eeeek! If you work for either of these companies don’t sue me. Give me a call and I’ll rewrite your home page FOC.


 

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