Think about how you use Google.
How often do you turn to a search engine to find answers to your questions?
Whether it’s asking for directions, trying to find out why your latest device isn’t working, or wanting to know who the third Prime Minister of Australia was (it was John Christian Watson, by the way), most of us use search engines primarily to get information or solve problems.
The variety and style of the questions we put may be endless, but in the end we are almost always looking for the same thing — answers.
What are the best websites designed to do?
If you want your business or organisation’s website to come up regularly in searches (and, ideally, to be found on the first page of Google) then the content on your site needs to be written and organised in such a way that it answers questions, solves problems, and provides the sort of information people are most commonly looking for.
Answering customer questions and providing useful information does not, however, mean that your website content should be an endless list of FAQs (although these are undoubtedly helpful).
What it does mean is that website content has to be structured in such a way that it anticipates users’ questions and continually provides the sort of information that they are most likely to be looking for in a variety of different ways.
We consider this to be the ultimate form of SEO (search engine optimisation), and it’s where the skills of an experienced copywriter and website content writer come in.
Can’t I just write my website content myself?
This is a question that we get asked a lot. And the answer is yes, of course you can.
However, in order for your website to do the sort of work that is required of it, you need to give some serious thought to the content.
In our experience, the reason why a lot of website content isn’t effective is because it’s not written or organised with the primary aim of answering questions. It will very often provide useful information about an organisation, its history and its people, but this is the sort of information that will likely be of interest only once people have found your site.
It’s not the best way to get found by search engines.
How does good copywriting help me get found in searches?
To rank well in searches, the content on your site needs to be primarily geared towards answering the sort of questions that people ask a search engine when looking for a product or service.
As professional copywriters, we understand this and implement a range of strategies designed to achieve it when we are writing content for websites. You will no doubt have heard this referred to as SEO, but we prefer to think of it in terms of producing quality website content that meets the needs of users.
How do you write good website content?
Ironically, the first question we always ask ourselves when sitting down to write website content for an Adelaide business or organisation is, “What questions would I ask?”
This is because as someone outside of your business, a copywriter has an advantage when it comes to framing the right type of question. There are things about your organisation that will seem blindingly obvious to you as someone who understands it inside out, but which won’t necessarily be clear to a person who doesn’t know your industry or products to the same degree.
The experienced copywriter is, however, able to put themselves in the customer’s shoes and ask questions along the lines of a typical consumer. This is then developed into website content that is structured around providing answers to these questions.
In short, if your website is providing answers and solving problems for searchers then it is more likely to be found than one that isn’t.
Does the design of my website matter?
No matter how good the copywriting is on a website, it will go to waste if people can’t find it once they’re there. How the content is laid out in terms of its visibility and accessibility is crucial as to whether your site is ultimately doing what you want it to do.
Ideally, a copywriter will work closely with an experienced web designer like Bold Web Design in order to ensure that the design is in sync with the content, and vice versa. A website’s design can have a profound influence on the writing style, with the tone of the content being influenced by how the site looks and feels.
The ideal scenario is therefore one where these two disciplines — website content writing and website design — work hand in hand together. In this way, you can make sure not only that your website is answering questions, but that searchers will easily be able to find those answers once they arrive on your site.