Although most of my readers know me as knowledgeable about SEO and web best practices, my core skill and talent is as a copywriter. So it’s not unusual for me to harp on companies for not paying enough attention to the copy on their websites.
After my recent rant about SEO companies and bottom-feeder copywriters, one reader wrote to tell me about the outstanding in-house writers their company used.
Curious, I went to her website to check it out.
The reader was correct. The writing was just fine. But there was a problem. It was “inaudible.”
Her customers would never read it and, therefore, never “hear” the company’s sales message.
Here’s why. The copy was buried at the bottom of the web page, in a tiny font. Worse, yet, the text extended clear across the bottom of the screen. The eye had to track from left to right across 9 ½ inches and then back again.
No one will read it.
Remember, the reason you put copy on your page in the first place: Your copy is you.
It’s as if you — or your sales rep — were in the store standing alongside your customer. She is admiring and considering your product. You need to gently feed her information to help move the sale along.
Would you stand 20 feet back from your customer and whisper?
That’s what you are doing when you make your page copy inaudible.
The solution is to have your web developer build you text boxes that are narrower and place them strategically on your page. And make the font a little bigger, even if it means using fewer words.
Easy Web Tip #102: Your web copywriter might be terrific. But it will all be lost if you make her words “inaudible” with poor placement.
