Your website copy could be hindering your business!
27/01/10 21:50
A professionally prepared business website is a very powerful and essential marketing tool. It's the first thing your prospective clients will look at before they decide to contact you. If the copy on your website is not written to an acceptable standard, you may be losing customers as a result. It's not enough just to have amazing graphics and images, you need text to make it complete. Make sure the spelling is correct, and punctuation marks are in place. Does the text make sense? These are questions that website designers should be asking themselves before they upload a new site.
One of the biggest mistakes with website copy is inconsistency. For example, the word 'website'. Some sites spell it as one word, others spell it as two words. As far as I am aware both are acceptable, but not both versions on the same site! I think the lack of consistency will deter a significant amount of potential customers from using the services of a company that has not taken the trouble to proofread their website.
Another costly but avoidable mistake is poor spelling on a website. The majority of visitors will leave the site very quickly if they find too many spelling mistakes. This again will give them the impression that the site owners don't really care and they would be right! I am also convinced that copy that has been 'padded out' with insignificant trivia is also a big turn-off for visitors. Clear, concise and informative is the way to go.
Anything containing textual content should be proofread. It's important that not only are mistakes in spelling, punctuation and grammar found and corrected, but that the text flows smoothly for the reader. The copy on a website should not be treated as the weak part of the website. You may have the most up-to-date, eye-catching graphics available but you will still need well-written copy to compliment them.
There are a handful of web design companies around that will happily help visitors with state-of-the-art graphics, but then insert a poor copy which totally counteracts any good work they have achieved. This will reduce the initial impact of the site, and more often than not will have an adverse effect on business. It pays to have the copy checked by a professional, whether the design company has written it themselves or had it supplied by the client. It may cost a lot less than you think to have a website proofread. If you don't it could cost you a lot more in the end!
One of the biggest mistakes with website copy is inconsistency. For example, the word 'website'. Some sites spell it as one word, others spell it as two words. As far as I am aware both are acceptable, but not both versions on the same site! I think the lack of consistency will deter a significant amount of potential customers from using the services of a company that has not taken the trouble to proofread their website.
Another costly but avoidable mistake is poor spelling on a website. The majority of visitors will leave the site very quickly if they find too many spelling mistakes. This again will give them the impression that the site owners don't really care and they would be right! I am also convinced that copy that has been 'padded out' with insignificant trivia is also a big turn-off for visitors. Clear, concise and informative is the way to go.
Anything containing textual content should be proofread. It's important that not only are mistakes in spelling, punctuation and grammar found and corrected, but that the text flows smoothly for the reader. The copy on a website should not be treated as the weak part of the website. You may have the most up-to-date, eye-catching graphics available but you will still need well-written copy to compliment them.
There are a handful of web design companies around that will happily help visitors with state-of-the-art graphics, but then insert a poor copy which totally counteracts any good work they have achieved. This will reduce the initial impact of the site, and more often than not will have an adverse effect on business. It pays to have the copy checked by a professional, whether the design company has written it themselves or had it supplied by the client. It may cost a lot less than you think to have a website proofread. If you don't it could cost you a lot more in the end!