How to Write Quality Content Tutorial
A Free Crash Course in Web Design using Web Standards
Welcome back to my Free Web design tutorial. Writing white papers
So far in lesson one, lesson two, lesson three, lesson four and lesson five we covered all aspects of the design & layout of a Web page. We're now going to learn how to write good copy content to keep your visitors on your page.
I hope you're not thinking that now you can make attractive looking Web pages that people will be climbing over themselves to read what you have to say. We've got a long way to go yet! Your pages have not been optimised for search engines yet and they're not even uploaded to the Web. Before we can optimise for search engines you need to learn the most important lesson of all. How to write good copy. It doesn't matter how beautiful your design is or how well advertised your site is, if they don't like what they read they're gone! And if you're not telling them what they've come here to read they're gone! If it takes them too long to find what they want to know they're gone! They're gone if you can't tell them that you've got the perfect answers to solve their problems, and you tell them that within the first 25 words on your fast loading, well designed new page. It is so easy to hit the back button on the browser. Your objective is to keep them from doing that for as long as possible. The longer they stay on your page the longer they're going to want to stay and even go further to read your other pages. After all, what good is your beautiful new page if nobody reads it? You've got things to say! Your spelling and grammar is probably excellent!
Now learn how to word it all out properly...
Lesson 6
The style of page that we've been building in this tutorial is what we call a white paper or article, it's what most pages are written as. Of-course there are other styles for other functions. Most of the time you have something important to say to the world. It could be a sales letter, a sales pitch, a brochure, an instruction, a dairy. Whatever it is you'll get a much better response to offer problem-solving information than a straight sales pitch. Because that's what it is, you want them to read it so it's a sales pitch.
To quote a saying from a colleague of mine;
Therefore, if you sell drills, you should advertise information about making holes, not about drills! That's the core idea. You'll be surprised at the things you're doing wrong in your writing, and some of the things to really make your articles interesting so that your readers will keep coming back for more.
If you sell any kind of complex service, technology or sophisticated product, a White Paper is the best way to educate your customers about that technology.
You can use a white paper to build your credibility, get free exposure in the press, attract new customers, and drive new technology into change-resistant, conservative markets.
White papers are an inexpensive and non-intrusive way to create quality leads by getting customers to learn your approach to a specific problem and proactively come to you for the solution.
Again, a good white paper doesn't need to take aeons to create. You can put one together in one or two days and have new, qualified prospects contacting you right away to learn more.
But what's most important of all, though, is promoting and publicising your white paper - because the best white paper in the world is no good unless somebody reads it!
As they say "Most sales people spend all day dialling for dollars, chasing prospects who are mentally if not physically backing away from them, and they waste most of their time chasing deals instead of closing them".
At the same time, most companies spend all kinds of money on advertising and don't get nearly enough return for their money.
Anyway, the important part of the lesson that we need to get behind us today is that very first paragraph of your article. It's got to capture your reader quickly, and make them want to read more. It's also got to include all of your most important keywords within the first 25 or so words on the page. We're going to look at keywords in the next lesson. So right now you have to be able to answer these key questions:
What did your reader come here for?
What is his or her problem? and How can you cure it?
What does he or she want to know? You're not giving them the definitive answer to this in your first line. You're luring them in to find that answer later.
What does he or she want to hear? You're not lying to them. Your building confidence. If you can't give them what they want let them down slowly by telling them what alternatives there are. Nobody wants to hear NO!
What can you do for them that they can't get elsewhere? Your Unique Selling Point. Everyone must have one whether your selling a product or not.
How can I sound enthusiastic about this? Not cheesy!
You also have to keep in mind the ad or referrer that brought them here in the first place. Are you keeping true to your promise? And not misleading them.
Now that you have all these things in your mind it's time to go straight to lesson seven and learn about your keywords, title and headings.
All the best,
Phil Markey
Retired Professional Web Developer