To create good website content you first have to understand how people read on the web.

People don’t read websites word for word – they scan the page looking for the information they want. Therefore your website content should be written for scanners:

• Online text should have roughly 50% of the words you would use for print
• Include lots of bullets, lists and meaningful sub-headings
• Use links to break longer information up into parts.

If your print ad, direct mail piece, press release or home page isn't getting the results you want a weak headline may be to blame.

Research shows that readers respond more to headlines than any other element of a print ad. So no matter how eye-catching the images and design, or compelling the body copy, without a strong headline an ad will most likely be ignored.

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These are the best books on how to create profitable content for business websites that I have found. I recommend them to all webstite copywriters and editors:

Think I've missed something? Feel free to recommend your favourite book for website copywriters.

Here's a selection of the best websites and e-newsletters for website copywriters I've found on my travels around the Web:

ExcessVoice.com
Nick Usborne's e-newsletter focuses on copywriting and content writing, with an emphasis on the Web.

New Thinking
Gerry McGovern's weekly e-newsletter focuses on web content management, information architecture and writing for the Web.

copyblogger
"Copywriting tips for online marketing success"

HighRankings.com
Everything you need to know about SEO copywriting.

Writing for the Web
Web usability guru Jakob Nielsen's excellent collection of articles plus recommended books.

This comprehensive web writing style guide was also co-authored by Nielsen.

Writing Effectively Online: How to Compose Hypertext
An oldie but a goodie!

"If your website is nothing more than an electronic brochure, you are squandering the power of the medium."

Mark Stevens, Your Marketing Sucks.

A work in progress.

1. Your website is a billboard in the desert

2. Most important element

3. Brochureware is bogus

4. Traffic + conversion = website success

*Inspired by: 37 signals manifesto.

Copy is the single most important element of a business website.

If you don't believe me try this experiment. Remove all the copy from your site. Can it still sell? Not likely. Strip all the graphics off your site and leave the words. It might not be pretty, but if you've used the right words it will still make the sale. It's the words that sell.

Despite being one of the most efficient, cost effective and intelligent marketing weapons, direct response marketing (aka DR) has an image problem. It's usually associated with junk mail, infomercials, and ads for nasty porcelain figurines in the back of the TV guide.

However, the principles of DR can be applied widely and it doesn't have to be "tacky" or "low rent". Knowledge of DR is particularly important for internet marketers as the web is the most interactive and responsive of all marketing environments.

DR is all about getting people to take action. And that's also the goal of your website e.g. click here, download this report, sign up for our newsletter, read this, buy now, etc.

Last month Will Swayne from Marketing Results invited me to join him on a podcast to discuss how to apply the principles of DR copywriting to websites.

Listen in and you'll discover how to write direct response website copy without appearing “tacky”. Those hype-y, looooooooooong scrolling sales letter-style websites are obvious examples of online DR copywriting (which some may consider tacky), but there are also many other useful applications.

If you read just about any book on how to write well it will tell you to avoid cliches. Unfortunately most website owners haven't read those books.

Two of my all time most hated, worn out web cliches are "innovative" and "solutions". Trouble is, sometimes clients actually ask me to include these words in their copy. One client even described them as "power words"!

Just saying you're "innovative" doesn't make it so. It also violates another rule for good writing: show don't tell. If you really are innovative, prove it to me by describing the innovations you've come up with or the innovative ways you conduct your business.

"Solution" is so vague as to be meaningless. If you absolutely must use it, please explain what your solution acutally encompasses.

An excellent reference for cliches to avoid (and a funny read to boot) is Watson's Dictionary of Weasel Words, Contemporary Cliches, Cant & Management Jargon by Don Watson.

Watson lists "innovation" and "solution" amongst his weasel words. He says: "There is a universal instinct to use weasel words, jargon and cliches as… vapour to blind or repel anyone sniffing out the truth about us… we parrot them without thinking."

If you want your website to get results you have to reveal the truth about your business. Be explicit about what features and benefits you offer, what problems you solve for your clients and what makes you different from your competitors. If you take the time and effort to make these messages clear it will pay off in spades.

Recently a client questioned the liberal use of the word "you" in the home page I had written for them.

A central tenet of a successful business website is that it is about and for your customers.

Too many businesses use their websites to talk about themselves: We've been in business since… We offer innovative business solutions… We have the biggest range of… We offer superior customer service…

These messages do not work. The hard truth is customers are not interested in you. They're only interested in themselves and their problems.

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