You want to improve your website copy? Here are ten quick and dirty tips that you can implement today to connect with readers.
- Make your copy easy to read. This includes breaking up your copy, keeping it short-n-sweet and providing lots of white space. Make sure you only use three to four sentences per paragraph and sometimes even less. Emphasize key lines and phrases with bold or italicized text.
- Write great headings by brainstorming 10-20 headlines for each page.
- Give specific info or a little known fun fact. A few specific interesting details are better than general phrases that are forgettable.
- Create a saved file of great phrases and sentences for your brand. Pick the ones you like best and sprinkle them throughout your website.
- Write like your customer talks. Don’t know how to match your ideal reader’s speech? Go to where they hang out and search for your topic or products. Use reddit for examples of reviews or questions. Look at Amazon reviews to see how you ideal readers express themselves Highlight responses and put them in a saved folder so you can use your reader’s language in your website copy.
- Place your latest book news front and center. This might seem obvious, but I’ve seen too many sites where the author tries to inject herself into the foreground. It’s understandable why an author might want to do this, but it’s important not to. Feature new content first—the kind of news everyone wants to read. What readers are really coming to your site for is to determine whether or not they should spend money on your book. Make it about the book.
- An obvious “call to action.” What do you want your web visitor to do? Buy your book? Sign up for updates? Add their name to your newsletter mailing list? The goal of every great author website is to elicit some kind of action from the reader.
- A clear way to contact you, the author. This includes links to your social media profiles, but there should also be a way to contact you directly. You don’t need to post your email address, you can have a widget or form that keeps the email address private, but a direct line makes you approachable.
- Promotion of upcoming events. Do you have a speaking event scheduled? Don’t forget to share about it!
- Make it visual. As writers we like words, but don’t make your website too word-centric. Add plenty of visuals in to give it eye candy.