Nowadays it’s easy to start your own website and find a place on the World Wide Web. However, due to this ease of accessibility, becoming noticed is a lot harder than designing a website and buying a domain name. You could have the best product or service available, but if your website is poorly designed, not user-friendly, or doesn’t practice effective SEO, then your business will never flourish.

Although you need to utilize every tool possible (social media, content marketing, sales, email marketing, outreach, the list is endless), your website and the copy you have on it can help you climb the search engine ranks and improve your online visibility.
The question though, is what makes good, effective on-site copy for your website?

Always Research

There are many elements of your website that need researching, such as the effectiveness of the design, how your customers interact with it, how they arrive to your website and what makes them click-off, but you need to think of your website as a whole and how you can make it work in harmony. A successful website is created through good, separate elements. For instance, you could have a beautiful website, but if it’s confusing to navigate, then your customers will become frustrated and leave. Therefore, before you consider your on-site SEO, you need to iron out all the creases throughout your website by auditing your website.

Research Your Keywords

You don’t want to write your content blind, so make sure to see what keywords would improve your website’s ranking. Keyword research is one of the most valuable and high-return activities your company can do in search marketing, so make sure you either hire professionals to determine the keywords for you or do the in-depth research yourself by using AdWords or equivalent.
Before you write your content, you should also consider the current climate. For instance, long-tail keywords are more in-demand than not because people will be more descriptive in their searches. Rather than search “black dresses,” people will now search for “black dresses for petite women,” etc.

Once you have the keywords, it’s time to write your content. When you sit down to begin, you need to consider the following:

Do Not Overstuff

When writing your copy, you may think more is more when, in fact, less is more. Google searches for sites that are relevant and which avoid spam, and by overstuffing your copy, your website becomes less user-friendly and more focused on profit. You should only mention a few keywords a handful of times, and they should be worked in naturally.

Be Grammatically Correct

Your copy must be of a high-quality, meaning correct grammar, spelling, and punctuation is a must. If you have a team of quality writers available, be sure to use them and to proof the content before putting it live on your website. However, if you do not, then you need to hire the services of a professional copywriter. Copywriters can be found anywhere, from freelancing sites such as People Per Hour or Upwork.

Consider Attention Spans

Nowadays people have lesser attention spans. This means that your on-site content should be bite-sized, easy-to-read and blog-friendly. Content that is easy to skim is ideal, and all content should be kept short. Additionally, headings and sub-headings are your best friend, so be sure to use them!

Link When Relevant

Internal linking is great and can help build authority to your website, however, you need to ensure your links are up-to-date as any broken links could damage your ranking. Also, by providing links, you’ll be able to keep customers on your website for longer.