How do you write better texts for your website?

Who writes wins.


19. May 2021In WordPressBy Karsten Risseeuw10 Minutes

Write! Do good and talk about it. That is the essence of marketing. It is also the key to a successful website.

Website as a shop window

You have a shop window, which is your website. Like a shop window in the city, you want people to stop and linger for a moment. What do you offer? What can be of interest to passers-by? Was it skillfully staged? These questions can also be transferred to your own website.

In this post I summarize some experiences that I have tried on several websites for many years. The summary is: Make people happy by writing What I mean by that, I’ll try to clarify below.

Actuality on the Internet

Whoever writes wins! This statement may be a bit provocative for some. Not everyone likes to write. What is meant is not the writing itself, but rather the current message. Nowhere it is about the length of a contribution or particularly high-quality texts. It is nice when there is. However, it is more important that it is up to date.

If you have a website, think of it as a shop window. You would have to maintain this window regularly. The same goes for your website.

A website receives a better ranking by search engines if it shows relevant and up-to-date information. Do good and talk about it! Write answers to simple questions so that people with questions can find you. Provide insight into your work so that existing customers can feel it. Tell stories so that complex contexts become clearer.

You can gain up-to-dateness from regular information. Each contribution is an addition to the website. Your website will become more valuable over time.

The relevance does not always lie in the technology, in new products or in cheap prices. For many customers, these are often at the end of their interest (even if it is your daily business). People are looking for solutions to current questions or challenges. These questions and challenges deserve attention. There is huge potential here for good communication.

Better than advertising and SEO

There is something that is more valuable than expensive advertising: Share your know-how, give insights. You do this through regular contributions. Your know-how is your capital. However, this only becomes visible when you apply it somewhere – for example in a post on your website.

Dare to write something even if it doesn’t feel good. Learn how to write. Let others read or even write your texts. It is not so critical who writes, but more that it is regularly and that the readers “get it”.

Many invest time and effort in search engine optimization (SEO). However, this makes little sense if the website doesn’t support this with substantial content. First comes the content of the website. This is the most important of all efforts. As the saying goes: “Content is King”.

Continuous good results start with the texts and articles on your website. This is because these are automatically picked up by search engines. I explain below the things to look for.

Good texts and search engines

Good editorial texts and optimization for search engines go hand in hand. Here are the most important points for orientation:

  • Write short and sweet
    “Reduce to the Max!”
  • The most important comes first
    Immediately say what the text is about. Details will only follow afterwards.
  • Structure your texts
    Use meaningful titles and subtitles. They make the text accessible.
  • Note the title sizes
    The largest titles (in HTML: H1, H2) are available above the text, subtitles (in HTML: H2, H3) in the Text for further subdivision
  • Keep sections of text short
    Nobody likes to read long texts on the Internet. 4-6 lines as a guideline.
  • Make it easy to get started
    Short articles to get you started. Link to more detailed information.

Meaningful titles

Search engines find titles. They are recognized by the HTML designations and these are hierarchical. H1 is the largest title, followed by H2, H3, etc. This assignment is supported in every WordPress theme.

What is now recognized as a title by search engines is given a higher priority. The title must therefore be meaningful. The essence of the contribution should be shown in the title. For this reason, very short titles are not always the best choice. It makes more sense to create descriptive titles with all important terms. This applies in particular to the main title of the article, of course, but also to the other subtitles.

Titles like:

  • «Won!»
  • “Hooray!”
  • “At last!”

Descriptive titles like:

  • “The company’s team won the championship competition in 2021[FIRMENNAME] out[ORT] »
  • “The swimwear for summer 2021 surprises with fresh color combinations”
  • “What are the special challenges with Long-COVID?”
  • “Sherlock Holmes has found an employee by the name of Watson”
  • “Why Captain Kirk always drinks Earl Gray tea on the Starship Enterprise”
  • «5 tips for more exercise in everyday life»

In these last titles there are many relevant terms that describe the content of an article in an understandable way. Search engines check whether the terms or expressions in the title can also be found in the text. Whether a post is “discovered” as helpful or informative therefore depends on the title and also on whether the words from the title are used several times in the post.

Typical advertising phrases such as “free”, “offer” and the like are not very helpful and can even lead to a lowering of the rating.

All websites that Kursiv creates have an SEO tool installed on the website. This can be used to test and improve things like this.

Ideas for more posts

Not everyone likes to write texts. But there are many other ways to get active. New contributions can contain a great deal. For example, think of:

  • Texts
  • photos
  • Videos
  • tips and tricks
  • Interviews
  • Introduce employees
  • Let customers have their say
  • Describe project requirements
  • Create process whitepapers (PDF downloads)
  • Invite customers to a Zoom meeting on a topic while the pandemic is still going on.

Many companies are focused on their own performance. However, pure technology is only of interest to a few. For example, those who restore old timers love the mechanics. However, some customers just want to see the end result and drive the chic sledge over pass roads. Put yourself in the shoes of your customers. Don’t just write about your passion, write about that of your customers.

Create values

No matter what you do, how you write and how often you publish news: create value! Do good and talk about it. Perfection is not a goal here. It’s about communication. You write. Show off your latest accomplishments. Talk about it. Get started. Just start and improve yourself with every next piece of text. Whatever you write should make your web visitors and clients happy. That is the meaning of the sentence quoted at the beginning: Make people happy by writing.

It is better to publish a short text with a few photos once a month than an encyclopedia once a year. Test the best frequency. Create a newsletter. There are many more ways you can optimize your website experience today.

It is an adventure!