Why You Need Good Website Copy
September 16, 2009
A professionally designed business website is a powerful and essential promotional tool. It’s the first thing prospective customers will look at before they decide to contact you. If the copy on your website is not well written, it may be costing you customers. It is not enough merely to have impressive graphics and imagery, you need the right content to make it complete. Is the spelling correct? Are punctuation marks accurate? Does the copy make sense? These are questions that website designers should be asking themselves before they publish a new website.
One of the biggest mistakes with website copy is inconsistency. A lack of consistency could put off a large proportion of potential customers from using the services of a company that has not proofread their website.
Poor spelling on a website is another costly but easily avoidable mistake. The majority of visitors will leave the site very quickly if they discover too many spelling errors. This again will give them the impression that the site owners don’t really care. I am also certain that copy that has been ‘padded out’ with insignificant trivia is also unattractive for visitors. Lucid, concise and informative content is the order of the day.
Anything containing textual content should as a matter of course be proofread. It’s vital that not only are errors in spelling, punctuation and grammar found and corrected, but that the text flows smoothly for the reader. The copy on a website should not be viewed as the ‘poor relation’ of the website design project. You can have the most up-to-date, eye-catching graphics available but you will still need well-written copy to compliment them.
There are many web design firms around that will happily tell visitors how they can supply them with a state-of-the-art website but then insert second-rate copy, which totally negates any good work they have achieved. This will reduce the initial impact of the site, and more often than not will have an adverse effect on business. However, there are also website design companies that employ skilled writers so shop around. It pays to have the copy checked professionally, whether the web design company has written it themselves or had it supplied by the client. It may cost a lot less than you realise to have a website proofread and it could cost you much more if you don’t!
Remember, if people visiting your website cannot find the information they are looking for because of poorly written copy then they will simply leave your website. The only people to benefit will be your competitors.
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