With Great Web Design Comes Great Writing…Or At Least It Should!

Two peas in a pod

So I’ll just go ahead and put it out there: great web design without at least decent text or content is a complete waste of space. I mean, it is a crying shame that some tech guy has gone through all the trouble to developing a responsive, start-of-the-art website, only for it to have the most uninspired writing to fill up its pages.

The written text in a website is as critical as the efficiency of the website. After all, the communication of the actual product, service or topic of interest is done with the words, not the web design. As a result, web developers need to realize the importance of getting good content writers to fill up the pages of their websites if they hope to have successful sites. Design and content are inseparable.

How to make it work

Content writing simply requires a strong command of the English language, strong writing skills and a great capacity for innovation and imagination. Since this is not true for everyone (despite your other vast skills), some web designers choose to outsource content writing to companies or individuals.
However, if you cannot or will not outsource the writers, here are some things you should consider when developing your own content (good luck!):

1. Know your stuff
The thing about writing is that it can expose your ignorance or highlight your knowledge. Since you are trying to get people to visit your website regularly, we should stick with the latter, right?

This means that you need to know your product/service, understand the market and the target demographic, through and through. All these will determine what, how and when you will write.

2. Don’t sell too hard
You know how your brochures paint you are the best thing since sliced bread? Yeah, well, don’t do that on your website. All that tooting-your-own-horn is a complete turn off on the Internet so please avoid copying your brochures onto your website. Come up with something simple and clear that explains who you are, what you are selling and why people should buy it.

3. Keep the language simple
This is not the forum to show off your language command using big words and quoting Shakespeare. Studies have shown that most people can’t understand these complex words. Think of it like speaking to a normal pre-teen and bring it down a notch or two, alright?

4. Brevity for clarity
The shorter the articles or blog posts are, the better for you. Remember that people don’t spend a lot of time reading these things so you need to get to the point quickly while being friendly and personable. Don’t write a novel but also don’t write a one-sentence note.

5. Keyword optimization
At the end of the day, you need to get traffic flowing to your website and that can only happen if your content contains keywords related to your industry or topic. You can search for these words and fit them in naturally to maintain the flow of thought.

You certainly cannot go wrong if you follow these tips.