by Mark Bloom | Aug 14, 2018 | Content Provider
Why Writing Landing Pages Is Inherently Harder
Given that a search engine can theoretically serve up any properly keyworded page for the right query, how can there be a difference between a web page and a landing page? Isn’t every page a landing page, since anyone can land on any page at almost any time? Theoretically, yes. Practically, no. If you’re confused, you’ve come to the right place and asked the right question.
Before you read any further, let’s define the terms. Learning the difference between a web page and a landing page requires that you be able to tell the two types of pages apart. Here are working definitions:
- Web pages, according to the TechTerms dictionary, are the documents that make up the World Wide Web. They’re written in HTML (hypertext markup language), PHP, Perl, ASP or JSP. Your internet browser translates the document’s code into what you see on your screen. Every web page needs one or more files stored on a host computer, reached through internet protocols.
- Landing pages, per Hubspot, are standalone web pages, created specifically for a marketing or advertising campaign, that let you capture visitor information and attempt to convert that visitor into a future customer. When an online ad delivers a curious visitor to a targeted landing page, the page calls the visitor to act — usually to purchase a product or a service.
Simple, Right?
Simply put, all landing pages are web pages, but not all web pages are landing pages. But when writing a page, the difference between a web page and a landing page is much more complex. Web pages can be about almost anything. Their purpose can be to:
- Inform
- Entertain
- Persuade
- Sell
- Fundraise
- Pontificate
- Rant
The only purpose of a landing page is to coerce a visitor into action. That’s it. So, the real difference between a web page and a landing page is one of intent. Not every landing page wants to sell you something, but every landing page wants you to take another step toward a goal.
Writing Website Pages
The web pages on your business website (or your clients’ sites) each have a specific goal, based on the page. Web pages may provide office hours and contact information, share your company’s competitive advantages, detail the benefits of your services or products and even identify the type of customers you serve.
Ray Access has written about the techniques for writing specific web pages earlier, and you can catch up on some of our advice here:
Writing Landing Pages
Landing pages, on the other hand, may have to do everything a website needs to do — connect with the visitor, build trust and explain the benefits of working with you — on a single page that also persuades the visitor to act. That’s a hefty order and a lot of responsibility for one page. That’s why there are so many poorly constructed and ultimately unsuccessful landing pages online.
Most landing pages, however, have one inherent advantage that other website pages don’t have, and you’re encouraged not to overlook this difference between a web page and a landing page. When you’re writing a landing page, you’re writing to people who already have an interest in the company’s products or services. They did a targeted search or clicked on an advertisement to get there.
Learning the Difference Between a Web Page and a Landing Page
Anyone can write a web page. All you need are a domain, a host and a rudimentary knowledge of HTML. You may need something to write about, but even a vague opinion may be enough to get you started.
Writing a landing page takes skill. Marketing is an inexact art and science. Different experts offer different advice when it comes to writing landing pages vs. writing web pages. Ray Access has its own advice, based on experience for ourselves and for our clients. Your results may vary, but here are our best practices for writing landing page content:
- Length doesn’t matter, but focus does. Each landing page can have just one focus. (But keep it reasonably short.)
- The content has to be scannable, powerful and enticing. This is rhetorical writing, writing to persuade.
- Social proof — testimonials of real, existing customers, complete with photos — helps visitors overcome their doubts.
- The right call to action — a briefly worded phrase that encourages the visitor to act — makes all the difference. Cut to the heart of the matter. What do your visitors want the most?
- Your contact form shouldn’t be too onerous. Ask just for the necessary information, so it’s as short as possible, but no shorter.
- Remove all other links from the page. That means a landing page should have no menus, no sidebar, no extraneous content at all. Its entire focus is to get the visitor to act.
You can learn the difference between a web page and a landing page, but learning how to write for each one takes practice and guidance. An ineffective landing page is a waste of bandwidth. A successful landing page pays for itself in no time. If you’re still struggling with the difference between a web page and a landing page, contact Ray Access for expert content, no matter what your purpose.
Ray Access is a content marketing firm that delivers targeted words to empower your business. Contact us about your specific project to receive a quote or discuss your needs. We write website copy, blog posts, e-newsletters and more. Everything we do is thoroughly researched, professionally edited and guaranteed original.
by Elle Ray | Jul 24, 2018 | Content Provider
What You Need to Know When Website Writing
Most people understand the distinctions between a novel and a biography. They know how a newspaper article and a love letter differ. They can tell a business memo from a shopping list. But few can offer up a definition that explains the difference between a blog and a web page.
While you may not be able to tell the difference between a blog and a web page, you instinctively know it when you see it, even if you can’t put your finger on what makes each stand out. Don’t feel bad; some professional content writers have a difficult time explaining the difference between a blog and a web page. But the difference has broad implications.
What’s on Your Website?
Almost every business has a website today. And most forward-thinking companies have a blog on their sites. But every website also has other pages, where the business introduces itself, explains its products or services and states its case.
All websites are evergreen, meaning they have no expiration date. They need to be just as relevant in two years as they are today. As a result, the content of most business websites is static. It doesn’t change often because once it’s up, it’s working. Why change anything?
Why a Blog?
Blogs are different. An active blog gets a new article every week — or at the minimum, every month. Blog posts always include a date so readers can reference them appropriately. They’re presented in the context of a specific time.
Blogs are perfect for time-sensitive material, which is another difference between a blog and a web page. For instance, your blog can announce:
- Trending styles or shifts in attitude
- Industry updates
- Relevant insights and information that jive with the news
- Annual, seasonal or dated events
Consider Search Engines
Search engine optimization (SEO) drives online traffic to your website. Search engines, like the behemoth Google, reward website pages with long-form content — 800 to 1,000 words minimum. Web pages should be authoritative, sharing information about your business and industry. Don’t get too creative when writing a web page.
Blog posts can be as short as 350 words, but often fall in the 500-word range. That’s one more difference between a blog and a web page. Blogs also can provide long-form content (like this one) when the topic calls for it, but they’re generally easy to read. While they’re meant to be informative, they may be entertaining. Another difference between a blog and a web page is that blogs need a great lead-in to draw readers.
Blogs Attract; Web Pages Inform
People search the internet for two reasons (other than to be entertained):
- To find information
- To buy something
If you’ve answered your visitors’ questions clearly, succinctly and completely, they’ll want to know who you are and what you do. That impulse leads them to your website pages. They may not be ready to buy anything right away, but they will remember you. When they’re ready to purchase what you sell, they’ll be back.
Differences in Tone and Style
Blog posts are articles about a single topic. They may have links to other pages on your site and other authoritative websites. Website pages, on the other hand, contain many calls to action. They’re written more like a news article with the important information at the top. They’re geared to inform and inspire contact. To learn the difference between a blog and a web page, consider:
- Blogs don’t send a marketing vibe. Blogs are:
- Good reads
- Interesting
- Useful
- Regular additions to your website content
- Great to post on your social channels
- Provocative, creating discussion
- Platforms to offer your knowledge and passion
- Website pages are:
- More formal
- To the point
- Transactional
- Descriptive
- Explanatory
- Informative
Blogs Are Uniquely Yours; Websites Cover Everything
When you know the difference between a blog and web page, you have a clear and definitive path to follow when you sit down to write. Your opening sentence in a blog post may be challenging or questioning, whereas the first line of a web page needs to answer the title.
For instance, let’s say you’re an herbalist. The first paragraph of your weekly blog post may start out like this: “You’ve tried everything to rid yourself of that nasty headache, only to have it return an hour later. You don’t have to suffer in silence or keep taking harmful medications; consider instead the many herbs that have been used for centuries to cure headaches.”
You wouldn’t start a web page like that. Your home page might start with: “Herbs provide a natural source of spices for your dinner table and remedies for your medicine cabinet.” Subsequent pages can go into detail about specific herbs, natural treatments and your background as an herbalist. Each page offers a link to a contact page for more information.
Capitalize on the Difference Between a Blog and a Web Page
Blog posts focus on one topic, trend or title. Website pages feature your company, services and products. Don’t confuse the two. Learn more by reading previous Ray Access blog posts about:
Also, get website content tips and ideas for making your web pages pop. Most of all, keep in mind the difference between a blog and a web page to get the best results. You need both to reap benefits from your online marketing campaigns!
Ray Access is a content marketing firm that delivers targeted words to empower your business. Contact us about your specific project to receive a quote or discuss your needs. We write website copy, blog posts, e-newsletters and more. Everything we do is thoroughly researched, professionally edited and guaranteed original.
by Mark Bloom | Jul 3, 2018 | Content Provider
Because Delivering Quality Content Is Effective
You have many choices when it comes to developing online content. You can write it yourself, you can get a staff member to write it or you can hire a professional. If you hire someone, you’re going to see broad ranges in price: everything from $5 to $1,000. But before we divulge our professional advice, we have to issue two warnings:
- This blog post may seem a little self-promotional at times. We are experts in the field of online content, and we provide what we think is the best solution for the money.
- You’ll learn a lot about why delivering quality content matters, why we don’t lower our prices to $5 and why you should insist on quality too.
The writers at Ray Access understand all too well about the “competition” that may charge as little as $5 for a blog post. But those writers or writer websites aren’t our competition at all. If you’re looking to fill your blog with $5 content, go ahead. You’re not looking for what Ray Access offers. You’re innocently unaware of the difference between what we do and what a $5 writer does.
Cheap, Fast, Good
You probably recognize these three adjectives — cheap, fast and good. They represent the three main qualities of products and services. Unfortunately, you can only choose at most two of them at any one time. Likewise, as a B2B consumer, when you choose to buy a $5 blog post, you’re getting something that’s cheap. You may also get fast, but you definitely won’t get good. In fact, you’ll be lucky to get fair.
On the contrary, Ray Access has been delivering quality content fast, and while we charge significantly more than $5, we aren’t going to break your budget. Our offices are in Asheville, NC, not New York City, and that helps us keep our expenses down.
Delivering Quality Content
When you publish content that cost you $5, you’re going to have two problems:
- The content that you paid so little for may be plagiarized from another website. If you publish it on your website, you may be penalized by search engines.
- That $5 content is going to end up being worth less than that. If it doesn’t generate any interest from either search engines or visitors to your website, it’s essentially worthless.
The purpose of your website, ultimately, is to generate awareness and increase your revenue. Delivering quality content does both. Since quality content is original, you won’t have the first problem above. And since it’s directed at your target audience, it strikes a chord with both visitors and search engines. It ultimately becomes worth more than what you paid for it because it keeps working day after day, week after week, month after month.
We Value Quality Over Everything Else
At Ray Access, quality isn’t just a tagline and it’s not just a buzzword. It’s not just what sets us apart. You could say that delivering quality content is our passion. It’s why we’re in business. It’s what we live and work for.
We know that quality content pays dividends. Once you publish and promote quality website content, its carefully developed and strategically placed keywords attract visitors to your website. The finely tuned content then works to persuade those visitors to contact you. As long as that content is up on your website, it continues to work. Now, isn’t that worth more than $5?
Ray Access is a content marketing firm that delivers targeted words to empower your business. Contact us about your specific project to receive a quote or discuss your needs. We write website copy, blog posts, e-newsletters and more. Everything we do is thoroughly researched, professionally edited and guaranteed original.
by Mark Bloom | Jun 19, 2018 | Website Content
It’s Just Ones and Zeros, Right? What’s So Hard?
Website cost seems to have skyrocketed recently. You used to be able to pay your nephew or your neighbor’s kid $100 to build and publish a website on the internet that looked decent. What’s so hard about that? There are even simple tools now that provide a template. All you have to do is plop in some royalty-free stock photos, add some words and BAM — you have yourself a website.
One of the reasons your website cost has increased is that your nephew and that neighbor kid are now young adults working for companies that charge thousands of dollars for a website. And they’ve learned a lot in the intervening years. OK, the new sites look a little better today than they used to, but a website is a website, isn’t it?
Not All Websites Are Created Equal
Those slapdash websites of the 1990s wouldn’t cut it in today’s market. They are so slow to load. They look clunky, the images are tiny and what’s with that blinking text?! Those websites even look outdated, if it’s possible for a website to look old-fashioned after just 20 years.
By comparison, today’s websites are fluid. They load quickly and work on all kinds of devices. They take advantage of scrolling, zooming and collapsing menus. Ordering is easy and secure, as long as you confirm that you’re not a robot. What would someone from the 90s think of that?
The Elements of a Modern Website
Another reason for high website cost is the various specialties required to complete a business website project. It’s not one kid in a basement anymore. Website development agencies need:
- Project managers, who act as the liaison between the customer and the website agency. Communication must be timely and fluid, as website projects often require tweaking from phase to phase.
- Website designers, not just to make the website pop, but also to fit the design to the business’s target audience. AARP has a much different design than Red Bull, even though both act as a landing page for stories.
- Website developers, the down-and-dirty code-jockeys of website agencies. They do the actual coding to make the websites work as designed. Even when an agency offers template-driven forms, there is still coding to be done to customize a site for a particular business.
- Content writers to create the new content that populates the pages. Content isn’t the last step or an unnecessary extra. Some development firms start with the content. They know that without effective content, a new website will just sit there and underperform, no matter how well it’s designed and developed. Every piece works together to make a website work.
And that isn’t all — you have graphic artists, SEO experts, photographers, marketing pros, assistants, accountants and the beat goes on… As you can see, that’s a lot of mouths to feed, all of whom drive up the website cost. Most website development projects take a minimum of three months, from initial meeting to launch. That means a lot of people are putting in many hours on your website.
But It’s Totally Worth the Expense
Your business only needs a brand-new website maybe once every five years. Some companies update the look more frequently than that, but a five-year-old website doesn’t necessarily look old or out-of-place. You can always swap photos and insert new pages of content, but a completely new website is an infrequent expense.
Your website cost, ameliorated over its functional life, is fairly inexpensive, especially when compared to other business costs, such as advertising and personnel. And unlike personnel, your website works for you every minute it’s up, without a break. If it’s effective, it may be bringing in leads as fast as your best salespeople. Now you’re not thinking about website cost; you’re considering the website ROI.
Effective Websites Have Effective Content
Ray Access is a business-to-business company. In other words, we don’t sell our writing services to the public, but to other businesses. As a result, we work with smart companies to improve their websites, to make them more effective by attracting attention and encouraging visitors to contact our clients.
In fact, more often than not, we work with the web developers who create the sites because they know the importance of good content that blends in perfectly with the overall design and style. They don’t want their site launch held up while they wait for their business client to deliver or fix content.
Website Cost vs. Return on Investment
If you’re worried about website cost, think of it as an investment in your company’s future. Think of it as a marketing and advertising expense, since it’s your information listing and your outward facing image. In a way, that’s exactly what it is, if it’s done right. And a website that’s not done right isn’t worth the paper it’s not printed on.
So, when you’re considering a new website, make sure you hire someone to develop your content too. Ray Access writers understand what a website has to do. They know how good websites work. And content is always edited, so that it always sounds like it comes from the source: you.
Ray Access is a content marketing firm that delivers targeted words to empower your business. Contact us about your specific project to receive a quote or discuss your needs. We write website copy, blog posts, e-newsletters and more. Everything we do is thoroughly researched, professionally edited and guaranteed original.
by Mark Bloom | Mar 19, 2018 | Website Content
What Makes Good Website Content Effective?
Consider: does this question keep you up at night? Do you wonder how your website content measures up? We’ve written about this topic before in What Is Good Content? But that article was more like a hands-on how-to with specific tips and general guidelines.
This article, in contrast, describes the actual attributes of what makes good website content. You need to know the destination before you step onto the path. As George Harrison sang, “If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there.” But that’s not how you arrive at good website content.
What Bad Website Content Looks Like
To learn what makes good website content, you first have to learn to recognize bad website content. Then the difference becomes as clear as the finest crystal. Based on the numerous examples that are unfortunately still live on the internet, bad website content:
- Tries to sell visitors products or services before building any trust
- Jabbers on and on about what the business does and how great it is without proof
- Works hard to connect to too many different audiences at the same time
- Uses words like “I,” “we” and “our,” without once saying anything about “you”
- Relies on too little content, just photos or videos, or provides huge blocks of dense text
Competition for eyeballs is fierce. Attention spans are short. If your website doesn’t serve your visitors, your visitors won’t stick around long enough to learn what makes your company great.
What Makes Good Website Content
Effective website content, on the other hand, does certain things very well. Regardless of the website design you use — although a modern design supports the content and tells readers that you keep up to date with IT trends — what makes good website content is that it:
- Identifies its audience right away
- Answers questions that people are asking or searching for
- Builds rapport by providing valuable information for free
- Builds trust by doing what it says it will do — the opposite of “clickbait”
- Solves a problem its visitors have or have had
- Uses engaging language that’s directed outwardly, toward your visitors
You have to put some thought into your website content. It’s not the same as writing a brochure. Your website may be your digital storefront, open 24 hours a day, but if all you’re touting are your sales, you’ll become known for being different because you’re cheap. Is that your competitive advantage? Sure, it works for WalMart, but is that really your business model? Is that model you’re trying to follow?
Your Website Isn’t About Your Company
As counterintuitive as it seems, your website doesn’t serve your company; it has to serve your audience, your visitors. A book without readers ultimately fails. A business without customers must also. Your customers keep you in business, so honor them by gearing your website to their needs, their questions and their priorities.
That, in a nutshell, is the essence of what makes good website content. You can measure website traffic and conversion rates until you’re blue. Instead, examine your website from your visitors’ point of view. And then ask yourself if it satisfies the criteria above for good content.
And when you’re ready to make an adjustment toward a website that not only attracts new visitors, but also converts those visitors into new customers, contact Ray Access. With world renowned quality at affordable prices, Ray Access delivers content that’s not only thoroughly researched and guaranteed original, but is also professionally edited, often multiple times.
by Mark Bloom | Jan 22, 2018 | Website Content
Website Pages Have to Connect with Visitors
Everyone in the internet industry has their own opinion about what makes effective content for a website. Some SEO experts have insisted that, to rank high, a web page needs at least 1,000 targeted, carefully crafted words on a particular subject. Others have put the number at 800. Still others claim that length doesn’t matter at all.
Of course, the use of keywords still counts in website content writing — at least until artificial intelligence makes them obsolete, a day that is getting all too close. But there’s more to writing engaging website content than relying on multiple keywords. And keyword stuffing is a bad practice anyway. (So use keywords, but don’t overuse them.)
But that’s still not the answer, since keywords are designed only to attract people to your website. Once they’ve arrived, keywords are unnecessary and superfluous. Something more is required if you want an effective website.
What Website Content Writing Is Supposed to Do
The Holy Grail of websites is persuading visitors to take action. That’s it, really. The conversion of a website visitor into a customer begins with a single mouse click. When people find their way to your website, which is in itself a remarkable feat, the website’s goal is getting them to:
- Want to learn more, which means visiting other pages on your website
- Contact your company through a contact form, a phone call or an email
- Sign up for your newsletter to stay in touch and maybe get special deals
- Order your product or service, ideally, but that rarely happens on the first visit
If your website content connects with visitors, it’s done its job. It’s generated a sales lead. The rest is up to you and your team.
But What’s the Best Way to Engage Visitors?
Now it gets down to the nitty gritty of websites. What separates the websites of successful companies from those of less successful companies? It’s all about engagement, getting visitors to stay on your website longer because they want to, because you’re giving them what they’ve been searching the internet for. And this is the crux of the best website content writing tip you’ll ever read.
This tip involves three parts:
- Know your audience. You have to know who you’re trying to attract with your website. You’re in business to serve your customers. You have to know who they are. Define your demographic and develop some personas.
- Understand what they want. When this target group of people come to your website, what is it they’re looking for? Information? Your phone number? Tips about your industry, products or services? You have to know what they want and make it all easy to find. That’s part website design, but it also involves good website content writing.
- Deliver it all in a responsive way. Even if you satisfy the first two requirements, if you don’t nail this one, your visitors click away to find your competitors who are doing all three. This is where presentation matters. This is where language matters. This is what so many businesses get wrong.
The Ray Access Vision for Website Content Writing
One of the factors that sets Ray Access projects apart from the rest of the internet — in addition to the careful editing process we employ — is the language and tone of the websites we write. It’s not enough to present clear, concise, easy-to-find information on your website, although that certainly helps make a website inviting.
To bring it home, you have to present your information in a way that speaks to your visitors. It’s an important distinction that demands a careful choice of words. Don’t use stilted language and passive voice. Write your website like you’re talking to a friend — because that’s what you want your website visitors to become.
Detailed Advice
Explain unusual or industry terms that come up because you know people will ask. Write in simple sentence structures and short paragraphs. Break up your page with easy-to-scan headings and relevant images. These things help people read and find what they’re looking for.
Short sentences and short paragraphs make a page more readable, more person-friendly. Concise words and phrases engage readers who are interested in the subject as well as readers who are new to your site. Simple website content writing — which is often the most difficult way to write — is the most engaging. Content that connects with your visitors gets readers to make that one click that matters most: on the Buy Now button.
Ray Access is a content marketing firm that delivers targeted words to empower your business. Contact us about your specific project to receive a quote or discuss your needs. We write website copy, blog posts, e-newsletters and more. Everything we do is thoroughly researched, professionally edited and guaranteed original.
