Ever heard that catchy saying, Jack of All Trades, Master of None? It applies to the generalists out there, or the unicorns, as they have been dubbed. People who are skilled in one area of the industry but are also adaptable enough to perform other tasks well. While you need to be really good at what you do, being able to blur the lines is imperative in this day and age.
For all you UX developers out there, being able to write website content to match your stellar designs is super important. That may be easier said than done, but don’t stress! Our friendly content team has developed an easy-to-follow guide to writing killer content that will engage and convert.
Brief And Witty
When it comes to writing any sort of content it is incredibly tempting to explain every detail, but don’t fall prey to your basic urges. Nearly all online content should be short, sweet, and to the point.
The online attention span is similar to that of a goldfish – especially when it comes to websites. Keep headings to 5-6 words, subheadings 7-9, and body copy as brief as possible.
KISS
In journalism school, they tell you to write to a 5th-grade reading level. That’s not saying that there aren’t tons of highly educated people reading, but you want to be accessible to everyone. On top of that, when it comes to writing for an online audience, people tend to be inherently lazy creatures. Briefly sum up the most important information and leave it at that.
The more wordy and intelligent you try to sound, the more it can read as arrogance and turn people off.
Chatty
Even tried and true content developers can get caught up in the B2B marketing trap. Let me clear this up for you. Even if you are a business, marketing your product to be used in other businesses, you are still marketing to the people behind that company. People who are going to be turned off by reading stiff, jargon-filled website content.
Whether you are creating web copy for the cool new pizza joint in town or a new I.T. support business, write conversationally, as if you are speaking directly to the reader. Include the word ‘you’ and it will go a long way to personalizing it.
Action Words
A call to action, or CTA’s as us industry folk tend to call them, is the words on buttons or the end of a page asking the viewer to take some kind of action. Think: Call Now, Sign Me Up, Take Me There, Learn More. This is copy specifically designed to convert prospective customers into happy clients. There is an art to developing the perfect call to action and we have a whole blog post dedicated to them!
These tips are just scratching the surface of how to develop engaging content that people will actually read and get them moving how you want through your carefully designed website. Of course, our UX designers are highly skilled at creating captivating content and we have a writer or two on staff to back them up.
Haven’t found the right website developer for you? Check us out and then drop us a line to see if we can be the perfect match!