How can you successfully communicate your brand’s message to your website’s visitors? Here are 8 ways:

1)    Your web writing needs to spell out why people should buy from you and not your competitors: we live in a world of similar businesses with similar prices targeting similar customers. Tell people why they should bother to buy from you.

2)    Highlight all the customer benefits of what’s on offer as well as a clear explanation of the product or service. Don’t go overboard on technicalities: you only need to tell people enough to get them interested and motivate them to take action; you don’t need to educate them about every single detail straightaway.

3)    Weave your keywords into the text (and especially into your headings) to improve your chances of a good search engine ranking.

4)    Structure your text so the main points are put across even to people who initially scan your website copy, rather than read it in detail. Use headings and formatting with this in mind.

5)    Write to your customers, not just about the product or service.

6)    Put your message forward in clear, concise English – no jargon or corporate-speak.

7)    Drop ‘teasers’, ‘tasters’ and ‘soundbites’ into your web writing to stir up the desire in your visitors to know more about what you can do for them.

8)    Make sure your copywriting is crafted in keeping with the graphic design and layout of your website.

Could web writing soon be transformed by a plethora of new terminology? For example, if I were to publish an online article in which I claimed to be a “nonebrity” would you know what I was talking about? Apparently it would mean I had celebrity status for no apparent reason. We can now all point at Katie Price a.k.a. Jordan and shout “Nonebrity!” the next time we see her. She, of course, might point back and shout “Nomophobe!” which is a person who fears being out of mobile contact.

More than 100 new words and expressions entered the English language last year, from the now-commonplace “credit crunch” to the rather more obscure “moofer”, which is an acronym for a mobile out-of-office worker. The most popular word from 2008 was, however, the dated expression “cripes”, which became Boris Johnson’s trademark expression of surprise as he campaigned during the London Mayoral election. Those who object to 2008’s most popular word being an old one might take comfort in learning that they themselves are known as “doomers” - a brand new expression to describe pessimistic individuals.

Next month we can all look forward to reading masses of web copy about “glamping”: the term refers to the luxurious form of camping undertaken by “nonebrities” such as Peaches Geldof at Glastonbury.