Web users aren't reasonable. They don't need to be, since
your competitor's website is just a click away. They won't read your fine-spun
copy. They'll ignore your witty turns-of-phrases. They scan for what they're
looking for and click on the first promising link they find. Copywriting for
the Web is all about getting to the point.
Not every site can be fright-wig bad.
There's no need to travel far to find bad Web copywriting.
What makes it bad? Vincent
Flanders (the Web pundit) talks about self-indulgence and about the overuse
of buzzwords and clichés. But, to qualify for fright-wig status requires
special talent. Sometimes it's just the right combination of militaristic analogies, inverted sentence structures, and messianic tone. Here are some of our favorites:
Good copy is your site's first defense against the What-Do-I-Do-Now
Syndrome. When users get confused, they leave. This is especially true for your
site's homepage, where clarity and scannability are crucial.
Good copy informs, entertains, and inobtrusively leads the user to the call-to-
action, where the sale, lead, or contact is made. It converts visitors to customers.
Credibility has
been cited as one of the top-ten reasons why Web visitors don't buy. Web users
can't see the "face behind the curtain," and have little to rely on to establish
a site's integrity. Grammar blowouts and dubious marketing claims most often
result in click-aways (lost visitors).
"Credibility can be increased by high-quality
graphics, good writing, and the use of outbound [external] hyperlinks. Links
to other sites show that the authors have done their homework and are not afraid
to let readers visit other sites. [...] Users detested ‘marketese’,
the promotional style with boastful subjective claims (‘hottest ever’)
that is currently prevalent on the Web. Web users are too busy: They want to
get the straight facts.”
