Above the Fold? Re-Thinking Your Web Copy

Sometimes when I have a design job I am told, “We want all our text ‘above the fold.’” When asked why, often the answer is because somebody in the company had mentioned that they heard it was a good idea not to have any web content below the fold.

I can see the logic – text above the fold can be read without having to scroll, which makes it more likely to be read in those precious few moments a visitor’s eyes first meet your site, but where exactly is the fold?

On my desktop computer, with a regular 19 inch monitor, my browser window has several tool bars open and I still have several inches of screen space. Switch over to my laptop, with a 15.4 inch widescreen monitor, and nary a tool bar, and the fold hits almost immediately – there is barely depth enough for a header, a photo and a couple of paragraphs.

I like to keep the good stuff above the fold – but not all of it – because web copy is important and its importance doesn’t drop off because it is below a very hard to define area.

The word count on your web page needs to be high enough to impart information not only to your readers, but also search engine robots so they can ascertain how relevant your content is for their search queries.

You might think it a waste of time to write a lot on a web page because people don’t read the same way on the web as they do with print; but the fact is that with all things being equal, long copy will outperform short copy each and every time.

Now don’t get confused with long copy and boring copy. You don’t want boring copy – you want quality copy.

Very few people will read your entire web page’s content. They either have to be researching something, or they have plenty of time on their hands! Whichever is true, the longer your web page [when trying to get a sale] the much more effective it is than a short one.

Don’t make the mistake of thinking that you are your prospect. What might seem long to you, especially if you wrote it and edited it several times, may not seem that way your readers. You need time to build their trust through examples, testimonials and money back guarantees, for example. You can’t just expect to show up online and seal the deal within a few hundred words.

Now there have been many studies and split tests conducted on long copy versus short copy. The far and away winner is always long copy. But remember that’s targeted relevant long copy.

So, what kind of long copy are we talking about? Well here are some great online examples:

Google Ambush
The Magic of Making Up
Earth For Energy

Research on long copy has shown that readership typically drops off dramatically at around 300 words, which on this post was at the ‘Very few people will read your entire web page’s content’ part in paragraph eight, but interestingly it does not drop off again until around 3,000 words – and I am not going to write that much here, I promise, as I’d need to come up with another 2,500!

So let’s end with a brief word on your target readership, since that’s who you are lasering in on. Know who your true audience is. It is vital. Writing long copy and promoting something to an audience that has little or no interest in it is pointless – it’s a time and money loser for you.

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How to Write An Article For Your Website

Article and content writing for your website is important because it is a guaranteed way to get better search engine rankings. Update your website frequently with fresh, original, captivating content that is more than just a couple of paragraphs long, and you will be the recipient of some pretty impressive Google love in a short amount of time.

Whether you need to write an article, paper or book you need to start with an outline – it’s your plan of action. You need more than just an outline though; you need a good outline – one that has ample points so that you can write enough about your subject.

Keep this in mind when you think about how to write an article for the web:  The delivery of the written word on a web page needs to be very different to that of a printed page because most people reading web pages scan them to see if the content is relevant to them.

So when writing an article for your website think about how you can make your visitors’ reading time as easy as possible, so they read more, get interested, bookmark your web page and come back again.

Think quality. Write quality articles.

If you really do not have the time or inclination to write yourself you can easily hire a copywriter to do the work for you, but think about all the knowledge on a subject that you have, that you can communicate to your reader. You have so much knowledge to share and it is just a matter of getting it down coherently on paper.

Unless you are a professional writer [and even if you are] you want to write an outline, then a draft, and then re-drafts, until your article is right.

If you are writing for a blog it is a lot easier to be a little casual with your writing style, and that is why blogs are so popular with bloggers, as well as their audiences; but if you are writing for business – mean business, and write in a professional manner.

Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither is a great literary piece. Sometimes an article can be knocked out relatively quickly, but take time not only to write, but also review.

A good technique for writing your best work is to outline and draft it, and then leave it for a day. By taking time away from your writing you can return to it with a fresh perspective and ideas.

So the next time you have to think about how to write an article for your website, take a little time to plan your content with an outline. And then allocate time for writing, as well as re-writing your work while anticipating the Google love getting ready to flow your way.

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