An interesting debate is raging among copy writers, web
designers and content developers about the differences, if
any, between writing copy for the web versus writing
content.
According to prolific copywriter Nick Usborne of Excess
Voice, a recent survey conducted among the readers of his
newsletter of the same name offers some interesting results.
They seem to be split almost three ways: one-third consists
of copywriters, another content writers and the final third
both. But it's wrong. This is an important debate, I believe, since all online
copy is content but not all content is copy. And that's a
real problem. Most web designers, webmasters and content writers develop
text for websites in a way to educate visitors. They also
write it with the notion that "content is king," "content
increases search engine rankings," "content makes a website
sticky" and so on. That's all fine and good. But I believe content fails when it strives only at
informing the reader, and thus lacks important elements that
take her "by the hand" and compels her to do something -
anything, including the simple act of reading. In other words, while some websites may compel our
attention, others fail to propel our actions, too. And their
owners often end up screaming, "Why is my website not
producing any sales," "why am I getting a lot of traffic but
such a poor response" or "why are people leaving so
quickly?" Well, if content is king, copy is the castle.
The Internet is not a traditional medium — at least not in
the broadcast sense. It is intimate, dynamic and
interactive. People are more involved when reading the
content of a website than reading a conventional print
publication, watching a show on TV or listening to a program
on the radio. And with the Internet, people have a powerful weapon that
they don't have with other types of media, and they usually
never think twice about using it when the need confronts
them: their mouse. So, the idea is this: forget about writing content, at least
in the traditional sense. Think copy. Think words and
expressions that compel the reader to do something, even if
it's just to continue reading.
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Michel Fortin is a direct response copywriter
(http://www.michelfortin.com/), marketing strategy consultant,
and instrumental in some of the most lucrative online
businesses and wildly successful marketing campaigns to ever
hit the web. For more articles like this one, please visit
his blog at http://www.michelfortin.com and subscribe to
his RSS feed.
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