As a small or midsize business (SMB), you may be unsure how to write for the web. What’s worse, your web designer might not know either.
These tips and best practices will help you write captivating content that will engage readers, keep them on your website pages, and ultimately convert them to customers.
Structure Your Content for Readers to Scan
How do small and midsize businesses (SMBs) cover a topic without wasting time or money on a long diatribe that people will neither read nor scan? Website research points to the answer.
Most often, people read or scan the internet using an F-pattern. In other words, they tend to read across the top for a few lines and then scan down the left-hand column.
They will READ content that interests them while scanning other information.
You can help your readers scan your content using the following website techniques.
Use relevant headings and subheadings.
Your headings and subheadings should follow in descending order and not skip around. Correctly using headers is essential for four reasons.
Four Reasons to Correctly Use H1s, H2s, H3s, etc.
Headings and subheadings:
- Make your content user-friendly and easy to scan.
- Create a hierarchy of importance.
- Promote search engine optimization and the ability of search robots to “understand” your content.
- Make websites more accessible for users, fulfilling the Americans with Disability Act (ADA) requirements.
Use headings as you would for a content outline on a research paper in a high school English class.
Headings Aren’t Just Design Elements
Do not use headings only as design elements. Instead, use them to structure your information.
Your H1 is the largest and should be included at the top of your page. The H1 is typically your page title. It should be the most important content in your “outline.”
Subheadings are smaller. In other words, H2s are slightly smaller or less pronounced than your H1 but will not be as small as the H3s that fall below it.
Unfortunately, we still see the misuse of heading elements on a daily basis.
Bullet content that lends itself to bulleting.
It’s easier to scan down the left-hand side of the page.
Bold or italicize key concepts.
This accentuation will make key ideas pop.
Include imagery to break up the words.
People love visual content, and it can create more interest. Plus, you can reuse the imagery in social media posts.
Keep It Simple for Your Readers
Place your most important information first.
Visitors are most likely to see and READ this content.
Keep sentences short.
Sentences of no more than 10-12 words are sufficient. But vary sentence length for interest.
Write brief paragraphs.
Just 2-4 sentences per paragraph will suffice. Forget the idea of a topic sentence and numerous supporting sentences. This will appear “blocky” on screen.
Use capitalization sparingly.
Once a go-to solution for emphasis, capitalization may SCREAM at readers. Minimize the use of all uppercase letters. Use them sparingly or when you want to wake up, shock, or even yell at your visitors.
Consider page breaks so the copy looks less daunting.
Breaking content into chunks keeps it from being overwhelming. We often use shading in different sections of content to guide the reader.
A color shift, a new heading, or a page break can aid readers in understanding sections of content.
Add links that go to other pages within your website.
These links are called internal links. Internal links can help readers delve into relevant topics in more depth.
Create links that direct to reputable web sources and references outside your website.
These types of links are called external links.
Don’t start your bullets or sentences with the same word.
Vary your content so readers don’t gloss over the words.
By the way, many of these web best practices can also help with long emails where you need to provide written documentation. (Otherwise, good old-fashioned conversations work, too!)
Dissecting the Headings in This Blog
Our Heading 1 or H1
Our blog title is our H1: “Content That Captivates: The Secret to Engaging Websites.”
As is often the case (but not required), it is our only H1 on the page.
Our H2s: The Main Subheadings
The H2s are the main subheadings of the blog. In this blog article, we have 12 H2s.
The first six are:
- Structure Your Content for Readers to Scan
- Keep It Simple for Your Readers
- Keep It Real for Your Readers: Use “Natural” Language
- Are Chatbots a Good Option for Generating Website Content?
- How to Know If You’re Using Simple, Natural Language
- Content Length Doesn’t Matter
Our H3s: Subheads to the H2s
We’ll identify only the H3s in the first section of this blog. Note that some H2s do not have an H3 but correctly jump to another H2.
The H2 “Structure Your Content for Readers to Scan” has four H3s.
These H3s read as follows:
- Use relevant headings and subheadings.
- Bullet content that lends itself to bulleting.
- Bold or italicize key concepts.
- Include imagery to break up the words.
Our H4s: Subheads to the H3s
Rarely, you may have H3 content you want to segment with another subheading. If sections seem inordinately long, consider using an H4.
In the first section of this blog, only one H3 has H4s.
The H4s appear under the H3: “Use relevant headings and subheadings”:
- Four Reasons to Correctly Use H1s, H2s, H3s, etc.
- Headings Aren’t Just Design Elements
If you’re still confused about how to use headings, we can help you. Contact Us.
Bonus Tip:
How to Know if Your Content Is Engaging
Check the engagement times for each website page in Google Analytics-4 (GA-4).
Set the report date range. Then, go to: GA-4 > Reports > Life Cycle > Engagement > Pages and Screens
Keep It Real for Your Readers: Use “Natural” Language
“Natural language” are words that mimic how people talk and/or conduct a search on Google or other search engines. Natural language is simple. It doesn’t use a lot of jargon or technical words.
Consider your audience. If you’re writing for PhDs, you can use more sophisticated language. For example, a medical journal will use different vocabulary online than a business website.
We chose the current title because our keyword research revealed that people were searching for this topic. At the same time, not so many had written on the subject that we couldn’t rank for it. Be sure you’ve done your keyword research, too.
Natural language is becoming increasingly more important as voice search continues to gain popularity. Not only are people using voice search on their mobile devices, but Google Home, Amazon’s Echo Dot, chatbots, and other smart technologies are making natural language and voice search more relevant than ever.
Are Chatbots a Good Option for Generating Website Content?
Google continues to reiterate that content should add to (not paraphrase) the body of knowledge that is already out there.
When to Consider Chatbots
Chatbots have their place. We recommend using them to:
- Generate titles for your content.
- Help rewrite clunky sections of content.
- Help you structure your unique information or study.
- Asking how to improve your content (and pasting what you have in the chat).
When to Avoid the Use of Chatbots
Avoid the use of chatbots for the following:
- Paraphrasing information that is already available on the internet.
- Generating information for which you’re not already an expert. (For example, a dry cleaner writing about heart disease.)
- You don’t plan to edit the content; chatbots are often wordy.
- Believing everything a chatbot generates, use your judgment.
How to Know If You’re Using Simple, Natural Language
It’s easy to check how complicated your writing is.
Go to “Review” in the top navigation bar of your Word document. Click on “Spelling and Grammar.” (You may need to change your Word options to add the grammar setting.) The review will return a “Flesch-Kinkaid” grade level.
For example, this post returned a 7.7 grade level. Half of U.S. adults read at a grade level below the 8th grade, so you want to ensure you’re not writing copy that’s too complex. What’s more, people’s spoken language is even less sophisticated.
Content Length Doesn’t Matter
Write as much or as little content as appropriate. There isn’t an optimal number of words for your content. (Research used to say there was, but we’ve seen very short content rank well and long content get ignored. And vice versa.
Search robots, such as googlebot, crawl the web. They read code, words, and images. They also use artificial intelligence (AI) semantics to understand the content. Therefore, words are important to the search robots.
Google’s John Mueller says no minimum number of words is needed for a website page to rank. However, what matters is a sufficient number of words for Googlebot to “understand” what the page is about.
Most essential, consider what your audience needs—especially if they can’t find it anywhere else.
Effort and Originality Matter
At the same time, realize that effort does matter. Google measures and estimates the amount of effort you put into your content, and effort is likely a ranking factor.
Be unique.
Showcase Your E-E-A-T
Share relevant and unique content that highlights the author’s:
- Expertise
- Experience
- Authoritativeness
- Trustworthiness
Content length is not a ranking factor.
Captivate Your Readers: Avoid 5 Writing Mistakes
1. Not Following a Content Plan
Avoid diving into writing without a clear plan. Instead, follow these practices:
- Conduct keyword research to understand what your customers and prospects are searching for.
- Identify content gaps. What unique content could you add to the body of information available online? Don’t simply paraphrase what exists on the internet.
- Adhere to your business goals and marketing plan. Will this information advance organizational goals?
- Be relevant. Write content that speaks to your target audience, segment, or persona.
- Stay on brand. Are these the storylines and messages created for your target audience?
- Focus on the topic. No one cares what you ate for breakfast, about the long line at the coffee shop, or your new exercise routine.
2. Not Understanding How and Where to Use Keyword Phrases
- Don’t bury keyword phrases. If natural, include them prominently in headings and at the beginning of titles or sentences.
- Don’t overuse keyword phrases. Doing so will annoy your readers, sound ridiculous, and negatively impact your SEO.
3. Writing Poorly
Engaging copy uses strong verbs.
- Avoid the passive voice. The word “there” is often a clue that a sentence is written in the passive voice.
- Shun weak verbs combined with an adverb or -ly word. Don’t write that the girl walked proudly, came in happily, or entered slowly.
- Instead, use strong “power” verbs. For example, you might write that the girl sauntered, skipped, crawled, crept, or strolled into the room rather than she came into the room.
- Avoid the verb “to be.” To be or not to be. Not “to be” is better.
- Show. Don’t tell. Replace the girl was proud, happy, or sneaky with the girl strutted toward me, bounced over, or skulked away.
- Use phrases for emphasis. Your fifth-grade teacher may have required complete sentences. But web readers do not. Really.
- Peppering your copy with clichés. Avoid writing content until the cows come home, that’s dry as a bone, or leaves your reader fit to be tied. (Or is chockful of other clichés.)
4. Eschewing Style Guides.
Style guides can help you be consistent.
It’s essential to understand what words to capitalize, where to insert and not insert commas, and how to spell words consistently from one page (or paragraph) to the next.
For example: Health care? Healthcare?
5. Flouting SEO best practices.
SEO best practices are also user best practices. Become familiar with these practices or engage a writer who is. It will help you generate website traffic.
Captivate Your Readers: Apply the Principles of Good Writing
- Speak directly to your audience (use “you” and “we” rather than “they”).
- Check your spelling and grammar.
- Proofread and edit. Tools such as spellcheck or Grammarly can help. But they are not always right.
- “Write tight;” don’t use more words than necessary to convey your message.
Adhere to an Overall Content Strategy
Every blog and website page should be part of an overall marketing strategy. A content marketing strategy is a plan that focuses on creating and sharing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to a specific audience (your prospects and/or customers). Its purpose is to generate more brand awareness, trust, authority, inquiries, leads, and revenue.
We like this definition of a content marketing strategy:
A plan for building an audience by publishing, maintaining, and spreading frequent and consistent content that educates, entertains, or inspires to turn strangers into fans and fans into customers.
Need Help Writing for the Web?
If you need help, hire us! We have a wealth of knowledge about writing for the web, generating website traffic, getting your business on Google, and SEO tips.
We can build your website, write your content, and grow your business.
Nancy Burgess Strategic Marketing offers integrated marketing strategy and tactics for new and existing companies. Each solution is tailored to your needs to help grow your business.
Nancy Burgess
