Newsletter
| January, 2005 Happy New Year! This is our first newsletter for 2005. And since we're moving from a quarterly newsletter to a monthly newsletter, it's also the first of 12 for the year. This month's topic focuses on the importance of copy on your web site. What is Copy? Copy is essentially text. Although web developers often use the term content, they really mean copy. Content on the other hand, is really everything in your site including copy, images, navigation etc. Good copy grabs attention. It creates interest, holds attention, conveys useful product information and can help generate sales. Copy not only informs your audience, it informs search engines too. Writing for people and robots As it turns out, search engine robots (programs that scan the web to index web sites) read the copy in your web site. They look for keywords in your copy and compare those keywords to your meta tags. Ultimately, what they are looking for are the same keywords in the meta tags and the copy. This is called relevance. Meta tags? Meta tags are made up of keywords, keyword phrases and descriptions. They are not seen by people just browsing through your web site. But, they are seen by search engine robots. You need to think of these tags as street-signs. That's how the search engines view them. They look at your tags and then at your copy. If the keywords you use in your tags aren't used in your copy, your site may not be indexed for those keywords. Create relevance This combination of keywords in the meta tags and copy is what determines your relevance. And relevance is what the search engines are after. Your copy and keywords tell your customers and search engines what you do. One way to keep both audiences happy is to put the most important information first. Inform your audience People read web sites by scanning for information. Just like news writers, put your most important information first. And, for the robots, include the most important keywords in your copy first. Make sure you have enough copy on your home page and important section pages. Search engines like to see between 250 to 500 words of text on a page to assess its keyword relevance. Copy in images Some people like to have total control over the format of the copy in their site and create images of their copy in Photoshop. In the long run they sell themselves short because search engines cannot read copy in images. They see images as an image file and cannot read its contents. So make sure your copy is in HTML and not embedded in a graphic. In addition, avoid placing links in images. If your web site navigation is made up of image buttons make sure you include your main navigation links in HTML text at the bottom of your page. Good copy grabs the attention of your audience and search engines. It's important to keep people interested in what you do with compelling copy. Pylon Studios always works with copy writers on all our web site projects because we want to make sure your site effectively communicates to your customers and potential audiences. If you're thinking of updating or redesigning your site, give us a call, we'd love to help. Back to the Newsletter page Sign up to get your copy of the Pylon Page |
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