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Youve probably read lots on effective copywriting strategies, how toutilise keywords, and various tricks of the trade for making sure yourcopywriting is as effective as possible. This is good stuff ... anythingthat results in a better website is worth reading and absorbing.However, before you learn to walk, you need to learn to crawl. Before youbegin focusing on the technical aspects of copywriting, its a good idea toget a handle on the basics.With that in mind, here are a few things to keep in mind when yourepecking away at your keyboard, trying to come up with effective copy foryour site.* Catch your visitors attention right away. Theyll be gone in two secondsotherwise.* Keep it short. Keep it simple. Keep it to the point.* Along the same lines, focus. Dont try to do too much with one article orone page of copy. Youre not a novelist - youre selling your services orproduct.* Use the active tense ... dont say "the product can be bought by clickingon this link", say "click on this link to buy the product".* Dont use jargon. Youre writing to inform, to convince and to sell, notto confuse.* If you have a choice between a small word and a big word, use the small word.* Keep a dictionary at hand, and use it.* Know your audience. If youre targeting university professors, you wontwrite the same kind of copy youd aim at skateboarders (unless your targetaudience is skateboarding university professors - in which case youve gotproblems).* Keep the tone consistent. If youre writing using an informal,conversational style, dont switch in midstream to a formal legalisticstyle. Itll throw your readers off.* Tell the truth. Not only will you avoid being sued, but youll achievecredibility. This translates into long term profitability. Trust us.* Similar to the last point, dont exaggerate. Kill the superlatives andthe exclamation marks. Let the reader decide if theyre excited or not. Ifyouve done your job, they will be.* For website copy, use bullets and point form, and break up copy withsubheads. Short attention spans and monitor-induced eyestrain make thisessential.* Forget word counts and padding your copy. Say what you have to say - ifit only takes 150 words to get your message out (or 75, or even 25), thatsa good thing. Youve made your point, and your reader can move on and buyyour product or service.* After youve finished writing, read your copy out loud to yourself.Youll be surprised at how many mistakes youll catch this way. It alsolets you know if your writing has a natural flow to it.* Dont fall in love with a particular phrase or paragraph, no matter howgreat it sounds. Ask yourself, does it fit into the objective of my copy?If the answer is no, kill it.* Dont be happy with your first draft. Edit, rewrite, and edit some more.On the other hand, youre not following in the footsteps of Hemingway ...dont overedit or overanalyze, or youll never finish the job.* When youre done, be receptive to constructive criticism. Let others readyour work before it goes online, and if they point out mistakes, rewrite.Following the above advice will go a long way to ensuring your web copy isreadable and does what its supposed to do - promote your business.

About the Author

Mark Laing is a copywriter and the content creator forhttp://www.graphicsandwords.com , a website featuring graphic design andcopywriting resources for newsletter editors/publishers, webmasters andother creative professionals.