Why? Well, it starts with the basics. Even just a handful of basic spelling or grammatical errors throughout one piece of copy – just imagine, for example, if the previous sentence had begun with ‘Well it starts…’ or the current sentence had substituted ‘errors’ for ‘errers’ – can leave it with an unprofessional look. This, in turn, can risk giving your company a similarly unprofessional look in the minds of the readers of the copy.

However, well-written and persuasive copy requires much more than immaculate spelling and grammar. It needs to be written in a manner which not only makes clear the ethos of your company and the nature and, where relevant, specifics of the products and services on offer from your company, but also why these products and services are appropriate for the copy’s readers. If you have placed your copy in appropriate parts of the Internet, then you should already be attracting many appropriate prospective customers to your copy; the next step, then, should be spelling out more clearly why splashing their cash on your company’s products and/or services is a wise idea.

The answer is no!

It feels good to give such an early, definitive answer rather than build up to a conclusion. However, I still feel it’s only fair to justify my answer and explain why exactly so many experienced and knowledgeable people are against the use of justification for the web.

Are you a web designer or developer? Or are you one of these clients…

We’ve had clients in the past ask us whether they should justify the text for their website because “it will look cleaner and neater”. If you’ve ever had this asked of you, or if you’ve ever been the client doing the asking, we can most certainly relate.

With regards to our own clients, in most cases we’ve managed to persuade the client to keep the industry standard left alignment that we all know and love. However, there has been a few cases where we’ve lost the battle and the client has justified the text regardless.

A quick introduction to justified text

Text that’s justified is aligned within a column along both the left and right margin. When justifying, the spaces between words are stretched (or compressed) to align with both margins.

Justified text is used positively in newspapers to provide a clear structure for such a large amount of text.

“OK, so why is it so wrong to use justified text on my website?”

There’s more than one reason not to use justified text.

Printed media is a lot different to media viewed on a screen – well, it is for the human eye. An image on your computer screen is refreshed multiple times a second, making reading from a screen a lot harder on your eyes than if you were reading from say, a newspaper where the text is static.

Below are just four of many reasons why you should stay clear of using justified text for your website:

1. Different systems can display the text differently, especially the ‘rivers’ of white space (when spaces between words align with other lines of text creating a column of space throughout the content). Unfortunately this draws the eye away from the text, making it extremely difficult to read.
2. CONTROL – an editor for print has complete control over how the user will get to see the content. If you decide to use justified text on your website then this will not be the case. With almost endless combinations of browsers, operating systems etc. (all with different versions, too!) this means that you’re simply not able to see every single scenario of how the text will look on the screen.
3. The above two points can make it difficult for dyslexic users to read the text on your website if it is justified. The white space distracts the eye, making it very easy to lose your place. Dyslexia is not something that a web designer or developer should ignore, in fact The British Dyslexia Association says 10% of the British population are dyslexic.
4. Blind and visually impaired users find it very difficult to read justified text as the software they use, such as screen magnifiers, enlarges the uneven spaces even further to make it very hard to follow a sentence.

Don’t decrease your website’s readability with justified text.

Within a few weeks we will have our brand new website live! If you have any suggestions, or any corrections once it’s live, please feel free to let us know here.

This blog will be updated (hopefully for when the site goes live, if not then very, very soon after!) in terms of design, but it will also have a lot more content.

Thank you for supporting Precise English since 2009, and we look forward to receiving your support in 2012 and beyond.

Benjamin, Director.

Google are continually making amendments to their service to optimise the reliability and quality of their rankings, and it is widely agreed that relevance and integrity are things that continually need to be adhered to, especially when considering how vast the wealth of poor material out there is.

The latest changes to Google (once again) mean that fresh content is favoured, which means producing high-quality written work on a regular basis is key, rather than simply setting up a website with a number of articles then simply letting the content side of things stagnate.

Make your website stand out

When you consistently add fresh content to your website it demonstrates that you have your eye on the ball and that you are knowledgeable in your field. Well-written and engaging content makes your web content seem less ‘salesy’ and more informative and if they are enjoyable to read, they are more likely to be shared, meaning more traffic and sales in the process. When uploading product descriptions to your site, it is also beneficial to write original and fresh content rather than simply duplicating the manufacturer’s descriptions, which will be used by numerous companies. Original and unique content will make you stand out, and show you to be dedicated and enthusiastic about the items you sell (to both Google and visitors).

More likely to be shared

If you lack the time to update your website(s) with new fresh content on a regular basis, then it’s a good idea to invest in the services of an  SEO copywriting company, who specialise in producing high-quality content with a robustly professional approach to grammar and spelling. It has been noted that since Google brought the recent ‘fresh content’ changes into the service, websites that aren’t as prolific when posting fresh content have started to see a loss in traffic, meaning that fresh content is even more valuable that it was before. Prolific posting may seem a chore, but continually updated websites show customers that you are engaged and involved with any developments that may be relevant to your service, and if articles are of great quality then they are more likely to be shared, leading to more traffic for your website.

Speak to Precise English today about our SEO Copywriting services – click here to email.

Whilst an attractive-looking website is still something of great value to a service, enhancing your reputation and image, it is the written content (SEO Copywriting) on a website that can be the key to optimising your ranking in search engine results. A wealth of keywords relating to the service you provide is the main tool used to ensure this, but the quality of the content itself adorning your website is perhaps the ultimate factor in securing hits, creating a buzz around your website and ensuring that your content is shared amongst social networks and forums.

Trust

Engaging and informative copy ensures that your service is trusted, seen as knowledgeable and ultimately becomes a trusted force, ultimately increasing sales and cementing your reputation. Generous use of keywords (with limits – as experts we know the correct keyword density to use) leads to a higher placing in search engine rankings, but search engines are increasingly becoming tailored to identify over-use of the same keywords, in order to filter out spam-like content. A plethora of different but relevant keywords relating to the same topic is a primary method of optimising your place in these rankings, so the message gets across in an engaging and non-repetitive manner and your ultimate placing in search engine rankings is not compromised.

If you have more money than time to write copy yourself, it is advisable to hire a respected writer to fulfil copywriting tasks on your behalf. However, if you are considering writing the copy yourself you must first ask yourself:

• Do I understand SEO?
• Do I understand Keyword Phrases (including long-tail keywords)?
• Do I understand Keyword Density?
• Can I write professional content?

This helps ensure that the content on your site is of the same quality as the level of service you wish to secure, enhancing your reputation across the board.

The way you communicate with your audience online is crucial to elevating the image of your service and can be a make-or-break factor in terms of achieving the successes you aim for. This means that content needs to be trustworthy, reliable and credible. Search engines pick up on the popularity of your website as well as keywords so it is essential to make the content of your website as outstanding as possible.

Would you design your own website? Of course not! So why would you try to write the copy yourself (or the SEO articles/blogs linked to your site) if you’re not an experienced and qualified SEO copywriter?

Contact Precise English today and speak to an expert – don’t mess around when it comes to your website’s ranking and reputation online.

Web searchers can be faced with a wealth of inconsistent material when searching for information on a topic, and a reliable source can be difficult to identify when faced with such a barrage of web pages on a topic. Trustworthy information and articles that are enjoyable and informative gives your website more integrity and assures your service is held in high esteem, whilst cementing repeat visits. As your reputation grows, so does traffic and the number of individuals passing through your website. If you seek to increase sales, a customer wants to know that you are something of an expert in your field, which means that quality content is the key to your online success, meaning more hits are secured and ultimately more sales are confirmed.

SEO Copywriting

A customer is more likely to associate your service with quality if every element of your service is consistent with this, not just from the products you sell, but the appearance of your website – essentially your shop window, and the image you put forward to sell yourself. This means that well-written and engaging content from an SEO copywriter is the key to an online promotional campaign, and an interesting article is likely to be shared on social networking sites and forums, creating a buzz around your article and therefore your service itself.

Though keywords are an effective tool to gain high positions in search engine rankings, a plethora of relevant terminology that search engines will still pick up on is often better than simply filling an article with over-zealous use of the same keyword, making your article seem more like a considered piece of writing and moving away from accusations of ‘spam’, making your piece sound less robotic and forced. Creative and engaging copywriting increases trust in services and ultimately enhances your reputation amongst an superabundance of competitors.

To improve the image and overall quality of your website, give Precise English a call or email today.

Tel: 0845 224 1337

Email: Click here!

How the +1 button can create and measure an interest

The Google ‘+1’ button holds a wealthy potential in increasing a service’s ranking in search engine results. Its ease-of-use, together with its potency as a rating of a web page’s usefulness add to an indicator of web buzz and interest, two concepts known to feed off each other to multiply a service’s reputation in the endless field of the net.

The more ‘+1’s a page acquires, the more prominent a website is likely to appear in terms of relevance and quality which in turn adds to its ranking in Google search results. In tandem with Google + itself, this means that further ‘+1’s are likely to be generated after being initially recommended by a trusted source which means the value and integrity of a ‘+1’ is high.

A Growing Trend

Google + is a service that seems to recognise the growing trend of sharing over searching, and the ‘+1’ is an implication of online word-of-mouth and a pointer towards real appreciation and recommendation, as Google works hard to ensure ‘+1’s are genuine and not generated by abuse of the service, protecting their own reputation in the process and the reliability of their results as a whole.

Google + is a network where contacts are likely to be made on a professional and trendsetting level as well as on a personal one, so has the potential to be a very valuable and trusted resource and gauge of popularity, as it carves out its own niche away from somewhat unfair accusations of being a Facebook clone. The ‘+1’ button is a valuable promotional tool that has the potency to increase awareness of your service and build upon admirable reputations, if used properly.

To learn more about Google + (Google Plus) click here to read our blog “What is Google +?”

Interested in having professionally optimised SEO articles or web copy written by a UK company? Give Precise English a call on 0845 224 1337 or send us an email here.

Whilst Google emphasises that its slowly-burgeoning ‘+’ service is in no way intended to be a competitor to Facebook, and rather an addition to the ubiquitous social network, its similarities with the social network are numerous. What Google + is built around is the idea that the various contacts we may add on Facebook may be built around a wealth of different relationships, such as close friends, family members, workmates and distant contacts. Whilst Facebook already allows the user to post updates to certain pre-determined groups, the emphasis on types of relationship as acknowledged by Google + is bigger, and makes the adding of contacts to adaptable ‘circles’ much more straightforward than that of Facebook.

A Medium Between Facebook & Twitter?

It is fast becoming the norm that content is shared rather than searched for, especially after a user has subscribed to a feed; it’s a case of waiting for updates and links to arrive than actively searching new developments out, and Google + forms a happy medium between the more personal Facebook, and Twitter, where a user is far more likely to follow an unmet opinion former who directs their disciples to reams of interesting content – though in a short, truncated, 140-character restriction. Google + also incorporates ‘hang-outs’, a video-chat friendly service they recommend is best used when several people are hoping to arrange something, advantageous over sending multiple messages to each concerned party.

Yet to Take Off

Though Google + was launched in June, and uptake of the service was colossal, actual activity on the service remains humble thus far, but with ‘+1’ buttons appearing increasingly on more and more web pages, it seems that Google + is to be a slow-burning juggernaut.

The Google experience is increasingly personalised, with results now tailored to your existing search history, and it is now possible to even ‘+1’ mobile apps, and view recommend ad-like recommendations from people in your circles when logged into Gmail. Picasa has also been integrated into Google +, acknowledging the fact that people are more likely to share photos with certain types of people than others.

Google Messenger, formerly Huddle, enables multi-person live chat, which is a service not entirely unlike the new additions made to Facebook, where distinctions between the inbox and the chat window are now rather ambiguous. Meanwhile, Google Sparks enables tailored-recommendations based on your interests and activities, though the experience could arguably become complex and saturated, in an online world that can be eye-bleedingly cluttered anyway.

Transparency & a Potential Key Business Tool

Google stress that their maintenance and stance on privacy is transparent, and this arguably sets it apart from Facebook, who have a chequered history in this field – yet it remains to be seen whether the service will become the success it aspires to be. In any case, with its emphasis on sharing and promotion, it appears less personal than Facebook, but has the potential to be a strong marketing tool for businesses around the world, and seems set to become more and more formidable as Google cement its identity as a networking platform in its own right, with its move into mobile potentially making it even more omnipresent as a tool.

Duplicate Content

You are most certainly not alone in copying product descriptions directly from the label; store owners (online) who have very little knowledge in search engine optimisation (SEO) can see absolutely no problem with this. However, an online marketing savvy webmaster knows that by repeating what the manufacturer has said you potentially have the same content throughout your website as thousands of other online stores that sell the same product – an enormous problem when it comes to trying to rank on Google, the number one search engine.

Contact Precise English today

If you own an online store then quality, unique content for every product you sell could give you the ‘edge’ over your competition.

Give us a call on 0845 224 1337 or send us an email to speak further about how Precise English can help you improve your eCommerce website.