How To Write Text Copy of Your Own Website?
The internet has always being fuelled by an adrenaline rush of information. All this content means more traffic for webmasters and this is the lifeline of any website.
Many of the newbies that are being exposed to the internet on a daily basis have dreams of running a website and making it successful. For some, this is a grueling task and leaves them short-winded trying to do so.
There are numerous marketing techniques that can be used to generate traffic on a regular basis. Out of all of them I have tried, writing seems to work the best.
Writing articles for ezines, newsletters, websites and forums in addition to using other marketing strategies helps in keeping your website visible.
The internet has turned out to be a publisher's paradise. Never before has the chance to publish your ideas and insights been this easy. In some cases all it costs is some of your time.
You can write an article this morning and have it published in the evening. Not so with print publications, I doubt I would ever get published in one. And it is available to anyone for the taking.
As with most skills, it takes practice to produce the best results. When I look back at some of my earlier articles, I have to laugh. But it is all part of the learning process.
Writing was once a secret weapon for many marketers, but now it has been thrown in the open and is now being used by many people. It has work wonders for me since I started doing it. My articles have appeared in ezines, newsletters and on websites with varying degrees of success.
Today writing is the best traffic generating method for many webmasters. I was skeptical when I first heard about it but I tried it and it worked. Just think of having your weblink in your ezine and website and other publishers having it in theirs.
It may not be the rush hour traffic that you are seeking but it is certainly not a drive through the countryside.
1.1 Getting Started
You have the topic for the website. You now need to get started writing the website. This can be an extremely frustrating process. For most people, getting started seems to be the most difficult aspect of writing an website. The very first thing you need to do is gather all your thoughts about the topic you have chosen. Doing research on the subject would definitely help.
The best approach for writing an website should be to start with the outline. Creating an outline would give you a good idea of what the website would be about. You should list out all the sections and topics of the website. Note that this would only be a draft outline. You can always keep on adding new topics as you progress. You can also review other books that are similar to get a better idea of what the outline should be like.
Bear in mind that you would be editing this outline numerous times during the course of the website. Once you have a draft outline, you would be in a much better position to start writing. However, before you do that you need to work out the title and research the Internet as well as print books for reference material pertaining to each section.
1.2 Title of the website
A clever title is great if it is clear, but a clear title is always preferable. A shorter title is better than a longer one. Your reader will spend only four seconds on the cover. While some long titles have succeeded, usually the shorter, the better.
A title is part of your website's front cover. Most buyers buy mainly because of the front cover.
Start with a working title before you write your chapters. Include your topic, your subject and use the book's benefits in your sub title if possible. Here are a few tips for titles that sell:
• Create impact for your title - Check out other authors' titles by researching on the Internet as well as local bookstores. Your title must compel the reader to buy now.
• Include your solution in your title. Does your title sell your solution? Make sure it answers the question rather than asks one.
• Use positive language instead of negative.
• Make it easy for readers to buy. Readers want a magic pill. They want to follow directions and enjoy the benefits the title promises. For example, 101 Ways to Market your website can act as an instructional book for your readers.
• Expand your title to other books, products, seminars, and services. Make sure that your title will work well with the title of your presentations, articles and press releases you'll need to promote the book
• Use original expressions — a way of expressing one idea for your book — yours alone.
• Include benefits in your subtitle if your title doesn't have any. Specific benefits invite sales. For instance, Google AdWords: A Money-Making Guide for Internet Marketers, Business owners, and Individuals.
• Choose others' website titles in your field as models. Choose five website titles and covers that attract you.
• Be outrageous with your book title. People do judge a book by its title. It must be so outstanding and catchy it compels the reader to either buy on the spot or look further to the description of the website. Take a risk.
• Be your strongest salesperson self. Choose the strongest words, benefits, and metaphors to move your audience to buy.
• Titles do sell books. Include your audience in your title. When your title isn't targeted other famous authors' general titles get the buyer. Always make your title clear and make it easy for your audience to recognize they need your website.
• Short titles are best, say three to six words. Titles should spell out at least the main benefit of the website. This would make it appealing to your target audience.
• Experiment with your ideas. Use combinations of all sorts of ideas pertaining to the website to create an appealing title. Including a popular search term may also help.
• Use power words to compel someone to buy your website. This strategy is used very effectively in advertisements. Words such as “Free”, “How to” and a number of ways such as “101”, or “1001” are attention grabbing words.
• The title should generate curiosity amongst targeted audience. It should in no way mislead your reader.
1.3 Writing Tips for your website – Making your website user friendly
• The very first rule of writing an website is to enjoy what you write. It is very easy to be frustrated or have something known as the “Writer’s Block”. Do not write at a stretch. Bear in mind that you are bound to make numerous mistakes while writing. These mistakes would reduce as you keep on revising and editing the website. There are going to be several rewrites before you actually have the final version of the website.
• While writing an website, it is very crucial that you know and understand your target audience very well. The book should address all the concerns of your target audience. The language and style of the book should also focus on your target audience. For instance, a book for lawyers would consist of numerous law terms, whereas if the book is targeted for housewives, the language should be very casual and informal.
• Refer to other popular websites to gain a better idea of the writing styles and language used. Bookmark good websites that have how-to information for writers about style, marketing, and different approaches to writing books. Good writers never stop learning – and the better you get, the more books you’ll sell.
• Always read every section after you write it. You may feel the need to restructure a few sentences or include new ones when you read a whole section at a stretch.
• Always use casual language that makes for simple reading, unless you are writing a very formal business book. Most readers understand casual language. Besides, you do not want your website to be taxing on your readers.
• Personalize your website. Write it as if you are conversing with someone one to one. For instance, use words such as “you” and “we” instead of third person language.
• Shorten sentences. Do not write long sentences with a considerable number of commas and other punctuations. A reader often loses continuity if he/she comes across long sentences. Also, reduce the size of your paragraphs. A paragraph consisting of 6 to 7 lines is ideal.
• Use bullets whenever possible. Listing various points using bullets reduces the visual mess. Avoid using numbers, unless your topic is something like 10 tips for buying a home. Also, leave out a line between each point, as is done here. This again reduces visual clutter.
• Use plenty of white space. Some readers will want to print your website out to read it. However, others will leave your website on their computer, and read it on- screen. That means that you need to be generous with white space. White space is good in any book, but it is especially important in an website. A long slab of dense black text on the screen is going to turn off readers - and a mouse-click will take them away from you.
• Avoid duplicate sentences both in meaning as well as wording. Do not repeat a particular sentence over and over again. It makes sense to remove any unnecessary words. For instance, if you have a sentence which goes as “So how does one achieve this?” remove the unnecessary word “So”. “How does one achieve this?” seems more polished and professional.
• Do not write in extremely short breaks. Spend at least an hour or two at a stretch while writing. Mind you, as suggested earlier, writing for many hours at a stretch could compromise the quality of your work as well. Take some time off at regular intervals, ideally after every 2 hours.
• Change color (but not too often). Occasional headings or sentences can be highlighted in red, for example. Use bold or italics for emphasis rather than underlining, though – internet users are used to thinking of underlined words as hyperlinks.
• The first impression of your book is very crucial. Try to make your introductory pages as interesting as possible. Not that all the remaining pages should be boring, but often a good first impression can get a reader through some of the not so interesting but indispensable sections later on in the website.
• Always ask friends and family to review sections you have written. Many times they may be able to provide valuable insights for the betterment of your website. Besides, they may also be able to point out some mistakes you might have overlooked.
• There is nothing wrong in adopting the writing style of a famous author. In fact this may very well improve your writing skills. Your skills will only be honed with practice – keep at it. Remember perseverance is the key!
• Finally, bear in mind that you should employ whatever method that works the best for you. Others may advise against it but at the end of the day if you are not comfortable with your writing method, you are not going to be successful.
1.3.1 The Writer’s Block
All writers have experienced it at one time or another - the dreaded writer's block! Writer's block is that terrible menacing mental block that prevents you from writing. There you sit in front of the computer, gazing at the screen. You are unable to focus, unable to write. It has happened to the best of writers, whether it's a letter, an essay, a book report or an website that they are trying to write. When writer's block gets a hold of you, you can fight back. The first thing you must figure out is why you are having writer's block and then decide what you can do to sneak around it.
Why can't you write?
Writer's block is caused by many different things. Here is a list of reasons that could be causing you to be unable to write.
• No interest in the topic. If you are so uninterested in the topic that you can't even write about it, why would anyone want to read it? Try changing the idea or the slant to something that you can become more interested in.
• Not having enough information on the topic. If you are trying to write about something that you know nothing (or very little) about, chances are you will have little success. Try to do some additional research or talk to others who are knowledgeable on the topic. The more you learn on the topic, the easier it will be for you to write about it.
• To tired to concentrate. If you are like many freelance writers, you go to work at your day job and are so drained that you are too tired to write. Writing takes time and concentration. If you have too many responsibilities set aside a scheduled time that is only for writing. No interruptions, no phone calls.
• Your idea is under-developed. Sometimes writers get so excited about an idea that they want to start writing it at once. However, if you haven't thoroughly researched your idea, you may find that you aren't able to develop the idea as you had planned. This goes hand in hand with the other reason we discussed above - Not having enough information on the topic. Do more research so that you are able to better develop the story.
What can you do to get around writer's block, or stop it altogether?
You may not be able to stop it altogether. From time to time, everyone experiences circumstances that preoccupy their minds or cause them to lose their focus and concentration. But, there are some things that you can do to get around writer's block when it tries to grab a hold of you.
• Create an Outline. We discussed the importance of outlines earlier. These are great to use when you are going through writer's block. Instead of composing long sentences or ideas, jot down two or three major ideas. Label the major ideas Idea
1, Idea 2, and Idea 3. Place Idea 1 at the top of the page, Idea 2 in the center and Idea 3 toward the bottom. Next, list two or three things that come to mind about each idea. Use these ideas to develop your sentences and paragraphs.
• Write every day! Writers need a schedule for writing. Just as a star athlete has to practice to stay adept at his craft, so must a writer. Try to write something everyday, even if it is not for the website.
• Work on several different topics within the book simultaneously. Sometimes,
writers will get burned out while working on a single section. If you find that you
can't focus on the topic, try switching to another topic. Often it is helpful to put the idea aside for a while, when you come back to it, you may have a different perspective.
• Practice Freewriting. Freewriting is writing about whatever comes to mind; anything at all. Start writing about your topic and continue to write ideas for five or ten minutes, or until you can't think of anything else to say about your topic.
• Freewriting is sort of like talking to yourself, but doing it in writing. Just keep the ideas flowing, even if you can't think of anything to write about. Pick an object on your desk and write about it.
• The worst thing you can do is to give into the writer's block. Finding out what your obstacles are and how to work around them will keep you writing. And when all else fails, you can always resort to writing a to-do list of some sort.
1.4 Using Graphics and Clip Art
A dilemma most people face while writing an website is whether to insert graphics in the website. Graphics can be illustrative and visually appealing to readers. Thus, many are tempted to include as many graphics and clip art in their websites as possible. However,
such a move can completely backfire. Graphics increase the size of the website. The more graphics you use the larger the file size. This implies that it will take longer to download the website. Clip Art images may take less space as compared to pictures.
You may feel the need to use graphics and clip art to enhance your website, however, these should be used sparingly. You should also familiarize yourself with graphic types. BMP (bitmap) graphic files are popular Microsoft Windows type files. They are larger in size that GIF or JPG (or JPEG) files. So the preference is to use GIF or JPG when possible. There are also animated files called Animated GIF. You can simulate motion with this type of file. Most paint programs can convert between file types. BMP and JPG cannot be converted to Animated GIFs only regular GIF files.
Another method to reduce file size is to decrease the number of colors contained in the graphics file. You may find a palette of millions of colors available for use when 256 colors are enough to keep the image clear enough for presentation.
1.5 A few guidelines for HTML websites
Easy Navigation
One of the advantages of websites, especially websites created in HTML format is that a reader can easily navigate through the pages. User friendly navigational links are essential for any website. You should at least include a link for the previous as well as the next page. For instance, page number 10 should have a link to page number 9 and page number 11. I would also recommend having a link to the table of contents on each page. This would make it easy for any reader to refer to the outline as and when required.
A caveat of having websites in MS Word form is that they may not include such navigational links.
Naming your files
Following a convention for naming files is important if the format of your website is HTML. In case of HTML files, each page would have a different name. It is crucial that
you name each page logically. As a thumb rule always name your starting page as index.htm. The rest of the pages can be named according to their topic or section. For instance, the first page of a topic called “Key aspects of design” could be named as design1.htm. The second page of this topic as design2.htm and so on.
Moreover, ensure that you store all files in the same folder. In case of other formats such as PDF or Word, your website would only be a single file.
Creating hyperlinks
While creating hyperlinks to other pages or images in your website, ensure you use proper code. A simple mistake in the code would lead to a broken link, which is not what you want. All images that are inserted into the website should be saved in a directory. These images must be included in the compilation process. If images are not compiled during the creation of the .exe file, they would not show up in the final product.
Another point to remember is that while including external links such as links to other web pages in your website, make sure that you write the complete path of the web page. The code would be as given below:
<A HREF=”http://www.externalwebsite.com” TARGET=”BLANK”> External Webpage </A>
Note that the path of the external website starts with “http://”. The parameter TARGET=”BLANK” is included so that the external website opens in a new window. Leaving out this parameter would cause the webpage to open within the website.
The Visual Appeal
We discussed earlier that graphics should be used sparingly in websites to avoid increasing their size and download time. However, it may be a good idea to use smaller graphics that go well with certain sections of the website. Ensure that you use small gif or jpg images instead of bitmaps (bmp) that are considerably bigger in size. Images in headers and topic dividers would greatly augment to the visual appeal of your website without making a huge difference to the size.
The key is to not go overboard with graphics. Besides, animation (Flash, all kinds of Video files) along with sound files should be completely avoided. These not only increase the size of the website but also slow the loading process considerably. Another disadvantage of using animation is that most formats require a special plug-in. All readers may not have these plug-ins installed on their computer. Hence, such practices generally would be futile.
Desktop Icon
A feature that most HTML compilers offer these days is the ability to create your own desktop icon for your website. While compiling the website you can design your own icon that will be placed on your customer’s desktop. He/She could open the website by clicking on the icon. This is a very handy feature. While choosing your compiler you should ascertain whether the compiler offers such functionality.
Fortunately, though, there are many tools available that let you create a desktop icon for your website. However, you should ensure that these tools are compatible with your compiler.
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