When seeking inspiration for writing web page content, there are several things a writer should bear in mind:
- People search for different reasons – for background information on
a topic, or to select and purchase a product or book a service.
Therefore, your landing pages may need to address more than one
potential audience. Drawing people into your site with good content may
cause them to return when decision time comes.
- For example, in a bed and breakfast context, posting interesting
and engaging local activities and attractions may cause website visitors
to keep you firmly in mind when they are coming your way… Similarly, if
you are a local plumber with some great DIY tips on your site, you
might get a call next time there is a quote required for a big job.
Part of the secret of generating good web copy is identifying what
people are looking for online that relates to what you do. Gaining
qualified traffic can be as simple as finding an information void and
writing to fulfill an obvious need.
Topic Research for Landing Pages
Inspiration can sometimes be elusive, but here are three easy ways to determine some good landing page topics:
1. Expertise: Pick two or three aspects of your
business that you enjoy the most and are most knowledgeable about.
Define a short list of relevant keywords about each. Search for those on
the AdWords keyword tool and scan through the list of phrases that are
being researched on Google. Look for those with: How, Why, What, When,
and Where, then search phrases with good search volumes in your
region/country.
2. FAQ: Think back to questions that you are most
frequently asked, and retrieve any you’ve written thorough answers for.
Turn those into comprehensive page coverage of the topic.
3. Problem Solving: I often turn a client’s
trouble-shooting or tech support request into an article. For example,
tackling a new hacking threat, or an SEO project, can often lead to new
information and discoveries that can be shared…
A landing page does not have to be sales pitch. Often the harder the
sell, the more resistance there is to it. Sometimes, its better to
create a good first impression by giving freely of your knowledge and
experience. That gives you credibility, and demonstrates your expertise
and professionalism. It shows you are generous rather than greedy, a
giver rather than a taker.
Many of your readers may never have the need or wherewithal to
partake of your products and services. However, if your brand is
projected positively and consistently, word-of-mouth referrals will
follow as readership increases.
How Many Words is Enough?
Most designers and branding experts think less is more when it comes
to web page copy. I know that getting top rankings for a
content-deficient page on your website is not going to be that easy,
unless you are writing about a topic with no prior coverage…
Explaining a topic clearly and authoritatively, and being perceived
as an expert by search engines and readers alike, cannot be done “above
the fold.”
There was a time when a 250-word article could grab top rankings. In
the new normal, that is rarely ever going to happen! Instead, proper
coverage of a topic might well require an introduction or outline, a
logical progression through topic sections, some options,
recommendations and a summary… That could well encompass more than 1,000
words – which is my personal minimum on any topics I choose to cover
thoroughly.
The Copywriting Process
The thoughtful copywriter might treat this as a storyboard exercise.
The first step is usually a written outline of headings, arranged in a
logical order, scribbled on a notepad, perhaps with some cryptic notes. I
often have several sets of notes on different topics fermenting away on
my desk. Once one has fleshed itself out sufficiently, I will write
those headings into a WordPress post draft. I then go through, and make
additional explanatory notes in each section, gradually filling in the
blank spots within the copy.
It may take me several days to complete a 1,500-word article, because
I find letting the subconscious work on it delivers better dividends
than trying to rush the creative process. Of course, I don’t always
have deadlines to meet.
Copywriting and SEO
In terms of search relevancy, its clear that Google places far more
weight on the page copy than ever before. The days when titles and
descriptions carried the day are gone. Titles are reduced to a brief
headline plus branding, Descriptions are demoted to a sales pitch.
Therefore, page headings are now more important than ever, and
inclusion of your primary keywords / phrases within headings and body
text are vital.
Topic Keywords
Writers should ensure the primary keyword phrase that encapsulates
the essence of the page is represented in an H1 heading. Ensure the
secondary / tertiary keyword phrases are represented in H2 / H3
heading/s. In addition, allow those keyword phrases to be placed
naturally within the body text if appropriate.
Using a mortgage broker as an analogy, try to include;
- Variations; mortgages, mortgagee, mortgaged etc
- Related words; account, manager, bank, loans, broker, lending, lending, interest, repayment etc
- Synonyms of primary keywords; loan agreement, homeowners loan, contract, debt etc
Don’t lace the content with lethal doses of these. Just sprinkle them judiciously, like raisins in an Easter bun…
Latent Semantic Indexing
This is sometimes referred to as addressing “LSI” or latent semantic
indexing opportunities. The goal is to give Google additional positive
clues as to the guts of the content, its intent and purpose.
The variations, related words and synonyms increase the probability
that a page will appear relevant to the primary keyword search phrase
that the page is intended to target.
Website Content Authority
This is an area not broadly discussed, but one that potentially
offers benefits to a copywriter’s authorship credibility, provenance,
copyright and ownership. It’s a way of applying personal branding to
your content creations.
Google Authorship
Google+ has a (somewhat awkward) process that allows you to link your
written content in multiple external website accounts to your Google+
account, clearly identifying you (the writer) as the author in search
engine results pages. For example;
- On multiple websites you own and write for
- Other sites for which you provide guest posts or exclusive articles
- Plus Facebook, Twitter etc
Adding a list of your relevant e-mail accounts and contribution
websites to your Google public profile does this. You may also list
your about us page/s.
On the websites that you own and write for, you can also include your
official Google authorship credentials, these are then added as micro
data in post code on the site. If you operate a WordPress website, there
are several plugins (e.g. Google+ Authorship) that take care of
inserting the correct code in the right places.
In this day and age, content provenance grows more and more
important, so protecting yours by every means possible makes good sense.
Gravatars
The folks at Gravatar.com have another way to brand your content.
Quote: “Your Gravatar is an image that follows you from site to site
appearing beside your name when you do things like comment or post on a
blog. Avatars help identify your posts on blogs and web forums, so why
not on any site?”
- You can set up multiple e-mails – one per website – with a personal or logo image per e-mail address
- Works with WordPress User account to display your image anywhere that address is used
- Works with e-mail address to display that image on any WordPress publishing platform or Gravatar-supporting website
Quote: “Setting up Gravatars on your site is easy; you don’t even
need an account! Plugins are available for leading blog software and
content management systems.”
Content Excerpt Distribution & Promotion
When you write copy on a topic of relevance, ensuring it gets read
requires the broadest distribution. You may have followers on Facebook,
Twitter, LinkedIn and other social media networks. To steadily build
traffic, you need to maximize the leverage you have on social networks.
Commonsense dictates that automation is more productive than
repetition of effort in distribution! On a WordPress CMS platform,
automation of content distribution is readily possible.
Network Publishing
Enter Network Publisher from LinksAlpha.com. These guys have a
process that allows you to tie together all websites you publish from,
and all networks you want to publish to. An account on LinksAlpha allows
you to specify your websites, and connect to your accounts on an array
of leading social media networks.
- You then specify which websites publish content to which social networks
- On each of your WordPress websites, you install the Network Publisher
plugin. This publishes new post excerpts to your LinksAlpha account. In
turn, your LinksAlpha account pushes those excerpts to the specified
social networks.
- The result is that by publishing a post on any of your websites,
excerpts with links back to the source then appear on all of your social
network accounts.
That’s a lot more efficient than manually updating multiple social media accounts!
Ben Kemp, Post from:
SiteProNews
Finding Inspiration For Web Page Copywriting
