Website Copywriting – The first things to pay attention to

Before you start with website copywriting

One of the first things to take care of while creating a website is content. And one of the most important things about creating content is website copywriting. If you ask any UX expert about the user experience on websites, they will undoubtedly mention the written content as one of its essential elements. The other two being the web site’s design and UX. So, while you’re thinking of creating a new website for your business, or improving your old one, a great place to start is the quality of the written word.

Okay, now that we’ve established that, here’s a few basic things you should bear in mind before and when you start creating content for your website.

Tone of voice

One of the first things to set up is the tone of voice. When it comes to web copywriting, the tone of voice depends on a couple of things: 

• The goal of the website 
• The branding of the company whose website it is
• The targeted audience
• The type of website

So, what is that “tone of voice” virtually? The definition says that the tone of voice is how the character of a business is expressed through words. Both written and spoken. But in this case, I’m talking about the written part. For instance, if you are writing content for a big corporation that’s in tax business or something serious like a bank, you probably won’t use a lot of fancy, decorative words.

How to set up the tone of voice? 

There is a great way to determine the tone of voice used for website copywriting. Regardless of the company size. You can send a form to the people working in your company and ask them questions about the brand. How would it communicate if it were a person? These are some of the question examples: 

• Would [brand name] communicate more relaxed or more conservative? 
• What would [brand name] be interested in if it was a person?
• What would [brand name] be an expert in?
• And so on…

By getting your colleagues to fill out this form, you get a broader view of your brand by the people who know it best – the very employees of that company. So, after you’ve set up the tone of voice, you’re ready for the next step. 

The importance of headlines in website copywriting

Headlines are so important for website copywriting, I can’t even begin to explain it. Headlines are so important in copywriting, generally that I believe I’ve had this same paragraph heading in a couple more blog posts I wrote (about copywriting). Only a small amount of people will read the majority of the text on your website. That’s why headlines are, probably, the most crucial part of website content. Their task is to draw your reader’s attention to the parts of your website that are most important to you.

Website text

Website text is the central part of a job for website copywriting. Website text is the part where a copywriter gets a little bit more freedom in terms of the amount of writing he/she can write. If you’re a copywriter, you know how it’s not a problem for us to write thousands of words, and create long texts. Sometimes, it can be just the opposite. And that’s what’s probably an essential website copywriting rule to follow – keep it short! Nobody wants to read tractates on your website. That’s what books (and tractates are invented).

Here’s some more website copywriting rules to follow during the textual content creation for a website: 

1. Be very clear (and as soon as possible) about what is it you’re offering (product, service, etc.) 
2. Use the text to tell a story about your brand, and try to make it memorable
3. I shouldn’t even write this one but – watch out for spelling, grammar, and syntax
4. Include testimonials – it’s nice to hear what you have to say, but it’s also crucial to see what others say about your brand

If you want to become friends with the designer you’re working with on a website, try to balance the number of symbols in your text in between paragraphs. The designer’s job will be so much easier, and you’ll have fewer corrections later on in the project progress.

CTA Buttons

Ah, the CTA buttons. I like to think of them as the exact opposite of headlines. What the headline is supposed to start, the CTA button should finish. CTA is a “Call to Action” button. Its main task is to convert a website visitor into a lead for the sales team. It can drive many different actions that depend on the goal of your website. One of the most famous CTA buttons on webshops is “Add to cart.”

If we combine the word “cart” and the fact that CTA is a “button,” we can conclude that they’re imitating something. Because, neither is the “cart” in the “add to cart” a genuine cart nor is the CTA, an actual button. They’re an on-screen imitation of a platform created for a prospect to buy something.

The CTA button is a part of the website which is done together by a designer and copywriter. While a designer decides on the CTA’s color, placement, amount, etc., a copywriter should think of an engaging word or couple of them to induce the desired action. A CTA button should be a synergy of both design and copy. To conclude, these are some CTA button text variations in which they can appear. Their final form depends on several things such as design, client’s demands, website goals, etc. Here are some examples for you to see what I mean:

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