Spring clean your website copy with these 9 quick & easy tips

As new life begins to grow, birds chirp & flowers grow, take the opportunity to spring clean your website copy. Do this & you’ll ensure the search engines can find you. Better still you’ll delight your audience.

Spring has sprung. It’s the season of new beginnings. That being the case it’s the perfect time to send poor performing website pages packing and freshen up your website copy.

Yes, I know. You’ve heard this advice a million times before.

But consider this. It’s website copy that grabs your visitors’ attention in the search engines by answering their questions.

And if that’s not enough, it’s your headlines and page copy that builds trust and more importantly persuades readers to take action, such as enquiring.

For these reasons, your website demands a minimum of an annual Spring Clean.

To get you started, I’ve put together 9 easy tips you can use to give your website copy a performance boost.

Ready?

1. Revitalise your meta titles and descriptions

In December 2017 Google increased its search engine results page meta description character limits. If you haven’t done so already, take advantage of the 300 characters you now have to describe your website pages with keyword and benefit rich words.

2. Invigorate headlines

Review your headlines to make sure they are clear, concise and keyword rich.

3. Refresh page copy

Take a look at your analytics. If you see significant pages underperforming, look at ways you can improve them. Assess pages to see if they answer the questions:

• Who are you?
• What do you do?
• Can you answer my questions and help me?
• How can I trust you can do what you say you can do?
• Where can I find more information?
• How can I enquire/buy from you?

4. Galvanise call to actions

Think of the purpose of each web page. What is the next step you want your reader to take? Do you merely want your reader to contact you? Or would a more explicit instruction be more effective?

5. Trim wordy paragraphs

In 2016 mobile overtook desktop as the primary device we use to access websites. To make it easy for readers to consume your content while on the move, keep your paragraphs short and sweet.

6. Purge out of date content

Don’t let visitors question your credibility and indeed if you are still in business. Audit your site for out of date:

• Events
• Offers
• Contact information
• Team information
• Product and service information

7. Zap broken links

Broken links frustrate visitors. What’s more, they’re bad for SEO. Use a free broken link checker to find and fix broken links.

8. Cleanse your web pages of typos

Avoid giving an impression of lack of care and quality. Make proofreading a priority on your spring cleaning list.

9. Hatch new content

Unloved news/blog pages also shriek of neglect. If the last time you published content was a while ago, create a fresh post.

To sum up

When your audience has questions, more often than not it will look to Internet search engines for answers.

So in this season of renewal, what could be more important than dusting off your web pages and polishing up your website copy?

And finally

If you would like help to spring clean your website copy, then do get in touch. A content audit reviews how your website copy performs across your web pages to drive traffic and enquiries.

About Claire Hawes

Claire Hawes is a marketing communications copywriter. She enjoys writing engaging copy that helps businesses to get noticed and attract enquiries. Claire’s experience mainly lies in the business to business sector. Her clients include both businesses and digital marketing agencies.