In today’s digital world, a website is one of the most critical aspects for any business to establish an online presence. It’s your primary means to communicate with your target audience and convey your brand message.
Your website is the online “shop front”, so to speak. And your Copy is the “front door” inviting your visitors inside. But if the copy isn’t any good, no one will come in. Or they’ll bounce right off like a ping-pong ball as soon as they’re inside!
In this blog post, I discuss why your website needs a copy edit and how that helps to boost engagement and conversions.
🪄Let The Magic Begin!
- So what exactly is a Website Copy Audit?
For starters, it’s NOT the same as a full-on website audit, which concentrates on all the technical aspects of the website too and the copy edit is only one of the many aspects. So let’s not get confused.
You’ll find that as your business evolves, the copy on your website might not keep up and can even become outdated at some stage.
Regular audits will help your website stay relevant, engaging and up-to-date. It’ll also help you stay effective in achieving your business goals.
- Here’s why:
🪄 It brings clarity and improves consistency – your website copy should be clear, concise and consistent in communicating your value proposition and brand message across the whole site. Remember, if you confuse them, you lose them!
🪄 It enhances the SEO performance of your website – oh, the ever-changing algorithms of the search engines, right? Your website copy must be optimised for search engine crawlers for Google to provide searchers with relevant results. But first of all, it should be written with humans in mind. And that’s where the value of a (human) copywriter lies!
🪄 It helps to increase engagement on your website – Your website copy should be engaging, enticing and interesting enough to prompt your visitors to take action. I look at the proper use of relevant visuals, picture alt text and CTA’s (calls to action).
🪄 And ultimately helps to boost conversions – the purpose and end goal of your website is to convert visitors into clients and customers, isn’t it?
Mini Website Copy Audit:
- Why bother?
It’s worth it! Especially if you’re short on cash or just want to ensure your lovely site is in tip-top shape. You won’t imagine how much clarity it brings, even through something as cryptic as a mini-audit. And so will my tailored suggestions.
Let’s face it, your website is your “baby” and who will ever find fault with their own baby, right? But it might not be the case 100% from the perspective of a non-biased (empathetic) expert.
It’ll steer you in the right direction and help you straighten out the few creases there might be. Or at the least, confirm your suspicions that it’s either perfect or in need of some TLC.
- Who can benefit from it?
Any business, really, because it isn’t a serious investment. As I said, it brings you the clarity you need.
It’s a little more difficult for service-based businesses to establish the ROI on the website, meaning coaches, personal trainers, medical professionals, etc. That’s why you certainly want your website to be the very best it can be.
It’s so much easier to calculate the ROI in the case of a pharmaceutical company selling weight loss products, though.
- The Process…
(…think: slow echoing voice…)
It’s a quick analysis of all the main elements of a website to identify areas for improvement.
- Firstly, I’ll determine your main goal for the website and make sure everything on the site aligns with this goal.
- I then review the quality of the website content to make sure it’s correct, relevant and up-to-date across all the most important pages (home page, about page, product/services page and contact page).
- I’ll closely assess your messaging by going through your website copy with my fine tooth comb. It’ll be measured against all the best copywriting practices and formulas I’ve learned, as well as my own tips & tricks 😉. Because us copywriters believe that Copy Is King and Content is Queen.
- But the overall vanity of the site like the design and images equally deserve a royal seat and I’ll make sure it’s prettyyy.
- Aaand then there’s the (little) matter of errors creeping in to harm the credibility of your website and your brand. You know, those little grammatical and spelling errors and weird formatting oopsies.
- Although I’m a copywriter and this is out of my scope of work and expertise, I briefly look at the website’s structure as well (URL, links, navigation, speed and loading time) to make sure it’s user-friendly and easy to navigate. This alone can influence your bounce rate.
Full Comprehensive Website Copy Audit:
Still, you’re not going to sell a kidney for this service. At All. But it’s sooo worth the effort.
- The juicy Bennies:
The benefits of a proper and detailed website copy audit outweigh your small investment by far. And it’ll save you a lot of time and money wasted in the end.
It’s also good practice to change and update the website every now and then anyway, to keep the search engines’ wheels turning. Get the gist?
- Let’s dance the dance – step by step:
✔️ Define the scope of the audit (which pages to include).
✔️ Define what your main content goals are and make sure the content meets those goals.
✔️ Briefly evaluate the website structure, design and technical aspects.
✔️ Analise the target audience and how the copy and content align with it.
✔️ Make sure your brand message is clear.
✔️ See if your tone of voice is consistent throughout the whole site.
✔️ Check the overall user experience and whether you always keep your customer or client in mind.
✔️ Make sure there are clear and compelling Calls To Action throughout the website.
✔️ Check how you’re using your keywords – as you know, SEO is pretty important!
✔️ Identify opportunities for improvement and suggest the changes needed.
The Bottom Line
An effective website copy audit is such a valuable tool for any business. It helps to ensure that the website is conveying the correct message to its audience.
It points out the areas that need improvement and recommends the needed changes. This will ultimately help you make a positive impression on your audience.
