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Digital copy must: Provide information Be engaging Convince readers to take an action Convey brand ethos Provide context and relevance to search engines
Digital copy = everything you read on a screen, from websites and iPhone apps to emails and tweets.
Know your audience Holly Buchanan’s three questions: Who is my audience? What actions do I want them to take? What information do they need in order to feel confident taking action? (www.futurenowinc.com)
Digital audiences are used to being addressed as individuals.
Identify that ‘individual’ Investigate what they want Speak directly to them
A persona... A profile that embodies the characteristics of your target audience.
Sex: primarily male, female or a mixture? Demographics and psychographics Income bracket
How do they make purchasing decisions? Do they compare many service providers? Do they call in for assistance?
Digital copy must be: Clear and concise Easy to read Well written Well structured
Think about layout and legibility Use: Bulleted and numbered lists Short paragraphs Clear and concise headings Bold and italics Descriptive links
Consider language Tone must be consistent with the brand Use the active voice Consider the reader when using neologisms and buzzwords
Use features and benefits Feature - what the product does Benefit - what the user gets out of the product But focus on the benefits!
Enjoy cinema quality movie nights in your own home with a surround sound home entertainment system.
Use logic to structure information: Most important information at the top of the page – online readers scan Start with a summary of the main idea
SMOG Use the Simple Measure of Gobbledygook (SMOG) formula to calculate the reading level of content: www.harrymclaughlin.com/SMOG.htm
Use basic HTML to layout copy. Hypertext Markup Language – the foundation of documents on the Internet – it’s worth understanding it to make sure your copy’s correctly formatted.
Some HTML basics Bold: <strong>phrase you wish to bold</strong> Italicise: <em>phrase you wish to italicise</em> Underline: <u>phrase you wish to underline</u> List: <li>lines you wish to list</li> Paragraph: <p>paragraph text</p> Line break: <br/> Link: <a href=“page url”>phrase you wish to link</a>
1. Long copy Use it to: Foster relationships with readers Inform and educate Create and build a voice and personality for your brand
Seldom longer than 800 – 1000 words. Users scan pages quickly.
News releases… The stalwart of PR But often read without going through journalists.
Online articles Use articles for online syndication to provide valuable information to readers. Not a direct promotion of your site!
Steps for writing articles: Step 1. Choose your topic Step 2. Write about it Step 3. Get the article out there Step 4. Monitor its progress
Publish the articles to directories Use ORM tools to monitor them
Email newsletters can be used to build relationships and deliver: Humour Research Information Promotions
Blogging Fosters a community around a brand.
What’s it all about? Writing posts Replying to comments Monitoring and commenting on other blogs Keeping up to date with the latest industry news Building relationships with other bloggers Building relationships with readers
Ensure your blog’s content is: Relevant Appealing Honest Entertaining Engaging Regularly updated!
Use SEO in your copywriting Blend keywords into your copy and use them with HTML tags and meta data.
A word of caution… Remember that while SEO is important, you’re not just writing for the search engines. The reader’s experience should never be sacrificed!
Search engines crawl websites with web spiders Read more: http://computer.howstuffworks.com/ internet/basics/search-engine1.htm
Key phrases Searchers use multi rather than single word keywords – key phrases.
Optimise each page Use a mixture of primary and secondary key phrases in your copy.
Use the key phrases in: Page URL e.g. www.mainkeyword.com
Headings and sub-headings <h1> page heading <h2> Sub-headings <h3> Information under the sub-headings
Body copy • Link text to other optimised pages • Alt text and title tags on images
Calls to Action (CTA) Use active verbs Instruct the reader