So just how different is copywriting for the web to its old-school print cousin? I'd say not very - IF you compare it to the very best print copywriting (which a lot of web gurus don't, perhaps because they've never seen any).
Here's what you need to do to make your web copy sing. And for once I'm going to avoid the whole SEO thing.
Not because you don't have to do it but because there's a new way of talking about it. Of which more in a moment.
Five rules for effective web copy
#1 Keep your sentences to an average of 10-12 words. It's never been a good idea to write long, windy sentences.
But online, where people feel busier than they actually are, the longer your average sentence the bigger the sense of panic/boredom you create in your reader.
#2 Use the most personal tone of voice you can muster. On the web you must create a relationship with your reader.
Bounce rates, abandonent rates, non-conversions, whatever your favourite metric for assessing the stickiness or otherwise of a web page, one of the prime culprits is an impersonal tone of voice.
Try addressing visitors as "you". Write what you'd say to them in your local coffee shop. Or bar, if you prefer. That's an old journalist's trick, but it's tailormade for the web.
#3 Keep it relevant to your reader. Remember why they came to your site in the first place. Some come direct, some via search, others via links.
It doesn't matter which, once they're on your site keep talking about the things that interest them. And thanks to Latent Semantic Indexing, it's no longer a case of mindlessly repeating keywords.
Instead go for a richly detailed conversation on the subject that interests them, whether it's non-surgical facelifts or aluminium baseball bats.
#4 Break it up into ultra short paragraphs. Most people are used to writing copy in Word or an equivalent.
Which is the right way to do it because it doesn't distract you with design elements. But remember the column width your copy will eventually inhabit. Anything over three lines in a Word doc is going to start looking slabby on the web.
Use the old direct mail copywriter's trick of deliberately breaking a paragraph in the wrong place. Why?
Because you train your reader to read on.
#5 Highlight key words and phrases with bold, highlights or even underlining. yes I know they can look like hypertext but it doesn't seem to matter. It's good for SEO and helps scanners decode your copy faster.
My closing comment is that those five rules work fantastically well in print too. In fact that's where they come from.
