What is Web Content?
Web content refers to the words, information, pictures, and graphics on webpages. Web content development, for the most part, deals with the content area outlined below.
What is Web Content Development?
A content developer, occasionally called a content marketer, manipulates information, words, headers and images within the content area to clearly and effectively communicate a message, in order to achieve a desired result.
In other words, a content developer makes web pages read well, look pretty & function properly – resulting in more people buying your stuff, calling for your services or donating to your charity.
There are a number of web content development procedures you can follow to help create an effective webpage.
Writing Web Content: It’s not about you.
It’s about your audience.
Understand your Customers
It can be difficult for members of a company to create their own web copy. It involves taking an honest and objective look at what drives people to your business and what motivates them to purchase, and that’s not easy.
It’s important to understand that, for the most part, people are infinitely more interested in themselves than anything else. Readers want to know how something will affect them, how they will save money, or how will it make their lives easier. When you make the conversation focus on the most important person in the world (you- the reader) the message seems a little more interesting.
Don’t use Technical Terms
Imagine you need someone to print business cards and you come across two options.
Having the best “Fontastic 3600 Dual Formatter” might make you the envy of all other local printers. It might mean a LOT to people within your industry, but it means nothing to your clients, and means even less to people searching for printing companies.
The second company says what they can do for you, shows you the next step (contact for free estimate) and communicates affordability. Also, because they use key search terms (business card printing) in the content, they have a better chance of showing up in search engines.
When I want someone to print my business cards I don’t search for “Calypso 3600.” I search for “business card printing.” Write for your reader, not for your ego.
Design Web Content, Visually
Break it up with Headers
Never, ever have big condensed paragraph, unless you intentionally don’t want people to read it. (That’s called the “fine print” technique: writing a lot of very important information, like warranties or exclusions, in a huge grey colored paragraph with small type.) Break up your copy with headers that function like section titles. This makes it easy for people to scan the page & find what they need.
Stick to 400-1200 Words per Page
Bla bla bla. People lose interest in long articles. Break it up into separate, more specific pages. For example, instead of having one very long “Services” page, have a short synopsis of each service, then link out to more detailed sub-services pages. Having specific services pages can help you rank higher in search results (SEO) and make it easier for your customers to find what they are looking for.
When I sat down to write this article, I came up with about 3,500 words. So I broke it down into 3 sub-articles that I will unravel to you over the course of whenever I have a spare moment. Follow ZGM on twitter to read these articles when they come out. Look forward to:
- Content Development & SEO
- Content Development Tricks: How Websites Legally Lie
- How to Write your Own Web Copy
Items in lists
Bulleted or numbered lists give the eyes a break and allow a chance for you to summarize values/information without having to get into detail.
You can highlight reasons why people should contact you:
- Voted Top 10
- Better Buzz Words!
- Faster Delivery
- Zero Gravity Marketing
- Family Owned & Operated
- Free Shipping
Using Bold
Whenever you read, there is a voice in your head saying the words. And when you see something in bold, the voice in your head puts stress on the word. It’s a form of mind control.
Haha, not really, but you heard it.
When you read this:
Zero Gravity Marketing is committed to our clients continued success. We understand that the success of a website and Digital Marketing campaign is not measured by an increase in visits, but rather an increase in conversions.
And when you read this:
Zero Gravity Marketing is committed to your success. We understand that the success of a website and Digital Marketing campaign is not measured by an increase in visits, but rather an increase in conversions.
First, there is a chance you just scanned the paragraphs instead of reading each word. (Called the ‘fine print technique’ combined with the power of light grey font color, btw). If you just scanned, what words did you read? Most people read the bold words, leaving the impression that we are committed to your success, (which I assure you, we are).
This isn’t new. This is marketing, and we know how to market.
Images
Images are essential. People respond to images more than words and behind them you can add valuable “ALT Tags” to help your website rank higher in search results. Readers tend to learn and retain more information from infographs than any written paragraph. Did the infograph above help you understand the content area?
Call to Action
Contacting/buying/donating should be at the tip of your customers fingers. Don’t make them work for it, because I assure you, they won’t. Let the reader know how to make the next step, and make that step too easy. Contact Zero Gravity Marketing for content development.
SEO: Make it Search Happy
Title Tags, Header Tags, Alt Tags, Links, URL, Description & More
Remember when I said I had 3500 words written here and had to break it up into sections? No, because you only scanned the page? Well this is the part that gets cut. It’s so important and complex that it needs its own article. Coming soon. In the mean time, check out our SEO packages.
Summary of Basic Rules for Web Content Development
- Write for your reader, not for yourself.
- Call to action on every page. Don’t make them work for it. Ever.
- Stick to 300-1000 words per page.
- Break it up visually using Headers, bold, lists, & images.
- Have an objective in mind for every page.
- Make it SEO happy.
Writing you own content can be difficult. Contact us. We know what we are doing.
“Content developers communicate a message, sometimes directly, sometimes subliminally, but always effectively.” – Tracy Standish
