For optimum website content, you need to achieve a very fine balance between copy and images. This is especially important as web content must be as concise as possible and the temptation to replace words with images can be remarkably strong.

Before giving in to this, you need to consider the drawbacks of losing web copy. You can’t have ‘key pictures’ as you would key words. Images are not picked up by search engines in the same way (although you can add an ‘alt’ tag to tell the search engines what the image is about). This instantly cuts down on your visibility to vital marketing outlets.

If you are worried that your site will appear text-heavy then keep paragraphs short, with plenty of white space in-between. This makes for more memorable writing, allowing your key messages to jump out at the reader.

When selecting images make sure they have an obvious relevance and are not open to misinterpretation. The relationship between words and images is crucial and should amplify meaning rather than confuse it. An excellent but apocryphal example of how not to choose an image comes from a baby food company, said to have put a picture of a baby and no text on their tins, only to see their sales drop in Africa as people assumed they were selling canned babies.

However, when used correctly images can add visual interest to your web content, emphasising key messages of the copy to create a more memorable experience for potential clients.

At present all of our SEO training takes place on a private basis, but we are putting together a public copywriting course as well. Please let us know your feedback!

Event Concept

Course name: Website Words - Copywriting Course

Date: TBC

Cost: £295 – includes handouts, lunch & refreshments and post-workshop email support

Capacity: Up to 15 delegates

Copywriting Course Description:

Choosing the right words for your website is just as important as choosing the right design. You need words that communicate the benefits of your product or service in the customer’s language. Plus, when you’re writing for the web, you need words that appeal to the search engines.

“Website Words” is a one-day interactive copywriting course, designed to give you a thorough overview of what you need to do in order to write engaging, optimised web copy.

By the end of the course, you will know:

• How to write SEO content
• Where to find your keywords and how to select the best ones
• How to structure the text on your website to achieve maximum enquiries and sales from your visitors
• Why customers treat websites differently to other forms of media
• Essential “do’s” and “don’ts” of website copywriting

Learn how to create text for your website that simultaneously appeals to your customers and to the search engines. This copywriting course will give you hands-on, practical techniques that you can put into action straightaway on your own website.

Your trainer

We are pleased to introduce your trainer Heidi Williamson, a highly experienced website copywriter and trainer. For the last seven years, Heidi has been responsible for training the copywriting team at Virgin Money.

Heidi has written and edited web copy for many of the Virgin brands (Virgin Atlantic, Virgin Mobile, Virgin Holidays, Virgin Wines, Virgin Megastores, Virgin Vie, and Virgin Experiences), as well as other big brands such as HSBC and Prudential.

Get in touch

If you’d like to receive details of this course when it’s up and running simply send your details to training@writemysite.co.uk. If you have feedback on the proposed course contents, please post a comment!