Write differently for the web
One critical thing when writing for the web is that people read web pages differently than they read text on paper. Firstly they speed read text about 25% faster on screen than they do on paper. So you have much less time to grab their attention and get them interested. This really means that you need shorter sharper text and more than ever need to use headlines and highlighting which really draws out the benefits of what you have to offer.

Never forget what people are looking for on the internet and that is reliable information, key facts and figures and detail. Whilst in a corporate brochure you may get away with some flowery language and vague boasts it’s unlikely that this will hold much weight with a web visitor.

The usual rules of effective sales and marketing apply. The copy should be written about the reader (you) not your business (we). Try and use words and terminology that your visitors would use not industry jargon. You can learn an awful lot by reading customer emails, reviewing questions that get asked of your sales force or reading the content of web forums that your potential customers might use.

Our course the copy must be benefits focused and full of the right kind of words that people will be looking for either when they do a search through one of the search engines or when they are searching or scanning through your site – these are the all important keywords. Determining which keywords visitors might use is an art in itself. But there are tools that can help you. Overture allows you to see how many searches were done for a particular search word or phrase, in the previous month.

The other issue with website copy is the way it is read. Eye tracking studies show that people don’t read web pages in the classic left to right motion. Before deciding to read properly a visitor starts in the upper left, scans across the top and drops down to the central area of the screen, then casts left then right before going back to the centre. By placing key information with an understanding of what the visitors eye is looking for can improve readability and engagement with a website significantly.

And of course you must write for the relevant audience – not just in terms of tone and style but also in terms of references and content. The older generation tend to look for much more reassurance and therefore value testimonials – but only those from people ‘like them’. If you can supply support direct on your website, through information and guidance which might all be invaluable in the decision making process, you will get visitors hooked so that they don’t need to look elsewhere.

So with your web copy be brief, relevant, keyword rich and benefit focused and you won’t go far wrong.

Technology Insider: The Internet 2 The Internet2 is a US-led effort which is a consortium of 202 universities working in partnership with industry and government to develop and deploy advanced network technologies. It is an effort to build cyberspace again, this time better and faster. It will allow, for example, the staging of high-resolution video-conferences and remote diagnosis for doctors who can send detailed medical files in a flash.

Web Insider: What’s a Hit?
When it comes to websites what is the difference between a hit and a visitor?

A unique visitor is a person visiting one or more pages – hits are completely different and includes a count each time a search engine visits one of your pages as well as when a human visits.

Hits are a count of each file sent to a browser by a web server. For example, if you have a web page with 10 pictures, then a request to a server to view that page generates 11 hits (10 for the pictures, and one for the html file – the web page itself). A page view can contain hundreds of hits.

It is for this reason that businesses using Zarr Internet Services user statistics get page views, not hits.

Case Study: Cricket enthusiasts bowled over with new website While England battled it out Australia for the Ashes, a Coventry company which specialises in custom made cricket bats notched up an impressive half century of its own. Since V Sports launched its new website www.vsports.co.uk. 50 per cent of the company’s new customers have come via the web with hundreds of orders coming in from around the UK, Holland, Germany, Hong Kong, South Africa & USA. The Foleshill Road business, celebrating its 21st anniversary this year (2005), specialises in producing custom made bats from English willow in its workshop on site. It also caters for bat repairs and service and stocks all major cricket brands as well as a full range of other cricket equipment from footwear, pads and gloves to bowling machines and practice nets. Owner Vee Udeshi turned to Zarr to create the new site, incorporating Zarr Retailer - a streamlined system allowing V-sports to operate an in-store retail system and a real-time stock control system. Mr Udeshi said: “Half of our new customers have come through the website and hopefully it will create a lot more interest and business to go with it. We’ve been here 21 years but we are still building. I would really like to thank everyone at Zarr for helping us out and making things very simple – they are absolutely superb and I think we will have a very long working relationship.” Hannah Reynolds, managing director of Zarr Internet Services, said: “Vee operates a highly specialised business manufacturing custom made cricket bats with traditional tools and techniques. What we’ve tried to do is fuse new technology with that tradition to help V Sports evolve. “The website is supporting Vee’s 10,000 catalogue mail shot and has already proved to be a success in generating new business leads. It has been a very enjoyable project to be involved in and we look forward to continuing to work with Vee in the future.”

Coming Soon
Zarr’s October Online Insider features ideas on how to interact with customers online.

Contact Zarr
If you are interested in finding out how your business can benefit from the latest web technology or if you need help with your online business strategy contact Zarr Internet Services on 01788 820900.

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