Good business web writers write for the market, not for themselves.

That’s the point I tried to get across to a former colleague, who has a long history of reporting for various publications. He took exception to my most recent blog entry about ‘plain talk’, in which I stated, it’s important for web writers to put the flowery terms and egos away, and genuinely cater to websites’ audiences.

“Why dummy down my copywriting and limit my prose for others?” was the point he repeatedly made. To churn out his best work, he insisted, he must write for himself.

I respect his points, but speaking specifically about web writing for business, I don’t agree with his approach.

When you’re writing web copy for business, you are assembling the right words and messages to:

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To get the right web copy working for your online business, you need to know exactly what market you’re targeting.

For instance, I recently consulted HR firm directors who want to invest in keyword-rich web copywriting to boost their organic search engine rankings. But they’re putting the cart before the horse; they have yet to clearly define their target market.

You can’t optimize your web copywriting with the right keywords if you don’t know exactly who you’re targeting and in what market or region. It turns out they will attempt to incubate a local network, and moving forward they’ll try to make themselves known to select organizations across Canada and the U.S.

Depending on the nature of your business, your SEO copywriting might need to be ‘regionalized’ to reach your target market. For instance, a North Vancouver-based skin care clinic we recently performed work for would have little or no benefit receiving traffic from other cities as all services are performed locally.

Hence, all SEO efforts had strong regional emphasis in a bid to attract local consumers. Again, online visitors from New York would have no value to this client, so we didn’t water down our efforts by targeting global or general terms.

The strategy and effort paid off. Within five weeks, the client benefited from 58 number one positions on the top three search engines: Google, Yahoo and MSN. In fact, the client reported a significant number of website-generated leads — all made possible by purposefully targeting regionalized keywords and phrases.

Thousands of applications and millions of downloads are driving Facebook’s economy. Who’s behind it? Hackers.

Unlike MySpace, Facebook has opened up its network to developers, making it easy for them to make money from applications. A full list of third-party applications, designed to allow Facebook users interact with friends and networks, can be found in the official site’s application directory. They range from tools to compare people to applications that allow you to adopt virtual pets.

To witness this economy’s escalation, one only needs to stop by Adonomics (formerly Appaholics). The website, conceived by San Francisco-based programmer Jesse Farmer, provides stock-market-style analyses of Facebook features. Programmers can analyze the value of their applications in advertising dollars, and how it correlates to their applications’ growth.

Once a social networking site exclusively for college students, Facebook opened registration to the general public last year and attracted vast groups of visitors from outside the 18-24 year old age segment.  In fact, comScore reported last month the website grew to 26.6 million unique visitors in the U.S. in May 2007, marking an 89 per cent increase versus the same month last year.

Editor’s note: see Facebook security post

Site after site, poor web copywriting continues to obstruct user experience. The problem is most businesses and organizations tend to treat copywriting as an afterthought.

While reading a newsletter posted by Icograda, I was directed to a poll with the following copy:

Current Opinion

State your opinion. Share your views. Vote on the weekly Opinion poll. Then view the collective results. Just click the check box beside your selection, then click on the “Vote” button.

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Online traffic is useless unless your website content is able to connect with visitors. If it doesn’t, there’s probably little chance they’ll return.

Relevant website content is essential to engage your visitors in a bid to turn them into customers. Here are the basics steps you need to cover to connect with your target market:

Make sure your website content is scan-friendly and intuitively accessible to make it easy for visitors to find what they want. Lean web copy and well-planned site architecture can make or break your website.

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Too many businesses, large and small, turn people off with self-absorbed websites.

Does your website content merely brag about your company’s “industry leading” products, features and services? If so, you might be boring your visitors and helping out your competition.

Customer-centric content is a quick and effective way to engage visitors and turn them into customers.

Plus, from a branding perspective, how you communicate with your target market says a lot about your company’s true focus. Are you striving to provide clients solutions and opportunities, or are you just out to grab additional dollars?

To be a true customer-driven business, you should be orienting all business messages and processes to customer wants and needs. In fact, the driving force of your company and culture should be to meet those desires to the fullest.

Here’s a typical and all-too-common example of self-centric website content:

We’re the best learning management system

(Company name) is the revolutionary online training system. We’ve won awards…

What’s this company focusing on? Its customers’ needs? Supposedly not.

Here are some guidelines to help establish customer-centric website content:

• Get familiar with your target audience before writing. What are their concerns, for instance?  This helps to position your product or service as a solution to their problems.
• Promote what visitors want or need — not what you sell. Your product’s won awards? That’s terrific, but be sure to accentuate what it means to your visitors.
• Focus on benefits rather than features. What does your visitor have to gain from your product or service?
• Speak to, not at your customers. Build a rapport with your visitors by using a second-person voice, such as “you” and “your.”

By communicating to potential clients with content geared to their needs and wants, you’ll keep them on your website longer. And the longer you keep their attention, the more they’ll realize how you can fulfill their desires.

Remember, in the age of the Internet, consumers are in the driver’s seat. If you’re not catering to your visitors, the likes of Google, Bing and Yahoo will quickly guide them to a competitor that does.

Clients and students frequently question why website writing should hover around a grade eight level.

The purpose is to promote readability.

It’s well known in the web writing community that the vast majority of online visitors don’t read word-by-word — they scan.

That’s why plain language works well on the Web.

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When writing web copy for the all-too-noisy World Wide Web, nothing is more powerful than simplicity.

As a result, your web copy messages need to be clearly defined and concise. Easier said than done.

Entrepreneurs, like artists, tend to complicate things when they don’t have clear vision or direction.

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If your website’s not performing, here’s what you can do to improve search engine rankings, engage visitors and convert more sales.

1. Align the Site with Your Objectives

Have your business objectives and goals changed since you launched your website? If so, then you need to revisit your website’s content to ensure it supports your current business needs.

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Are you planning to build or update a business website? The following three questions will save you time, money and frustration, and help you get the results you want.

1. What is your website’s objective?
2. Who is your target market?
3. What’s your position?

On several occasions, my colleagues and I have come across business owners who spent upwards of $20,000 on website design and development, with literally nothing to show for it.

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