• By michelle
• In Copywriting

How to Make Website Copy User-Friendly

You’ve built a responsive and conversion-ready website.

You throw all of your website copy on it, you sit back and wait for it to bring you new clients, and the only one who actually goes through your website content and fills out your contact form is your mom.

And your mom doesn’t even need any of your products or services. She just couldn’t get in touch with you over the phone about your Grandma coming into town and figured this was the only way to reach you.

That’s no good.

After all that work, your business website is failing you. Or maybe it’s that you’ve failed your website.

Don’t be the person that fails your website.

Don’t get caught up in trying to design a beautiful website, and then forget about functionality and user experience while creating website copy.

If you’re considering revamping your business website in the near future, you can follow a few simple tricks to create user-friendly website copy.

Keeping reading to discover how to make your website copy user-friendly.

Navigation

You could have the best content in the world on your website. But if no one can find it, it’s not going to do you any good.

And trust me, your prospects are not going to go all Indiana Jones on your website searching for the gold (ahem… information…) they are looking for. And that makes for a no-fun, boulderless ending to a visit to your website.

That’s why a well-thought-out navigation bar at the top of your website is so important. The goal is to lead Indiana Jones (or your prospect…either one) directly to what he needs.

Here’s an example of our navigation bar…

Notice how it clearly displays the most important information people will need to find. This includes information about us, what services we provide, our portfolio, and how to get in touch with us.

Quality Website Copy

Now that you’ve made it easy for people to find the content they need, you must make sure the content you’re directing them to is valuable, quality content.

In other words, don’t send someone who clicks on your services tab to a page or section of copy that vaguely bullets a handful of the services you provide.

And you definitely don’t want to send visitors to an About Us page that only talks about your accomplishments and company accolades.

Providing quality website content means providing value to prospective customers.

Prospects should be able to visit your About Us page and discover why you’re the best in the business and what you can do for them.

If you have a portfolio, they should be able to click and look at numerous examples of how you knocked it out of the park for other clients.

Catch our drift?

Good.

Here are a few things to ask yourself when determining if your content is quality content or not…

• Does my website copy answer my prospect’s questions?

• Does my website copy inform my prospect about something he/she needs to know?

• Does my website copy motivate my prospect to take action on my website?

• Does my website copy provide value to my reader?

• Does my website copy clearly define my products/services?

Website Copy Readability

Readability greatly impacts a person’s desire to stay on your website and consume the information you’ve put into your website pages.

Readability is simply how easily someone is able to read the content you write. The higher your readability score, the easier your content is to consume and vice versa.

Here are a few factors that determine readability:

• Words per sentence

• Sentences per paragraph

• Characters per word

• Passive sentences

• Content length

As a general rule of thumb, the idea is to keep your website copy tight and to the point. Avoid passive phrases, and be aware of how lengthy your paragraphs are.

Here’s an example of a piece of content that would score high on readability (what you want to aim for).

Continue reading the full article, Top 10 Website Copy Strategy Tips, here.

And here’s an example of something that’s a little more difficult to digest.

Remember, prospective customers are on your website to quickly gather the information they need. They only want to see if you can solve a problem they have or prevent a perceived future problem.

If they wanted to read a novel, they would have picked up a Herman Melville novel.

Human-Friendly Copy

Yes, we know, it sounds kind of silly to tell people to write website copy that is “human friendly,” but you’d be surprised how many companies don’t.

Too many business websites have copy that is boring, robotic, and dull.

Humans, at least most of us, don’t have the traits listed above. So why should we talk to people online like they do?

It’s ok, and actually encouraged, to make your website copy interesting, humorous, conversational, engaging, and emotional.

All of the traits I listed above help you connect to the person that’s reading your content. And you can bet that when prospects enjoy what they are reading, they will stick around longer to read more of it.

The more time people spend on your website, the more likely they are to stumble across a product or service they will want to purchase.

Grammar, Spelling, and Punctuation

Last, but certainly not least, is making sure your website copy is flawless.

This means proofing for grammar, spelling, and punctuation errors.

Sure, a missed comma might occur on your website from time to time, and that’s not the end of the world. But when you’re consistently publishing errors on your website, it becomes a problem.

It becomes a problem because readers will begin to lose trust in the quality of the content you’re publishing.

I mean, if you can’t use the correct spelling of “you’re,” how are people supposed to trust that the information in your content is accurate.

Not only is trust an issue, but readability also becomes an issue again. With too many errors, it’s hard for your prospects to understand your content.

They may also find themselves getting distracted with your errors, which also places their attention on the wrong thing.

It’s vital that your website copy look polished and professional.

And if you’re not a detail person, didn’t win your middle school’s spelling bee, or can’t for the life of you figure out why the Oxford comma is important, there are many editors that would love to be hired to proof your work.

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