Web Copywriting and Throwing a Party

Why Throwing a Party is a Wee Bit Like Web Copywriting

I was at a fantastic party recently and being unable to switch off from work meant I found myself comparing it to copywriting (sad I know).

Anyway, here are my observations on the similarities between throwing a party and writing your own website text.

Do your guests have anything in common?

Have you ever been to a party where the people you spoke to seemed a little boring? Maybe they talked about themselves all night or had nothing new to say.

If you’re planning on writing the text for your website yourself, imagine yourself at a party first.

• Do you want your company to come across as self-obsessed?

• Do you want your website to be the boring old Uncle in the corner with nothing new to say?

The text on your website needs to be relevant to your target audience.

Party food

When you think of party food, things like pizza, sandwiches and sausage rolls come to mind. Wouldn’t it be nice to go to a party where someone had gone that extra mile with the food?

Your website text should stand out from the crowd too. Imagine you had a website about mortgages and the text sounded exactly the same as all the other mortgage websites out there.

Do you think people will appreciate that lack of effort?

Take the time to really think about how your business is different from your competition before you write any text.

How long do people stay?

If you throw a party and everyone has left within a short time of arriving there’s something wrong.

The same principle applies to your website. The text on your website plays a huge role in how long people hang around.

A poor headline that just says “Welcome to our website” will hardly capture their attention and make them want to read on.

Experiment with different headlines and use Google Analytics to monitor how each of them affects the length of time people stay on your website.

Do you make it easy for people to find you?

When you’re inviting people to a party at a venue it’s nice to tell them where it is and provide a map with the invite if necessary.

When it comes to web copywriting it makes sense to point people in the direction of your website.

Here’s what you can do to achieve this;

• Use keywords relevant to your website in your meta titles, descriptions, headings and sub headings (Google any of these you’re not sure about) rather than just “welcome”

• Create an online map by getting lots of relevant incoming links to your website that will make it easier for people to find

So there you have it, why I think throwing a party is a wee bit like web copywriting.

Any comments or frozen sausage rolls are welcome!