How to Write Great Website Content: The 20 Most Important Tips for Writing Copy

Hello, dear reader!

If you’re in the process of building a website, creating attractive and engaging content is one of your top priorities. When writing website copy for your target audience, you might feel a bit unsure if this is your first time. Successful website content must appeal to both your internet users and search engines, but trying to please both can be intimidating.

Don’t panic! We’ve compiled the 20 most important dos and don’ts for writing website content to show you how to create content that improves the appearance, readability, and SEO effectiveness of your new website. Follow these tips when writing and compiling your website content, and you’ll reap the benefits of high-quality content writing as soon as your new website goes live!

20 Tips for High-Quality Website Content

Don’ts for Writing Website Content

1. Please, please, please: DON’T COPY ANYTHING! Copying content from other websites, as tempting as it may be, will result in your website being penalized or even removed by search engines. Keep your copy-paste urges in check and just take a few extra minutes to write original, unique content. After all, your company is unique, isn’t it? You deserve original content.
2. Don’t use run-on sentences when writing. Short and snappy works well with both people and search engines—you’ll be rewarded for it. If you have a lot to say, break it down into easy-to-follow paragraphs.

People skim text instead of reading it

3. Don’t write overly complicated content. It might make you seem smarter to use 4-syllable words 18 times in a paragraph, but most people won’t appreciate your linguistic skills. Keep the text understandable for the average reader.
4. When creating website content, avoid writing long blocks of text. Try to limit paragraph length to 80 words or 4–5 lines whenever possible. Bullet points, lists, and visual elements can help break up the text and make it more reader-friendly.

Keep anchor text and SEO in mind when writing

5. Don’t repeat yourself ad nauseam when writing. Your website visitors come to learn about your website’s topic. You don’t want to present them with the same concepts or keywords when they’re looking to learn something new.
6. Don’t overdo it when writing content by pushing your product or service too hard. Writing high-quality content is about striking a careful balance between promotional and non-promotional content. Sure, the purpose of the website is to promote what you offer. But that doesn’t mean you should bombard readers with calls to action. First, provide your readers with high-quality, informative content that they value before asking them if they’re interested in your products or services.
7. Don’t forget your target audience when writing. You may know a lot about the topics your website content covers, but you need to keep in mind that your customers may be much less informed. Make sure you write copy that meets your website visitors where they are.

Tips for Writing Website Content

8. When creating content, don’t use images for which you don’t have legal rights. If you take random images from the internet and place them on your website without permission or purchasing them, you could end up facing a lawsuit. Unless a lawsuit sounds like fun to you—so don’t use images that don’t belong to you!
9. Don’t use poor anchor text when writing. If you want your website visitors to click on a link in your content, don’t just insert a link with the text “Click here!” Be creative and use meaningful, inviting anchor text that also supports search engine optimization.
10. DON’T COPY ANYTHING WHEN WRITING! Write your own content and avoid having your website crash because you didn’t take the time to be original. Use a duplicate content checker to ensure your content is unique.

Create content tailored to your target audience

11. Know the goal of every single page when writing. Do you want a customer to buy a product on a specific webpage? Then make sure the content on that page is written in a helpful way to guide them in the right direction and convince them that the purchase is worth it.
12. Use calls-to-action (CTAs) when writing. A CTA is an inviting button, link, image, or other type of graphic that encourages a website visitor to become a subscriber or customer. If you write great content but don’t have a call-to-action, your content will be much less effective at converting visitors into customers.
13. Create an outline when writing. Or at least have a strong, organized idea of what you’re going to write for each webpage.
14. Sound like a human when you write! No one likes text that sounds like it was copied from a dictionary or read by a robot. Be down-to-earth and friendly, as much as your style allows. Your website visitors will appreciate the personal connection with you and be more inclined to respond to your calls to action.

Optimize website text

15. When writing, use bullet points, numbered lists, headings, etc. These help break up the text and make it more interesting and readable.
16. When writing, provide the answers your target market needs.
    How can your services or products help a consumer? Why are they the best on the market? How can a visitor find exactly the product or information they’re looking for? You’re the expert, so your website visitors expect to find some answers in your text!
17. Make sure your paragraphs are organized when writing. Each paragraph should contain only one key point. Each paragraph should start with the topic and stick to it without digressions or unnecessary information.
18. Make sure the content on your web pages can be scanned quickly without losing the message. Present important information first and highlight it. Most website visitors leave a page after just a few seconds, so when writing, make sure they see what they’re looking for without feeling like they have to read everything.
19. When writing, review a content page after you’ve created it.
    Look for errors or missing information that you want to correct. Even better: Read the content aloud, a practice that helps you assess whether the text sounds the way you intended and whether there are errors your brain keeps overlooking.
20. Meet your content deadlines! To ensure that content and web design fit together seamlessly, it’s always good for your web design team to know what kind of content you’re providing. If you deliver your content on time, your website will look better and can be launched promptly.

Bonus! If you feel like you’re still not quite sure how to write website content, or if you’re running out of inspiration, do a little Googling! Find websites with content you admire and use it as inspiration. But please, please make sure to steer clear of plagiarism!

Not sure if content writing is right for you? We believe in you! But if you’re worried that you lack the time or inclination to learn and apply these tips for high-quality content writing—don’t worry!

Here at Waterproof Web Wizard, we offer excellent content writing services and ensure your website gets content that’s organized, optimized, and conveys the message you want to share. Just contact us, and we’ll get right to work creating great content for your website!