Without becoming too technical there are three points to take into account before you begin to understand the secrets of writing effective website copy.

* The first is that more than three quarters of on-line readers scan the page instead of reading word-to-word like they would in a traditional print medium.

* The second point is that it takes 25% longer to read a computer screen than something written on paper.

* Finally, it’s generally accepted that web content should be half the word count of a paper equivalent.

Now, here are six steps to creating web content that will catch your visitor’s attention, keep them reading and preventing them from nodding off or simply clicking on to another site.

1)      Keep it neat and to the point: Don’t force visitors to scroll through miles of copy; use simple, to-the-point sentences; write straightforward “does what it says on the label” headlines; and make sure all facts are kept up-to-date.

2)      Use a designer: Its simple enough to put together a basic website yourself but the professionals can make it shine and add lots of eye-catching artwork. If you want to look the best, then employ the best.

3)      Good navigation: Lead visitors to other pages on your website with easily understood labels and headers. Keep it simple, too.

4)      Great scan: Because readers scan web copy, you need to catch their attention at every glance throughout the pages so include lots of highlighted keywords, bullet point lists, sub headers etc.

5)      Searchability: You hope that many visitors will come to your website via search engines so think about what words they will use to search you out. Ensure you use these keywords on your web pages. But don’t overdo it as Google doesn’t like keyword cheats.

6)      Proof reading: Get someone else to read over your copy to check for obvious mistakes, grammatical errors, spelling issues etc. A fresh pair of eyes is always a good idea.