The Ultimate SaaS & Tech Website Content Writing Guide.
The Art & Science of Creating Content.
Content will make or break your conversion rates and should be as strategic as - if not more than - your architecture, design, forms and other site aspects.
We know that...
Visitors form opinions very, very quickly.
It takes about 50 milliseconds (that’s 0.05 seconds) for users to form an opinion about your website that determines whether they like your site or not, whether they’ll stay or leave.
And often only visit only a few pages on a site.
More than 4 pages viewed per visit would put you in the best 20% of sites, and more than 5.3 would put you in the best 10%.
If you want even more proof of how important content strategy and layout is, then we have a slew of stats just for you...
57% of internet users say they won’t recommend a business with a poorly designed website on mobile.
38% of people will stop engaging with a website if the content or layout are unattractive.
88% of online consumers are less likely to return to a site after a bad experience.
75% of consumers admit to making judgements on a company’s credibility based on the company’s website design.
It takes 2.6 seconds for a user’s eyes to land on the area of a website that most influences their first impression.
Users spend an average of 5.94 seconds looking at a website’s main image.
Three quarters (74%) of web users pay attention to the quality of spelling and grammar on company websites.
Alright, Now Here Are Your Best Practices for Writing Web Copy...
#1
Make Text Scannable.
Be concise. Be relevant. If you have 6 paragraphs, the likelihood of a visitor reading the last couple paragraphs is very small.
- Use short sentences and action verbs.
- Cut inessential text without sacrificing your identity.
- Highlight essential words.
- Use bulleted lists to draw out information.
Studies have shown that people read in an “F-Pattern”, so utilize that layout as a great rule of thumb.
TYPICAL PARAGRAPH STYLE
MY MAIN HEADLINE HERE
In this side we use a lot more text to talk about our points as paragraphs. Usually we try to get several main points across here and then will talk about more later.
What we need to remember is that people do not read and probably stopped doing so in the paragraph above.
Most likely they are trying to scan this text right now, but have to do so by picking out random words and stopping if they seem important to them.
The majority of the world will never even read this last paragraph because they were only scanning the page or if they started to read this chunk of text only made it through the first few sentences. Hope you didn't have an important point here.
"F-PATTERN" STYLE
MY MAIN HEADLINE HERE
A QUICK ONE SENTENCE SUMMARY OF THE TEXT BELOW.
People get overwhelmed by chunks of text, but like scannable structures.
- The first point of my scannable list.
- This is a second point of my scannable list.
- Or bold important words to increase scanning.
- A brief summary. And then add more than one line of text to your point.
- The last point of my scannable list.
A final summary and closing statement..
#2
Balance creativity with instant comprehension.
Brands need a voice, but even the most beautiful voice is meaningless if you don't get what it's saying.If you want to be more creative, make sure that text is sandwiched in between simple, straightforward language.
WOULD YOU KNOW WHAT THEY DO?
Redefine success through unparalleled strategic insight.
COMPREHENSION-FIRST
Strategic consulting and unparalleled insight to redefine success.
COMPREHENSION EYEBROWS WITH CREATIVE HEADLINE
Strategic Consulting
Redefine success through unparalleled insight.
#3
Prioritize your words.
Studies show that the first 20 - 30 characters - yes, we said characters - of a sentence determine if someone will read the sentence.
Starting a headline or sentence with enticing or interest driving words and phrases will improve the likelihood of reading.
FIRST 20 - 30 CHARACTERS - DOESN'T SEEM WORTH MY TIME
We are noticeably different because our team is comprised of top experts.
OOOO - YOU CAUGHT MY ATTENTION
No Comparison. Our industry-leading expert team always delivers.
#4
Short sentences work best.
Studies show that when average sentence length is 14 words, readers understand more than 90% of what they are reading.
At 43 words, comprehension drops to less than 10%.
Long, complicated sentences force users to slow down and work harder to understand what they are reading.
This is not something people want to do, even if they are familiar with the subject.
Similar research from the American Press Institute shows readers find sentences of:
- 8 words or less very easy to read;
- 11 words, easy;
- 14 words fairly easy;
- 17 words standard;
- 21 words fairly difficult;
- 25 words difficult and
- 29 words or more, very difficult.
#5
Write For Your Audience, Not You!
I repeat, you are not your audience.
Even the most experienced members of your team do not not know exactly what prospects are thinking.
Add in changing economics, competitors, industry shifts, culture shifts and prospect generation changes you may be way out of your element.
As you write, it is important to try and think in the shoes of a person who doesn’t know your company and in many cases may not know your industry or competitors.
This is almost the most important tip, because it is easy to use our knowledge and daily industry obsession as a crutch to think we are creating great content.
#6
Separate Marketing From Sales Language
A website is to entice and convert, not close the deal.
Unless you are an ecommerce site, often your goal is just to move someone to the next stage of the process.
If you are services, you want them to become a lead for sales. If they are software, you want them to demo.
When writing, do not try to provide every detail. Often when companies write their own content, their drive is to want to explain everything and not miss any detail.
Most website writing is about marketing - short and sweet to entice people to take action.
Stop trying to say everything.
We repeat. Stop trying to say everything.
#7
Use Jargon Only When You Know Your Audience Will Respect It
As dope as it may be, be careful about UANOU.
You know what you are talking about, but that doesn’t mean that your visitors do - using too much industry jargon or acronyms just confuses interested prospects.
Slang may fit your culture and brand voice, but also has the possibility of dating your company or coming of disingenuous if it does not match your brand - so be careful.
In some cases Jargon and acronyms can prove your knowledge, but be cautious with its over use.
UANOU: Using Acronyms No One Understands
Steps To Writing A Page
There is no one size fits all approach. And to be honest, if you do not write for a living, this will most likely be a grueling process.
Also, industry knowledge does not mean you can explain to prospects what you do in a simple, impactful and convincing way using your brand voice.
- Pick a page.
- List the 5 to 10 most important messages you want to get across to your prospects.
- List the 5 to 10 things that are most important to your prospects.
- Organize that list by the ones that match up first, then the rest. If you have more than 12, get rid of the least important to the prospect.
- Group the list by common thoughts or theme. It’s ok to just have one.
- Take the first group and begin by writing a headline for the group. Use the tips above to either include the primary phrase about the group or an anchoring line with that phrase.
- If it’s the page’s first group, there should either be a page headline with the page name or this headline should have it.
- After your headline, summarize the group in one to two sentences. We prefer one sentence. If you need two or three, it is ok, but try not to go beyond that.
- Now take all the points in the group and create either a list or short paragraphs with three to five word lead sentences.
If you had more than one group, repeat the process and these will be used on the page in a different place.
As we said, this is not one-size fits all. For product or services pages, you may need different formats such as you are writing longer pages that cover multiple similar topics.
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