When was the last time you sat down and read the copy on your website? When you set your website up? A few years ago? Never? Don’t worry, you’re not alone. Website copy can often get forgotten, especially if your website is working well for you, but could it be working better?
- Does your text fulfil your business goals?
Read your website – does the copy still reflect your business, appeal to your customers and say everything you want it to say? If your copy hasn’t been touched since your website was first launched onto the internet chances are your business model has changed and the copy doesn’t reflect where your business is now.
- Has your audience changed?
Is your copy still relevant to the people visiting your site? If your website has been active for a long time the info you added could now obsolete, or the needs of the people you were targeting have now changed.
- What do people want from your website?
Is your website giving visitors what they need – product info, delivery costs, business hours etc. If you’re not sure then think about what you want from a website, you’re a consumer too!
- What are your competitors doing?
The best way to understand how your website is doing is to take a look at your competitors. Is their site similar to yours? Do they have more pictures, less copy, is it more professionally written, more entertaining, easier to navigate? If so, can you improve yours to make it more competitive.
- Eeek, do not keyword stuff!
Gone are the days when you had to fill your web pages with keywords in order to get listed high enough in search engine results in the hope someone would stumble across your site. Google and other search engines are much savvier these days to people literally filling their pages with place names and repeated words. They are more interested in the quality of your copy and understanding what your site is about, and how well it matches someone’s search terms.
- Time to up your game
Your website is up and running, you know your target audience, the search terms they will use to find you, now it’s time to make sure your copy is in tip-top condition to ensure you give the best impression possible:
– Check spelling and grammar
-Does your copy flow, leading the reader through your site or is it a bit haphazard?
– Make sure you’re not repeating yourself
– Is the tone and language suitable for your audience – are you using plain English, is there any jargon that your readers won’t understand?
– Make sure all internal and external links are working
– Make sure images are suitable for website use and are not too large that it takes an age for the page to load
We recommend you check and update your website every 6-12 months to keep it fresh, and interesting for repeat visitors. A website that doesn’t change can get stale, which can reflect on your business. If you haven’t got the time or inclination to rewrite your copy why not give it to us, we’ll be happy to give it a professional spring-clean.
Contact Plesilium on info@plesilium.co.uk / 01920 318202.