Whether you’re writing a website page, a product description or a blog post, it’s easy to get sucked in and end up with a wall of text that makes Lord of the Rings look like a light read.

Do that, and your visitors will click away and look at your competitors instead.

Disaster!

You need to capture their attention and keep them reading with engaging website copy they’ll find hard to resist.

But how do you do that?

Ten ways to write engaging website copy

You don’t have to be the best writer in the world to write engaging copy. All you need to do is implement these ten simple tips and tricks to make your content easy to read:

 

1. Understand who your audience is

Before you can write anything, you need to know who your audience is.

Let’s say you’re a business coach.

Who are you selling to?

If you’re not sure and you cater to anyone and everyone, your content might read something like this:

“Coaching for people who feel unhappy in their work and are unsure what their next career move is. Through coaching, we will work together every two weeks to find out what is holding you back and how you can move forward to the next stage of your career.”

While this copy isn’t bad, it kinda drones on until it gets to the point. And it doesn’t make you want to get in touch as soon as you finish reading.

If you know your audience, let’s say you cater solely to women looking to take the next step in their career, all you need is:

“Coaching for women who want to climb the career ladder and make an impact.”

Short.

Straightforward.

And a lot more impactful.

 

2. Use short sentences and short paragraphs

Short sentences and paragraphs create urgency and make people want to read on.

If your page is full of big blocks of text, people won’t even bother reading the first line.

Make them punchy and digestible and they’ll devour them with glee.

 

3. Break up your website copy into sections using subheaders

The easiest way to break up blocks of text is to split your content into sections using subheaders, like this article.

It makes it easy to digest without leaving your readers feeling overwhelmed.

 

4. Use bullet points

Bullet points:

  • Allow you to get to the point
  • Create white space on a page
  • Make it easier for readers to scan for important content

5. Remove needless words

You can remove some words from your content without affecting what you’re trying to say.

These words include:

  • That
  • Only
  • Just
  • Really
  • Own
  • Very
  • Literally

If a sentence makes sense without these words in it, delete them.

Removing a few words can create engaging website copy in seconds.

 

6. Shorten wordy phrases

Shortening phrases can bring down your word count and make your website copy more engaging. 

So, change:

A number of … to … many

In order to … to … because

In order that … to … so

During the period of … to … during

In an effort to … to … to

In due course … to … soon

With the exception of … to … except

Comply with … to … follow

Do that and you’re well on your way to writing engaging website copy.

 

7. Cut out jargon

When you’re writing about your business, it’s easy to get caught up in jargon.

Jargon puts people off.

I’m a copywriter, so I call myself one.

Start calling myself a Sentence Construction Technician and your eyes will glaze over in seconds.

Whether talking about your job title, product or service, not everybody is an expert. And even the experts don’t really want to read a load of buzzwords.

 

8. Use active voice, not passive

The active voice sounds better and is more interesting.

For example:

Passive Voice: A movie is going to be watched by both of us tonight

Active voice: We’re watching a movie tonight.

Passive is a bit bland.

Active gets straight to the point and is often shorter.

 9. Use grammar and spell checkers.

You can check it as much as you want, there’ll always be a typo or a bloated sentence you can trim down. So, I run my copy through a few grammar checkers before I post it.

The ones I use are:

Each has its own quirks and each will miss stuff the others don’t. So, by running through these, you’ll edge closer to more engaging website copy.

 

10. Go through your copy and cut it down some more.

Even if you follow the first nine tips, can you cut your copy down some more?

Let’s take a look at my opening sentence at the top of this article:

Whether you’re writing a website page, a product description or a blog post, it’s easy to get sucked in and end up with a wall of text that makes Lord of the Rings look like a light read.

Written more concisely, I could have written:

Does your website copy read longer than Lord of the Rings?

The first is okay, it’s definitely more descriptive, whereas the second gets straight to the point and is much snappier.

***

And that’s it!

As I said, you don’t have to be the world’s best writer to produce engaging website copy. Trim the fat and every sentence you write will leave your customers on the edge of their seat.

Struggling to write your own content?

No matter how awesome you and your business is, writing isn’t for everyone.

Over the years, The Good Alliance has written engaging website copy for hundreds of socially motivated entrepreneurs – so we know a thing or two about what works and what doesn’t.

If writing isn’t your thing, why not apply to work with us instead?

Or if you fancy having a go, make sure to check out our other super-helpful writing articles, How to create an awesome ‘About’ page and 5 reasons why you’ve got writer’s block.