Web Copywriting: A Best Practices Checklist

Copy on your site shouldn’t be written by a programmer, designer or an assistant — it should be written by a direct marketing-oriented copywriter. You need great selling copy as well as content. But effective use of copy isn’t limited to who writes it. Consider some other key points:

• Avoid Flash intros. They can chase potential customers away so fast it will make your head spin. Use language to woo customers to your site. Once they’re already engaged with you, you can offer them the option of viewing streaming video to impress them further. But never force them to do it.

• Use keyword analysis to determine not only the words in your navigation, but also the order of the navigation information.

• Proofread your site meticulously. Typos and poor grammar are likely to turn off serious visitors, and you want as many return visitors as possible to raise your ranking. Additionally, there’s less of a chance that you’ll have an all-important keyword misspelled.

• Write lots of relevant information on your site. It’ll probably cost you more, but it easily will pay for itself.

• Control your art director and designer, so they understand your priorities — which are lots of live and legible copy. Don’t let designers do things that chase customers away, such as employing tiny type, light-colored type or reverse type. Avoid any and all special effects.