Writing for the Internet Customer- 7 Points Business Owners Need to Know

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Saturday, 07 March 2009

By Steve Wyrostek  We know that print readers read and web readers scan. But what else do we need to know about how to write for 21st Century Customer? What works for them? What moves them? Following are seven thoughts to keep in mind: 1.Hypertext Links remain the most used feature- However, you may want to consider not overdoing it. Too many links can be distracting. EzineArticles restricts them to 4 per article. That's a good place to start. A typical article word count is 400 to 700 words. An average web page has 593 words. So, you may want to use 3 to 4 links per article or page. 2. Print readers read and web readers scan- We cannot state this enough. In fact, a 2008 white paper entitled Not Quite the Average- An Empirical Study of Web Use by Harald Weinreich et.al,suggested that only about 20% of the words on an average 593 word web page, will actually be read. 3. Four seconds of words- That's the time you have to grab a reader's attention. It means good headlines rule. But headlines that work in traditional copywriting may have to be reworked for the web. This is because of search engines. For example: the title- The top ten worst song lyrics I ever heard- works well for print writing. However for the internet you may want to rework it: Lyrics- the ten worst I ever heard This works because the word lyrics were searched 12,058 times while top ten got searched 173 times. So, the chances of your piece coming up on search engines increases if you lead with the word- lyrics. 4. Cold statistics- Most companies keep statistics. Use them. They can be great support to main themes. A word of caution on statistics, however- sprinkle, rather than flood them throughout your site. They can appear overdone. 5. Warm stories- If a good story exists on how the company got founded, use it. If there's a huge client, post it. If there's a compelling story about the company- tell it. For example, I'm familiar with a company named Odd Bodd. It turns out Odd Bodd was the name of a character from a movie spoof of Frankenstein produced in the UK (the business owner was from there). When the owner was a child, his sister tagged him with that nickname. It turned out to be the perfect name for the business (very Googleable!). That's a good story for their website. 6. Authentic samples- These act as testimonials. As business owners, you want to cultivate these. They're usually easy to get. And when written correctly, they help convert clients. When you write them- make sure they are: - Short (No more than three to five sentences) - Compelling - Authentic (Real words from real customers) 7. Simple vocabulary works best- Word has a feature after spell check called the Flesch-Kincaid score. These numbers tell you where the grade and readability levels for your piece fall. It will help you connect your words with your target prospect. The average time visitors spend on a page with the 593 word average is about 43 seconds. The right words can make each second worth it. Steve Wyrostek MBA, BA, Internet Copywriter From websites to articles to white papers- all writing includes keyword research/placement, rewrites and proofreading. Contact Steve at 847-803-6991 This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it http://www.noclichecopy.com Product And Services Share Your Opinion. (0 posts) Tag it:

Last Updated ( Saturday, 07 March 2009 )

 

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