Website copywriting isn’t a complicated matter, except it is. On the one hand, if you are writing copy (content) for the reader’s benefit, then the process is as straightforward as explaining your point of view. If, on the other hand, you want to reach as many readers as possible, then things get complicated.
Website Copywriting – The Straightforward Approach
Let’s assume for a moment that you are new to the concept of writing for blogging purposes. Let us also assume you are in business and offer products or services (or both).
Question: What is the purpose of blogging?
Answer: To provide information.
It’s that simple.
But, if you aren’t a wordsmith, then issues like spelling, punctuation, and every other rule of writing affect the effectiveness of your article. Readers will not put up with poor writing. Worse still, they won’t stay on your site.
It stands to reason too. Poor writing is like a terrible TV show. You’ll flick the channel faster than a rat out of an aqueduct. (Yes, I’m a Monty Python tragic.)
If you struggle to know how to write a compelling article, I suggest using any number of tools, though I’ve found the following to be particularly good:
Or Google for others. The three mentioned are Freemium services, but the free versions will get you started.
Since this article isn’t about writing tools or their pros and cons, let’s move on to the next question. Why do you want to blog?
Why Do You Want To Blog?
I can’t answer for you, but I can make assumptions.
Most people in a business blog to attract new customers or engage their existing customers to upsell.
Basically, you want to blog to make money (Remember, we are talking about those in a business of some sort), and this is where things get complicated because how you deliver your content matters more than your subject.
Let’s use this very article you’re reading now. I presume you wanted information about website copywriting. And, if you’ve read this far, I suppose the details are somewhat helpful.
Why Did I Choose This Subject?
I chose to write about website copywriting for two reasons.
- I know quite a bit about the subject (actually, I’m an expert on the matter), and
- The topic compliments my core service – Website Performance.
Given I am an expert on website copywriting, I want to share my wisdom with the farthest reaches of the internet. Of course, other professionals will argue they’re the true expert, but then you are reading my article!
So far, we have discovered what drives us to blog (to provide information), the importance of good writing (no one will stay to read incoherent jibberish), the core purpose (to make a buck) and subject matter.
However, non of this matters if your article blends into the white noise of millions of similar topics. And as much as I beat my chest about my greatness (and I knew what I wanted to write about), I first had to analyse an essential factor – keyword research.
Website Copywriting – Keyword Research
Keyword research is a vast topic in its own right. If you were to Google keyword research, you would get about 502,000,000 results. That’s half a billion results!
Does this mean there are that many pages out there on the subject? Yes – and no. The gap in the total number of web pages that exclusively explore keyword research and the pages that mention that term is vast.
Again, we’ll use this article as a case in point.
- I knew what subject to write about
- I knew I had the expertise on the topic
- I know how to write compelling content
But, before starting, I didn’t know what keyword (or keyphrase) to build my article around.
As always, there are thousands, if not millions, of tools out there to help you research keywords and key phrases. The better, more reliable ones cost, and for a good reason. But for the sake of this article, we’re going to use a free tool called WordStream.
Website Copywriting – WordStream
WordStream offers a free keyword tool that, although not necessarily as in-depth as paid-for tools, is quite good.
There are two options: pop in your domain (www.yoursite.com), and WordStream will examine your site’s content. The results show what keywords already exist that you probably didn’t know you had.
The other option is to enter the keyword/keywords you think you’d like to use. Initially, I thought how to write good copy would be an excellent key phrase (though technically, it is a long-tail keyword). Though, the results threw up some surprising numbers.
Always look at the data. There is often a difference between what we think is a good topic and what people are searching for. That’s because we, as humans, don’t know everything.
How to write good copy made sense to me as a subject, but as it turns out, there are only 20 monthly searches for that phrase. And with the law of attrition in play, how many of those 20 searches will happen across my article? No, I need a better term.
Premium services will offer alternatives at this point, but since we are using a free tool, we have to do a bit more work.
Eventually, I arrived at website copywriting as the best option at almost 20 times more monthly searches.
Website Copywriting – The Results
I’m sure at this point you are shouting, “This article is so helpful. You are a genius!” Well, crying that out loud may be a stretch. In any case, let’s expand on the results.
The Results are pulled from Google Adwords – a paid online advertising platform offered by well…Google.
Google Ads Overview
Google Ads operates under a pay-per-click (PPC) model, meaning marketers target a specific keyword and make a bid. They compete with others who are targeting the same keyword.
The system works well for those who want fast results in the SERP (Search Engine Results Position).
However, at OAdesign, I prefer the organic approach. Sure, it takes longer and requires a lot more work, but the result is a better, longer sitting result IF you get it right. Plus, organic is free)
The Keywords and Monthly Search Volume are self-explanatory. But what about the rest?
Top of page bid (low range) indicates the lower range of what advertisers have paid.
Top of page bid (high range) indicates the higher range of what advertisers have paid.
Competition reveals the commercial intent.
Website Copywriting – Comparing The Results
It’s easy to see why I chose website copywriting.
