Your Guide to Writing Great Website Content

Writing content for a website can be a daunting task – there is so much to consider. We’ve put together this guide that will outline the main things we consider when writing content. If you’d like to get more help from our team, please get in touch.

Site-wide considerations

There are some things to keep in mind regardless of what page you’re writing for. Before writing anything though, consider these:

  1. Your audience: Think about who you’re speaking to. Who is your primary audience and who is your secondary?
  2. Intent: Once you know who your audience is, what do you want them to do? What information would they be searching for and how would they logically find it? Identify a key message you want your audience to take away from each page on your website.
  3. Search Engine Optimisation: Be mindful of writing ‘SEO optimised content’. It might be performing well on search engines but that doesn’t mean it reads well. Write content for the people reading it and then optimise where you can for SEO. If you’re interested, we also wrote about website speed and SEO – which may not be something you’ve considered.
  4. Meta title/SEO title: A meta title, sometimes called an SEO title or page title is the page name that appears on a search result page. When writing a meta title consider these:
    • Every page should have a unique title
    • Keywords should be included in the title (but not forced – see number 3)
    • Consider adding elements to increase the click through rate (the likelihood of someone clicking on your link from a search result page).
  5. Meta description: Similar to meta title above, meta descriptions appear in search results. All current indications are that meta descriptions do not have an impact on SEO. So, instead of focusing on SEO when writing a meta description, focus on increasing click through rate. You’re writing for humans and you want to convince them to click on your listing.
  6. Links and internal links: Internal links are links that still remain within the main domain of a site. For example, ‘Get in touch’ at the end of the opening paragraph of this article is an internal link. Where it is logical, include internal links as this leads to visitors browsing more content within your site. When external links are included, require them to open in a new tab.

Unique pages

There are some pages within your website that have their own unique requirements. These include your about page, your services or product pages and your contact page. Here’s what to consider for each:

About

It can be difficult to write about yourself or your business. Start with questions and write dot points to answer each, then convert them into readable content. Here are a few questions to consider:

  • Why do you exist?
  • What do you do?
  • How do you do what you do?
  • What sets you apart? (Identify your point of difference)
  • Does your business have any unique values?
  • Who are the people in your team?

Services

Your services or product pages need to tell a customer exactly what you do and why it’s important. It should explain how your offering will create value and why it’s a better choice than competitors or other solutions.

When writing about your services, write about the benefit and value of your offering, rather than plain facts about it. For example, rather than writing “This blender has 5 blades” write “This blender will blend 50% faster than others thanks to its 5 blades”.

Contact

At a minimum, your contact page should have one method to get in touch with you. Elements you can include on a contact page include:

  • Contact form
  • Phone number
  • Email
  • Physical address
  • Operating hours

You want to make it easy for customers, so take it a step further and explain information such as how to find your office or shop front (especially if it can be difficult to find), where you can park, what facilities you have (does your office have hospitality facilities or would it be better to meet at a café?) and any other information you think might be relevant or helpful.

Writing your content

Now you know what to consider and what to include on each page, you’ll need to start writing your content. Writing can be a challenge – you’re trying to fit a lot of important information into only a few words. Try these writing tips:

Sentence structure

Long sentences can be difficult to follow. Shorter, simpler sentences are easier to understand and remember.

Language

Don’t complicate it. It’s more important that a customer understands what you’re saying than to be impressed by jargon-heavy language.

Vary your word usage to avoid repetitive reading. If you’re overusing particular words, use a thesaurus to find alternatives. However, if you have a product or service that could be called multiple things, use the same term in all uses for consistency. For example, if you invoice clients, use the word invoice everywhere and don’t switch it out with words like ‘bill’.

Keep your style of writing consistent across your entire website. If you start off with a friendly, casual tone don’t switch to corporate and serious on another page – this will be jarring to the reader. Decide early on what kind of personality you want your content to show.

Show, don’t tell

Don’t say you’re the best, give examples that demonstrate why you are. Use specific and tangible reasons. For example, rather than “Our hand sanitiser is the best available” try “Our hand sanitiser cleans 50% more germs than regular soap thanks to 10 years of science-based development”.

Visuals

If you removed the ability to read individual words, how would your website look? Is it easy to scan with headings or dot points? Are there large bodies of text that look like they will take a long time to read? Find ways to break up bodies of text and make it easier for someone to read it – you want the experience to be enjoyable, not a chore.

Can you communicate the information you need to through a picture, infographic or other media? It may not need to be written if a video or image can communicate the message better.

Tell the reader what to do

Always think about using a Call to Action (CTA). At some point – usually toward the end of your content – include a button or sentence with a link that tells the reader exactly what you want them to do: “Contact us”, “shop online”, “sign up” etc.

Still not feeling confident writing your website content? Get in touch with us and we’ll give you a hand!

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  • Futuretheory combines data with design to launch solutions that help clients realise their growth potential. We are committed to growth and transformation for clients across industries, stages of business and geographies.
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