The Our Kindred Guide To Crafting Magical Website Copy
Welcome, My Fellow Creative Beings
If you're an artist, designer, photographer, or any other type of creative brand owner, this guide is designed for you. Exceptional website copy is more than just words on a page—it's your brand's voice, your ethos, and often your first impression. Let's dive in to explore the elements that make your website copy resonate with your soon-to-be clientele.
Speak (And Learn) Your Audience's Language
Create Buyer Personas
Start by sketching out 2-3 buyer personas that represent your ideal customers. Be as specific as possible, going beyond age and location to include attributes like income levels, lifestyle choices, values, and hobbies. This is your chance to play detective and understand who your target audience truly is. Don't just stop at dry demographics. Dive deep into what makes your audience tick—think about their dreams, fears, challenges, and aspirations. You could even create mood boards or playlists that reflect your personas' lifestyles.
Speak Their Language
Your next challenge is to speak directly to your personas in your copy. Use the tone, language, and colloquialisms that they would. By doing this, you ensure that your brand feels as personalised and relevant as possible to them.
Creative Writing Tips & Exercises
The Power of Storytelling
Your brand is a story, a narrative that is unique to you. Use descriptive language, invoke emotions, and add details that transport your reader into your brand's world. Make your product or service the hero of that story.
Writing Exercise: The One-Sentence Challenge
Challenge yourself to describe your brand or key product in just one sentence. This exercise forces you to distil your value proposition down to its essence. Test this sentence on a few trusted advisers or friends to see if it resonates.
Word Exercise: Word Association
List down words that you associate with your brand—this exercise will not only help you identify key terms to include in your copy but also help you understand the emotional undertone of your brand.
Carve Out Your Unique Creative Proposition (UCP)
Identify Key Features and Benefits
Create a comprehensive list of features and benefits that your offering brings to the table. This list will serve as a pool from which you can draw points to emphasise in your copy.
Know Your Competitors
Competition research isn’t just for product development. Understand what language your competitors are using, their tone, and their UCP. Identify gaps in the market that your brand can fill, and use that information to sharpen your own UCP.
Craft Your UCP Statement
After identifying what sets you apart, craft a concise UCP statement. This statement should be compelling, specific, and easily understandable. Most importantly, it should reflect the unique creative spirit of your brand.
SEO Tips for the Creatively Inclined
Keyword Research
Perform comprehensive keyword research using tools like Google Keyword Planner or SEMrush to find terms your potential customers are likely to use when searching for your offerings. In keyword research, there are two main types you'll want to focus on:
High-Search-Volume Keyword
These are popular keywords that receive a lot of monthly searches. While these terms are often more competitive, ranking for them can greatly increase your visibility.
Long-Tail Keywords
These are more specific, longer phrases that may have fewer monthly searches but are also less competitive. The benefit of long-tail keywords is that they are often more targeted and can yield a higher conversion rate, allowing you to tap into niche segments.
Both types have their benefits, and a good strategy is to incorporate a mix of both into your website copy.
Meta Descriptions
Write engaging meta descriptions that encapsulate the essence of each webpage. Keep it under 160 characters and incorporate your target keywords.
Internal Linking
Build a web of internal links that guide the user through a journey on your website. Besides improving user engagement, this also helps search engines understand the hierarchy and importance of your pages.
You're now armed with the elements of effective website copy, creative exercises to kickstart your writing, and SEO tips to make sure your brand gets the attention it deserves. The next step? Start crafting your website copy today.
Preparing Your Copy for Web Design—The Final Touches
Whether you're an existing client or considering working with me for the first time, crafting your website copy is just the first part of the journey. The next vital step is making sure that this copy is ready for the design phase. As someone who takes great pride in designing websites that not only look good but also speak to your audience, I'd like to offer some tips on how to prepare your copy for this crucial stage, including maintaining an SEO-friendly word count.
Why Google Docs is a Great Choice
Google Docs serves as an excellent platform for collaboration between you and me, your designer! I recommend creating a shared Google Document where you can paste your copy, neatly organised by webpage and section. This makes it incredibly easy for me to find, copy, and integrate your text into the design.
What to Include in Your Google Doc?
Headings and Subheadings: Indicate these to show the hierarchy of your information.
Call-to-Action Buttons: Provide the text for any CTAs
Meta Descriptions: These are crucial for SEO; please include them for each webpage. If you are stuck about what to write here, please reach out!
Annotations: Feel free to annotate the document with notes to guide on the placement of images, the text layout, or the mood you wish to convey in each section.
SEO Keywords: Include a list of your target keywords for each page so that SEO elements like image alt text can be effectively integrated.
SEO-Friendly Word Count
When crafting your copy, aim for a word count of approximately 300-500 words per page. This strikes a good balance between providing sufficient content for SEO purposes and maintaining user engagement. Of course, this can vary depending on the nature of the page; for instance, a blog post might be considerably longer.
Being meticulous in this document makes the design process far smoother and ensures that your vision is accurately translated into the final website. It's all about creating a seamless experience, both visually and narratively, for your audience.
Need Extra Help? Let's Take Your Copy to the Next Level.
Crafting exceptional copy takes time and effort. If you’re finding yourself stuck or simply short on time, I’m here to help. With extensive experience in creating compelling copy for a diverse range of creative brands, I can help bring your unique voice to life. Let's work together to elevate your brand's narrative.
