Before you even start thinking about writing content for the web, be sure you know what you are trying to get out of it. Do you want to persuade customers to buy your product? Would you like to convince visitors of why you are better than the competition? Are you just trying to improve your search engine rankings? Your purpose may be one or all of these, or any number of other things, but whatever your case may be, don’t start writing until you have an end goal in mind. Here we will discuss the basic concepts of three distinct purposes: education, conversion, and SEO.
Writing to Educate/Answer Questions
The purpose of your web content likely varies depending on the type of page you are writing for. You probably have pages on your website that aim at educating visitors and answering their questions. On these types of pages it is important for your content to be user-friendly, easy to navigate, and to the point. Consider adding a Frequently Asked Questions section or some way for visitors to navigate the information you provide. On pages that aim to educate visitors, bullet points are often your best option. When users are looking for an answer, they want to find it quickly and without a hassle, they won’t be willing to read through paragraph after paragraph of information they didn’t come searching for.
Writing to Create Conversions
No matter what type of website you are writing for, you need to have an idea of what you would like your visitors to do. Whether you want them purchase something from your online store, share something with their friends, or contact you directly, be sure you keep your goal in mind when you are writing your content. Every page on your site should present visitors with a next step. When you are writing content to create conversions, you need to tell your visitors what this step is. Be persuasive, provide testimonials, and give visitors a sense of what you are about. If you have any hope of getting your visitors to do what you want, you need to give them a reason to trust you.
Writing for SEO
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is vital to the success of any website. Fortunately, if your content is well written, you should already be in decent shape. There are plenty of articles out there that go into much depth about the workings of search engines and writing content for them, but here I will just mention few important aspects of writing content for SEO. Before you begin, know your keywords, and write your content accordingly. Use keywords in H tags, crosslinks (links across different pages on your site), bullet points, and bolded text. Each of these are indicators to Google regarding your page is about. If you want to write content that will improve your rankings in search results, you should be sure you are giving Google every clue you can about the purpose of your website.