Fix Your Website’s Copy (Seriously. Do it Now.)
As a copywriter, nothing crushes my spirit more than scrolling through the website of a brand purporting to be a Big, Proper Company that’s full of ugly misspellings, errant comas, and awkward dangling modifiers.
I fully understand not everyone cares as much as me, but some do.
Poorly written copy detracts from your expertise; it comes across as unprofessional and frankly gives the impression that you just don’t really care.
While the obvious solution is hiring a copywriter, there are plenty of non-committal ways for you to up the ante. Lo, I bestow unto you: eight invaluable resources to make sure your website’s copy is as impressive as you are.
Let’s start with the easy stuff – the nuts and bolts of the actual writing process:
- Grammarly’s offering of 15 easy steps to improving your writing is a great place to start if you’re not super confident in your writing ability – and hey, even if you are, it never hurts to brush up.
- HubSpot comes to the rescue with a suite of websites and apps to help with your writing. Productivity metres, topic generators, templates and more will help take the guesswork out of writing content.
- If you’re struggling to stay on task writing vanilla company bios or endless blog posts, Tomato Timer is an absolutely invaluable resource. The Pomodoro Technique is a time management method separating work periods into shorter intervals to aid concentration and increase productivity.
What about when you’re more confident writing copy, but you don’t know what to write about, or how to get it read?
- Sarah von Bargen wrote about nine ways to improve your blog with zero technical know-how. Here she focuses less on the minutia of grammar and sentence structure, and more the how-not-to-put-your-readers-to-sleep side of things (which some might say is even more important for reader engagement).
- Sarah also has a fantastically helpful Pinterest board of blogging pointers, and one of pure writing and creativity ideas. She just really knows her stuff, okay?
- Are you struggling with writer’s block? Hannah Braime has some suggestions to get those creative juices flowing.
- You mightn’t realise that there’s more to online writing than having a great idea and vomiting prose into WordPress. Jeff Bullas has written a very user-friendly piece about making your writing more visible and accessible, with easy and practical steps to improve SEO and keep readers interested.
There you have it – eight links for you to bookmark and revisit often.
With the infinite online resources available, there’s really no reason your content can’t make your website shine.
Now, I understand there’s a lot to take in and enact here. So even if you heed none of the above advice, please let me leave you with one final thought: SPELLCHECK. Just run your copy through a quick Word spellcheck. Just, like, one time.
Of course, there are other elements that improve your website’s copy, like knowing your audience, staying true to your brand’s story, and using the right language and tone of voice. But where, oh where, could you turn for advice on such matters?
