The only real dividing factor between The Good, The Bad, and The Copy, is how successful your content turns out to be in real terms i.e. does it sell your message and reach its intended target?

Well does it…?

As discussed in the previous post, get things underway by ring fencing your audience. This will automatically set you on the right travel of direction with regards to creating winning content.

Now you know who you are writing for it’s time to prepare the necessary ingredients.

Let’s make a cake

As a general guideline, it’s best to set your ego aside when writing for the web. All too often – and on occasion I have fallen victim to this –copywriters lose sight of their audience. Unless the subject demands it, avoid the pitfalls of novelistic devices and flowery prose. If you are writing web copy for a new line of washing machines, a Dickensian one page exposition might not be the most fitting approach.

Sure it sounds good, but does it sell?

Have a look round your room right now – unless you’re sat on a beach – and you’ll be amazed by the extent of copy that falls into your eye line. No doubt you’ve forked out hard-earned money on some of these products so the chances are the copy attached to them is successful.

Typically, but not always, triumphant web copy veers away from the complexities of creative writing in favour of the simplistic.

So complex sentences, long words, jargon-heavy paragraphs may make us look smart, but given the trend for people to scan online, it’s often not the best route.

The key objective is to sell the message.

Flip the coin and where appropriate use short sentences, be snappy and to the point, deploy simple words that are easy to read and don’t require a dictionary.

As George Orwell recognised: why use a long word when a short one will do? Atta-boy George!

Boy George?

So take unnecessarily long words out and parachute simpler equivalents in. In doing so, why not use contractions such as ‘don’t’, instead of ‘do not’, or ‘you’re’, as opposed to ‘you are’.

By limiting the verbiage and getting straight to the point, not only will your content cater for the needs of the online reader, but the visual layout will also become more succinct and easier on the eye.

It’s a win win situation.

Less is often more, just let the subject and your audience dictate the copy.

Wordpress Categories

Wordpress categories are your table of contents, at the front of a book there’s a “Contents” which showcases the main chapters of content for the book. The Categories are the hierarchy of your content.

A blog post normally has one category, though it may fit in one or two categories, or even in sub categories.

Wordpress Tags

Tags are your index words, at the back of a book is an “Index”, a listing of words which you can find specific information. Just like your index in a book your Wordpress tags are a link, but, a hyperlink to related information.

A blog post normally has two or three descriptive tags.

Clients will want you to design and then build the HTML newsletter template, this normally takes me about a day or two. Then each time they want a newsletter my clients send me the plain English info and any images/ photos and I glue it together, test and then send.

Email Marketing Software

I use Campaign Monitor for my email campaigns and I highly rate them, affordable for you and your client the system has some great features; link tracking, multiple subscriber lists,  in depth reports, side by side comparisons and customized email greetings (”Hello John”). It gives you everything you need managing the forms, subscriber lists and reporting, Oh and they also guide you through white listing so your emails will get past spam filters.

Testing HTML Email

The annoying part is testing HTML Emails but Campaign Monitor has that covered too with a built in spam and design test (small cost), but you can also simply open a Googlemail account, Yahoo mail, Hotmail et all, set up a testing account on Outlook /Thunderbird etc and do your own testing the same way you would test your web pages for all the different web browsers.

Both Parties Profit

Usually companies want a newsletter to go out monthly so the potential regular earnings are well worth your good time and as a website marketing tool the returns for your client in terms of conversions can change their business.

Why Companies Should Use Email Marketing

It’s a great way of drawing users back to your website every month, its a great way of informing customers of a product or service release, update them on your latest news or blog posts, ask them to fill in a survey or give feedback, or simply for entertainment.

Your keeping your customers aware of your brand and your products/services, sharing special offers and making them feel special.

The Last Judgment

The most famous fresco is Michelangelo’s Last Judgment which took four years to completion in 1541. Situated on the altar wall, it depicts the souls of humans rising and falling to their fates, judged by Jesus Christ.

The last judgment was famously censored by prudent priests after Michelangelo’s death; Spearheaded by Biagio Da Cesana who  said “it was mostly disgraceful that in so sacred a place there should have been depicted all those nude figures, exposing themselves so shamefully,” and that it was no work for a papal chapel but rather “for the public baths and taverns,” .

Michelangelo went on to get his revenge as he worked in Cesena’s semblance into the scene as Minos, judge of the underworld (far bottom-right corner of the painting) with Donkey Ears, with Cesena’s nudity covered by a coiled snake.

It is said that when Cesena complained to the Pope, the pontiff responded that “his jurisdiction did not extend to hell, so the portrait would have to remain.”

Sistine Chapel Video

The rules of engagement

Let’s set the ball in motion by saying there are no rules – as with any creative venture, the end result should always serve the subject!

Does this mean assuming a Dirty Harry-like system of shooting first and asking questions later? Perhaps not. But instead of talking in absolutes, it’s best to think of writing for the web as an organic process.

So rather than lay down a set of rules, I’ll share with you a set of interchangeable guidelines, tips, and points of contention when tackling web copy.

Where to start

If you’re planning a road-trip this year you might be advised to map-out the route prior to departure. The same applies to web copy. Don’t be lured into putting pen to paper until you’ve developed a firm understanding of how people read online – resist the temptation!

Instead, take a trip into the mind of your reader and learn the ways of web copy. Seeing things from the other side of the fence will help inform all aspects of your project from layout, to content, headings, pictures, and beyond.

So is this really necessary? You betcha it is.

Online reading is a distinct beast that requires a special diet of tailored copy.

When it comes to the internet, for instance, research shows people are prone to scanning content and deterred by heavy-blocks of information. Your copy might be on par with the work of Shakespeare, but if people aren’t willing to give it a chance, then it’s bound to fall short.

Reading on the web is indeed a very particular process and successful copy projects are shaped to suit this need. Consider for a moment: it’s raining outside, crashing wind stimulates an overhanging tree into life, its branch-like tentacles reach forward and rat-a-tat-tat on the window; you’re perched on the couch – a warm cup of coffee in one hand, War of the Roses in the other – you take solace in your surroundings.

Now consider the same scenario sitting upright at your desk, a computer screen burning the back of your eyes – it’s different right?

On a computer, the reader often wants quickly digestible facts, a swat-team style in-and-out approach, whereas with a novel, the reader is prepared to inject a different level of commitment.

Reading on a screen is undoubtedly hard on the eyes, so use the tricks of the trade. Things like short sentences, plain English instead of jargon, paragraph breaks, lists, headings, sub-headings and keywords are integral to the online reading experience.

Make it easy for the reader

Introducing such measures will distill overlong paragraphs into content pleasing to the eye. So avoid drowning the reader in a torrent of words; massage the visual layout of the webpage, and write with a mind to the readers’ perspective.

So therein lies the key message of this post: begin any web copy project by developing a grasp of your readers’ needs and proceed by building them into your content.

And remember, where possible, keep it simple.