This post was guest blogged by Steven York of Seopher.com. They offer $40 off a review this month.
Copywriting. This word strikes fear into the heart of anyone who has little understanding of what it means; but had you thought that taking an hour to study it could improve your blog, net you more subscribers and therefore help you achieve your objectives?
What Is Copywriting?
Most people think copywriting is the process of writing content for someone else with very strict guidelines; word limits, tone, etc. Whereas this is true for professional copywriting it’s not even half of the story.
Understanding How Content Is Read
One of the most important aspects of copywriting is formatting. You can have the best content in the world but if it’s displayed in an unformatted lump it becomes very difficult to read – and on the Internet that means it doesn’t get read.
Use Useful Subheaders
When you’re writing your content you need to break it up into sections – although you probably do this naturally even if you’re not using subheadings already. This allows readers to scan down the page and gather an understanding of what you’re discussing. 10 subheaders gives you 10 chances to capture the reader’s attention – which is a much better prospect than just relying on the title.
Useful Subheaders As An SEO tool
Don’t forget that if you’re using subheaders, it’s a great opportunity to mark them up as h2/h3/h4/h5 (depending on your design) so that search engines can add more weight to them.
Remember That Sex Always Works
I bet that sub-title got your attention. It’s well documented that using sex in a title, caption or quote captures readers’ attention unlike anything else. Don’t force it in; your content will become unreadable if you’re trying to cram it full of sexually suggestive statements (although that sentence itself is filled with it).
Shorter Paragraphs
People find it easier to read shorter paragraphs; reading 100 lines of unbroken text is a daunting prospect for a lot of users and many will just navigate away from your site – and that’s not what you want at all. So break your content up into shorter paragraphs (with useful subheadings too) to allow people to get the most from your content.
Understand most readers have an information requirement Once your content has slipped into your archive, search engine users will become your key demographic. Users from search engines will reach your content because they were told the answer to their question is on your page. These users need to find a specific part of your content, so making it as easy to scan is beneficial.
Be Careful About Your Wording
Good content doesn’t need to be challenging to read; after all most users don’t want to need a dictionary while browsing your blog. Furthermore, using deliberately complicated language can make your readers feel stupid for not understanding and that’s just going to alienate part of your demographic.
In Conclusion
Copywriting isn’t a scary concept, nor is it difficult to get a working knowledge of it; yet the gains from formatting your content properly can be massive. Have a look at Copywriting.com and this post on Copyblogger for a bit more information. Just don’t neglect it, excellent content has no value without someone to read it.